So I am starting this thread to let people know where they can fly drones in Central Florida.   I have been basically calling many different municipalities in order to find out their regulations or laws regarding this.  These are currently where I found you can fly and the city or munipality has set laws in place to allow it.  Each of these you must follow all FAA regulations.  Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs Florida.  The city of Altamonte has put on thier Home Page that they allow drones in any of thier parks as long as people follow FAA guidelines.  Cranes Roost Park is where I went today.  Should you go there the best place for take off and landing is the Lake Plaza Fountains, there is much beauty in this area, a large lake and the major Interstate I-4 are all within sight, adjacent to the Lake Plaza Fountains are two massive empty lots that are part of the park system, one is about 5 acres and the other 2 acres.  No people hang out there and it is just short grass.  The other place I found through my research is in Apopka Florida, at Kelly Park.  Kelly Park is beautiful and large, with natural springs, rivers, and all kinds of activity.  The only place drones can take off and land is at the main picnic area, from there you can fly where you want as long as you don't bother people in the springs or the river canoeing people.  I have visited Kelly Park many times in the 40 years I have lived in this area, and plan on taking my drone there in the next few days.  I will be posting other locations as I get information from the city or munipality administrators.  I did learn that any and all major attractions in Central Florida, ie.. Disney and other major attractions are considered and clasified by the FAA as "National Defense Airspace", there are inhibitors that encircle these area with a wide buffer that will basically have you lose contact with your drone.  There is much controversy with pilots and even airports about issues that arrise from this.  Be that as it may, there is no point in even attempting flying near these places.  I would assume there are probably hundreds of drones stuck in the top of Live Oak trees and the massive Palm trees should anyone have tree climbing skills.
If anyone has other information for this area please feel free to post on this thread.  I could tell you of all the cities and munipalities you can't fly but that would just take too long.  Also these cities and such don't even have ordinances regulating drones, they will just pop up while you are there and say go away.  Thank you

I'm in Oregon so this post doesn't actually pertain to me. However this is a great quality write up and I wish there was one for every state

This is great! Glad that I stumbled across it. I live in Windermere,  which is great to fly across or lakes,  if you have access.  I also use an app called DRONE ZONES, but it feels like I'm the only one adding any substantial information.  I'm heading to Altamonte Springs this weekend to fly.

I would like to fly in Kelly Park, based on the original post, but after calling them, I learned one can only fly a drone in the parking lot. Do these people actually know the laws and state rules? If this is the case, then this is wrong: "The only place drones can take off and land is at the main picnic area, from there you can fly where you want as long as you don't bother people in the springs or the river canoeing people." Can someone help me determine the truth about flying drones in parks? There are others in Volusia county that say no drones allowed in any county parks.

djiuser_pWpHff7hQBGJ Posted at 2020-11-12 08:24
I would like to fly in Kelly Park, based on the original post, but after calling them, I learned one can only fly a drone in the parking lot. Do these people actually know the laws and state rules? If this is the case, then this is wrong: "The only place drones can take off and land is at the main picnic area, from there you can fly where you want as long as you don't bother people in the springs or the river canoeing people." Can someone help me determine the truth about flying drones in parks? There are others in Volusia county that say no drones allowed in any county parks.

This is a great thread and hopefully experienced flyers will add to the list of places where one can legally fly a drone. Overall, Congress has designated the FAA as the only authority that can regulate airspace. Local authorities however can regulate where drones can take off and land. So as long as you take off and land in the parking lot, Kelly Park authorities cannot regulate where you fly, as long as you obey the commonsense rules of not flying over people or doing "stupid" things, if I can put it like that (responsible drone flyers know what I mean). To add to the thread, McKay Bay in Tampa is another place from which to fly, as well as Rick's on the River (Hillsborough River). Not much to see and you are flying over water, so a bit intimidating for me as a novice flyer. Planning on visiting the sites suggested. Thanks, and hopefully more folks will respond.