Your adventures were so cool. I'd also do more of that type of exploring if I just had more time down there, although I haven't even considered renting a car over the past maybe 8 years or so. The traffic around the Orlando area is as bad as any city highway, and roads down there are confusing to me. Many years ago, I would drive to various places.
Always wanted to get to Boc Tower. I did, however, get to Cypress Gardens (with my mother ages ago). We saw a water ski show, a bird show, and had a lovely tour of the magnificent gardens. One year, I went to the Florida Citrus Tower and then took the tour of the orchards; it was a whole different world down there. I really liked it. (I'm thinking that maybe the town you're thinking of with the orange smell might have been Clermont, but not positive.) Oh, I've also been to Gatorland; that was a hoot!
Lastly, I just recalled another fun off-road place, and when I went, it was very simply done with no fancy signs, etc. Might have been off some back dirt roads, too. (The signs leading to it were old pieces of wooden boards that they'd hand paint arrows, and "This way to . . ." sorts of directions.) I have a link below that I "think" might be the same place. I was there about 25 years ago, so I'm not positive it's the same place, but I think it might be. At that time, I had a flight in an OPEN cockpit old plane (like a WW II warbird style); they gave me this hood-type hat to wear and goggles. It was a BLAST!! It was a 2-seater plane and gave the best view of the areas we flew over. The link below doesn't show the plane I was in, but again, I was there so long ago--if this is the place I actually visited.
http://www.warbirdadventures.com/home