Island Vacation Travel Podcast

Unveiling Central Florida: A Virtual Adventure to Hidden Gems and Family-Friendly Attractions

• Al Philogene • Season 4

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Unveiling Central Florida: A Virtual Adventure to Hidden Gems and Family-Friendly Attractions

Ever dreamt of a vacation destination that has something for everyone? Well, let us take you on a virtual journey to Central Florida, a treasure trove of family-friendly resorts, natural wonders, historic sites, and even mysterious phenomena! We, your hosts Al Delojan and Matlo, promise to unveil hidden gems like Legland Florida Resorts, Pepper Pig Theme Park, and the eerie Spooky Hill. We'll also spotlight unique experiences like the Detroit Tiger Spring Training and navigating the fairways of the Southern Darns Golf Club. 

For those of you who crave history, tranquility, and outdoor pursuits, we move deeper into the heart of Central Florida. Relish the tales of historic sites like Dixieland Relics, immerse yourself in the beauty of Wallace Garden in Lakeland, and get your adrenaline pumping in the Pine Ridge Nature Reserve at Bok Tower Gardens. We'll help fellow animal lovers discover Lake Primal Dog Park, and for those who love a good thrill, we've got the inside scoop on the Wonderhouse in Bartow, Florida. So buckle up, and let us be your tour guides to all things Central Florida!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Island Vacation Travel Podcast. We're going to be taking you today on a deep dive into the hidden gems of Central Florida Folk County. I am Al Delojan, aka Matlo, the owner of Island Vacation Travel Agency LLC, and we are located in Winterhaven, florida. Okay now I want to thank you very much for joining us today. Today's topic is what is there to do in Central Florida? Right, what is there to do in Central Florida?

Speaker 1:

Now, located between Orlando and Tampa, winterhaven is the home to Legland Florida Resorts and the new pepper pig theme park. In addition, there's booktiles out here and also there is the safari wilderness. Legland, which is right next door, offers big city shopping and dining options, plus the world's largest on-site collection of Frank Lord Wright's architecture I'm sure you've heard of that and that's located on the campus of Florida South College. Legland is a college town, so you can find some pretty awesome schools out there. All the things to do include catching a Detroit Tiger Spring training gear that's in March, actually and you could also visit the best actual Florida Stitcher, circle B bar reserve Sorry about that, that's like one of my favorite places and circle B bar reserve, who sees some amazing stuff out there, talking about just some amazing stuff. It's known as One of the best places to see alligators in the world. In my opinion, I've been quite a few places, because it's a huge dinosaur out there. There are new highlights, actually, also in Oak County, which would be Bonnie Springs Park, which is a 168 acre facility, blend in nature, art and interactive experience, and also the fabulous children's museum In downtown Lakeland. Now, that's just a few things of what we actually have going down in this beautiful place called Central Florida, which is home to a few awesome towns. All right, I'm, it's home to a few awesome towns, where that's something that you're not really expecting a little bit of everything, and this is why I Love it out here and this is why we choose to relocate out here. This is why we choose to market Central Florida as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you may ask what is there to do in Central Florida? That's actually the question we got today and my response to that is a lot Okay. They were gonna get just deep dive into just a few things and I'll mention a few places so that you could know a little bit about Central Florida. If you've never been a new plan on visiting at the secret, have an idea as to when to look forward to go. So we're gonna start off with the Bonnet Springs Park, okay, and that just opened, like in 2020, in October, and that's located in Lakeland, right, that's a beautiful facility. That's one of the things that you could actually go out and try and see what thought about and I mean, how does this what Central Florida is all about? I'm just gonna give you just a quick preview as to what you can do out there Right now when I spring.

Speaker 1:

As I said, opening 2022. It's located in Lakeland, along the I4 corridor, making it accessible to make, yes, right, and the parks is to unify the cities, diverse population, offering public spaces, and that's the needs of many, and the whole family is welcome. There's lots of stuff to do out there. We take a nature walk, the museum is not far, there are places, chill and hang out. You could enjoy the rich surroundings of the blend of urban natural space at Bonnet Spring Park. I'm situated next To downtown Lakeland, easily accessible from Tampa or Lando or Even winter Haven, all right, and that's just one of those places that you could visit. Just maybe it doesn't cost anything to actually go and visit there.

