As an American child growing up in East coast suburbs, Orlando, Florida was always magical and mythic Valhalla of fun and wonder. I remember realizing that Disney World was in the same city as Universal Studios, which I realized from watching Double Dare on Nickelodeon and hearing at the end of every episode that Marc Summers' slime-fest game show was taped in front of a live studio audience at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. At some point, I think it was while watching Carmen San Diego, I found out that Sea World was there as well. Wait a minute, I remember thinking as a small child who watched far too many game shows aimed at elementary school children, all of the best amusement parks/pieces of heaven are in the same city? What is this magical place? And, Mom and Dad, why have you not taken me there?
Over the years I've been to Orlando a few times, and of course it is a real city, not just the most expensive playground of all time. You can actually stay in Orlando Hotels
and enjoy the city, instead of choosing some crazy expensive themed resort on Disney property.
It turns out that there are lots of other things to do in Orlando as well, besides the big three amusement parks. You can enjoy Orlando on a variety of budgets. There’s a place called Gatorland, which I remember being awesome and terrifying as a kid. There’s also Holy Land, which is a biblical themed amusement park. Any kind of theme park you want, you can find in Orlando.