There’s a saying in Florida: “If you want to see the real Florida, you gotta get off the turnpike.”
The state’s turnpike system runs more than 300 miles down the peninsula and passes through Orlando, near Kissimmee. So if you’ve visited Kissimmee, chances are you’ve driven on part of it. Sure, the highway makes getting around a snap, but it hides what’s really spectacular about the area—not just wild attractions, but “wild” places in general.
“Kissimmee and the whole area of Osceola County is really special,” says Jim Lentz, one of the founders (along with wife Martha) of a new certified green community in Osceola County. It’s a real town—Harmony—and is comprised of 11,000 acres, 70 percent of which is protected. Lentz has lived in the Kissimmee area since 1973.
“Local officials here are very focused on preserving the precious waterways and wildlife,” Lentz says. “These are some of the most unique things about Central Florida. These things are how you know you are in Florida.”
Lentz is talking about more than alligators. He’s talking about calm lake waters that look like mirrors. He’s talking about cypress forests that inspire non-creative types to buy watercolor paints. He’s talking about spotting an endangered whooping crane on a marshland hike.
While the general impression of Kissimmee may be that it’s a manufactured town created for tourists, the reality is that the town was founded in the mid-1800s. At that time, the city was known as Allendale. The name was changed in 1883 when the town was incorporated.
Another fact that might surprise some: The Florida Everglades actually extends into Kissimmee’s waterways. A host of tour operators seek to show people the flora and fauna of the “’Glades.” Lentz highly recommends Forever Florida, a company that takes groups out to see bald eagles and grasslands on horseback.
“Gatorland is also pretty good,” Lentz says. “You have the gators, but what is really impressive to me is its bird sanctuary.”
People go wild over manmade attractions, and that’s a big reason why groups come to Kissimmee. The city is close the Walt Disney World, Sea World Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort and more waterparks than you can shake a tube of sunblock at.
“The city is seeing tremendous growth, and now officials want to manage that growth in a smart way,” Lentz says.
Among local green initiatives in the region: speedy approval processes for green building permits and a 10 percent reimbursement on road impact fees for Class A green office buildings, manufacturing or distribution facilities that follow the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification guidelines.
One “wild” must-see in Kissimmee is The Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve. The 12,000-acre area, which makes up the headwaters of the Everglades, is bordered by Lake Russell, one of the last remaining undeveloped lakes in the state. A trail continues beyond the lake offering a closer look at the preserve and its some of its endangered residents.
So while Kissimmee boasts surefire manmade meetings and conventions attractions such as Gaylord Palms Resort Hotel & Convention Center—itself offering a virtual Everglades under its trademark atrium—championship golf courses, luxury properties such as Omni Resort at ChampionsGate and Reunion Resort, and the nearby utopia of Walt Disney World, sometimes you’ve gotta get off the turnpike and answer the call of the wild.
