Vacation Orlando

As a family vacation destination, you just can’t do much better than Orlando, Florida.  Not only are there theme parks (including our favorite, the world-renowned Walt Disney World), but there are also wonderful restaurants, exciting excursions and plenty of activities for people of all ages.  This is why we continue to go back year after year—there is always something new to see or do!  We found some great destinations this year and hope you’ll consider visiting some of them the next time you plan a family vacation.

For the first two nights of our trip, we stayed at the Liki Tiki Village Resort, which is only minutes from Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal.  The resort features 64 acres of lush landscape with a Polynesian theme. 

Liki Tiki Village is the perfect place for a relaxed family vacation with two expansive, heated pools and Liki Tiki Lagoon, a 1.5 acre, 220,000 gallon water ‘playscape’ that features a rolling wave pool, five water slides, an erupting volcano, a waterfall, a toddler’s area and a dancing fountain.  The lagoon also has lounging areas, a volleyball court and a children’s playground.  Health-conscious visitors will appreciate the indoor, air-conditioned fitness center as well as the basketball, volleyball and tennis courts that are available (and equipment is provided at no cost).

We had a great time at the Lagoon Water Adventure, paddled around the resort’s lake on a paddle boat and played some mini golf.  This would be the perfect place for a family who had kids ages 5-10 as the kids could entertain themselves for hours at the Lagoon while the adults could have some time to relax and read or take in some sun by the pool.

However, our favorite part of Liki Tiki was our room!  It was huge with a nice-sized living room, separate room for the kids and a master suite that had one of the coolest showers we’ve ever seen.  Liki Tiki is perfect for extended stays because it had a full sized kitchen and washer and dryer—no need to go out to eat every day and you can pack fewer clothes!  We really enjoyed relaxing in our beautiful room before and after we were done with activities for the day and would recommend Liki Tiki for any family who wants room to spread out and especially those with younger kids who can have a ball at the on-site water adventure.

On the first full day of our vacation, we booked an airboat ride at Boggy Creek Airboat Rides in Kissimmee, which is about half an hour from the Liki Tiki Resort.  Margie and Chris Long started Boggy Creek Airboat Rides as the original airboat company in Central Florida with just one six-passenger airboat in 1994. At that time it was unheard of to stay in the Orlando area and take an airboat ride. The Florida Everglades in south Florida are known worldwide as the location to go out on an airboat tour. It took years of talking to journalists, travel agents and customers to open up the awareness that the headwaters to the Florida Everglades actually start right in Orlando. They were able to finally make visitors realize that with their few precious vacation days Boggy Creek's central location still gives them a chance to see the "Real Florida" only minutes from Orlando's attractions. 

The airboat ride combines both the relaxation and viewing enjoyment of an idle ride down a natural canal to look at wildlife and the excitement of flying through the swamps at up to 45 miles per hour (the kids’ favorite, of course!).  Ride options include 30 minute rides on a 17-person airboat, 45-minute rides on a 6-person airboat and one hour night airboat rides.

During our 45 minute private tour, we were lucky enough to see a whole family of alligators, which was amazing!  After the ride, we also got to hold 3-year-old alligators and get our pictures taken with them, which the kids especially loved.  This is such a fun way to see the Everglades and we would definitely recommend it if you have time to make your way to Boggy Creek for a ride!

One of our favorite places we’ve ever eaten at in Florida was Celebration Town Tavern, which is located in the amazing town of Celebration (about 30 minutes from downtown Orlando in northwest Osceola County).  Celebration is a planned community that is probably one of the most perfect little towns you’ll ever see.  It has about 9,000 residents and around 4,000 homes and condominiums, each one unique and designed by world-renowned architects to make the town exciting and beautiful. 

