Muses, not Mouses – Another Orlando

by Lisa Sonne

If you are looking for some mini-breaks from the land of Minnie and Mickey, there are plenty of muses in the Orlando area that tout tales, not tails. Art, music, wine, architecture, gardens, and a creative circus are all ready to inspire.

You can touch actual Tiffany glass at The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum. Then, go sit on a pew in the chapel designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The sanctuary, with Romanesque and Byzantine styles combined with Tiffany originality, won 54 awards at the time but had to be rescued from neglect and fire in another century by the founders of the Morse museum.

Two-sided Tiffany jewelry, some of his famous lamps, pottery, paintings, furniture, and windows are also on display, legacies of what Tiffany called his lifelong “quest for beauty.” He designed for the White House, Mark Twain, and Thomas Edison. You can enjoy a range of Tiffany here, including some of his more famous pieces, like the Oyster Bay Window, back from long-term loans to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

http://www.morsemuseum.org

For those who get their inspiration from a different kind of glass, you can stroll from the Museum down the lovely Park Avenue of Winter Park, over to The Wine Room, where you can sample any of 150 wines from around the world. You buy a debit (aka “smart”) card and take your glass down rows of wine dispensers with content descriptions and prices for 1-, 2-, and 5-ounce samples.

You insert your card, make your choice, place your glass under the chosen spigot, and push the button to start the wine cascade. Cheese and breads are also available in the cozy venue. I’d call it an upscale wineteria and trendy gathering spot. http://www.thewineroomonline.com

Between the Tiffany and Bordeaux are boutiques and galleries for those inspired by retail muses: from Timothy’s Gallery of jewelry and select crafts to Ten Thousand Villages, which depends on volunteer energy to market wonderful creations of underemployed artisans from around the globe. http://www.tenthousandvillagesorlando.com I enjoyed the artful eclecticism of The Scott Laurent Collection (http://www.scottlaurentcollection.com), where you can chat directly with Rick Stanley, the interior stylist, and learn about the entrepreneurial philanthropy of “Artsy Auctions” led by Shelly Jenkins. http://www.artsyauction.com

In the Loch Haven Park area of Orlando, the Orlando Art Museum beckons you to create your own art tour, from modern 3D installations to ancient American shamanic pieces dating back to 2000 BC, according to museum curator Hansen Mulford. Artifacts from more than 30 different cultural groups include pieces from the Anasazi, Aztec, Inca, and Nazca cultures. That’s just one of the permanent collections. The museum also features a very wide range of traveling exhibits, so check the web site to match your interests. http://www.OMArt.org There are also a family-friendly “Discovery Center” and interactive activities tailored for children.

The Albin Polesek Museum and Sculpture Gardens are the home and living memorial of a man regarded as one of America’s best sculptors in the 20th century, according to the quietly engaging and passionate curator, Karen Louden. She says that in his own lifetime, the sculptor Polasek was lionized and in great demand. If you are fortunate, Louden will personally take you around and tell you stories, including how the mystery of the female portrait hidden in the bomb shelter was solved.

She will also leave you alone to meander by gods and ferns in sculpture gardens leading down to Lake Osceola. The Czech artist wanted the world to know about Slavic mythology’s counterparts to the Roman and Greek gods, so he carved figures in limestone, terra cotta, concrete, and bronze. Today, they peer out from botanical abundance.

The gardens can also be seen from the middle of the lake as part of a traditional “Scenic Boat Tour” that’s been offered for 60 years. One hour, two canals, three lakes, and many shore-side mansions later, you will have had a relaxing tour of a Winter Park lifestyle that started centuries ago with wealthy people escaping the cold of the Northeast.

An informative skipper narrates as you float past mansions where he says “the last chapters of Gone With the Wind” were written, Tom Hanks filmed, Presidents visited, and one of the world’s best whistlers stills resides. Crocodiles and cranes may also entertain you. http://www.scenicboattours.com The group I boated with added to our pleasures by bringing memorable chocolate brownies, the final course of our earlier lunch at the popular Park Plaza Gardens restaurant in Winter Park.

