- Everything you need to know to visit Orlando, Florida.
In this video, I'm gonna tell you how to get in,
how to get around, where to stay,
when to go, what to eat, and what to do.
And let me tell you, there's a lot more to do in Orlando
than just visiting Disney World.
And I do have a whole video on Disney World itself,
but this video is gonna be more about Orlando as a region
rather than just this one place.
The first thing you should know
is just a little bit of background about Orlando.
It is definitely the theme park capital of the world.
Over 75 million people visit this city annually.
The big theme parks here:
Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios.
But you know what? There's a lot more.
There's a Gatorland there's Peppa Pig Land,
there's Legoland,
and there's a whole bunch of theme parks that come and go.
Like, there used to be a Holy Land here.
So if you love theme parks, you're gonna love Orlando.
And by the way, where am I standing right now?
This is Disney's Art of Animation Resort at Disney World.
So because this town has so many people coming for fun,
coming for leisure, you're gonna find a lot of attractions
like this that you won't see anywhere else in the world.
The second thing to know is just some information
to help you get oriented in Orlando.
Orlando is located in Central Florida
about an hour from either the west or the east coast,
which means there are no beaches in Orlando,
though there's lots of friendly people,
you will find a lot of lakes in Orlando though.
People often refer to Orlando as the Land O Lakes,
or is that a brand of butter? I don't know.
I refer to Orlando as the Land of Lakes.
And so, you're gonna find sandy beaches
along some of these lakes,
particularly the ones here in Disney World.
But if you're looking for a beach vacation,
Orlando is not it.
Now, the central lake in Orlando, Lake Eola,
it is right next to Downtown Orlando,
which is kind of the business hub for the city.
That's also where you'll find Old Town Orlando.
Now, heading just south from Downtown Orlando
along the Interstate 4, you will find Universal Studios.
And right next to Universal Studios
on the other side of Interstate 4,
begins this road known as International Drive.
It is the most famous road in Orlando.
It has a nickname 'cause people think
International Drive is too long.
It's nicknamed I-Drive.
So if you hear I-Drive, talking about International Drive.
It is a 10-mile road that goes from, roughly,
Universal Studios down to Disney World.
Has a lot of the smaller attractions on it,
lots of hotels, lots of restaurants.
And so, driving International Drive
at least once on your trip,
I think is definitely worthwhile.
Take it the whole length,
Disney World up to Universal Studios.
The third thing to know is about getting into Orlando.
And if you're flying into Orlando,
then you'll likely be flying
into Orlando International Airport.
This is a hub city for Southwest, JetBlue,
and Frontier Airlines.
It is a big airport.
It is Florida's biggest and busiest airport.
You should know that if you're leaving Orlando
through MCO Orlando International Airport,
to allow yourself plenty of extra time for security.
I'd get there three hours before your flight
'cause it can get super, super busy.
There's a few other airports in the region
you might want to consider.
There's Orlando Sanford Airport, SFB.
That is home to Allegiant Airlines.
And Tampa Airport, just about an hour drive from Orlando,
you might find cheaper flights into there
than you do into Orlando.
You can take the train into Orlando.
Amtrak operates two trains daily
from New York City into Orlando.
That train ride's gonna take you 22 hours from New York.
Obviously, you can pick it up along the way too.
There's also two trains daily from Miami
that's gonna take you six hours.
Although, in 2023, there's a new high speed rail
coming to Orlando to Miami
that should cut that travel time by train in half.
Now, if you're driving in,
well, you can just take the Interstate 95
down the east coast to the Interstate 4.
Super easy to get here.
But more about Interstate 4 in the next section,
getting around.
The best way to get around Orlando is by driving.
And if you're flying in, picking up a rental car
at MCO Orlando International Airport, super easy,
because Orlando is the world's number one rental car market.
And so, like all the rental car companies operate
at Orlando International Airport,
you will find most of them in the airport
on airport property.
So it's pretty easy to pick up.
You might find cheaper options if you take a shuttle,
but I wouldn't do it for the inconvenience.
I would just pick it up right there from the airport.
