In my article “Setting: Elements of Towns and Cities,” I wrote about how many writers believe a setting is merely a location; however, a setting is not just a location, but everything that would define a location as a place. The seven elements that a writer should focus their setting writing on are the local restaurants, local shops, local events, local activities/entertainment, culture, day/night differences, and people. The best settings serve to incorporate all of these seven elements throughout the story. One area that has an abundance of these seven elements is Orlando, Florida.

Local Restaurants & Local Shops

Downtown Disney, now renamed Disney Springs, offers a wide variety of restaurants from casual to fancy and many shops. Universal City Walk is a smaller version of Disney Springs, located near Universal, that also offers various restaurants and shops. Disney’s Epcot Park is a park that is filled with restaurants and shops based on different countries from around the world.

Local Events

Orlando is well known for its holiday celebrations that generally include fireworks, family events, and some adults-only bar celebrations. The most well-known would be the 4th of July celebrations which normally take place at the different Orlando amusement parks, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, and Christmas at Disney World. However, not all of the Orlando events are as well known, for instance Mardi Gras is celebrated with a mini-parade through Disney's Port Orleans Resort.

Local Activities/Entertainment

Orlando, Florida is very well known for its theme parks, which include Disney, Universal, and Sea World. However, there are also water parks like Aquatica, Wet ‘n Wild, and Volcano Bay. In addition, Orlando has numerous dinner theaters like Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows, Pirates Dinner Adventure, and Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show. Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament is also located in Orlando and it offers not only a four-course dinner, but also entertainment in the form of jousting, horsemanship, and falconry contests and shows.

Culture & People

 Orlando has a bit more than two hundred thousand residents with an average of seventy million tourists who travel to Orlando every year. The large number of different tourists has given Orlando a diverse culture as people travel from all over the world to enjoy Orlando’s amusement parks and entertainment.

Day/Night Differences

The difference between Orlando by day and at night depends on the location. For example, all of the Disney parks remain family friendly, no matter the time. However, places like Disney Springs and City Walk tend to favor the adult crowd the later it gets, and City Walk has multiple bars and restaurants that are only open to those over twenty-one after a certain time. Universal remains mostly family friendly, though they do tend to have concerts after sundown that are geared towards teenagers and adults, but overall the two parks tend to be family friendly from opening to closing times. Sea World is also a park that remains family friendly from the moment their gates open until the park closes.