6-8 hours to kill tomorrow between Daytona and Orlando

[rogerbum]

All - I'm in Daytona FL for a conference. I fly out of Orlando tomorrow at 6PM. With an early rise I've got maybe 6-8 hours to kill (I'm figuring on returning the rental car around 4pm in Orlando). Suggestions on what to do would be appreciated.

 

[dotnmarty]

I'm sure others will know more than me about the locale, but I'll start it off by a drive to the beach for a sunrise over the Atlantic, then a 50 mile ride south the the Kennedy Space Center.

 

[thataway]

If you like air planes, go to Fantisy of Flight. This is one of the best small air craft (biggest is a Constellation) _museums I have seen--and most of the planes fly! Great War Bird exhibit.

1400 Broadway Blvd SE, Polk City, FL 33868

It is past Orlando just off I 4. It would set you up for an easy shot to the Orlando Airport.

Certainly the Kennedy Space Center is a must do-not sure how many tours and how active it is currently on a Sunday.

 

[ssobol]

Fantasy of Flight is a very nice museum. However, it is now closed.

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center is something to see if you like space history. They now have one of the shuttles on display. The bus tour of the facilities is interesting. It's about 45 minutes from MCO airport.

Canaveral National Seashore is supposed to be a nice area. It is north of the space center.

 

[dave]

Be careful where you fill up before returning the car. There are a few gas stations near the airport that charge outrageous prices.

 

[Wefings]

The Suncoast Boat Show in Sarasota is open at 10 AM .Its a 2 hour drive . Just come to will call and ask for tickets for Wefings Marine . We are there with a couple Eastern Boats . That applies to any C Brat. Its a very nice show in one of the nicer places in Fl.
Marc

 

[Ron Cowan]

If you would be interested in seeing florida swamps and alligators head south on I-95 and exit on hwy. 50 a Titusville exit and go west toward Orlando' About 2 miles from I95 stop at a ST.Johns River airboat ride and take a ride. This is just east of Christmas, Fl. If you miss this stop at the alligator farm in Christmas and ask where to get an airboat tour.

 

[ssobol]

Be careful where you fill up before returning the car. There are a few gas stations near the airport that charge outrageous prices.

If you go about 2 miles north (on 436) of the north side airport entrance (off 528) you'll find reasonable gas prices. The closest gas station (with the Wendys) will rip you off.

 

[Will-C]

I would second heading for Deland Florida and onto the Hoontoon Park area and get on a pontoon tour boat ride of the St. Johns river in that area. Stop in Sanford along the way nice town and marina area. Nice zoo and gardens just north of Sanford on the way to Deland /Hoontoon area. There is a German food restaurant and deli which is pretty popular in Sanford.
D.D.

 

[thataway]

Fantasy of Flight is a very nice museum. However, it is now closed.

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center is something to see if you like space history. They now have one of the shuttles on display. The bus tour of the facilities is interesting. It's about 45 minutes from MCO airport.

Canaveral National Seashore is supposed to be a nice area. It is north of the space center.

Thanks for the heads up on F of F. The closing is only temporary fortunately...

" Fantasy of Flight announced that they would close to the public after April 6, 2014 but continue to stage private events. They further announced that they would reopen to the public in late 2014 as a scaled down museum, with reduced admission prices, while they simultaneously begin to design and build the main facility into more of a destination attraction that would appeal to a wider audience rather than just aviation aficionados."

So apparently it is going to reopen--not sure how it could be any better than before--for us, seeing the shops where they built parts of the planes for restoration, and rebuilt the hundreds (maybe thousands) of engines, was part of the charm of the place...

 

[rogerbum]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I wound up taking the suggestion of the bar tender at our hotel. We drove up the coastal highway (A1A) to St. Augustine. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement and port in the continental United States (established in 1565). We visited the old Spanish fort -

The furnace you see in the first image is where the heated the cannonballs up so that if they got a good hit on a wooden boat they could start it on fire. The cannon would be loaded with a few pounds of power and then clay and or wet rags would be placed on top of the power to keep the cannon ball from igniting the power. They'd have to carry a glowing red cannon ball 30' or so to the cannon, load it and light the proper end prior to the cannon ball drying out the clay/rags and self launching. I'm glad I didn't have the "load the red hot cannon ball" job!

Had lunch and a wine tasting at the local winery - San Sebastion (mediocre wines unless you're into sweet white wines). We had a nice lunch at the roof top bar and a good breeze up there helped cool us down after walking there in 85F weather. Neither of us was properly acclimated to that kind of weather nor were we properly dressed (I didn't bring any shorts for example)!

We wander around the downtown area for a couple of hours. There's lots of little shops (tourist traps) but also an amazing amount of local history. For example - the oldest remaining wooden schoolhouse in the U.S.

However, it would appear that the best reason to go to St. Augustine is to pub crawl and listen to live music. Since we only had part of a day, we missed that aspect of town although we did hear a little live music even mid-day. It's a cute town and was well worth the visit. (note none of the photos above are my own - just images from other web pages)

 

[Delphinus]

Hi Roger,

Sorry that I'm only seeing your post now. I grew up in Daytona and might have been of help, but it looks like you got some excellent suggestions and saw some great stuff. I love St. Augustine and climbed half way up the east wall of the fort when I was a boy. You may have seen an old coquina tower/arch (Tarragona Tower) on International Speedway Boulevard, near the speedway and Daytona airport; my great-grandfather (Charles Ballough) built that tower almost a hundred years ago. He also built that big old hotel you might have seen on Atlantic Ave., with the arch over the street that leads onto the beach (Clarendon Hotel, now called the Plaza), in the 1890's.

You took exactly the drive I would have recommended as a first choice. Very glad you enjoyed yourself!

Best wishes,
Gerry Ballough
"Dori Den"