All direct flights to Orlando (All Airports) from the UK & Ireland

Mark Says

Here's what the Americans call a 'disconnect': two pieces of information that don't immediately fit together. Historically, Orlando was so named for either Orlando Reeves, a soldier who died in the Seminole Wars of the 1830s, or Orlando Rees, a Welsh plantation owner caught up in the same conflict. Yet as the city Orlando has developed over the last two centuries, it's largely ignored, trampled over, or forgotten about its past to instead set up a series of alternative realities or fantasy worlds. This is now the theme park capital of America. Whether Rees or Reeves, and wherever he is today, the original Orlando must be envious of all that leisure time. The most popular of these fantasy lands is, of course, Walt Disney World, the planet's one true Mickey Mouse attraction. A vast and staggering logistical achievement, the park breaks down into four separate zones (the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney-MGM Studios, and Epcot), and can constitute a somewhat unreal holiday in itself. Then there's the Universal Studios park, whose grasp of history extends only as far as rides based on the blockbusters of the 1980s (Back to the Future), early 90s (Terminator 2 3D, Jurassic Park River Adventure), and late 90s (Men In Black Alien Attack). Don't go expecting a hydraulic Battleship Potemkin or an IMAX version of Jules Et Jim. Orlando does boast plentiful natural features, most notably a series of springs and lakes (most notably Apopka and Tohopekaliga) mercifully free from men dressed as cartoon characters.  Yet even nature has been corralled here. It's less Disneyfied over at the croc-tastic Gatorland, but the region's most popular attractions of this ilk are Sea World, which has made a star of Shamu the dolphin, and Discovery Cove, a replica tropical island boasting the very best of the life aquatic. If space is more your thing, there's the Kennedy Center to the east of the city, and Skycoaster, a spectacular gravity-defying ride. Those without a head for heights, astronomical or otherwise, might want to stick to the ever-popular Cirque de Soleil, and watch other peopleconquering their vertigo&