Driving around Orlando is easy.
The roads are wide.
There's one interstate,
the Interstate 4 that I mentioned earlier.
It connects all of the main tourist attractions together
to downtown.
So it's not that easy to get lost in Orlando.
Well, I mean if you're prone to getting lost,
you could probably get lost anywhere,
but I find it pretty easy to navigate.
Now, you should be aware that a lot of the highways
off of Interstate 4 are toll highways.
And so, you're either gonna get charged that later
to your rental car company,
and then they'll charge you some convenience fee
for doing electronic tolling, or you can pay cash.
I found most of them had cash options to pay.
If it's your car, then you might want to look
and signing up for SunPass,
or signing up for the electronic tolling,
or bringing yourself a lot of cash to pay those toll booths.
Now, how do you get around if you don't have a rental car?
Well, Rideshare is plentiful here.
Taxi, Uber, Lyft.
There's also a public bus system called Lynx
that's $2 a ride.
And on International Boulevard,
there's this little green trolley
that runs along International Boulevard
designed for tourists.
That one's $2 a ride also.
But whatever method of transport that you're taking,
allow yourself extra time due to traffic,
because everything is pretty much wheeled transportation
on the roads here.
Traffic can be pretty busy,
particularly around Downtown Orlando,
and then around the touristy areas around Walt Disney World.
Now, the fifth thing to know is about when to go to Orlando.
And people say Orlando has two seasons,
the hot season and the hotter season.
It's a subtropical climate here,
and so, it's really hot and humid
pretty much all of the year.
Just in the summer, which turns out when most people come,
June, July, August, I think is the worst time to come,
'cause the highs are in the nineties,
like, 95 degrees fahrenheit, 35 degrees celsius.
It's just sticky and unbearable.
If you come in the summer,
you are going to want to retreat from the midday someplace,
back to your hotel, someplace air conditioned.
You're not gonna want to be out
from about noon to, like, 6:00 PM.
So plan for air conditioning in the middle of the day.
You know, mornings or evenings
can be pleasant that time of year.
The second most popular time to come is around spring break.
So that's like March, April, early May.
The temperatures are not quite as hot,
but they're still pretty warm.
Though you will be here
with a lot of your closest spring break friends.
If you are not trying to do the water parks,
and so, you don't need it to be really hot,
then I'd actually recommend you come in the winter.
Think like November, December, January, February.
It's pretty much the low season here for Orlando.
Other than the two weeks after Christmas,
around Christmas and New Year's,
that's gonna be really busy.
But November to February, it's relatively dry
because, actually, in the summer,
the summer brings thunderstorms.
You wouldn't think about that.
Most places are dry in the summer.
Orlando is wet in the summer.
So if you want it to be dry, come in the winter.
And the daytime highs can be, still,
in the mid seventies fahrenheit.
The evening lows can be a little bit cool,
40 or 50 degrees.
So you'll want to bring some long sleeves
and some long pants.
But you might even want long sleeves
if you come here in the summer,
because if you're escaping the summer heat
in air conditioning,
then you'll find it a little bit cold.
I often find a little bit cold,
and I have to go out and, like, thaw out occasionally
once I'm in that air conditioning,
'cause they crank it up so, so high.
The sixth thing to know before you go to Orlando
is about where to stay.
And Orlando has a ton of hotels.
But you got kinda, like, two main options on area.
There's like all the hotels along International Drive.
That's that road between Universal Studios and Disney World.
And then there's the hotels around Disney World.
You'll find some around Downtown Orlando too.
More focused on business if you're here for business.
But if you're here for leisure,
if you're coming to Disney World,
I think you should really stay on property.
The Disney resorts are fantastic.
You get a lot of benefits for staying in them.
You get the Disney transportation to get into the parks,
you get into the theme parks an hour early,
and the Disney hotels are, frankly, just really nice.
Though you're gonna pay for them.
Disney hotels cost about twice as much
as a comparable hotel out in town on International Drive.
So do that math.
So if you're not going into the parks, Disney World,
then don't stay here,
stay on one of the International Drive hotels.
