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Daytona Lagoon, Daytona
Daytona Lagoon is Daytona Beach’s best water park and the best place to get your fix of water slides, a wave pool and great family fun in general. It makes for an ideal water park due to its size and for the amount of fun activities available at the park. One of the best features of the park is the MEGA Arcade.
The MEGA Arcade is an attraction located in the Family Entertainment Center. Guests can challenge each other in over 70 immersive games. Games available are Skee ball (a.k.a Skeeter’s ball) and air hockey. In case you’re not familiar with a Skee-Ball machine, it is an arcade game that is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a “ball-hop” hump that jumps the ball into bullseye rings.
The object of the game is to collect as many points as possible by having the ball fall into holes in the rings which have progressively increasing point values.
Please visit the Daytona Lagoon website to learn more about the park.
Bay & Bee, Jacksonville
Bay & Bee is an inclusive parenting community. The facility is a play space where parents can come to play with their kids while their kids can also get educated. The educators use the Montessori and Waldorf educational principles, which consists of led play, mixing ages and a strong emphasis on the whole child and parent.
Membership is required to be able to use the Play Space (your first visit is free.) With membership you’ll be able to go to both Bay and Bee locations, join any classes and come for open play on your schedule.
Learn more by visiting the Bay and Bee website.
Aquatica Orlando
Your kids will love playing in the sand and wading into the water at the two pristine wave pools in Orlando’s Aquatica water park. Kata’s Kookaburra Cove includes beginner’s body slides, water spouts and pools. Walkabout Waters offers some serious fun, including slides, splash pools, squirting water and more. Catch an underwater glimpse of playful dolphins. If you tire of Aquatica for whatever reason (we doubt you will, though) you can always go to nearby SeaWorld to have more kid-friendly fun.
Fun Fact: Aquatica Orlando is the world’s first waterpark designated as a certified autism center. Find out more information by visiting the Aquatica Orlando website.
Skate World, Lakeland
Skate World is a roller skating rink located in Lakeland, Florida. The rink has a long history of family ownership. It is currently owned by Chanel Belloto. Chanel’s grandfather, Arlys “Pops” Talbert, operated the original and first Skate World when it was located in its old location on the corner of Memorial and Lakeland Hills Boulevards.
This roller rink offers a useful resource to children such as its educational and fun STEM program. Skate Lakeland’s professional STEM educators teach visiting students about how STEM principles exist in just about every part of life. While roller skating the concepts students learned are continually reinforced.
Apart from roller-skating parties, Skate World also offers private, non-skating parties.
To learn more about this unique place, please visit the Skate World Lakeland website.
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, Sarasota
Located on Ken Thompson Parkway in Sarasota, Mote Aquarium has more than 100 species of marine animals and showcases working laboratories where real scientific research happens. Thanks to their scientific research and efforts, Mote Marine Laboratory was able to restore Florida’s Coral Reef for the first time. Mote Aquarium is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and has met rigorous, professional standards for animal care, wildlife conservation, research and education.
The Aquarium has a 135,000-gallon shark habitat, resident manatees and sea turtles. You can spend quality, aquatic family time with your kids by exploring coral reefs and other ecosystem displays teeming with diverse fishes. The aquarium comes fully equipped with boat tours, an animal hospital and they even let you adopt a marine animal!
Learn more about this great marine animal rescue at the Mote Marine Laboratory website.
William is the Managing Editor at FloridaInsider.com. His years of experience in journalism, broadcasting and multimedia include roles as a Writer and Web Producer. He graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science and Communication.