Orlando Recreation Guide

Public recreation in Orlando comes from two governments: the City of Orlando runs pools, neighborhood centers and youth leagues, and Orange County Parks and Recreation runs county parks such as Barnett Park.

City of Orlando recreation is organized on the Sports, Aquatics and Fitness pages, which cover athletic field rentals, youth programs, swimming, fencing, golf leagues and fitness centers (City of Orlando Sports, Aquatics and Fitness). The city fitness centers page lists its contact at 595 North Primrose Drive, Orlando, phone 407.246.4300 (City of Orlando fitness centers).

Orange County Parks and Recreation has its office at 4801 W. Colonial Dr., Orlando 32808, with parks administration at 407-836-6200 and an events line at 407-836-6280 (Orange County Parks and Recreation).

Orlando keeps five city pools open all year, including College Park Pool and Dover Shores Pool, and lists its seasonal pools as closed from Labor Day through Memorial Day.

The Orlando pool list names five seasonal pools that are closed Labor Day through Memorial Day (City of Orlando Find a Pool). The city's Sports, Aquatics and Fitness overview instead says Orlando operates 11 pools, five open year round and six open June to August (City of Orlando). The two pages disagree by one pool and on the season, so a call before a trip to a seasonal Orlando pool saves a wasted drive.

Orlando city pools offer more than open swim. Swim lessons for all ages are taught every summer by Red Cross certified instructors, adult lap swimming runs year round, water aerobics classes are open to adults, and recreational and competitive swim teams take swimmers ages 6 to 18 (City of Orlando swimming lessons and activities).

A City of Orlando fitness membership costs $90.53 a year and covers the workout rooms at nine neighborhood centers, from College Park to Dover Shores and Rosemont.

The Orlando membership includes treadmills, exercycles, free weights, machines and locker rooms. The nine centers are Grand Avenue (800 Grand Street), College Park (2393 Elizabeth Avenue), Dover Shores (1400 Gaston Foster Road), Engelwood (6123 LaCosta Drive), Dr. James R. Smith (1723 Bruton Boulevard), John H. Jackson (1002 West Carter Street), Northwest (3955 W. D. Judge Road), Rosemont (4872 Rose Bay Drive) and Wadeview (2177 South Summerlin Avenue) (City of Orlando fitness centers).

Orlando residents 65 and over use those city fitness rooms for free, along with the Beardall Senior Center at 800 South Delaney Avenue and the L. Claudia Allen Senior Center at 1840 Mable Butler Drive (City of Orlando).

Barnett Park fitness center memberships are $100 a year for ages 18 to 54 or $25 for 90 days, and $75 a year for ages 55 and over and active military; teens 16 and 17 pay $25 for 90 days or $100 a year for the workout room only and must work out with an active adult member (Orange County Barnett Park). For an adult aged 18 to 54, the $90.53 city annual rate is below the $100 Barnett Park annual rate.

The City of Orlando runs tackle football, cheerleading, T-ball, basketball, girls lacrosse, fencing and swim teams for children, with cheerleading games played at Emery Hamilton Sports Complex.

Orlando tackle football has five divisions for ages 5 to 15: Tykes, Mighty Mite, Pee Wee, Junior and Senior. Cheerleading takes ages 5 to 14, T-ball ages 5 to 7, and the co-ed basketball league ages 6 to 15 (City of Orlando youth athletic programs). Girls lacrosse is pitched at new players and beginners, and the city also hosts a high school varsity spring softball tournament.

Teams and groups can rent Orlando athletic fields and courts on a first-come, first-served basis for baseball, softball, soccer, football, volleyball, tennis, outdoor basketball and futsal (City of Orlando Sports, Aquatics and Fitness). Adults have their own options: coed fencing classes for all ages and golf leagues and outings organized by historic DubsDread Golf Course.

Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake, a 183-acre city park on South Hiawassee Road, is a City of Orlando park with a $5.00 per car daily entry fee.

Bill Frederick Park sits beside Turkey Lake, which the city calls one of the top-five rated fishing lakes in Florida, and offers nature trails, a fishing pier, disc golf, picnic sites, playgrounds, cabins, campsites and pavilions. Entry is $2.00 for a driver only and $1.00 per person by bus or 15 or 16 passenger van. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from November to March and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from April to October, and the park closes December 24 and 25. The address is 3401 South Hiawassee Road, Orlando 32835, phone 407.246.4486 (City of Orlando Bill Frederick Park). On October 15, 2026 the park page posted a notice that its pool is closed.

The Cady Way Trail begins four miles northeast of Downtown Orlando at Fashion Square Mall and runs through Orange County to the Cross Seminole Trail. It is twelve feet wide, with a 2.5 mile loop around Lake Baldwin and a 1.5 mile spur along the west side of Lake Susannah, and the city lists Audubon Park, Baldwin Park, Colonial Town Center and Coytown as its neighborhoods (City of Orlando Cady Way Trail). The trail counts on the city page date from July to October 2019, when the counter at Baldwin Park Street logged an average of 291 users a day, so they are now seven years old.

Barnett Park, the Orange County park at 4801 W Colonial Dr., covers 159 acres and has a splash pad that runs in four sessions with a 2 to 3 p.m. closure. Its indoor recreation center is open Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 8 p.m., phone (407) 836-6248 (Orange County Barnett Park).

The Orlando recreation section has no deeper guides of its own yet, so this hub answers its questions directly and points to related Orlando guides in other sections.

For the downtown lake loop, the Orlando Lake Eola Park guide in the landmarks section covers the park itself, and the Harry P. Leu Gardens guide covers the botanical garden; the Orlando parks hub covers city parks and lakes. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Orlando and Orange County Parks and Recreation websites.