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While parties in the Commons, or chilling in Chatham Square may
keep you entertained for a bit, there will come a time in your stay
there that you will realize that there is a world outside of the
one Walt created. Its called Central Florida, and as the world's
number one tourist destination, it has a LOT to offer.
QuickLinks:
First,
it's important to understand just where you will be living in relation
to everything else. As mentioned on the Living Experience Page,
the three housing complexes are technically on Disney property,
but they are well separated from the parks and most of the tourists.
You will find the complexes on the southeast side of Interstate
4, on Little Lake Bryan Drive off Vineland Road, while the majority
of Disney attractions lay on the west side, about a 5-10 minute
drive away.
Although your address will be in Orlando, most people would not
consider the area to be part of that city at all. If anything, the
complexes are in Lake Buena Vista. Broadly speaking, to the north
is Lake Buena Vista, Orlando is to the northeast, Kissimmee is to
the south and southwest, and the WDW Resort area is to the west.
For a dynamic map that allows you to zoom and move around, check
out this map at MapQuest
or MapBlast
(The Commons and Chatham Square are situated beside the smaller
lake in the center of the map, called Lake Ruby for some odd reason).
For a more accurate and interesting look at the area,
try this image from Terraserver, which is a USGS Topographical
satellite image of the area. This picture was taken in April 2002.
The Commons is the complex that stretches horizontally and Chatham
Square is the square one near the bottom-centre. You can also clearly
see Little Lake Brian, with the white sand beach of Mickey's Retreat.
I-4 is the large highway intersecting the picture, and the two other
properties in the image are the Mary,
Queen of the Universe Catholic Shrine and the Orlando
Premium Outlets. Try zooming out a few times to see how close
Epcot and the other parks are to the housing complexes.
The most obvious form of recreation available to you is simply
enjoy the world class facilities of the Walt Disney World Resort,
since you are just minutes from Epcot, Magic Kingdom Park, The Disney-MGM
Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, the three water parks, five golf
courses, Disney's Wide World of Sports, and the rest of the wonderful
world of Disney.
For something closer to the housing complexes, Mickey's Retreat
is a short walk or Rollerblade down the road. It is the cast recreation
complex on Little Lake Bryan. It features a lake, beach, two pools,
beach volleyball, basketball, tennis, barbecues, an activities pavilion,
a soccer pitch and a baseball diamond!
For professional sports action, Orlando is home to the Magic
(NBA), Tampa has the Devil Rays
(MLB), Lightning
(NHL) and Bucs (NFL), Jacksonville
has the Jaguars (NFL), and
those pesky Dolphins
(NFL) are down in Miami, along with the Marlins
(MLB) and Heat (NBA).
This is Florida after all, so expect to hit the beaches pretty
often. Since everything in the area seems to be 'world class', there's
no reason for that to stop at the beaches, and they do live up to
their high billing. If you want close, 50 minutes east is
Cocoa Beach, which is cheap and cheerful, and seems to be more
of a 'local's beach' then the west coast ones.
Head 90 minutes west along I-4 and you will be in the
Clearwater area - which is cleaner and larger than Cocoa, and
has no ants, but you will have to put up with the crowds. There
are plenty of great beaches in the St.
Petersburg/Clearwater area, but my personal favorite is Sand
Key County Park. Located at the north end of Sand Key near the
bridge, Sand Key Park boasts an extraordinary white shelly sand
beach that is among one of the widest in the area. Parking is plentiful
and cheap (which is not the case a few miles north at the main Clearwater
Beach) and it always seems less-crowded.
If a party beach is your style, stuff the car with booze and people
and head 90 minutes up I-4 to world famous
Daytona Beach, which rocks anytime, but especially in the spring
during College Spring Break and
Bike Week. There are hundreds of other great beaches in Florida,
check out this Interactive
Florida Beach Map for a full guide to the offerings.
