Destination: Florida : Down the Road From Disney World : A half-hour from Orlando, in the shadow of Mickey’s domain, a town called Kissimmee offers a haven from the crowds and crush of the Magic Kingdom

The other day I snubbed Mickey Mouse. And to be quite frank, it was an intentional snub--even though I really do like the guy.

The problem was just that I’ve seen a lot of Mickey and his colleagues over the years, and I figured enough was enough for a while. It happened when I recently flew into the Orlando airport to spend a few days in Mickey’s neighborhood. I saw all the signs inviting me back to Walt Disney World, where he is emblematic monarch of America’s vacation capital. But I drove right past his front door with nary a quiver of regret.

Instead, my destination was Kissimmee, the former cattle-ranching and orange-growing town that has blossomed into its own version of an entertainment capital--and all in the shadow of Mickey’s domain.

To be sure, the town isn’t nearly as pretty as Disney World’s beautifully landscaped acres, but I think it, and the neighboring community of St. Cloud, offer just as much fun. And I didn’t have to stand in any of the infamous Disney lines to have a good time.

In a hodgepodge of daily adventures, I piloted an airboat up a swampy creek; wandered through a vast greenhouse filled with blooming orchids; kept my distance as two researchers milked venom from poisonous snakes in a serpentarium; floated on a tube around a giant water park, and hiked through a new 76-acre theme park that re-creates the architectural and scenic wonders of China in miniature.

And, because I was in Florida and I wanted to do something authentically Floridian, I drove over to Luke’s Grove, a citrus-fruit orchard where owner Bob Luke escorts sightseers on a short walk through acres of orange, grapefruit, lemon, tangelo and tangerine trees. At his invitation, I plucked a large, ripe tangerine from a tree, peeled it and ate the juicy segments as we chatted about the citrus business.

When you think of Orlando, you almost always think of Disney World. But Kissimmee, located about 25 minutes from the Orlando airport, is actually as close or maybe even closer to the Magic Kingdom. Many of the hotels, restaurants and other tourist amusements that claim a Kissimmee address stand just outside Disney World’s southern gate, which is the main entrance. More than 30,000 hotel and motel rooms in the Kissimmee area draw 4.5 million visitors a year. So a lot of vacationers who book a trip to Orlando actually end up staying in Kissimmee.

The town, as a tourist first comes to know it, is a four-lane, 30-mile-long segment of U.S. 192 that stretches from St. Cloud in the east, past the town center of Kissimmee to the Disney World entrance and a few miles beyond. The guidebook I carried calls this strip “the tourist-trap trail” because the highway is a nearly endless succession of tourist businesses.

But I think this judgment is too harsh. A “trap” suggests a rip-off, and Kissimmee is actually something of a bargain. I saw several decent-looking motels advertising prices in the winter off-season for as little as $24 a night for two people. Try to get a room in the Disney domain for that price. I stayed in a spiffy Hyatt, where I swam in the huge heated pool outside my door, for just $79 a night in midweek.

Like me, most visitors probably won’t venture too far from the strip, because that’s where most of the action is. But you really don’t have to go more than a quarter of a mile north or south of the highway to see an older, quieter Florida with scenic landscapes, acres of fruit trees and broad pastures where herds of horses and cattle graze.

During the Civil War, the Confederacy got much of its beef and hides from the cattle ranches of central Florida, and ranching is still an important industry in the area. Downtown Kissimmee boasts a big saddle shop, the Saddle Rack, and a rodeo is held on the outskirts of town most Friday nights.

I got my first glimpse of the other Kissimmee when I spotted a sign along the highway advertising “Airboat Rentals U-Drive.” I had never operated an airboat, which is propelled by a giant fan mounted just behind the driver’s seat, but I was willing to learn.

The guy at the rental desk assured me I would have no trouble, and he was mostly right. To run the flat-bottom craft, you keep your right hand on the throttle and your left on a steering lever that controls two fins behind the fan. I got off to a wobbly start, but I managed to get my boat in firm control before the first test--a tight squeeze between concrete pillars supporting a highway bridge overhead.

My ride took me about a mile and a half north along Shingle Creek, a slender, black-water stream lined by tall cypress trees dripping in moss.

I soon entered a near wilderness with little sign of civilization. I putt-putted up the creek, swinging from shore to shore as I mastered the steering maneuvers. My ride was a pleasant alternative to Disney’s simulated jungle cruise. I didn’t see any wildlife, real or fake, along the way. But maybe because I was in command of the vessel, my trip seemed a lot more thrilling.

From time to time I became impatient with the heavy stop-and-go traffic that clogs the U.S. 192 strip from early morning until late in the evening. But it was the main avenue to almost everything, and so I had to spend a good deal of time on it shuttling between amusements.

If Old Florida interests you, I would suggest detouring briefly as you travel the highway to take a look at the downtown centers of St. Cloud and Kissimmee. On the edge of all the bustle, St. Cloud is an appealing village on the southern shore of East Lake Tohopekaliga. On the sunny afternoon I was there, the residents were out in force enjoying the lake--many of them strolling, biking or roller skating on the paved path that traces the shoreline.

The old commercial area is no more than two blocks long, a vestige of another generation. A dozen antique shops are clustered in the row of old-style buildings, many of them adorned with overhanging balconies. The shops keep the sidewalks from looking completely empty.

