Florida Holidays and Travel Tips: Entertainment in Florida
ENTERTAINMENT IN CENTRAL FLORIDA Theme parks are just one of the many forms of entertainment available to tourists in Central Florida.
This region is home to a wide and varied assortment of theater, dance, and music venues, as well as popular nightspots and bars.
The classics are well represented in Orlando by the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orlando Opera, and the several classical music festivals held each year.
A thriving Shakespearean company caters to theater patrons, presenting world-class stage productions.
The annual Florida Film Festival brings independent movie-making closer to home, and offers a launch pad to student filmmakers from local universities who get the opportunity to screen their films alongside professionals.
Local theaters such as Enzian regularly showcase an array of art films.
Apart from the cultural activities, Orlando also offers nighttime entertainment with nightclubs and dinner shows in Downtown Disney, Universal CityWalk, and Downtown Orlando.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION The two most popular and reliable sources for current and new entertainment listings are the calendar sections of the Orlando Sentinel, which is included in Friday's edition of the daily paper, and the free Orlando Weekly, which is available on Thursdays.
Both can be accessed online as well.
You can also check the websites of MSN's City Guide as well as Digital City Orlando for any additional information.
THEATER Orlando has a surprisingly rich theater community, and a wide variety of offerings.
The not-to-miss event is the Orlando InternationalFringe Festival, which takes place in May each year.
The festival brings more than 60 companies from around the world together for an exciting ten days of almost continuous theatrical activities.
A wide range of productions as well as plays of every imaginable kind are showcased here.
The Bob Carr Performing Arts Center hosts a Broadway series of touring shows with productions such as TheProducers and Les Miserables.
With actors constantly drawn to Orlando for work at the theme parks, the local theater has a large pool of talent that organizes shows at the Mad Cow Theatre and the award-winning Theatre Downtown.
The Starlight Theater serves a dinner with a choice of four entrées along with performances of Broadway musicals.
The University of Central Florida, Rollins College, and Valencia Community College all have their own individual and unique theater programs.
The colleges have full seasons of productions that are open to the public.
At one time only a seasonal theater, the famous Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival now produces the classics throughout the year.
The theater has a state-of-the-art center with three indoor stages, but the late spring performances are generally held at the 900-seat outdoor Lake Eola Amphitheater, located in Downtown Orlando.
DINNER SHOWS Dinner theater is a popular concept in Central Florida.
You can partake of an appetizing dinner while watching an entertaining show.
Take a short trip into the Middle Ages as jousting knights fill the arena in front of you at the Pirates Dinner Adventure is a Broadway-style show alive with swashbuckling stunts and songs.
Arabian Nights Dinner Attraction is a show that combines magnificent Arabian stallions with gypsy stunt riders and a Wild West show.
The newest attraction in Orlando, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner & Show, is a country hoedown featuring animal races and Civil War rivalries with lots of music and dancing.
Disney is also home to two dinner shows with large-scale extravaganzas: Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at the Fort Wilderness Resort, with a country buffet and Western entertainment, and Disney's Spirit of Aloha, an evening of hula, fire dancing, and a luau feast at the popular Polynesian Resort.
CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT Apart from Mickey Mouse and the theme parks, there is plenty to entertain kids.
The DisneyQuest indoor interactive video arcade lets guests design and ride their own thrill ride.
Children learn how to draw Disney characters and can record CDs at the Radio Disney Song Maker.
The popular Gatorland, features 110 acres (44 ha) of live alligators, crocodiles, and scenes from Old Florida.
A highlight of the park is the Gator Jumparoo where the reptiles leap into the air to be fed by the trainers.
WonderWorks, set in an "upside-down" building on International Drive, has interactive science exhibits such as virtual roller coasters and a simulated earthquake.
CRUISES & BOAT TRIPS With thousands of lakes, rivers, springs, and swamps, Florida's waters are a prime source of entertainment.
One of the oldest continuing attractions is the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, a one-hour cruise through three lakes interconnected by 12 miles (19 km) of canals, which takes you past mansions and the sights of natural, unspoiled Florida.
Other boat tours in the area navigate beautiful Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee, up the north-flowing St.
Johns River on the Beresford Lady paddle wheeler, or along the vast Intracoastal Waterway that separates Daytona from the Florida mainland.