Celebration Town Tavern serves the town as both a restaurant and bar (and the town’s social hub) and it’s just wonderful.  The owners are an extremely nice couple from the Boston area who have been in the restaurant business for years, serving New England-style cuisine.  After successfully operating restaurants in Boston and Fort Lauderdale, they relocated to Celebration after winning a lottery that gave them opportunity to live in the town.  We were so impressed by the couple’s hospitality coupled with the relaxing yet classy atmosphere and of course the wonderful food!  The Tavern proudly offers 99 different varieties of beer, as well as menu options like Maine Lobster Rolls, Ipswich clams, fresh sea scallops, linguini with meatballs, shrimp scampi, Blackened Pacific Mahi sandwich, Philly cheese steak and BBQ baby back ribs.  If you love seafood (like me) or you’re more of a meat eater (like my family), you’ll really find something you love here.

Whether you’re looking for lobster, burgers, steaks or some homemade Boston Cream Pie, Celebration Town Tavern won’t let you down!

iFly Orlando • 6805 Visitors Circle • Orlando, Florida (407) 903-1150

Simply put, iFLY is flying; you will soar on a column of air inside a vertical wind tunnel. SkyVenture is the world leader and most experienced company when it comes to vertical wind tunnels. iFLY uses superior technology and is unique; multiple fans located at the top of the flight chamber produce a wall-to-wall airflow that is smooth and fun to fly in. The air flow is totally controllable; this, combined with our professional instructors, makes for the most exciting flight experience possible.

You do not need any previous experience for iFly. Their training class will give you all the fundamentals and the complete gear you need is included.  Skydivers love freefall because it's the closest possible thing to true human flight. Now everyone can experience the same exhilaration, in a safe environment, in full view of family and friends!

Everything that you need for a flight experience is waiting for you at iFLY. No experience is needed, just a sense of adventure and a yearning for the supreme personal flight experience. The innovative sport of body flight is always new and always exciting. In an iFLY wind tunnel you are able to fly your body in a controlled manner.

This isn’t a ride or simulator—you are actually flying!!  Since no one in our family has actually experienced skydiving, this was especially exciting for us and I would recommend it to anyone who has ever considered skydiving or anyone who just enjoys adrenaline-charge, exciting activities!  Keep in mind you must wear tennis shoes and pants or shorts (no skirts or dresses!).  I would also recommend those with long hair to braid it if possible as the high velocity winds will tangle it while you fly!

Our family was especially impressed with the vast array of fresh fruits (many of which you hardly ever see here in Nebraska) and gourmet cheeses.  We also thought the service was top-notch, especially for a buffet when you don’t normally see such attentive service. 

We visited Solaris for brunch, which was perfect, but they also serve lunch and dinner.  We’re sure any of these meal times would be excellent at Solaris!

Disney World is one of our favorite places in Orlando and we always seem to find something new when we go there.  The enormous theme park is made up of Epcot Center, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios as well as the water parks Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.  We can’t wait until Angela’s little girl goes with us as she will really enjoy Animal and Magic Kingdom, but my kids are older and gravitate more toward Hollywood Studios, so this is where we spent the majority of our time.  Our favorite rides are the Rock N’ Roll Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror, which are just as fun and exciting for the adults as they are for the kids!

Disney really promotes their Park Hopper pass, which is good if you want to visit more than one theme park in a day.  However, I probably wouldn’t recommend this for families with younger kids as it will probably be too much activity to try to pack into a day and you might be better off just visiting one park a day and experiencing all it has to offer rather than trying to rush off and see another one.

I really recommend a few different things for when you go to Disney (I learned these the hard way!).  The first is to wear comfortable shoes.  This is not a place where you should worry about looking nice—you’ll regret it!  I always wear athletic shoes when we go as you do a lot of walking and standing and any sort of sandals will start bothering you after a few hours.  The second bit of advice is to pack some snacks and drinks with you.  It’s always a nice experience to have a meal or two at one of the fun restaurants in Disney, but if you have to buy every single snack and drink, your vacation budget will be depleted pretty quickly!  Save that money for nice meals or for souvenirs that you can take home with you when you leave.