Downtown Kissimmee is larger and busier, but it too retains the look of a small farm town from the past. Luke sells his oranges at the Thursday morning farmer’s market in a parking lot near the railway station. The town is a pretty place with huge, interesting old homes and flower-filled gardens. It overlooks Lake Tohopekaliga, where I walked along the marina to take in the view.

I was in Kissimmee for fun as well as historical contemplation, and quickly enough I made my way back to the highway to take in the big show outside Mickey’s realm. The newest attraction along the highway, and a fascinating one, is Splendid China, a $100-million theme park beautifully re-creating in miniature 60 of China’s most important cultural and scenic treasures. It is somewhat like Disney’s Epcot Center, where a visitor can get the illusion of visiting several foreign nations.

But Splendid China is far superior to anything Disney has come up with yet. You should be aware, however, that the park opened last year in controversy. Partly owned by the Chinese government, it displays a replica of the revered Potala Palace of Tibet, a country China invaded in 1950 and still forcibly occupies. According to news reports from the opening, human-rights protesters claimed the park is a giant propaganda program aimed at Americans that overlooks the concerns of Tibetans and other minorities in China. I can sympathize with these objections.

But my own reaction, after a nearly four-hour visit, is that the propaganda, if any, is minimal. Far from glorifying the current Communist regime, the park exalts the architectural masterpieces handed down from the past--whether they were the works of Imperial China, ancient Tibet or others.

The park is huge, and walking distances are great, but shady pavilions along the way offer Chinese food and drinks. And throughout the day, visitors are treated to a variety of Chinese shows. I watched acrobatic acts, a folk dance and a classical music performance.

In no zoo have I ever seen quite such an awesome collection of snakes, poisonous and nonpoisonous, as can be viewed behind glass in Reptile World Serpentarium, a commercial laboratory just east of St. Cloud. The facility displays more than 50 of the world’s most exotic snakes, including the fearsome black mamba, “the most dreaded snake in Africa.”

The laboratory regularly milks the venom from many of its snakes to be shipped to researchers elsewhere. Three times a day, at 11 a.m. and 2 and 5 p.m., visitors are invited to watch the process, which requires two handlers.

When I was there, they milked cobras from Africa and Thailand and an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which, because of its size, has the most deadly bite in North America. Using a slender rod, one handler lifted each snake one at a time from its box, pinioning it on a table so he could grasp it with his bare hand just behind the mouth while his helper grabbed the tail.

A clear glass beaker was then thrust into the snake’s mouth, and I could see splashes of venom running down its sides. The cobras appeared surprisingly docile, but the fat, wiggling rattlesnake lunged at the beaker so ferociously, I thought it might break the container in two--a graphic reminder to watch where I step when hiking.

Thoroughly intimidated, I sought an antidote in the graceful beauty of orchids in a World of Orchids, a huge greenhouse in an Asian motif where hundreds of the tropical plants were abloom.

For a while, I sat on a bench beside a garden waterfall to sniff the scents that floated past and to observe the many orchids within easy view. Afterward, I joined a very informative, 45-minute tour to learn more about the diverse world of orchids. Alex, our guide and an orchid grower, showed us large, fragile corsage orchids; sturdier types used in Hawaiian leis and a few orchids no larger than the point of a pencil. Some orchid plants bloom year-round, but the traditional corsage orchid flowers for only two weeks annually, said Alex, “which is why it is so expensive.”

In one way or another, all of the Kissimmee attractions I visited proved very educational, which is what I was looking for. But near the end of my third and last day on the strip, I opted for pure fun.

At age 57, I had never been to a water park. Several times during my stay I had passed by one just down the road from my hotel. What the heck, I thought, and I pulled into Water Mania just an hour before closing time to give it a try.

I grabbed a plastic tube and bounced for a while in a simulated tidal wave. And then I hiked over to a simulated white-water stream. Draped atop the tube, I floated down the stream, which wound through the park in a circular route. Around and around I went, happy that kids don’t have all the fun in Disney Country.

GUIDEBOOK: A Passion for Kissimmee

Getting there: Delta and United fy nonstop LAX to Orlando; American, Continental, Delta, TWA and United offer connecting flights from Burbank, LAX, Ontario and Orange County airports. Round-trip fares start at $448. Where to stay: More than 30,000 lodging rooms--hotels, motels, apartments--are located on or near U.S. 192, the highway that links Kissimmee and St. Cloud with Disney World. The plushest lodging on the highway is the Hyatt Orlando (which is located in Kissimmee, despite its name). I paid $79 a night midweek and $119 a night weekends at the Hyatt, 6375 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, Kissimmee, Fla. 34747; telephone (407) 396-1234.

Attractions: Airboat Rentals U-Drive, 4266 W. U.S. 192, Kissimmee; tel. (407) 847-3672. A World of Orchids, 2501 N. Old Lake Wilson Road, Kissimmee; tel. (407) 396-1887. Flying Tigers Warbird Air Museum, 231 N. Hoagland Blvd., Kissimmee; tel. (407) 933-1942. Gatorland, 14501 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando; tel. (407) 855-5496. Luke’s Grove, 3945 Crosley Ave., St. Cloud; tel. (407) 892-5090. Reptile World Serpentarium, 5705 E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, St. Cloud; tel. (407) 892-6905. Splendid China, 3000 Splendid China Blvd., Kissimmee; tel. (407) 397-8800. Water Mania, 6073 W. Highway 192, Kissimmee; tel. (407) 396-4994 or (407) 396-2626.

For more information: Kissimmee-St. Cloud Convention & Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 422007, Kissimmee, Fla. 34742-2007; tel. (800) 327-9159.