Naturally, the Disney Theme Parks are at the top of this list,
but after spending five 8-hour shifts per week at one of them, you
might just want to get away. A short drive from the housing complexes
will take you to I-Drive and 192, the tacky tourist strips. Universal
Orlando Resort with the Islands of Adventure Park, CityWalk
and Universal Studios is a must-do, especially if you are lucky
enough to be there in October for Halloween Horror Nights (NOT to
be missed!). In addition, Wet
'n Wild (the most popular waterpark in the U.S.), Sea
World (featuring the awesome Kraken floorless roller coaster)
and Discovery Cove (if
you into swimming with dolphins) are all less than 10 minutes away!
An attraction that everyone should visit at least once is Gatorland,
which is on South Orange Blossom Trail, about 20 minutes away. It
has been there forever, and still features great gator wrestling
and jumparoo shows, plus CMs get a big discount!
If you find yourself in the Tampa Bay area, make time for Busch
Gardens, which has built up an amazing collection of rides and
roller coasters.
Starting close to home,
Pleasure Island (PI) is Disney's answer to the nightclub, a
sprawling complex that has no less than a half-dozen clubs, plus
restaurants and shops. It is part of the larger Downtown
Disney area, which features more restaurants, a few dozen shops,
24 AMC movie screens, a
Disney Quest, Cirque
Du Soliel, and a couple of huge restaurant/bar/concert hall
complexes. Admission is free to Downtown Disney and the Pleasure
Island area, but admission to the clubs in Pleasure Island is around
$20 per person (!), so go on days when it is free for Cast Members
(Monday and Thursdays).
If you go to the AMC Theatre often, it could be a smart move to
get a Moviewatcher.com membership card. It's free and gives you
bonuses, free popcorn and more as you visit more and more films.
Also, Company D sells special cinema-tickets called "Silver
Passes" for $5.50. These can only be used for films that have
been running for two weeks or more, but it's still cheaper than
the $7 you normally pay with cast member discount. <Submitted
by Livar>
When you grow bored with Downtown Disney, Universal
Citywalk should be next on your list. Universal CityWalk is
much like Downtown Disney, but has a more adult edge to it. Much
like Pleasure Island, you don't have to pay to enter the area, but
you do to enter some clubs and restaurants past a certain time.
Unlike Downtown Disney, parking is not free. For drinks, head to
Pat O' Brien's, an exact
replica of the famous New Orleans bar. The Hurricane is the specialty,
and features something like 5 shots of rum! Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
has a fun atmosphere, but the food leaves a bit to be desired. For
clubbing, The Groove looks plain on the outside, but is all high-tech
and high-energy on the inside. On busy nights, the Main Stage outside
is a fun place to hang around and watch whatever show is on - the
atmosphere is energetic. There is also a Cineplex theatre, with
dozens of screens.
Downtown Orlando offers great clubs and pubs, but is a very expensive
cab ride away, as it's more than 1/2 hour up I-4. Digital
City has a more complete listing of bars and clubs.
There are thousands of restaurants in the area surrounding the
housing complexes, which can range from touristy joints, to common
American chains, and even a few world class places. There are too
many to list even all the best ones, so here is just a few of the
best. Check Digital
City Orlando for a full listing. If you can afford it (even
after your 20% discount), the restaurants of the WDW resort are
all great quality and consistently good service, with California
Grill, Jiko, Citricos, Flying Fish Cafe, and Artist Point at the
top of the list. Best to take advantage of the Holiday 50% CM discount
as much as possible so you can experience them all! Menus are available
online at the All
Ears Net Walt Disney World Dining Guide.
