Orlando Travel Guide

Orlando is located in central Florida 75 miles northeast of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater Beach. It is 50 miles due west of Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach. Best known as the home of Disney World, this city is also the center of the largest concentration of family entertainment attractions in the world.

The climate in central Florida is semi-tropical. Summers are oppressively hot and humid with almost daily afternoon Thunderstorms. Winters are pleasantly mild with sunny weather and comfortable temperatures. Hurricane season, between August and December, can produce some unpleasant weather on the rare occasion when a tropical storm chances to veer inland in the immediate vicinity. Many US families brave the heat and flock to Orlando during the summer school holidays from the beginning of June until the end of August. They invariably fill the hotels, amusement parks and restaurants with hordes of raucous children. Adult vacationers and retired folks usually choose the winter months of December through March to visit Orlando. The off seasons in the fall and spring are often the best times to visit.

Two major airports serve the Orlando area. Orlando International Airport is located 8 miles southeast of downtown. It has numerous daily fights to major cities throughout the USA. Orlando Sanford Airport is situated about 15 miles north of downtown. It serves numerous charter airlines from overseas destinations. The Tampa St. - Petersburg airport is less than two-hour drive to the west and the Melbourne airport is a bit over an hour to the east.

Airport buses provide convenient, inexpensive transportation to downtown Orlando and an airport van service provides quick transport to the International Drive area hotels.

Most of the major attractions in the Orlando area are located along a ten-mile stretch of Route 4 southwest of the city. The Disney Resort Complex is situated along Route 4 ten miles southwest of downtown. Disney World Tickets can be procured at a discount by using an authorized and contracted ticket broker. Universal Studios is located just 5 miles southwest of downtown. Sea World, Wet and Wild, plus many other attractions, numerous hotels, hundreds of restaurants and several shopping malls are all located along route 4 between those two giant theme parks. Check our Orlando Attraction Map to view the locations. Keep in mind, an Orlando Car Rental makes visiting each of these attractions quick and convenient.

The Disney Resort Complex is immense. With over 40 square miles (100 square km.) of land, it is the size of a small country or at least a province. It contains four major theme parks. Each of them is equivalent in size to the Disney parks located in California, France or Japan. The complex also contains three water parks, eight golf courses, twenty-five themed hotels, hundreds of restaurants, several shopping centers and a wide variety of additional entertainment and recreational sports facilities.

Universal Studios Great Escape contains two major theme parks, a luxury hotel and an assortment of restaurants and shopping facilities. Sea World has a marine theme park and will soon be adding a water park with a dolphin encounter experience. Wet and Wild is a major water park. There are dozens of other attractions in this area and along route 192 in Kissimmee, 5 miles east of Disney World.

Source : Usatourist.com