Orlando

Orlando may be known first for its major theme parks, but the city stays busy long after they close. Major concert venues, comedy stages, sports arenas, and arts festivals give events in Orlando, Florida a year-round place in the city’s rhythm.¹

Beyond its renowned resorts, Orlando offers downtown nightlife, major live venues, museums, gardens, and outdoor spaces, keeping the calendar full.¹

Orlando’s venues stretch from downtown to Lake Buena Vista, with nightlife districts and entertainment hubs helping keep the area around each show active.

• House of Blues Orlando: House of Blues Orlando is a live music venue in Lake Buena Vista near Walt Disney World.²
• Walt Disney Theater at Dr. Phillips Center: The Walt Disney Theater anchors downtown Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center with Broadway productions, concerts, and large-scale live events. Its 2,700-plus-seat auditorium combines big-production scale with excellent sightlines and acoustics made for top-notch performances.³
• The Plaza Live: The Plaza Live opened in 1963 as Orlando’s first two-screen movie theater before shifting into live performance in the early 1990s. Its main hall seats up to 991 guests or 1,330 standing, and hosts concerts, comedy, and theater.⁴

Orlando’s music calendar makes room for large-scale live events as well as multicultural events and independent performances.

• Rolling Loud Festival: Rolling Loud brings major hip-hop acts and multi-day festival energy to Camping World Stadium, giving Orlando one of its biggest annual music events.⁵
• Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando: Electric Daisy Carnival, or EDC, brings Insomniac’s dance-music festival brand to Orlando each year, with carnival themes, large-scale stage production, art, technology, and electronic music.⁶
• Orlando Fringe Festival: Since 1992, the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival has been the longest-running Fringe festival in the United States. It is unjuried, uncensored, accessible, and returns 100% of ticket sales to artists.⁷

Sports are a big part of Orlando’s main event picture. Basketball, hockey, and soccer all sit close to the city’s entertainment core.

• Orlando Magic at Kia Center: The Orlando Magic have been part of the city’s sports identity since 1989. At the Kia Center, the team plays in the NBA’s Eastern Conference and has reached the NBA Finals twice, in 1995 and 2009.⁸
• Camping World Stadium: With a capacity of 65,000, Camping World Stadium is one of Orlando’s largest event venues, hosting major events like FIFA and Olympic soccer matches, NFL Pro Bowls, and the Rolling Loud Music Festival. The Jacksonville Jaguars will use the stadium as their temporary home for the 2027 NFL season while EverBank Stadium undergoes renovation.^9,10
• Orlando City SC at Inter&Co Stadium: Major League Soccer’s Orlando City plays its home matches at Inter&Co Stadium in downtown Orlando. Opened in 2017, the venue seats around 25,500 and includes a canopy designed to trap crowd noise while providing fans with cover from the sun and rain.¹¹

Orlando’s arts scene has quite the range, from improv theaters and smaller comedy rooms to one of the country’s best-known outdoor art festivals.

• SAK Comedy Lab: SAK Comedy Lab has staged live improv in Orlando since 1991. Its 250-seat theater has helped make it one of the Southeast’s larger improv theaters and training centers.¹²
• Orlando Improv: The Orlando Improv is a stage for major comedy acts and Central Florida performers. The club is a dedicated comedy room with a 40-year history of helping launch television and film comedians.¹³
• Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival: The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is one of the nation’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious outdoor art festivals. First held in 1960, it draws up to 250,000 visitors a year.¹⁴