Central Florida's tourist district welcomed back visitors during the holiday weekend

I-Drive busy for Labor Day weekend

Even though many businesses are operating at limited capacity in Orlando's tourist district, Labor Day crowds were a welcomed sight.

ORLANDO, Fla. - As many restaurants operate at 50 percent capacity along International Drive, many say it was still a very busy weekend.

Among the restaurants and rides along I-drive, there’s an incredible sight that we haven’t seen since the pandemic:

Dwayne Golding said, "I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina."
Ricardo Bento said, "From Broward, from South Florida." 
And Mike Finn said he's from Pennsylvania.

Visitors from far and near, spending money in the tourist district.

The owner of The Ice Bar says an influx of customers stayed longer than usual this weekend.

Even rides like The StarFlyer were busier than they have been with guests.

Bento said, "Yesterday (Sunday) was super packed all over the place."

"First time since we’ve been open in July that we’ve seen a huge impact in sales."

Walk-On Sports Bistreaux opened for the very first time over the summer.

Director of operations Joe Foranoce says it’s the busiest he’s seen it.  

"Business has been really good Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today (Monday). It’s been great." 

He says both the theme parks and resorts helped attract visitors to I-Drive.

"It's a little bit of a combination of maybe staycations and people coming in from out of town to go to Disney."

Ricardo Bento said, "I tried to go to the park. Universal. But it was impossible. By lunchtime, it was full."

Tampa visitor Betsy Beraquit said, "I have five boys. I’m exhausted right now from entertaining them all day." Her son, Ethan, tells us, "It’s really awesome. I like Orlando, it’s like the best."

Dwayne Golding, who came from Charlotte, North Carolina, said, "I went down to Ft. Myers Beach and love Orlando."

He said he feels good about bringing business back to I-Drive and Walk-On Sports Bistreaux.

"They treated us like family and were appreciative that we were here, and basically said, 'Please come back to Orlando, we need your business.'"

Places like Mango's are still closed. The owner is waiting for conventions to start up again.

As Visit Florida starts up a "Staycation Campaign," I-Drive hopes visitors will keep coming to the tourist district.