Orlando is often synonymous with the word Disney.  Of course, it’s the place you go where dream come true, kids frolic around like they are in heaven and those of us without kids get annoyed.  Being a single woman in my early 30’s with no kids, Disney just doesn’t do it for me right now.  I’ve done Epcot, Disneyland and Universal Studios.  I want something more.  It’s time I hit up the parts of Orlando that us big kids can enjoy.

Just a 45 minute jaunt down the road from Orlando is the Kennedy Space Center.  I was lucky enough earlier this year to be in town for the launch of the Endeavour (even though it was delayed 3 times) and to see it live and in person.  What an awesome thing.  Sure, astronauts and shuttles are cool, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that the space shuttle fleet will be going away in 2010.  We’ll have to wait another 4 years before we get to see the launch of the replacement craft, the Orion.  So, I’d love the opportunity to see another launch before the program goes away—perhaps from one of the side roads where you can actually feel the ground shake.  The power of a space shuttle is beyond what any of us can imagine.

One theme park that I never got the chance to go to in Orlando is Sea World.  I don’t know if it has always been this way, but it’s not just aquariums anymore.  They’ve turned it into a theme park with roller coasters and small villages of food as well.  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s fascinating to me to watch the penguins on exhibit for an hour… or to touch a sting ray… or to marvel at the immense size of Shamu.  But getting in a few screams from the roller coasters (with way shorter lines than Great America ever has), keeps a gal young as well.

If you’ve been reading my blogs, you’ll find that I often like to pick a local brewery to go to… have to see if Lakefront stacks up against the rest of the nation.  In Orlando though, there’s a chain of restaurants with the name Miller’s Ale House.  Many of the restaurants have an open-aired bar area and the seafood on their menu was not only delicious, but reasonably priced.  Take the Seafood combo:  fried shrimp, scallops, fried clams and fish filet fried to perfection, served with cole slaw, hush puppies & choice of potato.  So what if I’ll gain 10 pounds after eating it?  It’ll taste fabulous. With a large slate of beers on tap to cater to most people’s pallets, I’d be up for stopping there again.  For that matter, I’d be up for stopping by Orlando again.  It’s not just a place for the kids anymore.