Things to Do in Oak Ridge

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.