Speaker 1:

So I would advise y'all another great thing that you find in Central Florida is lots of golf clubs, right? Another place we'll talk about is Southern Darns Golf Club, and I'm gonna go into detail into each of those places as we go along in a different podcast. We do sometimes might go out there and visit it as well, and so to interview people and also get a chance to talk about it, right, when we're on the golf course itself. And that's located, um, in Hinn City, right, I told you, central Florida is made of a few different cities, a few towns. I'll mention them in just a little bit so that you could have an idea as to the places that you could look forward to visit. So, don't forget, there are lots of golf clubs in Central Florida. I might just mention Southern Darns Golf Club. All right, another beautiful thing to visit Would be in part two, which would be the LB Brown House Museum.

Speaker 1:

Be good to know about that place. It's a very historic place, so it's been there from the night from 1892 to former slave LB Brown built this home to the museum in 1982. Um, they're also guided tours that you can get to this Beautiful house as well. So, don't forget, you could also check that out in part two, right, the great thing that happens on there is the Rafa natural right. That's, in part two as well Um, locally owned shop with free locations featuring Bath and Body products made fresh daily. So that's locally made products. And right here, that's something you're going to find a lot of, because there are lots of them, lot of farm to market and market places and all that kind of stuff out here in central Florida and promoted a lot. It's mainly farming. There was a lot of farming that took place here in the past.

Speaker 1:

Alright, next we're gonna move on to the mysterious Spooky Hill. Now, mysterious Spooky Hill has fascinated generations for a long time. A car could actually park on a line that's in the road and you put your vehicle in neutral and it will be defined gravity and move upwards. It's just, it's something that's just a phenomenon. I've never seen something like that before, so it was amazing to go there and experience it for myself. I should have it recorded as well, but I think we will go back there and get some more recordings so I could bring it out to you guys, so you could check it out. Right, so you could share, like and subscribe and help us share these beautiful, fascinating things that are out here, alright. So for Halloween, that's the place you could actually visit and talk, and that's located in the beautiful Lake Wales, alright.

Speaker 1:

Next on the list, we have Dixieland Relics, and Dixieland Relics is in Dixieland, is in the Dixieland neighborhood of Lakeland, and it's a vintage and antique shop which has lots of history in there. See the list, right, that's. Look at it in South Lakeland, alright. So don't forget to check out Dixieland Relics when you're out in Lakeland. Okay, let's give you a little bit more, just a little bit more, of what takes place out here. Another beautiful thing to actually visit out here is you have a very beautiful botanical garden out here and its name is the Wallace Garden. That's located in Lakeland, florida, and if you all into flowers and botanical stuff, I mean that's the place to actually visit. I think the garden is worth over a million dollars and has all different varieties of plants from around Florida, so it's a one-of-a-kind place, located on the Francis Langford Promenade at the Lake Mirror. Right, that's the. That's where the botanical garden is played. That's on Orange Street in Lakeland, alright, so don't forget to check it out.

Speaker 1:

Next, if you someone who likes nature, pine Ridge Nature Reserve is at the Bok Tower Gardens. If you've never been to the Bok Tower Gardens, you need to get there. This is one of the very first things to visit, like locations to visit in Central Florida. Before Disney, wormul, westgate, universal or Bush Gardens, it was Bok Tower. Bok Tower is a very famous place, very interesting place. As we go along and I go into the different places around Central Florida and Poc County, you're gonna hear a little bit more and I'll elaborate on it a little bit more about who created it, why it was created, what it's there for, when you could visit and you know just the different events that take place around there. Right, and that's located in fascinating Lake Wales and this nature trail can be accessed near the entrance of Bok Tower and it's called the Pine Ridge Nature Reserve at Bok Tower Gardens. Yeah, now, if you love to fish, you love to be underwater. Don't forget Poc County.