On the banks of Lake Rowena, The Harry P. Leu Gardens is billed as a “50 acre living museum made up of collections of plants” for conservation, research, education, and public enjoyment. The beautiful grounds provide lovely strolling paths flanked by tropical and subtropical species, dramatic passages of Spanish moss, one of the world’s largest camellia gardens, and small themed gardens including one of raised beds for horticultural therapy for people with special needs. http://www.leugardens.org If you enjoy glimpses of how people lived in other times, don’t leave out the Leu House Museum, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. If you love gardening and botany, seek out the horticulturalist Eric Schmidt for fascinating side-trips.

For side steps and high steps at night, you can pop into the Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant on Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney. I enjoyed watching some wonderful Irish dancing to spirited, can’t-sit-still-in-your-seat music. Live entertainment and good pub fare are inside seven nights a week, while the toy stores and theme attractions of Pleasure Island wait outside. http://www.raglandroadirishpub.com

When you are ready to immerse your imagination in a nighttime adventure, step into the resident bigtop of Downtown Disney and join the circus – a wonderfully strange, beautifully bizarre, multi-dimensional version of circus known as The Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba. The La Nouba name comes from a French phrase meaning to ‘to party; to live it up.” The traditional circus pieces – acrobatics, high-wire, clowns, strongman, fat lady, jugglers – are all there, but put together in a way that creates a profound puzzle. It’s vertical and horizontal dance, storytelling opera without words, silly vaudeville, and metaphysical conjuring. Encore! http://www.cirquedusoleil.com

HOTELS in the DOWNTOWN DISNEY area:

The muses of hospitality makeover are spending up to $200 million dollars to renovate and “upgrade upscale” in seven sister hotels and resorts, banded together as “Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels” http://www.DowntownDisneyHotels.com. Check the website for the latest deals and features.

The sisters include Hilton Orlando Resort, Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort, Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa, Doubletree Guest Suites, Holiday Inn, Regal Sun Resort, and Royal Plaza. The hotels are not owned or run by Disney and are not inside the Disney theme parks, so they don’t have views of live giraffes, Mouse décor galore, or immediate proximity. However, they are official Walt Disney World Hotels inside the gates of Walt Disney World Resort, meet the Disney Standards, and offer some Disney Perks (like Park tickets without lines, free shuttle transportation to the Parks, and some preferential tee times for golfers) without lots of mouse motif. And they are walking distance from the attractions of Downtown Disney stores and eateries.

The sisters offer a range of options for modest to high budgets, whether you are traveling for work and need conference space or with family for a vacation and want cool pools. You’ll find a tropical wedding setting with a white gazebo at the Best Western and tennis courts, beauty salons and a dinner murder mystery theater featured in other hotels. Some of the hotels even have aromatherapy scents wafting in the lobby to greet you.

Like sisters from a good family, all the hotels have solid basic genes, but each is proud of individual qualities. Each hotel’s accommodations offer different décor styles, a different branded line of bathroom products, and distinct bedding features. The ROYAL PLAZA, for instance, offers Bath & Body Works amenities. The DOUBLE TREE, the only sister that’s all suites, provides “SWEET DREAMS” sleep experiences.

The staff of the REGAL SUN seemed to have a sense of humor when I visited. The hotel actually has a Director of F.U.N. (I think that’s Fantastic Utter Nonsense.) I enjoyed a savory meal at the Andiamo Italian Bistro & Grill restaurant, the signature restaurant of the HILTON ORLANDO RESORT. In addition to lots of business facilities, the Hilton also caters to families. Andiamo provides free food for young children, and the Hilton is the only sister to offer “Extra Magic Hours” at the four Disney theme parks.

I stayed at the BUENA VISTA PALACE HOTEL & SPA and enjoyed my niche of the resort’s recent $50 million dollar renovation, including my private balcony, ergonomic work chair, free calls, helpful staff, and daily NY Times delivery. I also let myself enjoy a wonderful facial in the spa, which is slated to undergo a transformation into a Golden Door Spa.

Whichever sister hotel you choose, if you still want a little of the Mouse magic after a day of other Orlando muses, request a room that faces the nightly fireworks over Walt Disney World. You can watch and wonder from your own window.

No cartoon mice were harmed in the writing of this piece. Writer-filmmaker Lisa Sonne likes Mickey and Minnie. She just wanted to explore other parts of Orlando. More of her bio is on her www.WorldTouristBureau.com