One of the holiday destinations we have visited the most as a family, is Central Florida. World famous theme parks are just one of the things that you can do in the area, and if I could offer you a word of travel advice, it would be to be brave and discover everything else the local area has, for a true Floridian flavour! Kate wrote in more detail about how two of the We Blog Travel team got to meet the CEO and President of Visit Kissimmee – DT Minich and chat more about Kissimmee’s attraction’s last month, hopefully we will be able to update you more on this in the coming months.
In this post, I wanted to highlight to you one of my favourite places to go to in Kissimmee and that’s the Old Town.
Old Town Kissimmee is not an area I had done any research on when we first visited. I spotted it on one of those area maps that can be found outside all of the big American supermarkets, and added it to the places we should see if we had time.
It’s really one main pedestrianised road with two fairs (for us English folk) either end of it. As we wandered down, the first thing that struck, was how unlike the designer retail malls this place was. I don’t want to knock the aforementioned, as I love them too, but these were smaller independent shops selling more unusual things. My youngest was enthralled at the puppet shop, and if we had, had even an inch of room in our suitcase we would have definitely brought one home with us.
After wandering around all of the shops, we had settled down to listen to some music in one of the open air bars that we had passed. With fine mists of water spraying into the air to cool the crowd, we sat and enjoyed slushies (alcoholic ones for the adults) entertained by the live band that played.
Next up was a little dancing, as the crowd swelled, and bouncy tempo country music started to be played. A lone lady took to the front, and then I realised why it had become so busy. The lady was taking the lead in some line dancing, and the crowd was quick to follow. Of course we had to give it a go ourselves, I’m known for my lack of dancing skills, but we laughed and smiled our way through it.
By now the sun had set and Old Town was looking very different. It was such a lovely surprise that the band, and lots of the crowd, now began to mill around and start getting into old classic cars and trucks. I’d not even noticed these before, as they had been tucked away. Their engines roared and we made our way to a good vantage point to enjoy the parade of cars. I am no car buff, but I am a huge Pretty in Pink film fan, and spotting a car very similar to the one owned by Andi Walsh (Molly) though I can’t be sure it was the same, it made me very happy. Those engines really did purr and roar, making the night air vibrate all around us. The classic cars and trucks did a circuit of the street tooting their horns, some even playing the famous General Lee, Dukes of Hazard tune. Dipping and flashing their head lamps, each one vying for our attention more than the last.
Soon the girls eyes became heavy and we headed back home to our villa, happy we had discovered yet another treasure that Kissimmee had to offer.
Kissimmee – even just the name sounds cute. We haven’t visited Florida yet, and I like this place as an alternative to the more regular malls.
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Hehe, do you know I’d not even thought about it that way, but yes, it is a cute name. Thanks for the comment Nell.
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Kissimmee looks like a pleaser diversion for the hustle and bustle, and crowds of Orlando. Old town, the zipline, and the lake is on our list.