Orlando Attractions

Venue: The Holy Land Experience    When: Daily
The small theme park is the brainchild of Marvin Rosenthal, a Jew who converted to Christianity and sought to use conventional theme-park methods to bring the story of Jesus to the millions of visitors who stream to Orlando to visit the area's other attractions.

Visitors enter a recreation of the Jerusalem of Jesus' time, greeted by a blast of the shofar (ram's horn). Kaftan-wearing actors tell them about Herod's Gate (recreated in a half-scale replica) and the Via Dolorosa.

Other highlights of the park include the multimedia shows at the Wilderness Tabernacle and the Temple of the Great King, which evoke the world of Roman Jerusalem in greater detail. If you're hungry, the Oasis Cafe offers falafel or other Middle Eastern dishes, a welcome change from the theme-park norm.

The park attracted small protests at its opening from Jewish groups worried that the Holy Land Experience's emphasis on the Jewish milieu of New Testament times amounted to an attempt to convert Jews. In the main, though, it seems to attract a broad range of visitors, especially but not exclusively church groups.