Orlando Quick Facts
- Venue: OCCC — 2.1M sq ft, two buildings
- West: 1.1M sq ft single level · North–South: ~950K
- Labor: non-union facility (rigging/electrical in-house)
- Freight from Las Vegas: 5 days
- Airport: Orlando International (MCO), ~15 min
- On International Drive — hotels via skybridge
Exhibiting at the Orange County Convention Center
Orlando's Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) is the third-largest show facility in the country — 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space split across two buildings that face each other over International Drive. The West Building offers 1.1 million square feet of contiguous, single-level hall; the North–South Building adds about 950,000, and the two are joined by a 1,500-foot pedestrian bridge with moving walkways. It's fifteen minutes from Orlando International (MCO) and minutes from the I-Drive hotel corridor and the theme parks, which is part of why it books so heavily.
A Non-Union Advantage
Here's what sets Orlando apart from Chicago, New York or San Francisco: the OCCC is a non-union facility. Anyone employed full-time by your exhibiting company may install and dismantle the booth, within limits — exhibitors may hand-carry items (though dollies and flat trucks aren't allowed on the floor). The two tasks reserved for the venue's in-house crews are rigging and electrical. For exhibitors used to paying full union I&D up north, that flexibility can meaningfully lower the labor line on smaller and mid-size booths.
Freight & Move-In
Because rigging and electrical are OCCC in-house services, we order and coordinate them directly; internet and Wi-Fi run exclusively through the venue's provider, so we spec that early too. Freight from our Las Vegas warehouse is about a 5 days transit — we route through the advance warehouse where the show offers it, so crates are dock-side when the floor opens rather than queuing on move-in day.
What's Included
One fixed number covers all of it:
- 3D rendering, warehouse pre-build and inspection
- Graphics production and freight to the OCCC West or North–South building
- Install and dismantle — with the non-union flexibility Orlando allows
- OCCC in-house rigging and electrical, ordered and coordinated
- EAC, COI and drayage handled; dedicated project manager
- AV specification, sourcing and on-site setup
What Drives the Orlando Number
A turnkey booth runs from $5,600 for a 10x10 to about $95,800 for a 50x50 island. Two Orlando factors pull the number in your favor: non-union labor flexibility on smaller footprints, and Florida's lower sales-tax load (Orange County is around 6.5%, well under the coastal cities). The offset is that Orlando's marquee shows — IAAPA especially — skew toward very large, experiential islands, so the top of the range is driven by ambition, not by labor.
Getting There
Orlando International (MCO) is about fifteen minutes out, one of the easiest airport-to-hall runs of any major show city. Six pedestrian bridges connect the OCCC directly to thousands of hotel rooms on International Drive, so booth teams can often walk to the floor — a real scheduling advantage over a multi-day show.
Booking Windows
The PGA Merchandise Show opens the year at the OCCC each January, and IAAPA Expo — the world's largest attractions show — closes it each November with some of the biggest islands on any US floor. Both reward booking 3–5 months out, especially if you want a large or double-deck footprint that needs early venue approval.
Orlando Pitfalls
- Forgetting that rigging and electrical are OCCC-exclusive even though general labor is non-union
- Bringing dollies or flat trucks to the floor (hand-carry only) and getting stopped
- Confirming the wrong building — West and North–South are across the street from each other
- Under-scoping an IAAPA build, where neighboring booths set a very high experiential bar
Rent or Buy for Orlando?
Orlando's non-union flexibility narrows the gap slightly, but the logic still favors renting for one to three shows a year — you avoid storage, refurbishment and cross-country re-freight, and you can scale the footprint up for an IAAPA year and back down afterward without owning idle inventory.
Next Step
Choose a footprint above for Orlando pricing, or request a 3D rendering and full price within 24 hours — built and inspected in Las Vegas, delivered to the OCCC.
