Shopping

Visitors from as far away as Britain and Brazil often arrive in Orlando with empty suitcases for their purchases. Although shopping has all but disappeared from Downtown, the metro area is filled with options. There really is something for everyone—from high-end fashion to outlet-mall chic and from the boutiques-filled Park Avenue in Winter Park to the antiques shops of Mount Dora to the original art in galleries throughout the region.

The College Park area offers a pair of charming shopping and dining districts: North Orange Avenue and Edgewater Drive. Among the offerings is Rock & Roll Heaven, Florida's largest vinyl-record shop.

The simultaneously glitzy and kitschy International Drive has almost 500 designer outlet stores and off-brand electronics shops. The factory outlets on the north end of I-Drive offer wares similar to those of their higher-priced, first-run cousins. The strip also has plenty of massive restaurants and, for those in your group who don't feel like shopping, movie theaters, arcades, and other amusements.