Top 10 things to do in Florida

This classic Old Florida attraction—family-owned since the 1970s—features thousands of objects “representing 25 decades of history and Americana.” As the name suggests, you’ll find all 45 presidents (or their wax counterparts) here, along with their First Ladies, and replicas of Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and the White House. Viewed by more than 50 million people from all 50 states and around the world—including two actual presidents—the one-of-a-kind, handmade White House is 50 feet long, 15 feet wide, and filled with miniatures (crafted at a 1-inch to 1-foot scale) including furniture, wallpaper, and working lights.

Orange World is one of several huge gift shops located along Route 192 in Kissimmee, an area full of hotels, restaurants, and other tourist attractions. But before Disney or Universal Studios, the area used to be surrounded by orange groves—as far as the eye could see—and Orange World makes it easy for visitors to “take some [Florida] home” with them. Out of a dome-shaped building claimed to be the “World’s Largest Orange,” Orange World sells every variety of citrus fruit you can imagine, including unique varieties such as Sol Zest Mandarins and Honeybells grown locally in the Indian River region.

Tarpon Springs, located on the Gulf Coast, is a tiny town known for its sponges. Greek divers started arriving in the early 1900s, but in 1947, the sponge fields were wiped out by a red tide algae bloom. The industry rebounded in the '80s when a disease hit Mediterranean sponge fields and increased the demand for Florida sponges. Today, there's still a small, active sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, but it’s largely a tourist destination with several restaurants, bakeries, and souvenir shops. The two largest shops are The Sponge Factory and Spongeorama Sponge Factory, the latter of which (perhaps dubiously) claims to have the world's largest collection of sponges. Both shops show a different short, educational sponge diving movie, but make sure you pay attention—the movies are different but both contain “secret” discount codes so you can stock up on the town’s signature export.

The Linger Lodge, a restaurant and campground located in Bradenton, Florida, more than lives up to its claim to be “Old Florida at its Best.” Started in 1945 as a campground, the Lodge is full of taxidermy, mostly from roadkill. Some pieces are good, some pieces are bad, and some pieces are so bad that they're great. It's worth visiting the Linger Lodge for the menu alone: It features an entire page devoted to the roadkill offerings—which may or may not be a joke—including "Chunk of Skunk," "Swirl of Squirrel," "Center Line Bovine," "The Chicken (that didn't cross the road)," and "Poodles 'n Noodles." The Lodge is very proud of its rare and unusual Florida Animals taxidermy collection, with fantastical creations such as a Jackalope, Alaskan Fur Fish, and a Walking Catfish.

John Ringling—of Ringling Brothers fame—wisely invested his profits from The Greatest Show on Earth, making him one of the richest men in America in the 1920s. The Ringling in Sarasota comprises several different properties and museums, including Ringling’s house, Ca’ d’Zan; a huge art museum; gardens; and the circus museum, which houses The World's Largest Miniature Circus. The 3,800-square-foot Howard Bros. Circus model is “a 44,000-piece re-creation of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus combined shows from 1919-1938.” The model is the life's work of one man—Howard Tibbals—and is crafted to an exact 3/4-inch to 1-foot scale. Tibbals has been working on the model for more than 50 years, and it includes everything you'd expect to see at a circus and more, including billboards and trains; trapeze artists and barbers; general stores and ice cream stands; elephants, zebras, and tigers; clowns and ticket booths—and of course a big top.