The parks are why you came. The springs are why you stay another day.
Which park ticket covers what, what half an hour over the saw grass costs, and where the water runs clear enough to see the bottom from a kayak. Reviews of every tour and ticket you can book in Orlando.
A marsh, a spring run, a park gate and a launch pad.
The four bookings a first Orlando week usually hangs off. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The wild half hourFlorida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional LunchFlat-bottomed boat, a foot of water and alligators close enough to count. Take an early departure, before the wind puts chop on the open lakes.
02The clear-water morningRock Springs 2-Hour Glass Bottom Guided Kayak Eco TourGlass-bottom kayaks down Rock Springs Run, seventy-two degrees whatever the month. Weekday launch slots go first.
03The park daySeaWorld Orlando: Park Admission TicketCoasters on one side, the tanks on the other, and a whole day inside one gate. A dated ticket beats a walk-up price every time.
04The morning at the CapeKennedy Space Center with Transport from Orlando and KissimmeeRockets standing outside, the Atlantis orbiter indoors and a bus out towards the pads, with the coach from Orlando included.
Park ticket, attraction pass, or one big day inside a fence.
Orlando sells admission a dozen ways and the gap between them runs to hundreds of dollars a family. Three kinds of gate, what it costs to walk through each one, and what is waiting on the other side.
Orlando stops at the county line. Central Florida does not.
Kissimmee at the south end of the parks, brick streets and a lake chain in Winter Park, spring runs an hour north and the launch pads an hour east. Six places within a morning’s drive, and the best day out in each.
The marsh begins where the resorts stop.
Airboats out over the saw grass on Lake Toho and the Kissimmee chain, gator parks with a drive-through safari attached, and manatees that move into the warm spring runs the week the first cold front reaches the peninsula.
Seventy-two degrees all year, an hour from International Drive.
Rock Springs Run, Rainbow, Silver and the Winter Park chain: clear-bottom kayaks over limestone, cypress knees, turtles and the occasional otter. In summer the same boats go out after dark, when the water lights up under the paddle.
Every day on the water →
The Orlando days out more people book than any other.
Every Orlando tour and ticket →Park gates, airboats and spring runs. These are the ones that fill up first, and what each of them costs.
1
Florida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional Lunch
Review of Wild Florida’s Orlando airboat tour, wildlife park, optional barbecue lunch, pricing, tips, guides, and what to expect.
From · $37
Read our review →
2
Rock Springs 2-Hour Glass Bottom Guided Kayak Eco Tour
from $115
3
I-Ride Trolley Hop-on Hop-off Pass
from $6
4
SeaWorld Orlando: Park Admission Ticket
from $87
5
Everglades Airboat Ride and Wildlife Park Ticket
from $36
6
LEGOLAND Florida Theme Park Admission Tickets
from $57
7
Universal Orlando Resort Theme Park Tickets
from $146
8
Fun Spot America Theme Parks – Orlando
from $68
What a day out in Orlando actually costs.
Everything on the site, grouped by price. A good number of the best Central Florida days come in under the price of lunch inside a park.
Airboat half-hours, aquarium and exhibition entry, trolley passes and the I-Drive attractions.
The full days out: park admission, glass-bottom kayak runs, the Space Center with coach transport.
Private charters, helicopter flights and the multi-park tickets that cover a whole week.
Four Orlando bookings that will not wait.
Most of this city can be sorted from a hotel lobby the night before. These four run on dated tickets, a launch schedule, a moon calendar and the weather three states north.
- 01Kennedy Space Center with Transport from Orlando and KissimmeeBus routes towards the pads close on launch days and the whole complex can shut for a scrub. Dates move, so book one you are allowed to change.
- 02Florida Bioluminescent Kayak & Paddle Board AdventureThe glow needs warm water and a dark sky, so the season runs June to October and the trips cluster around each new moon. Summer weekend slots go weeks out.
- 03Universal Orlando Resort Theme Park TicketsPark admission is dated. The cheap days are the ones you choose in advance; buying at the turnstile on the morning costs the most.
- 04Silver Springs Clear Kayak Manatee, Monkey & Wildlife AdventuresManatees are only in the spring runs from about November to March. Outside that window the same operator is running an ordinary paddle.
Central Florida rains at four o’clock most summer afternoons.
From June to September a thunderstorm builds over the middle of the peninsula almost daily, arrives mid-afternoon and is gone within the hour. The trick is to plan around it rather than against it: everything outdoors early, then a roof over your head — a tank, an exhibition hall, a locked room with a puzzle in it.
Orlando eats at a theatre table.
Dinner here arrives with jousting knights, a pirate galleon or a Cirque stage, and International Drive keeps going long after the parks have emptied out. Ghost walks leave from the downtown blocks; a few boats push off onto the lakes at sunset.
- 12 HR Interactive Walking Ghost Tour in Downtown Orlandofrom $77
- 2Drawn to Life presented by Cirque du Soleil and Disneyfrom $76
- 3Pirates Adventure Dinner Show with Drinksfrom $80
Three things that only happen in Central Florida.
Coasters and water parks exist everywhere. A flat-bottomed boat crossing a foot of marsh, a lagoon that flashes blue in July and a herd of manatees wintering in a limestone spring do not.
The Airboat Ride
An airboat carries nothing below the waterline, which is how it crosses a marsh a foot deep at forty miles an hour and slides straight over the weed beds. Captains cut the engine in the shallows and let the hull drift while the gators surface alongside. Early departures are the calm ones: by mid-afternoon the sea breeze has pushed chop across the open lakes and the ride turns into a wet one.
- 1Florida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,576 reviews
- 2Everglades Airboat Ride and Wildlife Park Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,459 reviews
- 390 minute Everglades Airboat Tour near Orlando Florida★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,222 reviews
Water That Glows
From June into October the plankton in the Indian River lagoon flash blue whenever the water is disturbed, so every paddle stroke drags a streak of light behind it. Trips launch after dark and are timed to the nights either side of a new moon, when there is no moonlight to wash the glow out. August dates go weeks ahead.
- 1Florida Bioluminescent Kayak & Paddle Board Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 178 reviews
- 2LED Glow in the Dark Clear Kayak or Paddleboard in Paradise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 157 reviews
- 3Bioluminescence Clear Kayak or Paddleboard Tour Near Orlando★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 145 reviews
Manatee Season
Manatees cannot hold their body heat in water much under sixty-eight degrees, so when the first cold front pushes down the peninsula they crowd into the spring runs, which sit at seventy-two whatever the air is doing. November to March is the window, and the clear kayaks launch at first light, before the wind ruffles the surface.
- 1Everglades Airboat Ride and Wildlife Park Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,459 reviews
- 2Silver Springs Clear Kayak Manatee, Monkey & Wildlife Adventures★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 419 reviews
- 3Clear Kayak or Paddleboard Manatee Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 344 reviews
By place — the metro and the drives out
By kind of day — gate, marsh, spring or stage
The newest Orlando tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Urban Clear Kayak or Paddleboard in Paradise: Morning/Night
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Universal Orlando Resort: Halloween Horror Nights
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Silver Springs Jungle Kayaking and Paddleboarding
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Orlando Airport MCO Shuttle to Lake Buena Vista Resort Area
Read our review →
Gatorland Zipline Adventure w/ Full-Day Park Access
Read our review →
Waterski Wakeboard and Tubing Charter from Lake Buena Vista Area
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Village Bicycle Rental Free Delivery in The Villages Florida
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Kissimmee and St. Cloud Beach Tour on All Electric Trike (4 hrs.)
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