Finding the real Florida beyond Disney's back door

The splendors of Seminole County, a little bit of everything Florida: alligators and manatees, a flea market and theme park, all of it a short drive from Orlando, Daytona, and Kennedy

Manatees at Blue Spring State Park. (Photo courtesy of Florida State Parks)

Still dripping from my swim, I squatted on the jungle-like banks of the Blue Spring in a peaceable quiet and watched a manatee roll his pale, blubbery, hideously adorable body through the crystalline waters.

It had only been a few hours since I'd escaped the scrum of traffic circling that gravitational black hole of Central Florida—the Orlando theme parks—yet it felt as if I were light years away. It was like I'd won some kind of travel lottery. Here was a genuine, wild side of Florida less than an hour's drive from Disney.

In a single morning, I'd fed fresh meat to a cheetah, tossed marshmallows to an alligator, and had my shirt collar nibbled on by a two-toed sloth. In fact, I felt a little guilty that I hadn't packed any yummy aquatic plants to share with the sea cows languishingly playfully in the spring that stretched into the subtropical jungle surrounding me.

Seminole County: Hidden in Plain Sight

If you take a map and connect the dots of central Florida's mega-destinations—Disney, Daytona, and the Kennedy Space Center—in the center of that triangle you’d find tiny Seminole County (tel. 407-665-2900, www.visitseminole.com). This slice of the real Florida is an oasis of greenery somehow surviving in the shadow of the Orlando area's overdevelopment.

Seminole's 2,000 lakes and lazily looping rivers teem with gators and manatees, and its residents enjoy 23 parks and a Southern, molasses pace of life. It's also darned cheap, offering welcome relief from theme park sticker shock.

Walk on the Wild Side

Feeding the elephants at the Central Florida Zoo
Visitors can feed the elephants at the Florida Central Zoo. (Photo courtesy of Florida Central Zoo)

The Central Florida Zoo (tel. 407-323-4450, www.centralfloridazoo.org, $8.95, under 12 $4.95) echoes with the impressively loud hoots of siamangs (giant gibbons) swinging from branches. It is a pleasingly small, thoughtfully laid-out zoo.

Volunteers wander the paths carrying or leading some of the less dangerous animals so visitors can pet possums, peer into the eyes of a hawk, or even cuddle a slow-moving sloth (word of advice: the sloth may mistake any loose article of clothing for a tasty leaf).

The zoo also offers weekend "Animal Encounters" for an additional $5. OK, so it's not Sea World's über-cool, outrageously priced Marine Mammal Keeper Experience, but that costs a family of three a whopping $1,200 to feed dolphins and other sea critters. Compare that to slipping the zoo an extra $15 so your family can serve lunch to a pair of 9,000-pound Asian elephants.

The zoo's interactive program also features sessions with reptiles, birds, bugs, primates, and big cats, which is how I got close enough—about three inches, with naught but a chain link fence in between—to feel a hungry cheetah's hot breath on my face.

Riding the river

At 342 miles, the meandering St. Johns River is the longest navigable stretch of freshwater in Florida. It flows a leisurely 5-6 mph northward, an oddity usually reserved for the Nile and caused here by a sea level inversion.

The St. Johns—marking Seminole County's northern and eastern boundaries—is a sort of mini-Everglades in Central Florida. This tranquil stretch of wetlands bursts with 200 species bird life (everything from stilt-legged herons to soaring bald eagles) and positively swims with fish, turtles, manatees, and, naturally, alligators.

Take a two-hour boat tour of this subtropical Eden with St. Johns River Cruises daily at 10am and 1pm, plus 3:30pm Dec 26 to Apr 30; in May and June there's also a 5pm sunset cruise Thurs-Sun (tel. 407-330-1612, www.sjrivercruises.com, $18, under 12 $12). The boat leaves from the docks in Blue Spring State Park (below).

Shop where the cheapskates do

Ten miles north of Orlando on the road (Highway 17-92) to Sanford sits the low-budget, 104-acre expanse of Flea World (tel. 407-330-1792 ext. 224 or 407-321-5792, www.fleaworld.com), America's largest flea market (according to them), open Friday to Sunday 9am to 6pm.

It draws an average of 50,000 shoppers each weekend, not just for the 1,700 indoor booths—everything from astrology to automotive, beauty supplies to blown glass, collectibles to computers, and much more that I could tell you about had I scrolled past the "C's" on their Web site—but also the attached Fun World pavilion (Sat–Sun 10am–6pm).

This permanent low-rent big top hosts keyed-back circus acts, magic performances, exotic animal trainers, and even (they're actually proud of this) a dog and pony show—really, with trained dogs and a miniature pony that can "do math" and everything.

OK, so all this is on the aged cheddar side of cheesy, but it does have one big leg up over the theme parks: Funworld is totally free of charge.

Swim with the Manatees

Blue Spring State Park, Florida
Looking out over Blue Spring. (Photo by Scott Verix)

OK, not actually alongside the manatees. These gentle giants with a face (and body fat index) only a mother manatee could love are protected from the clumsy likes of us—and frankly, they could be a little less trusting of humans. Speedboat propellers and careless waste disposal are among the leading causes of manatee death.

But you can swim in the same warm waters as Florida's cows of the sea at Blue Spring State Park (tel. 386-775-3663, www.floridastateparks.org/bluespring, admission free).

The park's centerpiece is an idyllic pool where water bubbles up from an underground well (scuba nuts dive the hole) at a constant 72 degrees, providing warmth-loving manatees a spot to snuggle in November through March, when most Central Florida waters turn too nippy for them.

A floating barrier just below the natural pool separates the swimmers from the manatees—though the park often suspends swimming in winter to make more room for the big guys.

From the pool, the stream wanders down a narrow canal, manatees gliding through the transparent, vividly aqua waters, the lush banks overflowing with a jungle of tropical plants. The scene looks as if it belongs in the Land of the Lost, not just up the road from Mickey's Magic Kingdom.

Shop where the cheapskates do

A Cheetah at the Central Florida Zoo
The Florida Central Zoo lets visitors get close to the animals. (Photo by Reid Bramblett)

Ten miles north of Orlando on the road (Highway 17-92) to Sanford sits the low-budget, 104-acre expanse of Flea World (tel. 407-330-1792 x224, www.fleaworld.com), America's largest flea market (according to them), open Friday to Sunday.

It draws an average of 50,000 shoppers each weekend, not just for the 1,700 indoor booths—everything from astrology to automotive, beauty supplies to blown glass, collectibles to computers, and much more that I could tell you about had I scrolled past the "C's" on their Web site—but also the attached Funworld pavilion.

This permanent low-rent big top hosts keyed-back circus acts, magic performances, exotic animal trainers, and even (they're proud of this one) an actual dog and pony show—really, with trained dogs and a miniature pony that can "do math" and everything.

OK, so all this is on the aged cheddar side of cheesy, but it does have one big leg up over the theme parks: Funworld is totally free of charge.