Orlando, Florida
As Florida’s third-largest metropolitan area, the principal city of Greater Orlando, and the seat of Orange County, Florida, Orlando is an extremely important city to the state. To the average person, though, the city is most well-known for its huge amount of tourist attractions, drawing over 52 million visitors every year.
Also known as “The City Beautiful”, Orlando’s history dates back to 1837, when a soldier named Orlando Reeves died in the area during the war with the Seminole Indians. Settlers found his name etched into a tree and began to refer to the area as “Orlando’s Grave”, later just Orlando. The Reconstruction Era after the Civil War brought the city its first population boom, and this sort of boom continued during the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. The most important event for Orlando’s economy in the modern times was the creation of Walt Disney World, which brings millions of tourists to the area each year.
The climate in Orlando is a warm and humid subtropical climate with two distinct seasons during the year. From May until October, the hot and rainy season takes place, when temperatures hover between the mid 70s and the high 90s throughout the day. The winter season takes place the rest of the year, and temperatures drop to the 60s, with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. About 50 inches of rainfall is common annually in Orlando.
Orlando’s culture is characterized by a large Latino population, especially those of Puerto Rican descent. Spanish music is commonly featured on Orlando radio stations, and there are plenty of Puerto Rican restaurants. Orlando has an even larger African-American population, as well as a thriving pocket of Vietnamese people. The mix of these cultures makes Orlando a quite the melting pot.
As far as entertainment and tourism go Orlando boasts a bustling music scene, plenty of performance art with a substantial theater population, several of important museums, and, of course, Walt Disney World.
Family Travel Destinations in Orlando, FL
Tags: family travel, fl, Florida, orlando, theme parks, tropical
James Carter Says:
December 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
My family and I stayed at a wonderful resort in Orlando. Mike Ditka’s Runaway Beach Club, I didn’t even know he was affiliated with resorts. It was a great place to stay. They have a great kids pool and an indoor basketball court. My daughter who is six loved to feed the ducks in the lagoon which wraps around the pool area and the club house. The rooms seamed huge compared to normal hotel rooms, with a washer and dryer in the room as well as a full kitchen and living room. We had so much space we didn’t want to leave. I recommend them to anyone wanting a get away in Orlando.