Speaker 1:

Central Florida is the land of lakes. There's a chain of lakes. In the winter even there's lakes in Lakeland. It goes on for days. So don't forget, there are tours. There are guided tours that are very beautiful, whether you're staying at Legoland, or whether you're at Camp Margarita Hill or any other hotel around, or even in an Airbnb or at your home. You could actually plan a tour and they're pretty good. We could set it up for you. We can help you getting contact with the people who do it. Captain Scott Taylor of TMC Guided Service is a USCG licensed captain. Okay, so he's gonna take you out on the water and give you a TMC guided service. Stop, all right, and that's located in winter Haven, florida.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I want to talk about a better golf club and I know it seemed like we all over the place, but I want to just give you, just to let you hear, what is going on in central Florida, all the different type of things that are going on, because it's never ended. There's something for everybody, everybody. And you have the providence Golf and Country club. That is another golf and country club that you have check out. If you're somebody that's a golf fan, you love golf, you want to check out some new courses. You want to get some new challenges. You want to meet some people. You want to come in the sun with all the leaks and everything. You got to come down to central Florida to check out the Leaks that we have here. And you have the providence golf clubs. Golf club, I mean, offers a first-class experience at rates everyone can afford, all right. And that's him. Davenport, right. So Davenport is another part of central Florida.

Speaker 1:

Next on the list we have Andy Donald company right now, and on Andy Donald company has been Selling high quality outdoors apparel, sports goods and shoes I'm clothing for a long time and that's located also in winter, even Florida. So if you look for some country tire Parallel outdoors, you could actually go at Andy thought Donald company sorry about that, and that's looking in in winter here in Florida. Right Next on the list we have Lake Primal dog park. That's for your dog plans. Are there all your animal plans out there? In North England there's a dog park located just south of the interstate I for sorry about that and that's located in Lakeland. If you try to look up this way, dogs get a chance to go out and run and walk and everything else and be in the dog park. You could actually check out that and there's good dog parks all around Lakeland. Very good at that. Concerned, I'm being animal-friendly, all right. So that's something you could take into consideration when you're trying to Visit central Florida. If you're moving down to Florida, your vacation in central Florida, that's something to take into consideration.

Speaker 1:

Now, how is that a cool thing that I actually discovered about central Florida in battle the Wonderhouse the Wonderhouse house, like his corridors Right and this building was remodeled. And the one house I mean it was covered in an episode. Let me just go in a little bit detail of that for you. As I said, it's like located in battle Right, battle Florida, which is the first city in Spain, pocown. Let's just go a little bit in detail about this beautiful, mysterious house because it's one of those sites that you could actually check out for Halloween and actually see what's going on with the house, because there are tours out there so that you could check it out. We can time going in there. But I want to elaborate a little bit on this. This for this house, and look at the below at this house it's a dark, blue, creepy and it's pretty old. So the rebuilding and remodeling of the one house was was covered in episode nine of Netflix show amazing interiors Owners of the private residence offers historic cause Fridays.

Speaker 1:

So as you can get a tour on Friday to Sunday Before Cyprus got into the world, disney Resorts first Floor to the one of a kind mansion in the heart of Central Florida. So this was there before Disney, just like booktowers, people used to come out here before right. With its concrete walls In glass style mosaic. It's not surprised that the unique home stand known as the Wonderhouse quickly became a popular forest destination in the 1930s and 1960s. So it's been around for a very, very long time and we have a lot of detail as to what goes on and how it actually goes on.

Speaker 1:

Let me just give you some information concerned in the talk. So when you visit the Wonderhouse, you're treated like yes, rather than someone that just spots on the museum right. So you are welcome to sit on the furniture and enjoy a long conversation of the owners while learning about the fascinating house. Tours are available from 7 pm On Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays at 10 am, noon and 2 pm Right. All tours must be scheduled in advance by the Wonderhouse website or you could check a travel agent the local travel agent that will be able to help you out with that. And toss typically lasts an hour and a half.

Speaker 1:

Parking for the toys located in the right of the property accessible by El Paso Trail. Prices on there is $20 to $25 for adults and 10 to 12 dollars and 50 cents for children. 12 and under. There is also a onsite gift shop. Madam, it's only cash only. So that's pretty awesome, right? That's pretty awesome. That's pretty awesome, awesome.

Speaker 1:

So the owner of this house, the original owner of this house, was Conrad Shuck, and he was born in 1877 in Pittsburgh, pennsylvania. Now where he became successful, where he became a successful building contractor and stone quarry dealer, upon Dr Selenim, he had only one year to leave. Shucks packed up his family and started to build his dream home in sunny central Florida, which was the Wonderhouse photograph by shop. Okay, and Construction of the Wonderhouse began, as I said, in 18. In 1926, when Shucks started the exhibition of the house, he found that he was digging into a head rock, so it was pretty difficult to build that house.

