Jack Kerouac, famed author of On the Road, lived in a bungalow in Orlando’s College Park neighborhood in the 1950s – which is where he wrote his classic novel, The Dharma Bums. However, Orlando isn’t all about serious beatnik-esque writers suffering for their art (even though the market gets its fair play in books and on camera).
The theme park community contributes greatly, as many animated films were illustrated at Disney World until the local animation studios closed in 2004. What’s more, writers, actors and producers staff these entertainment behemoths and, after hours, often seek additional outlets for their art.
Orlando sets the backdrop for many books and movies. Here is a sampling.
Adam Sandler in The Waterboy
Alamy
Books
Fiction
A Land Remembered, by Patrick D. Smith. This compelling tale of a pioneer family takes place, in large part, in Osceola County just south of Walt Disney World. Kissimmee, on its northern tip, is now home to many tourist attractions.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Corey Doctorow. This fun-loving sci-fi novel has fun with the most iconic of Orlando’s theme parks.
Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir, by Eddie Huang. New York chef Eddie Huang’s memoir about life as a Taiwanese-American in the United States. He lived in Orlando for part of his childhood. The memoir has since been made into TV series.
Paper Towns, by John Green. This young adult mystery, by the author of The Fault in our Stars (now a feature film) is set in Orlando.
Tangerine, by Edward Bloor. In this young adult novel a bespectacled boy and his family relocate to Central Florida.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. This timeless novel, a true American classic, was written in 1937. Strong and independent Janie Crawford returns to Etonville, north of Orlando, and recounts her captivating life tale.
Non-fiction
Cross Creek, by Marjorie Kinnan Rowlings. In this beautiful memoir, a city dweller trades in her urban life for one in the country north of Orlando.
Lost Orlando (Images of America), by Stephanie Gaub Antequino and Tana Mosier Porter, on behalf of the Historical Society of Central Florida. Orlando was a rough-and-ready Southern town for the most part, before Mickey Mouse moved in. This photo-heavy book shares architecture of decades gone by.
Love Is Love, edited by Marc Andreyko. Comics by various artists in tribute to survivors of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
Mommy’s Little Girl: Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee’s Tragic Fate, by Diane Fanning. One of many books related to the sensational case of Orlando mother Casey Anthony, who was accused and acquitted of killing her young daughter.
Orlando, Florida: A Brief History, by James Clark. Historian, educator and journalist, James Clark takes readers back to Orlando’s earliest days when the Seminoles lived here, then the cowboys, then the citrus farmers.
Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World, by Chad Denver Emerson. A behind-the-scenes look at how Walt Disney transformed Florida’s wetlands into a theme-park empire.
Universal Orlando: The Unofficial Story, by Nick Sim. Real-life information about how the Universal Orlando complex came to be, by the man behind the www.themeparktourist.com blog.
The Queen Of Versailles
Evergreen Pictures/REX/Shutterstock
Film
Apollo 13, 1995. Gripping retelling of the almost ill-fated Apollo 13 moon-landing mission, starring Tom Hanks.
Contact, 1996. This intense film is one of many space-related movies to have scenes shot on the Space Coast, starring Jodie Foster.
Ernest Saves Christmas, 1998. Holiday chuckles abound as a man claiming to be Santa Claus arrives in Orlando.
Escape from Tomorrow, 2013. Filmmaker Randy Moore shot many scenes at Disney World and Disneyland without permission to create this fantasy-horror about a man who is fired from his job on the last day of his theme-park family vacation.
The Queen of Versailles, 2012. This entertaining documentary is about timeshare mogul David Siegel and his wife, Jacqueline, who are building an enormous Orlando-area house.
Sisters, 2015. A ridiculous American comedy starring popular comics Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who have one last hurrah at their childhood Orlando home.
Sydney White 2007. A teen comedy filmed in the Orlando area, including at Rollins College in Winter Park and the University of Central Florida, starring Amanda Bynes.
The Waterboy, 1998. Many scenes from this sports comedy were filmed in Central Florida, including Camping World Stadium (then the Citrus Bowl), Stetson University in Deland and a cabin in Clermont. Starring Adam Sandler.