Orlando: Off-Season & On a Budget

• January
• 25

10:58 am Uncategorized

Stumbling into the last open restaurant on the street, our arrival was greeted with surprise and appreciation. The waitress showed us to a table, although aside from the manager counting the takings, the restaurant was deserted. We looked across at the fully-stocked, admittedly very appealing buffet, next to a faded picture of a distant mountain range. I felt the familiar pangs of sympathy I experienced wandering into an empty country pub back in the UK. Then I remembered that we were sitting on the main drag of the world’s tourist capital – Orlando, Florida. The restaurant started to fill up.

Orlando in November is, initially at least, an unusual place. Provincial charm sits uncomfortably with global glamour, as innumerable dollar stores and dimly-lit diners sit in the shadow of Universal Studios’ dizzying attractions. On the other hand, the lack of fellow tourists and slower pace means that in two weeks, you can take everything in. Orlando isn’t the world’s most popular tourist city for nothing. From the sprawling, immaculate Disney World resort to the mini golf courses on

, there is an incredible amount of things to do, and fun to be had. The Best Western hotel just off the main street was also clean and spacious, with everything from an outdoor pool to a fully-stocked convenience store.

Restaurants are plentiful and incredibly cheap. The best on I-Drive – Sizzler and Cici’s Pizza stood out for me – offer unlimited everything for barely the cost of a bus ride back in Britain. And then there’s the theme parks. I would challenge anyone not to be enthralled by the likes of Disney’s Animal Kingdom at any time of year, but walking onto the world’s greatest rollercoasters is a sign you’re on a great holiday. Universal’s sister park, Islands of Adventure is also a must for those travelling without kids – it packs half a dozen exhilarating rollercoasters into a compact site that’s miles from the bustling, more family-orientated Disney World.

Orlando may have lost some of its lustre compared with its 90s heyday, and travel critics have been keen to undermine the resort in recent years. A Florida guidebook at the airport chose to devote a single line to I-Drive, a three-mile stretch of malls, restaurants and theme parks unlike anywhere else in the world. It suggests that, for a taste of the real Florida, you should head to Orlando’s suburbs, which surely is missing the point spectacularly. Orlando’s tourist boulevards may be artificial, but there are glimpses of the real America everywhere; certainly enough to make me want to explore this enormous country further. I’m sure I will return to Orlando, and that however its status waxes and wanes in the meantime, I will have just as good a time. Fun, it seems, just doesn’t go out of fashion.

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