If you have young children and are thinking of moving to Orlando, Florida, you likely will be considered “Gods” by your children, there are so many attractions and educational opportunities, young families can spend years exploring and learning all there is to do in Orlando. Even if you do not have children, Orlando has just as much entertainment and educational venues for adults as there are for children.
Here are three things that many people probably did not know about Orlando, Florida:
- Orlando Is The Lightning Capital of The World
With over 82 days per year of lightning strikes, Orlando logs more lightning strikes per capita of any city in the world. The state of Florida has more deaths per year from lightning strikes then any other state with over 52 deaths in the past 10 years.
- Orlando Was Once the Citrus Capital of the World
Dating back to the early 40’s, Dr. Phillip Phillips (not related to the American Idol singer) had over 5,000 acres of citrus groves in the Orlando area. Dr. Phillips perfected the canned orange juice process (remember getting the frozen can from the freezer and mixing with water? I used to take small pieces of the frozen citrus and eat it..). He sold his farm and processing plant to Minute Maid in 1954 for $54 million. Today there is a performing arts center named after Phillip Phillips in the downtown Orlando area.
Before Disney became synonymous with Orlando, the area was almost entirely beef cattle ranches. In fact, before Disneyworld, Florida was ranked as one of the top two beef cattle states in the US. Even with the sprawl of the Orlando metro and Disneyworld empire, the areas in and around Orlando have the second largest cattle herds East of the Mississippi. There are over 1 million beef cattle and over 5 million acres dedicated to raising beef cattle in Florida.
Orlando is most likely one of the most diverse cities in the world. From busy metropolitan hub to the most thrilling rides on earth to oranges and to cattle, Orlando has it all. Oh, and not all the fireworks in the sky are from Disney…God’s spectacular light show happens almost every day during summer months, day and night!
-Jim
