Florida Guide > Other Activities
Kissimmee Old Town
If you fancy going somewhere a little different while you are in Florida, you can’t do better than a trip to Kissimmee Old Town. On our last visit we were determined to see some of the places we hadn’t seen before & we had a great afternoon out. Old Town is a mixture of shops, restaurants, rides & attractions & is very easy to find. It is just off the I4 on Highway 192 in Kissimmee. Just look out for the giant Ferris wheel!
The central street is very pleasant to saunter down on a nice day; benches under the trees provide a welcome resting area. There are more than 70 different shops where its possible to find all types of clothing, jewellery, household items, gifts & collectibles in all price ranges. Great for shopping for souvenirs for the kids to take home but also some really original Floridian goods at excellent prices. We fell in love with some fabulous Alpaca rugs and really enjoyed watching the candle maker work & we could have spent hours in the all year round Christmas shop. The shops are so much more personal than the large malls & the prices are great. We even found that a lot of the shops are featured in the coupon booklets available all over Orlando so extra discounts are available.
We’d just had lunch but we saw plenty of different places to eat from traditional American diners to Chinese restaurants and for a quick snack there’s a variety of pretzel stalls, candy stores, ice cream parlours and coffee shops. If a cool beer is more up your street, try the Blue Max Tavern where there is also karaoke at times to keep you amused!
Old Town isn’t just about shopping & refreshments though, there are rides that all the family can enjoy! The smaller members of our party enjoyed the beautiful merry-go-round, small roller coaster & teacup ride. It was great fun watching the older members of the party try their hand at the Bucking Bronco and everyone loved the go-karts, but no one was brave enough (or should that be foolish enough?!) to try the Pharaoh’s Fury or the Old Town Slingshot – catapulting over 350 feet in the air only attached to bungee cords is not for the feint hearted!! The rides are quite reasonably priced and it is possible to buy a booklet of tickets if you plan to do a few rides & this also reduces the price.
It was unfortunate that we never made it back at nighttime. There is live entertainment every night and the special vehicle parades sound great! Thursday night is Bikers rally, Friday evening features custom built cars & trucks and live music from 7.30pm whereas Saturday features over 300 classic cars cruising through Old Town and live rock-n-roll 50’s style from 7.00pm. There’s no admission to Old Town and parking is free so this sounds like a terrific night out – really different & not too expensive.
We realised on this trip that there is so much more to Florida than just the parks & even though it is difficult to tear ourselves away from the pool side, we really must make more effort next time!!
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