Speaker 1:

So Everything about this house is the reason to get to learn and, as I said, I'm gonna go into more detail about all those different places and different things as we go along. I just wanted to give you a brief. You all call the different places and different things there are to do in central Florida right, because Other people keep on claiming that, or there is not much to do, and all this kind of stuff. And I'll tell you something from the time I've been in central Florida, I still haven't seen everything. There's so much to do, there's so much to see. There is so much outdoors. There's so much fascinating history, so much famous pieces of people and so much amazing people that are actually their dreams come true. Also to set a business and a lot of stuff that you wouldn't expect actually started out here. So this is what Central Florida is actually known for. So we'll give you a brief insight on some of the stuff that happens out there, some of the things you could look forward to see and actually look to experience and maybe might inspire you to come down here and see this stuff. There's also things like the Rafa Natural that's in Lakeland and that's a locally owned shop with locations featuring bath and body products that they made fresh locally. If you're somebody that likes to support local, this is the places that you go. That's the Central Florida place to be. There's also like the Lakeland Highland Shrubs. That's and the shelves are protected protects the largest remaining contingent tract of historic lake bridge. So this is a special place to Lakeland the Lakeland Highland Shrub.

Speaker 1:

Next, you could also do paddle boat in Winter Haven, florida. Yes, I know, guys, there are gators in the water, but no, the gators don't bother people. Gators do what gators do and human beings do what human beings do. Unless you go into fear of the gators, then they have to protect. They have to protect. But you could paddle boat, in kayak in the different lakes. As I said, there are about 30 lakes out there, so feel free. And that is a lake, how would you could actually get a chance to paddle boat in Winter Haven. There are classes, there are tours, there are races on the chain of lakes.

Speaker 1:

Next, you have lots of camping grounds. There's Camp Mack A guy have a resort. Camp Mack is a guy, have a resort, a guy RV lodge, a marina and RV resort in Lake Wales. So if you're looking for RV park, there are loads of them in Central Florida. This is one that you could check in Lake Wales if that's your place that you'd like to set up camp.

Speaker 1:

Next we have Thinnessyong Park. I love this place. You could see softball. There is a dog park out there. There's quite a few fields out there. There's always soccer taking place, different clubs, just so much football competitions. It's a great family event. There's a fishing pond out there where you could actually go and fish. There's picnic facilities, as I said, there is a dog park, so feel free to go and visit Thinnessyong Park, and it's right next to the Avondale Speedway where there's also racing that takes place. So that's some amazing thing. I know it seems like I'm just going on and on and there's less guys.

Speaker 1:

I won't go for the entire list today because there's so much, but I just wanted to give you a little brief view on stuff at least that are in Central Florida. This is a makeup center of Florida, so that you know that you've always come and visit and there's lots of stuff to do. It's located between Tampa and Orlando. Right On the west side you have Tampa, on the east side you have Orlando and then to the south you have Miami, but Miami is about three hours away. All right. Other things you have to go check is Abacol track at Lake Wills Ridge State Forest. Right, that is somewhere else you could go check out. If you are an outdoorsy person, you have the Lakeland Florida. Sorry about the Legoland Florida Resort, of course, with the Peppa Pig impact as well. There's also a lot of water back in there and that's located in the winter here in Florida, built for families, kids, pink kids. Everyone's welcome, all right.

Speaker 1:

Next, you have Bok Tawa I briefly mentioned it. That's located in Lake Wills as well. So these are just some places that I want you to visit. We're going to be going around the county and check out some of those places out to make sure that we can bring you some live footage and you do not feel left out and I basically get a brief view of what really goes down in central Florida before you get out here, whether you're trying to move out here or whether you're just visiting.

Speaker 1:

Right, you have so much different stuff I want you to not forget, like the relief and food trucks. There's also Florida Natural Growth Store. You also have stuff like local farmers markets that takes place. You have Avon Park Air Force sorry, avon Park Air Force range. You have Sun and Fun Webbs, candy Kekow Wildlife Management Area, allen David Rossad's Catfish Creek, walking the water track at Lake Wills Ridge. It goes on and on.

