Orlando
If you think of Orlando you probably think theme parks, enchanted castles and parades of dancing animals but actually the home of Disney has a lot more to offer than you might expect.
Orlando is becoming an increasingly popular destination for an extra special hen party or just a great girly holiday. With more sun, shopping and spas than you can shake Tinkerbell's magic wand at- what more could a woman want? Alyson Gernert from the Orlando Tourist Board tells Female First exactly what's on offer.
So, apart from the obvious theme parks, what else is there to do in Orlando?
The area is full of so many outdoor activities because of the great weather we have. Everything from learning to hand glide to going on a hot air balloon ride or going canoeing to indoor sky diving and some of the more extreme adventures you can have. Or it could just be picking up our golf clubs and going out and taking advantage of the many many golf courses we have and doing something more relaxing. We're not far from the beaches so you can just pop over to them.
Or if people are into the more cultural side we have many many different types of museums. One of them in particular is at the Morse museum in Winter Garden and it's the largest ever collection of Tiffany glass. A lot of people don't realise that Orlando has these types of experiences because it's kind of unheard of when you put them up against the theme parks. Or if you would rather just go shopping you can do that too. We have some excellent shopping at the major malls in the area from the Mall At Millenia to the Florida Mall or you can take advantage of that great exchange rate and the premium outlets where you can may a lot of those same name brands but at a discounted price.
What is there to keep a young woman entertained?
For younger women Orlando has a lot of opportunities. Definitely the shopping aspect there's excellent shopping throughout the destination that could take days to go through. It's so immense. Going to those major mall centres where we have many many luxury offerings and up scale brands and a few more of the boutique type shops. This is something we always see the girls out doing. You can even have a personal shopping experience at Gucci if that's what you're interested. They will take you around and show you the things that you should be wearing- or maybe you shouldn't be wearing
A lot of times we will see the girls heading to a spa after they have finished shopping. We have 18 destination spas that offer a wide variety of treatments from citrus based massages to the more traditional stone massages.
It's funny though because we do also see the girl's enjoying some the more extreme outdoor adventures too. They love going to the indoor skydiving or learning to drive a race car. The girls like to enjoy that adventure side too so Orlando can definitely fill their needs.
Would you recommend Orlando for a hen party?
Absolutely! I can speak from experience after just having been on one a couple of weeks ago. Most of the time you can start off the day with a spa experience or lounging round the pool but then it seems to be more of a trend where the girls go out to dinner then off to enjoy the great night life.
So is the night life good then?
Totally! From down town Orlando where there are various bars and night clubs to choose from that play varying different types of music to some of the attractions which have night time entertainment venues. At Disney there's Pleasure Island where you can go and dance to the 70s and 80s music which is always a lot of fun or they have a techno night club and live bands. Universal Studios also has a night time venue called City Walks and they equally great music and restaurants but they are a little different because they offer jazz music and reggae and also some night clubs with the top hits of today. So it's a great destination and with that great exchange rate too it can be very appealing to have a hen night in Orlando.
Caz Moss- Female First
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