Adult Fun In Downtown Orlando
February 19, 2018 4:46 PM Subscribe
Mrs Ashtray Elvis and myself have some time to spend in Downtown Orlando...by ourselves. We need a place to stay, cool paces to eat and stuff to do.
We have 48 hours, no car and would preferably like to walk where possible but are open to stuff further afield.
There seems to be some information out there but most centers around the theme parks.
A little further afield, but wonderful: The Maitland Art Center's chapel (it's a garden, more than a building) features ornate work in bas relief concrete, including a really lovely black Madonna. The museum is nice too, but I adore that chapel. It's also haunted, but the ghost is chill so no worries.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:31 PM on February 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:31 PM on February 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Orlando is great. Downtown is full of hipsters and a strong LGBTQ presence. I'd recommend walks around the neighorhood of Lake Eola, Thornton Park--cute bricked streets and awesome bungolow architecture . Really good asian food in the Mills 50 neighborhood. Actually a cajun Vietnamese place was one of my most memorable meals I've had in last year. Good hipster dives around there if you're into that sort of thing.
Winter Park is recommended by all but it's got a weird Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive-wannabee feel for me..
This will give you some good ideas:
posted by sandmanwv at 7:06 PM on February 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Winter Park is recommended by all but it's got a weird Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive-wannabee feel for me..
This will give you some good ideas:
posted by sandmanwv at 7:06 PM on February 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Orlando has some of the best escape rooms in the US. I love the Mars Escape one. There are many scenarios to choose from. And yes you can jump in with strangers, which is a lot of fun, too. Great way to make new friends.
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:13 AM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:13 AM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'd recommend staying at the Grand Bohemian. Their Sunday brunch is amazingly good and amazingly expensive.
If you stay there, you can lounge at the pool on Saturday afternoon. But downtown is pretty late night-centric, you'll probably want to Uber to Mills 50 or Park Ave (less than 10 min away) to fill your time all afternoon. You will probably get bored after an hour or 2 of daytime walking around downtown/Lake Eola.
If you like improv, SAK Comedy Lab is downtown and has shows at 7:30p and 9:30p on Friday and Saturday nights.
See if the young poetry guy (Pauls Poems on Instagram I think) will be down there on one of your nights. He will write you a custom poem in under 20 minutes for free or for whatever you want to pay.
For overpriced but good upscale bar food and craft beer, I like Avenue. But they pump the music up a little too loud by 8p or so. Slightly less upscale bar food and beer across the street at Dapper Duck or Downtown Pourhouse, and they start pumping the music too loud even earlier.
In general, plenty of bars and night clubs to fit your late night preferences on and around Orange Avenue which becomes pedestrian-only on weekend late nights.
Kitchen is open late at Harp and Celt Irish Pub a few blocks from Orange Ave.
Lake Eola farmer's market on Sunday afternoon is OK.
posted by glenngulia at 10:00 AM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you stay there, you can lounge at the pool on Saturday afternoon. But downtown is pretty late night-centric, you'll probably want to Uber to Mills 50 or Park Ave (less than 10 min away) to fill your time all afternoon. You will probably get bored after an hour or 2 of daytime walking around downtown/Lake Eola.
If you like improv, SAK Comedy Lab is downtown and has shows at 7:30p and 9:30p on Friday and Saturday nights.
See if the young poetry guy (Pauls Poems on Instagram I think) will be down there on one of your nights. He will write you a custom poem in under 20 minutes for free or for whatever you want to pay.
For overpriced but good upscale bar food and craft beer, I like Avenue. But they pump the music up a little too loud by 8p or so. Slightly less upscale bar food and beer across the street at Dapper Duck or Downtown Pourhouse, and they start pumping the music too loud even earlier.
In general, plenty of bars and night clubs to fit your late night preferences on and around Orange Avenue which becomes pedestrian-only on weekend late nights.
Kitchen is open late at Harp and Celt Irish Pub a few blocks from Orange Ave.
Lake Eola farmer's market on Sunday afternoon is OK.
posted by glenngulia at 10:00 AM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
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You will not be far from Winter Park, I think. Uber or bus to The Morse Museum, a hidden treasure. (Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art.) 3212, 445 N Park Ave, Winter Park. Lots of stained glass.
2916 Corrine Drive is home to Park Avenue CD's, full of cd's and vintage lp's, and an interesting selection of (mostly new) books and magazines. That little strip that it's in is now a hipness center, including some retro shopping. Across the street is a coffee house where my college-aged son and his friends hang out. I've eaten there; it's fun and funky and the food was pretty good. It's a place where locals spend time, if you're interested in ducking tourist spots.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:29 PM on February 19, 2018 [1 favorite]