I had advertisment for a honey tasting class and decided to sign up for it. It was about 28…read moredollars, which included admission to the gardens. I was greeted when I arrived, then I checked in to the class. The instructor was a beekeeper from University of Florida. He introduced us to various types of honey, including many from different countries and types of flowers. We also tried were a few local honeys from Florida. It took about 1.5 hours to sample over 20 different types of honeys. A bit of description was provided for each honey, but questions were answered. I really enjoyed the Manuka honey, Lavender honey, and the various honeys from Florida. After the class, there were certain items for sale, but I decided to head to the gardens. While I did enjoy the displays and the fountains near the home, I couldn't enjoy much and left early due to the thunderstorm nearby. Still, I did enjoy about 15 to 20 minutes of walking through it. Parking was free and ample. Being a foodie, I really enjoyed the honey tasting experience. The instructor was great and informative, and I enjoyed most of the honeys I tried. The garden admission addition was a plus, but I wish I was able to stay a bit longer. I will definitely register for another class in the future, and hopefully be able to spend time at the gardens a lot longer. Overall: A

If you're visiting Orlando, I highly recommend this as one of your stops. A historical landmark of…read morethe city. I found out the Leu family donated their family land hoping to share its beauty. Unique gardens with plenty of shade. Great for all ages, including toddlers. It is fenced in with lots of areas to picnic, if that's your thing! There's a small cafe for coffee, ice cream and a few snacks. On certain days they have infant and toddler reading time (20minutes long). The first Monday of each month is free entry however there are no guided tours. Check their website for more info!

The space at The Audubon Room was perfect for my daughter's 30th birthday. It's an eclectic little…read morevenue that works really well for intimate gatherings and it comes with a fully stocked bar. The service was a bit uneven at times, but the specialty drinks were flowing all night and they were delicious. We also could order beer, wine, and any cocktail we wanted. They also had an A/V setup and huge wall-mounted monitor so we could play a loop of her photos along with a curated playlist, which made the party feel really personal. For a 4-hour celebration with an open bar, it was definitely worth the money. I recommend this space for groups of 20 or less.

5 Stars for a perfect, cozy little cocktail bar/party venue upstairs at East End Market…read more I've been grabbing drinks at The Neighbors for ages, but was excited to see they opened up The Audubon Room for cocktail service (before it was only reserved for private events). The room has comfy velvet seating, a bar with beautiful wallpaper, and you can order from the bar or from The Neighbors (which includes some food). I ordered off the menu because I had a hankering for a martini. Their house gin was Fords (yay!) and they added a couple of olives. The drinks were good all around, but the atmosphere is what really stood out. It feels intimate, cozy, and like the kind of spot you can stay at for hours. Can't wait to go back!

Nice town worth swinging out of the way to visit. Lots of non chain coffee shops, and gift…read moreboutiques. Very nice hanging plants and path down the center of the main street. The highlight of the place was the Central Railroad Museum for me. I bought two book on Central Florida railroads, neither of which I had seen on Amazon. I just moved fairly near a former citrus line so the topic fascinates me. The Welcome center type place by the caboose was oddly not open at 3 in the afternoon, I was hoping to get books or reproduction postcards of the citrus industry.

It's a little crowed since Covid most of the main town has cut parking and added extra table for…read moreopen seating. Seems to make driving much more difficult. There already parking issues and now it's not better at all. So many things to do just lots of parking issue. NOTE: was informed there is a parking garage. I've only parked by the establishments.

Thr Veranda at Thornton Park is a great part of the Thornton Park community. Not only is it a great…read moreplace to book anything from a wedding to a corporate event, but they also host things for the community like yoga, vegan markets and more. It is definitely a noticeable part of Thornton Park and I mean that on the most positive of ways.

What a lovely venue. I only attended a candlelight string quartet concert here. So I didn't fully…read moreexperience the venue's offerings. But the courtyard was a great little escape. Unfortunately, due to the location you can hear surrounding events. They have a small pool and 4 cottages. I bet there's tons of opportunities here.

Ocoee Lakeshore Center is a great venue for weddings and events. I attended a fundraiser for…read moreMatthew's Hope and was very impressed with the grounds and facility. The venue is located next to Starke Lake so the view is lovely. They recently completed a four million dollar renovation and it looks beautiful. There is built in audio visual and a huge lobby area where several bars can be set up for a reception area. The staff is friendly and the food was delicious.

