What to Do in Orlando

Cycsk

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For those of you unfamiliar with Orlando, it is a great location for a bowl game. However, it is more spread out and extensive than San Antonio and it has way more entertainment options. Here are a few thoughts from my experience on several trips thereover the years. Hope this thread will serve as a place for those with Questions to meet those with Answers.

1. The main tourist zone is along I-4 with Universal Studios on the north, the Convention Center and Sea World on the south, and Disney on the far South.
2. International Drive and Universal Blvd. essentially run parallel to each other and are the two main tourist routes (with trolleys). This area was built to handle tourists and people attending conventions. There are tons of hotels and attractions. https://www.internationaldriveorlando.com/50-ways-to-have-fun/. A new one that I might try is Andretti Indoor Racing (calling out @isufbcurt).
3. The Convention Center for the Cyclones Unplugged event is huge (much bigger than you think and way bigger than it looks). Our event will be big, but take up only a fraction of the facility.
4. The Hyatt Regency for the CF charter is right next to the Convention Center.
5. The Gridiron Club event at Marlow's in Pointe Orlando is just north on International Drive from the Hyatt.
6. There are nice areas of nightlife near, but not in the amusement parts (no admission fee required), such as Universal CityWalk https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/theme-parks/citywalk and Disney Downtown https://disneyland.disney.go.com/destinations/downtown-disney-district/.
7. You can often get free parking if you go to an establishment near the parking garage and get your ticket validated.
8. The Camping World Stadium is north of Universal on I-4 toward downtown. I've heard that there is a lot of construction, so bear that in mind for your transportation. I'll give the details I have in another post.
9. The Amway Center for the Magic/Sixers game is not too far from the Camping World Bowl, so if you go to the game on Friday night, you can scope out the football stadium too.
10. There are tons of things to do outside of the main tourist area. For instance, there is a small man-made lake with waterskiiing pulls and jumps. Or my favorite, go on an airboat ride in an alligator-infested swamp. Get the craziest driver and tip him early in order to have a great time.

Well, that should get the conversation started.
 
Here is what a local told me about traffic for the stadium:

Downtown is north of the tourist area, so, it's a bit different. The bowl is right in downtown so not a lot of space. Also, Orlando builds first then worries about transportation and logistics later. Just to give you a heads up. The GPS will more than likely have you take I-4. It's under construction and some of the new exits or exit changes are not showing up on GPS yet. For example, a main exit is Colonial Drive / SR 50. Last Sunday it moved from being a right side exit to left side exit and is 1 mile farther east. Still not showing up on some GPS apps and it's causing a huge mess. So, before you leave the hotel look at the route and the exit street. Look for the sign for the exit street in addition to listening to GPS when you're driving in. Exits and lanes change on a daily basis. There's a few stretches with no lane lines, which makes it even more exciting. One benefit is that it will be way less crowded on Saturday. Also, some of the local roads will close on game days for pedestrian traffic. Getting there the earlier the better.
 
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We'd just like to get to places where lots of Cyclones will be. My sis in law lives about 2.5 hours south of Orlando and she mentioned something about the areas near the amusement parks but not inside might not be bad.

What about a parade and pep rally?
 
What about a parade and pep rally?


Gridiron Club member reception (Friday 2:30pm) at Marlow's in Pointe Orlando (right next to the pep rally location).
https://cyclonegridironclub.com/orlando

Pep rally (Friday 4pm) at Pointe Orlando on International Drive at 4pm Friday
https://www.isualum.org/s/565/17/in...728&ecid=7728&crid=0&calpgid=5560&calcid=7724

Cyclones Unplugged (Friday 7 to 11pm) at the Convention Center on International Drive.
https://www.isualum.org/s/565/17/in...=7745&ecid=7745&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=3816
 
We'd just like to get to places where lots of Cyclones will be. My sis in law lives about 2.5 hours south of Orlando and she mentioned something about the areas near the amusement parks but not inside might not be bad.


See #6 in the OP. University CityWalk and Disney Downtown.
 
We'd just like to get to places where lots of Cyclones will be. My sis in law lives about 2.5 hours south of Orlando and she mentioned something about the areas near the amusement parks but not inside might not be bad.

What about a parade and pep rally?
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Take note that it says "South Concourse" for the Convention Center. On Google maps, this shows it "west" of the Hyatt and across the street from the other big section of the Convention Center. Like I said above, this place is huge (in two huge parts on opposite sides of International Drive). Give yourself some time to walk. Hopefully they will have good signage and people giving directions.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/O...c8c694cf28ee4e!8m2!3d28.4277355!4d-81.4621316
 
I talked to the owner of Bloodhounds Brewery (a mile or so north of Universal). It is near, but off-the-path of tourists. Sounds like a great place for CF-ers to come watch the Friday night games. He said he would save their party room for us. So, for any of you that would rather watch the Hoks lose than listen to the Spazmatics, this is the place for you.

https://www.bloodhoundbrew.com/
 
NASA about an hour from the airport and is a great place to visit, with numerous spacecraft (including the shuttle) on display.
 
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I've heard from someone who is downtown Orlando asking where the Cyclone fans are. Orlando is a big place with huge capacity for tourism, conventions, and business. It won't be like San Antonio where everything was so concentrated.

The highest concentration of Cyclone fans will probably be in the tourist/convention areas along International Drive, particularly toward the Convention Center. It certainly will be the focus of attention on Friday with the Gridiron Club and pep rally at Pointe Orlando on International Drive, then the Cyclones Unplugged event at the Convention Center on Friday night.
 
When I lived there 15+ years ago, downtown (Wall Street area) used to be a great place.
Depending on how long people are in town, I definitely second the NASA excursion.
Better yet, take a few extra days & stay out on the Space Coast.
Lots of great beach towns - New Smyrna, Cocoa, Melbourne, Sebastian Inlet.
If you're relegated to O-town but have transportation, I stayed up in Winter Park, near the UCF campus, & the UCF SuperTarget was a great place if you're into really attractive co-eds.
Regardless, enjoy the Floriduh! weather &, as always, GO STATE!