I've stayed at the JW Marriott over there.
I've really enjoyed it.
But overall, the hotels in Orlando are pretty good
because this is such a huge tourism market.
Oh, and I'm actually shooting this segment
at a Disney World hotel.
I am at the Disney Beach Club Resort right now.
This is their Stormalong Bay.
Really cool sand, a bottom swimming pool down here.
But if you want to see more about this hotel,
like what it's like to stay in a Disney World property,
I'll go deeper into the benefits
and all those sort of things in that video.
I have a full review of this.
You'll find a link in the description below
or at the end of this video.
The seventh thing to know about Orlando
is about where to eat.
And as a touristy city, unfortunately,
there's a lot of not so great food in tourist traps.
But the good news is there's also good food.
So where are you gonna find the good food?
Three major hubs in Orlando for the good restaurant.
One, Downtown Orlando.
You'll find over a hundred restaurants
around their Universal Studios CityWalk,
which is their shopping mall,
also has a lot of great restaurants.
You're gonna pay to park.
If you go there,
maybe check that out for dinner instead of lunch.
And then Disney Springs at Disney World
is the Disney shopping mall.
There's a ton of great restaurants in there.
I really like Earl of Sandwich
and The Polite Pig for barbecue.
Earl of sandwich, obviously for sandwiches.
And then, finally, if you are a lover of McDonald's,
you will find the world's largest McDonald's
on International Drive.
And the eighth thing to know
is what is there to do in Orlando
besides visiting the big theme parks?
And it turns out, there's quite a bit.
Oh, by the way, if you are visiting Disney World,
I've got a whole separate video on that.
You'll find the link to that in the description below
or at the end of this video.
But my first recommendation to you for attractions
outside of the big three theme parks
is ICON Park right here.
This is basically like a shopping mall
that has a lot of theme park elements.
If Las Vegas came to Orlando,
I think it would birth ICON Park.
Why? 'Cause Vegas has a big observation wheel
just like this.
In addition to this observation wheel,
there is a carousel right underneath it.
There's a gigantic swing.
I've never seen a swing quite that big.
This place, pretty neat.
There's a lot of restaurants to eat at here as well.
Free parking in the parking structure.
And across the street is the coolest miniature golf course
I've ever seen, Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf.
One of the holes actually goes on a pirate ship.
Now, filming this segment got me hungry.
What did I eat with all these tasty food options?
A Double Shack burger from Shake Shack.
Pro tip, order online
'cause all these places have long lines.
It's tourist central.
Tourists like to stand in lines.
They got an app, order online.
Don't wait, pick up the food right at the counter.
Now, if you or your kids love McDonald's,
you're definitely gonna want to check this place out.
This is the world's largest McDonald's.
It's about a mile or so from ICON Park.
You can see the Ferris wheel right back there.
But this McDonald's is two stories.
They serve pizza, they serve pasta,
they've got a full arcade and a two-story play place.
Now, one of OC Girl's favorite things to do around here
is to visit the Kennedy Space Center.
It's about a 45-minute drive
east of Central Orlando in Cocoa Beach.
If you like space, you're a space nerd,
take a tour of that place.
It's pretty awesome.
Over in Cocoa Beach,
you are also gonna find the closest sandy beach to Orlando.
Though, do beware, there are sharks in the water.
Now, the other thing you'll want to be aware of
when you're around Orlando, the land of lakes and swamps,
is you're gonna want to be aware of alligators.
Seriously, alligators and snakes roam these waters.
So don't go into any lakes
that you haven't checked out fully first.
Around Disney World, they've got signs everywhere
to either tell you beware of alligators
or beware of dangerous wildlife.
And now you know what that dangerous wildlife is.
Well, fellow explorers,
assuming you haven't been eaten by an alligator yet,
then you might enjoy watching some of my other videos
on the Orlando region.
If you want to know more about coming to Disney World,
see a review of a Disney World hotel,
then you'll find more of those videos right here.
Link's also in the description below.
And as usual, I won't say goodbye,
'cause I'm gonna see you in the next video.