Tanner Hall was absolutely beautiful. We payed for Tanner Hall from 5pm-11pm with then an hour…read moreincluded for cleanup after. We also rented Little Hall to use as a bridal suit from 3pm-11pm which also included an hour after for clean up. Kamilla Udit was the name of the person who always answered the emails with my questions. She was very fast to respond to all my questions. She sent a reminder the week that the layout was due for both venues, which leads me to my next point- As long as you give them the layout a week in advance they will set up all the chairs and tables where you want. They have plenty of chairs and tables for indoor seating. (We did have to rent chairs for outdoor seating for the ceremony itself.) When we arrived day of the setup was exactly what I had drawn out. They usually show Tanner Hall and Little Hall a couple times a week in the evening as long as there's no event happening. I emailed ahead a few times to make sure there was no event and got to tour both halls a few times. We also met with the DJ the week of at the venue. It was easy to gain access to in order to take photos and video so that everyone in the wedding party could see it ahead of time. The bathrooms were clean and had plenty of stalls. There's also plenty of normal parking and handicapped parking around the two halls. Tanner Hall itself is very pretty. The dance floor is in the middle and I really liked that because it made it easier for everyone to see the first dance and such. Best of all, you get to use your own venders, so we were able to pick our own catering. (A lot of venues make you use their official caterer and that price definitely adds up.) Overall it was a great experience. I'd HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking for a beautiful but cost effective venue. (This venue was by far the cheapest I found. A lot of venues cost my entire budget for the wedding.) The gazebo outside comes with the rental of Tanner Hall so that's where we held the ceremony. There's also a beautiful oak three that I was told some people use for the ceremony. We decided on the gazebo because there's a sidewalk leading up to it and I figured that would be easier for our grandparents to walk on during the procession in. I emailed ahead to ask if we could set up outside prior to our rental and was told that was fine, so we had the chairs for the ceremony delivered at 2pm. The ONLY bad mark for this place was the woman who was there day of to keep an eye on things. When the reception was over my husband and I left and a few members of my bridal party stayed to clean. We had things mostly cleaned by that point too. (We had a team of four people there during the reception that we paid to clean up trash as people finished eating and things of that nature.) So as some people left early that team of four cleaned up the tables and such. The gifts and a lot of other things were already packed up and ready to be moved to cars. The food was all collected and just needed to be loaded into a car. So for the most part, when we did the send-off, most of the venue was already clean. One of my bridesmaids told me that after we left the lady was yelling at people asking who was going to clean. The bridesmaid tried telling her that it was taken care of and she and a few others were going to clean the last of it, but the woman was still freaking out about who would clean and the deposit only gets returned if the place is cleaned. My bridesmaid also tried asking her a few times what all needed to be done for her to consider it "clean" because she wanted to know if they needed to vacuum or anything. But the woman just kept freaking out about who was cleaning. She even yelled at a random guest who was not part of the bridal party nor was responsible to clean after to start cleaning. And I was also told that she was mad at the DJ for using a room to store things in that he was told he was allowed to use. That's why I took off a few stars for professionalism. If my bridesmaid was clearly telling her that there was a plan for the cleaning, then there was no need to continue to yell at people (including guests) about it. With that in mind, that was really the only bad thing about this place. Overall I'd still recommend it to anyone who is looking to have a casual wedding. (My husband and I spent about $6500 on our entire wedding which we planned on/paid for things assuming there would be 100 guests.) So if you're in the area and want more than a court house wedding but less than some of those crazy $20K+ weddings, this venue is great. Outside is gorgeous for a ceremony and the venue interior is very nice. I'm honestly a little surprised that more people don't use it for weddings.

A hub for start up tech companies and fostering new growth in the downtown area, I'm a fan of this…read morebuildings newest redesign. If you're an old school Orlando resident you'll remember the days when this place had shops, food and an arcade. You may even recall that the infamous Ron Pearlman had an office here once upon a time. After losing attention from visitor to competition like Disney, Universal and large strip malls, it sat vacant for a time. Then came 2014/2015 when several new start up tech companies came in and gave the space new life. The addition of Creedo coffee helps to fuel these young professionals as the build up their businesses and revive this building. Let's hope it continues to be a great place for a thriving bunch of great start ups that help Orlando grow! Overall: A Love the newest face on this space!

5 Stars for a building with a crazy history, a heck of a design, and an surprisingly innovative new…read moreidentity. Oh yeah, and it's also a 90s Mouseketeer. I'm about to make a bold claim. The Church Street Exchange is Orlando's Christina Aguilera. Bear with me here for a minute as I make my case. Remember simpler times when Christina was a teen princess, wearing pastel pants, crop tops, and a shy smile? That was the Exchange building as a mall and arcade. It was built in the 80s as a destination for tourists who wanted to eat and shop after days spent at Disney. It was young but had great bones- perhaps the decor was a bit over the top, but this set the building apart from the other teen pop stars of the day. But much like the growing competition of the teen starlet scene, Disney and Universal decided they would create their own "downtowns" and shopping districts and the Exchange building was bound for its first transformation. Enter XTina. I liken the Lou Pearlman office era of the Exchange Building to the wrestling/brothel setting of that timeless and eloquent hit, Dirrrry (three Rs). The fact that the Exchange was scene to an FBI raid of Pearlman's offices is just the cherry on top for the purposes of this comparison. And now we have a transformed Christina. Mother. Judge on the Voice. Surprise collaborator to little-known bands like A Great Big World (catapulting them into stardom). Much like this new and improved Christina, the current iteration of the Exchange building is one that holds a lot of promise, and whose role is to support innovators. With the intentional addition of multiple tech companies, a women's leadership center, and a tech startup co-working space, the Exchange has reinvented itself and is attracting the young, vibrant, creative class of Orlando. Will this be the permanent new identity for both Christina and the Exchange building? Maybe. Will we still look back on their history with somewhat evil glee? Obvs.

This is a beautiful event space. It's the perfect blank canvas to bring your vision to life…read more There's indoor and outdoor space available, so any event type will work here. The natural decor is modern and rustic at the same time. It's elegant and tasteful. The perfect space.