With nearly 60 million annual visitors, Orlando is the country's leading tourist destination. About two-thirds of those tourists come for leisure, according to Visit Orlando. Most people immediately think of Disney World and Universal Studios, but the city has plenty of other attractions and cultural offerings. If you bring the kids, four children's museums within the city limits offer fun, education, stimulation and an escape from the long lines and bustling crowds at the theme parks.
The Orlando Science Center first opened in 1960 in the city's cultural center, Loch Haven Park, an expansive green space filled with museums and theaters. Hundreds of permanent interactive exhibits and large-scale temporary exhibits teach children of all ages about the sciences. This multilevel kids' museum lets the little ones see live alligators and turtles, catch a planetarium show, check out life-size dinosaur skeletons, dig for fossils, learn about electricity and magnetism, and climb in a tree house.
Children learn all about Orlando, Orange County and Central Florida history at the Orange County Regional History Center, right in the heart of downtown. The museum, which first opened in 1942, takes families back through 12,000 years of local history. Several floors of exhibits inform visitors about the area's geography, natural environment, early indigenous people, the first arrival of Europeans, pioneer days, cattle and citrus industries, role in aviation history and more.
WonderWorks is on International Drive, an attraction-studded street that's part of the city's Tourist Corridor. Children and adults alike are intrigued before they even walk in when they see the massive upside-down building. Inside, more than 100 hands-on exhibits entertain and educate about the sciences. Everyone in the family can experience hurricane-force winds and an earthquake; turn into a human lighting rod; explore the intricacies of light and sound; learn about space; participate in science-based physical challenges; and tackle mind-boggling puzzles.
Ripley's Believe It or Not Orlando is just a few blocks down from WonderWorks on International Drive. Instead of being upside-down, this entire10,000-square-foot museum oddities looks from the outside like it's being swallowed by a giant sinkhole. While there are 20 or so Ripley's locations in the U.S. and other international locations, this is a unique stop in the Orlando area. It features 16 galleries of relics and exhibits about the weird and wild, including shrunken heads, midgets and giants, and a vampire-slaying kit.
