"Daniel R. Bonham" wrote:
>Thanks Diana. No I was not thinking I would not enjoy another day in the
>parks. I was thinking more that dear OLD dad might need a day of recovery
>after a very busy 9 days. Day one is WDW with Park Hoppers. Oy Vey! After
>the Dragon's Breath flight line in Haiti I may need a medic!
>
>Dan <-- Not as young as springtime anymore.
The things that there are to do OT theme parks depend on what you like
to do. What we did might not interest teens (although it might -
depends). It is possible that they might take the opportunity to
visit some of the local colleges like Rollins College.
We considered going to Ocala National Forest, but I couldn't find any
information about their boat tour. The Waterhouse Shop and Museum
(woodworking) which was another possibility, but it didn't open until
noon, so in the morning we went to Leu Gardens which is actually in
Orlando and not Kissimmee or Lake Buena Vista. Orlando is 14 miles
from Lake Buena Vista where WDW is. Kissimmee is 10 miles from Lake
Buena Vista
They had over 3 miles of garden paths and lots of different plants to
see in the garden plus there was a tour of the house (no pictures
allowed inside). We walked through part of the garden, and Bob took
pictures of the signs and many of the individual plants. For instance
in the Enabling Garden they had beds raised about 3 feet so someone in
a wheelchair could reach the plants
Sometimes we split up - he took pictures of the herb garden and I went
and looked at the little cemetery. It was started when David Mizell,
the Orange Co. Sheriff, was killed from ambush, and when he was
interred, it was the first Masonic funeral service in central Florida.
About 10 of 10, we went to the Leu house and sat on the porch to wait
for the tour. We were the only two people there for the first tour
(unlike the later tour - we saw about 30 people waiting when we came
out).
John Mizell (David Mizell's son) built the first part of the house in
1888, and then a millionaire from NYC Duncan Pell bought it because he
wanted to divorce his wife and marry Helen Gardner a film actress and
the laws in Florida on divorce were less stringent. Pell sold the
house in 1906 to the Woodwards. When they died in 1928, the house went
into a trust until 1936 when Harry Leu bought it. He put in the
bathrooms.
Most of the furniture isn't original but was donations from various
Orlando families, but it was an interesting tour none-the-less. The
bathrooms reminded me of the newer bathrooms in my grandfather's
house.
Afterwards, we went to look at the rose garden which smelled
wonderful, but was hard to photograph in a way that would do it
justice. Bob took 8 close-up pictures of individual flowers, most of
which were excellent. While he was doing that, I walked over and took
a picture of the floral clock. We left by way of the butterfly
garden.
In the afternoon we took the Winter Park boat tour. Winter Park is
sort of enmeshed in the city of Orlando about 5 miles north. The boat
tour is billed as "The Venice of America".
There were a number of kayaks and canoes, plus some little power boats
zipping around and making wakes for the kayaks and the men standing in
little skiffs fishing.
About 11:45, a man pulled up to the gas pump in a SeaRay. After some
ineffective tying of the boat to the dock, the two women got off to go
to the bathroom and he got about 10 gallons worth of gas. Now they
wanted to leave but could not. The two women were still in line for
the bathroom.
They got away from the dock just before the tour boats started coming
in. These were pontoon boats which were open (no bimini) and there
were three of them. Since we had been there early, we were in the one
that was loaded first and were among the first called, but the front
seat was taken, so I sat in the back. There was a speaker by my knee,
but I had a little trouble hearing the guide sometimes.
We soon found out why the boats had no tops. In the 1880s, canals had
been built to float the logs out. These canals have been repaired and
can be used to go from one lake to another, but the boats have to go
under road bridges, and the bridges aren't high enough for the boats
to have biminis.
The sky was overcast, so it wasn't as sunny and hot as I thought it
would have been.
We went from lake to lake, and saw Rollins College, and the Art Museum
and several parks from the shore. In one case, we had to back out of
the canal because someone else was coming through, and in another
instance the three tour boats were almost through the canal and met
two other boats (one the SeaRay that had gotten fuel) coming the other
way. The boats closest to the entrance have to back up.
I thought of going to what seems to be a plane museum near here, and
there are also helicopter rides that you can take over the park from
Kissimmee.
Surrounding communities where one might make a day trip from Orlando
include Titusville (east), from where one can visit Cape Canaveral,
and the astronaut museum, Deland (NE - Stetson University), the Ocala
National Forest, Ocala, and Silver Springs (N), and Lakeland, Winter
Haven and Lake Wales (S). Lake Wales has Spook Hill and a marvelous
carillon tower (Bok Tower). Silver Springs (Ocala) and Cypress
Gardens (in Winter Haven) also have water parks. Silver Springs used
to be a place where you had glass bottom boat rides over the springs.
Now if you want something like that you need to go to Weeki Wachi over
on the Gulf Coast. And before WDW was built, Cypress Gardens used to
be an actual garden with a water skiing show.
>"Diana Ball" wrote in message
>news:5q1gnfFt9s1iU1@mid.individual.net...
>>> Can you give some suggestions as to what the other things besides parks
>>> there are to see? I will have two teens with me and we are doing Disney
>>> and Universal studios on the two pre-cruise days (respectively) in
>>> Orlando. I thought a park would be too much for the post-cruise day in
>>> Orlando. Something a little less action packed maybe?
>>>
>>> Dan
>>
>> Hi, Dan,
>>
>> Are you thinking you won't enjoy a third day in the parks?! Cuz I don't
>> think the teens will feel that way. ;) One day at Universal is fine, but
>> there are so many great Disney choices, devoting just one day to WDW will
>> require compromises to be made. OTOH, there are two options my kids love.
>> One, depending on the time of year you visit, is water park...the WDW
>> water parks are amazing. But you said "less action." So two, there's
>> Disney Quest in Downtown Disney. It's a video game arcade on steroids.
>> Nothing like taking the kids on vacation and letting them play games in a
>> dark hole of a place, is there?! But if you aim to please them, that's a
>> place most kids love, and I actually had a lot of fun there myself. Of
>> course, I'm really a Disneyholic!
>>
>> You are giving those boys an incredible vacation. Have fun!
>>
>> Diana Ball
>> Austin, TX
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