Florida existed long before Walt Disney World.
Believe it or not, tourism in Florida existed before Mickey set up shop in the formerly quiet wetlands of Orlando, too.
In fact, you don’t need to drive far from the entertainment epicenter of Orange County to find yourself in real Florida – a land of wildlife, mangroves, wetlands, wildflowers, beaches, and natural, spring-fed lakes. Even today, as Harry Potter and Star Wars battle it out behind the gated walls of corporate playgrounds, other worlds exists just a daytrip away: worlds of alligators, dinosaurs, tikis, flamingos, parrots… and mermaids.
Before strip malls and outlets dotted the landscape, roadside attractions dating back to mid-century Americana littered the Floridian landscape, and while quite a few survive today, there may be none as fantastic as Weeki Wachee Springs, where mermaids are real.
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