A Florida Classic

I've been home from Florida for a little while, and it's hard to believe it even happened!  It's as if I'd dreamed it, or it's something not quite real.

That Man had two races on back-to-back weekends in Gainesville, Florida, and we spent the days in between in Orlando.  We didn't visit the mouse, the wizard, or the performing sealife.  No, we went to GATORLAND!

What a great place!  It’s reasonable in price, has easy (and close!) parking, and is a great way to spend a day.  It’s just a totally different experience from the flashy central Florida theme parks.  It's been a classic Florida tourist attraction since 1949 and is still family owned.

We got there just in time for the first gator jumping show.  They send halved chickens across one of the front lagoons on pulleys and the alligators go for them.

We walked around and saw hundreds of alligators and birds, and even some crocodiles. You can buy hot dogs to feed the alligators, and the birds try to steal them. The birds are bold.  They sidle up to you casually, pretending they aren't interested in the hot dogs.  I had to keep shooing away a stork.  I could have pushed him aside, he was so close!  I just waved him off, though.  I didn’t want to get in trouble for molesting the wildlife.

Gatorland sits between two swamps, and a boardwalk meanders through one of the swamps. It was quiet in there.  Not many people do this boardwalk.  Lots of interesting plants to see, and all natural!  No plantings.  Just good ol' swamp.

There’s a train ride that takes about 20 minutes and circles the park while they tell about the park’s history. 

There's a monster swamp buggy ride. That was just silly fun.  Wear your seat belts or you'll be sorry!

There’s a zip line across the breeding marsh. There are zip lines everywhere you go any more.  We didn’t do that (chickens!) but we watched others.  

There’s another boardwalk that crosses the breeding marsh.  We saw LOADS of alligators and birds up close.  

There are hundreds of egrets, and they come and go as they please. They build their nests wherever, including along the boardwalk. There were two or three nests that were so close I could have easily reached out and taken their eggs without even stretching.

Of course, we HAD to watch the alligator wrestling show. That was as much fun as I remembered. The running commentary during the shows is hilarious.

There's a petting zoo, Galapagos tortoises to feed, snake, Florida panther, and bobcat exhibits, an aviary, and more fun experiences available.

We got a lot of walking in and didn’t wear ourselves out, either.  Gatorland is one of those places that you’d probably have to twist a teenager’s arm to go to, but they’d love it once they were there. Definitely a great place for younger kids.  Or OLD kids, like us!