Any interesting towns to visit in Central Florida - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Hi!
Just wondering if anyone knows of any interesting towns to visit in Central Florida? We like to go off the beaten path during our holidays and see things that people under a time crunch don't.
Are there any that you can recommend????
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Winter Park is great. There is a main street with lots of shops and restaurants and the Morse museum of Tiffany glass which was beautiful. They also have a boat tour which is a lot of fun and shows you a lot of the houses in the area and gives you a history lesson. Winter Garden is also very nice and has a farmer's market on the weekends, but I can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday.
Celebration is close to Disney it was Created by Disney but later it was sold but the Market area is great and depending on when you go they sometimes have festivals going on. If you want to have a nice meal Celebration Town Tavern is our favorite.
I can't wait for the Pie Festival in April myself!
Winter Park is nice as stated above.
Also you could drive to the coast and see Cocoa Beach (famous from I Dream of Jeannie) Kennedy Space center is there, and they have a reserve where you can see manatees close by as well. Rusty's in Port Canaveral (about 5 minutes away) is a great place for drinks and dinner. Great Seafood.
Daytona Beach is 1 hour from Disney or so depending on traffic. Drive your car right on the beach, the Nascar Track is there.
St. Augustine is about 2 hours away and I have read great things in my planning of a trip up there.
Clearwater is 1 hour on the West Coast which has great beaches.
Tampa is about 1 hour away and has the Salvador Dali Museum, which I heard great things about. Also has a few pro sports teams in case that interests you.
Otherwise, Orlando is a huge city and there are many suburbs around that are nice but I would necessarily say it would be touristy enough but there are pretty sections.
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Thanks again for the info!!!!!! I am looking into those. We will be going to Melbourne, and Cocoa Beach. I just don't want to be one of those tourists that only see WDW and doesn't know that any other place exsists outside of it.
Amy: I looked up the Pie Festival and it is there a wk before we go Darn!! Any other festivals you know about? I see them on the Food Network and I want to go really badly!!!
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