Trips on an authentic Florida airboat guide sightseers along ancient swampland, and dayboats can be hired out of Port Canaveral for fishing trips.
This region is home to a wide and varied assortment of theater, dance, and music venues, as well as popular nightspots and bars.
The classics are well represented in Orlando by the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orlando Opera, and the several classical music festivals held each year.
A thriving Shakespearean company caters to theater patrons, presenting world-class stage productions.
The annual Florida Film Festival brings independent movie-making closer to home, and offers a launch pad to student filmmakers from local universities who get the opportunity to screen their films alongside professionals.
Local theaters such as Enzian regularly showcase an array of art films.
Apart from the cultural activities, Orlando also offers nighttime entertainment with nightclubs and dinner shows in Downtown Disney, Universal CityWalk, and Downtown Orlando.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION The two most popular and reliable sources for current and new entertainment listings are the calendar sections of the Orlando Sentinel, which is included in Friday's edition of the daily paper, and the free Orlando Weekly, which is available on Thursdays.
Both can be accessed online as well.
You can also check the websites of MSN's City Guide as well as Digital City Orlando for any additional information.
THEATER Orlando has a surprisingly rich theater community, and a wide variety of offerings.
The not-to-miss event is the Orlando InternationalFringe Festival, which takes place in May each year.
The festival brings more than 60 companies from around the world together for an exciting ten days of almost continuous theatrical activities.
A wide range of productions as well as plays of every imaginable kind are showcased here.
The Bob Carr Performing Arts Center hosts a Broadway series of touring shows with productions such as TheProducers and Les Miserables.
With actors constantly drawn to Orlando for work at the theme parks, the local theater has a large pool of talent that organizes shows at the Mad Cow Theatre and the award-winning Theatre Downtown.
The Starlight Theater serves a dinner with a choice of four entrées along with performances of Broadway musicals.
The University of Central Florida, Rollins College, and Valencia Community College all have their own individual and unique theater programs.
The colleges have full seasons of productions that are open to the public.
At one time only a seasonal theater, the famous Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival now produces the classics throughout the year.
The theater has a state-of-the-art center with three indoor stages, but the late spring performances are generally held at the 900-seat outdoor Lake Eola Amphitheater, located in Downtown Orlando.
DINNER SHOWS Dinner theater is a popular concept in Central Florida.
You can partake of an appetizing dinner while watching an entertaining show.
Take a short trip into the Middle Ages as jousting knights fill the arena in front of you at the Pirates Dinner Adventure is a Broadway-style show alive with swashbuckling stunts and songs.
Arabian Nights Dinner Attraction is a show that combines magnificent Arabian stallions with gypsy stunt riders and a Wild West show.
The newest attraction in Orlando, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner & Show, is a country hoedown featuring animal races and Civil War rivalries with lots of music and dancing.
Disney is also home to two dinner shows with large-scale extravaganzas: Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at the Fort Wilderness Resort, with a country buffet and Western entertainment, and Disney's Spirit of Aloha, an evening of hula, fire dancing, and a luau feast at the popular Polynesian Resort.
CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT Apart from Mickey Mouse and the theme parks, there is plenty to entertain kids.
The DisneyQuest indoor interactive video arcade lets guests design and ride their own thrill ride.
Children learn how to draw Disney characters and can record CDs at the Radio Disney Song Maker.
The popular Gatorland, features 110 acres (44 ha) of live alligators, crocodiles, and scenes from Old Florida.
A highlight of the park is the Gator Jumparoo where the reptiles leap into the air to be fed by the trainers.
WonderWorks, set in an "upside-down" building on International Drive, has interactive science exhibits such as virtual roller coasters and a simulated earthquake.
CRUISES & BOAT TRIPS With thousands of lakes, rivers, springs, and swamps, Florida's waters are a prime source of entertainment.
One of the oldest continuing attractions is the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, a one-hour cruise through three lakes interconnected by 12 miles (19 km) of canals, which takes you past mansions and the sights of natural, unspoiled Florida.
Other boat tours in the area navigate beautiful Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee, up the north-flowing St.
Johns River on the Beresford Lady paddle wheeler, or along the vast Intracoastal Waterway that separates Daytona from the Florida mainland.
Trips on an authentic Florida airboat guide sightseers along ancient swampland, and dayboats can be hired out of Port Canaveral for fishing trips.