Page 65 - Dreamscapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2025

PHOTOS: GRACE TOBY | WESTGATE RIVER RANCH
Secret Garden
This past spring, soon after landing in Orlando, I hit the
road heading 70 km southwest to Winter Haven.
Home to Florida’s first theme park that opened in
1936, the fabled Cypress Gardens was on everyone’s
must-see list. Spectacular gardens of colour and foliage
once enveloped water ski shows, boat rides and southern
belles. A big tourist attraction, it even inspired Walt
Disney to create Walt Disney World.
While long gone, the LEGOLAND Resort has carved a
niche on the former grounds. Naturally, it is my first
stop. A walk through this botanical oasis of mature
foliage reveals life-sized Lego figurines. Although my
carnival days are behind me, the Lost Kingdom ride bat-
tling mummies with lasers satisfies my tempered
adrenalin rush. A stroll through MINILAND reveals a
small-scale replica of the U.S., while over at the new
Ferrari exhibit I get a hands-on sports-car-building
lesson. I can easily zigzag this compact park within a
few hours.
For visitors interested in longer stays, the two on-site
hotels are just 120 kids’ steps to the entrance. Rooms
have custom themes like LEGO City or NINJAGO, with
curated bedsheets, and window coverings styled to make
any kid at heart have the sweetest dreams.
Happy Camper
In Auburndale, I check into the Camp Margaritaville RV
Resort about an hour southwest of Orlando. Instantly I’m
transported to the vibe of carefree beachfront concerts
and frozen drinks.
My stay in one of 75 brightly hued, clapboard-sided
cabins includes a kitchen and a back deck overlooking
Lake Myrtle. A sign above the porch reads: “We salt
margaritas—not sidewalks.” My speed exactly. I cruise
in a golf cart to the pool, passing picklers on the pick-
leball court.
By dusk, road warriors roll in with their Airstreams
and big rigs settling under a starry sky. Many RVers are
seasoned. One regular tells me the trailering lifestyle is in
the water here. “Back in 1919, a group of ‘tin can tourists’
in nearby Tampa started this tradition,” he says. With that
thought, I sink into a tiki-bar chair, margarita in hand, as
Jimmy Buffett ballads hum in the tropical breeze.
Later, Alligator
The next day, sitting high beside the captain on an air-
boat, I get a clear bird’s-eye view of Kissimmee River. The
view: spectacular, but wow, is it loud. Thankfully, the
captain signals for earplugs as the propeller roars behind
us. Sunlight glitters on the water as we snake through
narrow straits, past groves blanketed in water lettuce.
Within minutes, our guide spots a gator near the marshy
edge, her foot-long hatchlings close behind. No surprise—
this river is home to countless alligators, including some
of the largest anywhere. If it wasn’t for them, I might think
I was in northern Ontario.
With so many lakes to explore, we set out again the
next evening for a sunset pontoon ride on Lake Eloise,
lined with cypress trees draped in moss. Arriving by
boat, we cap off the night with dinner at Harborside in
Winter Haven. On the menu? Gator bites.
SPRING/SUMMER 2025 DREAMSCAPES 65