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A Meaningful Life on a Budget

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March 20, 2017 By Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money

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4 Family Activities in Orlando that aren’t Disney or Universal

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There are so many family activities in Orlando that you don’t even need to go to the major theme parks to entertain the family. Of course, we usually hit up the parks anyway! It’s still great to know that you can do so much in the area without paying an arm and a leg for theme park admission. These are also great ways to take a day off from the parks when you’ve had a little too much!

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4 Family Activities in Orlando

Disney World and Universal Studios are fun, but Orlando, and Florida in general, has been entertaining families with tourist attractions for years before those two parks became the main players. Gatorland has been around since 1949! Well before Walt Disney built Disney World. Tourist attractions are still going strong in the area, which is why it’s well worth it to take a day from the big parks and check out four of my favorite family activities around Orlando:

  1. The Crayola Experience 
  2. Gatorland
  3. Dinosaur World
  4. Safari Wilderness

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The Crayola Experience

This is hands down my favorite thing we have ever done in Orlando, big theme parks included.  The Crayola Experience is set up like an art themed children’s museum with everything from making your own crayons to melting them down to create spin art.

Family Activities in Orlando- Awesome spin art at The Crayola Experience

My favorite part about The Crayola Experience is that it is open much later than the other tourist attractions. It’s open from 10 am to 8 pm, making it the perfect place to go with the kids if you are in town for a conference. I left a conference early and took the kids there during the late afternoon.

Family Activities in Orlando- Turn crayons into spin art at The Crayola Experience

My only mistake was assuming we’d just need a few hours when you can actually spend half a day there. I literally had to drag my kids out of the building because they wanted to keep playing and creating.

Family Activities in Orlando- Robert playing at The Crayola Experience

Tickets are $22.99 in person, $19.99 online. Kids 2 and under are free. The best deal is to get a family pass for 4 for only $99.99. This is a great option for entertaining the kids especially on rainy or super hot days since everything is inside.

Family Activities in Orlando- playing with clay at The Crayola Experience

Another perk is that it is located in the mall which means you are very close to lots of affordable food options that won’t be hiked up for tourists.

Gatorland

Wow, Gatorland is truly a glimpse into old Florida living. It doesn’t just feel like a tourist attraction, it feels like a history lesson too.

Family Activities in Orlando- Fun photo opp at Gatorland

There is so much to do from zip lining over gators to feeding them. We were given the option to feed the gators ourselves but decided to pass once we saw it being done. It looked so cool, but I’m positive my 3 and 1-year-old would not have been able to handle it. Even though we didn’t do any of the extras, we still had a blast walking around and looking at all the different alligators and crocodiles. Here’s a view of people getting ready to feed the alligators. Look how close they are!

Family Activities in Orlando- get up close and personal to feed alligators at Gatorland

The best part of our day was taking the train ride around the park. My boys loved the break and so did I! It was nice to sit down and get a tour of the beautiful landscape.

Family Activities in Orlando- the boardwalk at Gatorland

One thing that really made my day was the price of food and drinks. It was very reasonable, especially for a tourist attraction. We were able to eat lunch, get lemonade and snacks at decent prices that were not tourist traps.

Family Activities in Orlando- Tons of alligators at Gatorland

Single day admissions online are $23.99 and $15.99 for ages 3-12. Pay $3 more when you pay on site.

Dinosaur World

I’d been dying to go to Dinosaur World since 2007. When we first moved to Florida we only lived about 45 minutes away from it. Ten years later and I finally had my excuse to go: two little boys who love excavating dinosaur bones.

Family Activities in Orlando- Boys excavating bones at Dinosaur World

This is a great half day adventure that you can do on your way in or out of Orlando if you are traveling from the south. If it’s not on your way, it will take about 45 minutes to get to Plant City from Orlando. It’s well worth the drive! You can even get some pretty amazing family photos.

Family Activities in Orlando- Hannah and Robert in the dinosaur

The park offers fossil digs, dinosaur excavation, and much more. The entire park is mostly shaded which makes it enjoyable to run around with kids even on those awfully hot Florida summer days. The walkways are filled with these amazing replicas of dinosaurs.

Family Activities in Orlando- dinosaurs all over the place in Dinosaur World

My boys enjoyed looking for fossils the most, which is included in your admission! You even get to keep three of the fossils that you find.

Family Activities in Orlando- Robert and Jackson enjoying Dinosaur World

Tickets with excavation passes are $23.27 for adults and $19.21 for kids. General admission is $17.07 and $11.72. Kids under 3 are free.

Safari Wilderness

Upon arrival at Safari Wilderness, kids and adults can roam around the property while waiting for the tour to start. My kids loved running around the wide open spaces! After two days in Disney where I wouldn’t let them run away from me because of the crowds, they couldn’t get enough of the freedom. They kept running after the chickens, pigs, and cats that roam the property.

Jackson running all around Safari Wilderness

We took the vehicle safari tour that costs $75 per person. While the cost is a little pricey, it’s still less than a theme park ticket! The safari vehicle tour goes through over 260 acres of wilderness with exotic animals all along the way.

Robert feeding a llama at safari wilderness

The tour guide stopped frequently to let us get a good look at the animals and get a chance to feed them. My two boys didn’t want to stop feeding the animals. They kept yelling, “more food, more food”. I’m sure the people seated close to us loved hearing them yell over the guide’s educational talk on this safari vehicle.

Getting ready to go on a safari at Wilderness Safari Ranch

My favorite part of the trip was feeding the lemurs. For an extra fee you can feed the lemurs before you leave. It’s worth the extra money!

Lemurs eat out of your hands at Safari Wilderness Ranch

Enjoy Orlando for more than the theme parks

With young kids, it’s easy to make theme parks the focus of our Orlando trips. With so much to do in Orlando, it’s a shame to not explore the area more! Tom and I are up there a lot of conventions and work so we are going to have to make more of an effort to explore everything Orlando has to offer from local restaurants and breweries to the natural beauty of their springs! I can’t wait to keep exploring!

 

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Filed Under: Save money, Travel on a Budget Tagged With: family activities, family travel, Orlando, Travel

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Comments

  1. Leah | Five for the Road says

    March 20, 2017 at 10:27 am

    All these places look great! I have been hearing great things about the Crayola Factory! We might have to try it next time we are in town!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      March 21, 2017 at 7:02 pm

      You absolutely have to go! It’s something that we will do every time we are in Orlando from now on.

      Reply
  2. Lisa J O'Driscoll says

    January 22, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    We loved Gatorland too! There was so much more to it than we expected! We’ll have to check out the other places too!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      January 23, 2018 at 8:37 pm

      Our thoughts exactly! I had no idea there was so much to do with gators!

      Reply

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  1. Share the Wealth 99 - Daily MOMtivity says:
    March 25, 2017 at 7:02 pm

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While I love saving money, I also have expensive taste and a passion for the environment. I firmly believe that you can live frugally while enjoying the finer things in life such as travel and high end products. I like fine foods and quality ingredients, I also enjoy spending money on fancy local coffee and kombucha. It’s all about the experience! Join me as I balance a budget and preserve our Earth, while enjoying the finer things in life.

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