Things to Do in Kissimmee

There’s nothing like skimming across Lake Tohopekaliga’s surface, propelled by a 500hp fan. That’s the thrilling experience offered by the Wild Willy’s Airboat Tours, which drift in the gentle marsh to catch sights of great blue herons, 12-foot alligators, snails, and other native creatures. All the while, your guide will provide expert information on the lake and the surrounding terrain, plus help you spot the wildlife.

While other tour guides pack groups into 12-passenger boats, Wild Willy’s keeps it passenger numbers low to reduce weight and increase speed. Up to six guests can board one of the airboat, which sail past reeds and Spanish moss before. Afterwards, you can take pictures with resident baby gators Thunder and Half-Stripe in the visitors’ center. And safety is a major focus at Wild Willy’s—guests should arrive 15 minutes before their tour time to receive a Coast Guard-required talk about safety.

Lying face down, the students press into their hands into the floor, lifting their heads and shoulders toward the ceiling into cobra pose. As the studio's 100-degree heat pervades their muscles, students feel their spines lengthen, their shoulders broaden, and their chests open. The instructors of Bikram Yoga West Orlando lead participants through this and Bikram‘s 25 other postures every day, combining them with two breathing exercises in a specific sequence that strengthens and lengthens muscles and joints while pumping oxygen-rich blood into the organs, glands, and internal hard drives. Every 90-minute class follows the same routine and challenges participants of all ages and practice levels. Bikram also encourages dedication—the more students practice, the deeper they can go into each pose, reaping benefits including decreased blood pressure, relief from back pain, and lowered stress levels. In addition to their yogic discipline, Bikram Yoga West Orlando's team also arranges spa services, including massage and skincare.

Twice a month at Orlando Kart Center, drivers experience a personal rendition of the movie Speed: they zoom around the outdoor course for a full two hours, competing in an endurance competition. Each lap around the sinuous road covers .8 miles, forcing drivers to encounter bumps and stay within curbing as they accelerate up to 45 miles per hour. This event is just one of many breakneck offerings at the center, whose karts and expert staff immerse guests in an authentic racing environment.

Owner Andre Martins oversees the raceway with impressive credentials at his back. As the manager of the Tony Kart US racing team, he led drivers to multiple national championships. He has also raced alongside champions himself, traveling to countries such as Belgium, Canada, and Brazil to showcase his steering finesse and seatbelt-buckling capabilities. Today, he welcomes drivers of all experience levels to tackle Orlando Kart Center's course—including pro racecar drivers, who utilize the track for training. Drop-in customers contend against each other in 10-minute heats, companies rent out the road for forced team-building events, and kart owners can reserve hours for private practice. Online scoreboards log the fastest times by day, week, and month, compiling track records for patrons to challenge.

During 29 years of drifting through the Florida skies, Orlando Balloon Rides had already amassed an impressive fleet of gargantuan flying inflatables when a new balloon arrived. The product of an ambitious factory in Spain, the newcomer holds more than 400,000 cubic feet of hot air and stands as tall as an 11-story building. Four times the size of the average hot air inflatable, it's among the most massive hot air balloons currently flown in the United States.

Now reigning as a popular vessel for the company's sunrise tours, the mammoth balloon can fly away with a basket of 24 passengers as it commands the skies, dwarfing most clouds and giving the Goodyear Blimp an identity crisis. From any of Orlando Balloon Rides' baskets, passengers take in high-altitude views of Walt Disney World and the city's skyline, sights visitors rarely get to see from above. Each of the company's hot air balloons is piloted by an FAA-certified pilot who also serves as a knowledgeable narrator of the scenery below.

Six-time world champion. Number one in the world. Dishwasher safe. All of these phrases have been used to describe prolific water-skier Sammy Duvall. At his self-titled watersports center, Mr. Duvall helps visitors discover the aquatic activities that have defined his life. Piloting speedboats, his staff pulls tubers, wakeboarders, and water-skiers across Bay Lake. A parasail, emblazoned with a smiley-face design, elevates tandem riders over views of Florida's natural terrain and nearby theme parks. The water sport experts also lead jet-ski tours through Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon.

As part of the national Experienced Based Learning network of outdoor tours and ziplines, Zip Orlando safely sends its visitors zooming 65 feet in the air over the treetops and fields of a 2,700-acre Kissimmee cattle ranch. Through extensive training and membership in the Professional Ropes Course Association, guides strictly adhere not only to safety guidelines, but also to green course construction and tour practices. The company’s regular operations include minimum-impact trail paths; eco-friendly tree trimming; and carbon-neutral, human-powered zipline transportation.

Daily zipline tours traverse 300 feet of midair suspension bridges and hurtle down eight ziplines that range up to 950 feet in length. Moonlit and sunset tours might give visitors a sky-high glimpse of fireworks at the distant Disney resort. At ground level, ATV expeditions ferry passengers in the cabin of a Polaris Ranger past up-close views of the verdant Florida backcountry.