1-Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is where rockets launch and inspiration begins at Florida’s gateway to space, all just one small step from Orlando.
With word quickly spreading about NASA’s bold Mercury program and the success of Alan Shepard’s historic suborbital launch on May 5, 1961, growing numbers of press and public flocked to the Cape Canaveral area to get a closer look at America’s burgeoning space program. By 1963, demand was such that Texas Congressman Olin Teague, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight, asked NASA Administrator James Webb to create a visitor program that would build on the support and goodwill of the public.
Webb’s solution was a drive-through tour of what was then known as Cape Kennedy, now called Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. On Sunday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m., the public could drive their own vehicles on a predetermined route that provided a glimpse of the launch pads and facilities. Despite the limited access, the tours proved immensely popular. From late 1963 to late 1964, an estimated 100,000 visitors took advantage of the chance to tour the Cape.
Meanwhile, excitement began to build next door at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which had earned its own status as an official space center in 1962, and had been named for the late President John F. Kennedy shortly after his assassination in November 1963. In January 1965, after a year of successful drive-through tours at Cape Kennedy, tours expanded to include areas of Kennedy Space Center. On the first day, nearly 2,000 visitors came. Based on this success, the Spaceflight Committee authorized $1.2 million for the creation of a visitor center at Kennedy Space Center.
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/
2-Legoland
The only Florida interactive theme park where LEGO® comes to life and kids take control.
LEGOLAND® Florida Resort is a vacation destination built for kids 2-12. Located in Central Florida’s Winter Haven, just 45 minutes from Orlando and Tampa, the resort includes an interactive, 150-acre theme park with more than 50 rides, shows and attractions inspired by popular LEGO® brands and characters, LEGOLAND Water Park and a world-famous botanical garden. LEGOLAND Hotel, located just steps from the theme park entrance, features 152 rooms and suites, each with its own LEGO theme. LEGOLAND Beach Retreat is a lakefront resort with 83 themed bungalows offering 166 separate rooms. Prices, times and schedules are subject to change without notice.
https://www.legoland.com/florida/
3- Bok Tower
Bok Towers- Is a 250-acre garden and a 205-foot tall tower with carillon bells. The gardens were started when Edward W. Bok, editor of Ladies’ Home Journal, and his wife, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, founder of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. You can’t miss seeing the tower as you drive close. The view from the top next to the tower are memorable. https://boktowergardens.org/
2-Ed Leedskalnin’s Coral Castle
From 1923 to 1951, Ed single-handedly and secretly carved over 1,100 tons of coral rock, and his unknown process has created one of the world’s most mysterious accomplishments. Open every day, the Coral Castle Museum welcomes visitors from around the world to explore this enchanting South Florida destination.
Coral Castle Museum
28655 South Dixie Highway
Miami, FL 33033
(305) 248-6345
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