Outside of Disney, three restaurants are particularly worthy of
mention. The
Fishbones and Charlie's Steakhouse chain is known for having
some of the best restaurants in the area. Fishbones is on Sand Lake
and I-Drive, Charlie's is on I-Drive by the Mercado and also on
192 by Celebration. All three restaurants are owned by the same
group and the food and service is very similar, with Fishbones specializing
in seafood, and Charlie's in Steak. Charlie's has won a ton of awards
for 'Best Steakhouse in America' as they will tell you. All meat
is dry-aged on premises, and cut by their own butchers, then grilled
on the fire made of three types of local aromatic hardwoods burning
at 500-degrees! As you can imagine, the steak is amazing. All the
portions are huge - from 12-45 ounces for most steaks, and the starters
and sides match the size and quality of the steaks. Expect to pay
about $30-40 a person, more if you dive into the extensive wine
list. The service is very knowledgeable and attentive. You will
usually wait 1/2 to 1 hour to get a table, but go before 7 for the
shortest wait. Fishbones is very similar, but specialize in massive
portions of fresh seafood (try the tuna!), as well as many of the
steak selections from Charlie's. Fishbones is usually the busier
of the two - especially if a convention is in town.
Simply the best combination of quality, atmosphere, price and
service in the are comes together at Bahama
Breeze (one location near The Commons on Vineland & 535,
and one on I-Drive, north of Pointe Orlando). It is a huge sprawling
outdoor/indoor collection of tropical buildings owned by the same
people that own Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Unlike those popular,
but typical, chain restaurants, Bahama Breeze is a unique attraction
in itself. The style is Florida-Caribbean - in the casual atmosphere,
food, drinks, and service. Massive portions of great flavorful food
abound on the book-sized menu. Starters are a specialty, but be
warned, as they are meals in themselves. The drinks 'book' lists
hundreds of dangerous specialties, including the Bahama-rita, one
of the best frozen concoctions known to man. Service is outstanding,
and you will typically only pay about $15 a person - not including
drinks. Bahama Breeze is very popular with locals and tourists alike
so expect a 1 hour+ wait for a table on busy nights. The bar has
live music and you can still order any of the famous starters. In
fact, for an easy way to experience it without the wait, get a table
in the patio, order lots of Bahama-rita's, and pile of appetizers
to share (the coconut shrimp and onion rings are the most popular),
and you will be set for a great night out!
Another great place for food and drinks is the Orlando
Ale House, just one mile north of Vineland Ave on 535 (at the
start of the back entrance road to WDW). Cheap food and cheap drinks
- dare you ask for more?
As you would expect, shopping is excellent all around the area.
It's easy to find bargains on virtually anything at the malls and
outlets all a short drive from The Commons and Chatham Square. A
favorable exchange rate makes most purchases in Florida considerably
cheaper than they would be back home.
The best deals are found at the myriad of outlet malls that surround
the resort areas. The largest of which is the Belz
Factory Outlets, which is at the top of I-Drive. The closest
is the Orlando
Premium Outlets, which is amazingly enough, a five minute walk
from the complexes!
The locals tend to shop along the East Colonial corridor, which
is a fair drive into Orlando, but has a lot of the bigger stores.
The malls in the area include Pointe
Orlando, Florida
Mall, West
Oaks Mall, and the Mall
at Millenia, which feature the typical American mall store selections,
such as Abercrombie and Fitch,
Gap, Banana Republic, and Express. The Orlando
Retail Guide offers a more comprehensive listing of local shops.
For groceries and house wares, you have a few choices, but most
people shop at Wal-Mart, Target or Publix. The closest Wal-Mart
Supercenters are on 192 in Kissimmee next to Medieval Times
(open 24 hours) and 1471 East Osceola Parkway (open 24 Hours). The
closest SuperTarget is 2155
Town Center Blvd (Orange Blossom Trail & Town Center Blvd).
The closest Publix is located
just northeast of The Commons on Vineland Ave. Avoid Gooding's at
all costs (tourist trap).
The Dynamic-buses that provide transport to-and from work also
have a route, the H-route, that takes you to Wal-Mart. New in 2005
is that the route goes to Florida Mall on special days of each month.
See the transportation plan for details.
<Submitted by Livar>
- Andy Saito. Last Update 2005-01
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