25 things to do with out-of-towners in Orlando (that aren't theme parks)

By Orlando Weekly Staff on Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 5:31 pm

Once the handshakes and hugs are distributed, every holiday season visit from family and friends reveals the same question: what am I going to do with these people?

While staring at each other until you can draw each other's faces from memory is always an option, it's not necessary. Orlando is stuffed with entertainment options to keep in-laws and blood relatives alike out on the town and out of your hair. Even if you can't stomach a trip to the most magical adult daycare on Earth, there are plenty of fun attractions just waiting to fill the days that turkey and ham aren't on the menu.

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Cruise through Winter Park's canals

Scenic boat tours of Winter Park's waterways launch hourly starting at 10 a.m. every single day.

Photo via Winter Park Boat Tours

Give your wallet a workout

Sharp-elbowed shoppers can brave the Mall at Millenia and the Premium Outlet Malls, where parking is a bloodsport, but Winter Park's Park Avenue, Audubon Park's Corrine Drive or the tiny Milk District are more our shopping speed.

Milk District photo by Zac Alfson

Scope out manatees

The Blue Springs state park and manatee refuge is still a great place for finding Florida's most iconic animal. But they're having a really tough year, so don't bug 'em.

Photo via Adobe

Head to the Frontyard Festival

The Dr. Phillips Center's wildly successful COVID-19 workaround was extended into this December.

Photo by Matthew Keller Lehman

Get your glow on

Titusville's glowing bioluminescent lagoon has as much wow factor as Disney's fireworks.

Photo via BK Adventure

Paddleboard Lake Ivanhoe

A paddleboard is one of several ways to see Orlando's booming restaurant and bar district along Lake Ivanhoe.

Photo via Epic Paddle Adventures/Facebook

Bike Orlando's urban trails

Orlando is far from a biking mecca, but long-distance and urban trails are littered throughout the city for anyone who wants to pedal.

Photo via Bike Orlando

Use your feet to see some nature

While you're up and moving, why not take in the sights along the Black Bear Wilderness Loop Trail?

Photo via Florida Hikes

Take a stroll through Leu Gardens

You don't need to leave town to see green. Bonus points: This Orlando attraction goes all out on holiday lights when Dazzling Nights kicks off Nov. 19.

Photo via Leu Gardens

Get glassy-eyed in Winter Park

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art holds the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany. That's bragging rights, pal.

Photo via Morse Museum/Instagram

Mail your Christmas cards from Florida's weirdest town

There's a lot of competition for Florida's oddest place, but it's hard to beat Christmas, a permanent holiday zone just east of Orlando stuck between impoverished Bithlo and the Space Coast. Can't beat that postmark, though.

Photo via Adobe

Visit the animals at the Central Florida Zoo:

No one turns down an invitation to feed a giraffe. Or pet a rhino. Or gawk at a 40-year-old gopher tortoise.

Photo via Central Florida Zoo

Find some peace at Bok Tower Gardens

A trip to the Singing Tower at the heart of this Lake Wales sanctuary is a must-do, particularly if you have any aficionados of roadside attraction history in your family.

Photo via Bok Tower Gardens

Get your goth on at Greenwood Cemetery

Spooky season never ends if you keep the faith.

Photo via Adobe

Rev your engines

Visit the Big Daddy Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing — a few large rooms stuffed with racing memorabilia — and test your reflexes off the Christmas tree. (Not that kind of Christmas tree.)

Photo by Jessica Bryce Young

Take an airboat ride

As much as we try to build over it, the swamp persists. Take your Wisconsin uncle out to relive the credits of Miami Vice.

Photo via Adobe.

Take them up — way up

No hill, no problem: Wallaby Ranch lays claim to the title of "first fulltime aerotow hang gliding flight park in the world." For the nervous types, tandem flights are also available.

Photo via Wallaby Ranch

Count teeth at Gatorland

Gatorland has held on through seismic shifts in Central Florida because seeing a bunch of alligators snap up whole frozen chickens in a feeding frenzy is still awesome.

Photo via Gatorland

Go to the beach

While the temperature is less than ideal from the local point of view, a lack of crowds at Central Florida's sandy hotspots make it a near-perfect time for a visit. And your Ohio in-laws will strip down to their bikinis.

Photo via Adobe

Ride a dang swan boat

A sense of not-a-tourist pride might keep you away from Lake Eola's famous vessels most of the year. Take advantage of the cover provided by visitors to paddle out.

Photo via City of Orlando/Instagram