Central Florida Bucket List

Central Florida is often viewed as the tourism epicenter of the Sunshine State and for very good reason. It offers several of the main reasons people visit. Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort and Sea world Orlando are all within miles of each other. If a seasoned traveler played their cards right, a week-long vacation could result in sampling all these places. They fuel memories and keep people returning again and again. If you were to visit Central Florida, these are places you definitely want to see and this article will go over each of these destinations.

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First, the main attraction: The Mouse House. What started as a great idea in California became a full-fledged realized vision in Orlando. The Walt Disney World Resort houses 4 world class theme parks, two water parks, as well as several hotels and other attractions. Disney is so big; it literally is classified as its own city. This means there is so much to do! For starters there's the Magic Kingdom; the crown jewel of the Disney Empire. Divided into six lands full of attractions and shows, Magic Kingdom is a must experience. There are so many must rides, its best just to do the entire park meaning Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion and many more. Next we have Epcot Center. There are not as many must rides here, with the popular ones being Mission: Space, Soarin', and Test Track. You'll also want to stop into the Innovations exhibits and if you have little ones, you'll want to take them to the Living Seas staring everyone's favorite found fish, Nemo. Disney Hollywood Studios, much like Epcot, has some very popular rides like Star Tours, The Great Movie Ride and Muppet Vision 3-D. They also have the exciting Stuntacular, an edge of you seat show experience. Lastly, we have Animal Kingdom. What differentiate Animal Kingdom from the other parks are the featured furry friends. There are various rides that feature animals that if you enjoy close encounters or just observing them, go out of your way to see the Safaris and Habitat rides they have. You'll want to ride Everest and Dinosaur as well. As for the Disney water parks, either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon are can't miss prospects with wet and wild fun to be had at both.

Next, we move along to Universal Studios. Unlike its more expansive counterpart, Universal is made up of a handful of hotels and two sister parks. In Universal Orlando, they have more simulation rides and shows. Despicable Me Mayhem, The Simpsons and Men in Black are all simulation. They also have the indoor roller coaster Revenge of the Mummy based on the popular move franchise. Conversely, Islands of Adventure contain more thrill rides such as The Hulk and Dragon Challenge. They also boast cutting edge rides like Spider-Man and Harry Potter. Of the two, Islands is more popular and does provide more thrills than Universal. However, it's all which you prefer.

The final stop on our Central Florida must see/do tour is Sea World. Sea World is much like Animal Kingdom only with more thrills and the focus is solely on aquatic animals. They have all sorts of shows and encounters with various sea life. They also have some of the best rides in the state of Florida like Manta and Kraken, two rides that have to be ridden to be believed. 

To break all of this down in the form of a week, we would recommend 4 days at Disney World, 1-2 days at Universal and one day at Sea World with a flex day thrown in for whatever peaks your interest. This article obviously only scratches the surface on what Central Florida has to offer but these are the big three must do in the area. 

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