Speaker 1:

Let me just tell you a few places. That actually makes up the beautiful, the beautiful central Florida. But before I do that, let me just tell you about this amazing place that I also found out called the Mulberry FossFit Museum. Right, it's a FossFit site and while they were digging, they're finding old relics of historic animals, all different types of stuff, so they've made a museum. I think it's something fascinating that people should go check out. There's also, and that's located in Mulberry, there's also a Florida Children's Museum, which is in Lakeland, which I think is very informative that you should visit.

Speaker 1:

So now I'm just going to go into a few things that's going on. Right, this moment, before we get out of here, we have a few activities that's going on because, of course, we have Halloween is around the corner, so you got people that love to be spooked. One of the things that we have going on is the top five spooky experiences in Central Florida. Right, let's just go for that really, really quick and then we can let you get out of here. So you know there's stuff to do while you're around Central Florida for the Halloween season and, as I said, we're going to keep going on. We'll keep going on episodes where we go and elaborate a little bit more about the different places, the different things to do out here.

Speaker 1:

But just so you know the top five spooky experiences to do in Central Florida, one number one the list, the visit to Spook Hill. That's where gravity divides explanation. Alright, you can start your area adventure at Spook Hill, a gravity-defined phenomenon that actually baffles visitors for generations. Legend has it that this hill is haunted by the spirits of the Native American Chief, who use the supernatural powers to push cars up hill. Isn't that fascinating? That's number five. Number one on the list. Next you have the Halloween tours at Wonderhouse. Right, halloween tours at Wonderhouse. If you're fascinated by historic homes and the mysteries that lie within them, do miss out on Halloween tours at Wonderhouse in Batuu. This architectural wonder was built in 1920 by Conrad Schuch, as I mentioned before, a man with a mysterious, mysterious past.

Speaker 1:

Third on the list, you have family friendly friars and rick or treat presents on the body, and that's at Legoland in Florida. In the winter, even For family friendly and rick fantastic Halloween experience, legoland Florida resorts host the annual rick or treat presents monster body event. Alright, don't forget to check that out. Off on the list you have the hunting of the river ranch. For more immersive and spine-tinkling experience, you visit Westin River Ranch Resort and Rodeo. This is the way you can embark on a haunted adventure that will send shivers down your spine If you want to do people that love to be scared. You definitely don't want to go check that out. The haunted adventure at River Ranch is an experience that delivers into the resort eerie history and reports of paranormal activity.

Speaker 1:

And last on that list you have number 5 Halloween Movie Marathon at Silver Moon Drive-In. This is a one-of-a-kind drive-in. I love it out there. I don't know how many other drive-ins there really are, but this is one I was very fortunate to find. On that, I recommend everyone to go check it out. You can bring your own snacks and everything Everybody's out there in their vehicles snuggled up. This is for classic spooky Halloween experience with the cinematic twist. Head to Silver Moon Drive-In in Lakeland for the Halloween Movie Marathon. Enjoy your favorite Halloween films under the starry central forest sky, snuggle up with your car, grab some popcorn or bring your own snacks whichever makes you feel better and get ready for a night of thrills, chills and unforgettable movie moments. It's a perfect way to celebrate the spooky season with friends and family.

Speaker 1:

That's just a little bit about the stuff that we have to do in central Florida. I know it's a lot, but this is just for Halloween. We have all this going on. I'm just going to mention just a few places, a few names of the places we're going to be reviewing in the next few, so that you're going to be surprised. You'll know what's going on. Some of the places we're going to be talking about is places like and that's the places that make central Florida the towns of central Florida, central Florida. It features a variety of towns and cities that you probably want to explore. We have Fort Mead Lake, alfred Mulberry, winter Haven, abaddon, dill, mato, frostbrook, in-city, hook City, lakeland, diabendorf, disney Area, homeland, dundee, lake Wales and Parbosome Park. Now, these are the places that we're going to be going into detail about and to see what all goes on in central Florida, what's out there, what people do out there, the history of those towns. I'm fascinated to explain to you all and tell you what's going on.

Speaker 1:

This has been another episode of Island Vacation Travel Podcast. What is there to do in central Florida? I want to thank you for joining us for today's episode of the Island Vacation Travel Podcast. I'll be sure to tune in next time for more exciting travel destinations and also tips. Remember to subscribe, share, like and don't forget to tune into our podcast every week for new episodes. Until next time, guys, happy travel.