Nestled away towards the southern boundary of Orlando, Florida, nearly kissing Kissimmee, between Hunters Creek and Buena Ventura Lakes on Orange Blossom Trail, is the American treasure known as Gatorland. I honestly don’t know if I ever visited this unique and wholesome location as a youth – although my wife and I both have fabricated memories of the attraction – but, for certain we have visited three times since 2015, and it’s a fun travel spot for sure.
Gatorland, not another zoo or roadside attraction
What’s Gatorland? Founded by Owen Godwin in 1949, Gatoland is a family destination. In a lot of ways, it’s a conservation area and preserve. In other ways it’s zooish. Some might think it’s just another roadside attraction. Is it part theme park and high adventure location? Gatorland is a bit of all of that and then some.
What’s Gatorland have to say for themselves on who and what they are?
Get ready for down-home family fun at “The Alligator Capital of the World®” – Gatorland! There isn’t a better place to see alligators and crocodiles of all sizes, from babies, also known as grunts, to the 14-foot monsters that call our Breeding Marsh home. We even have the largest collection of extremely rare white leucistic alligators. But, Gatorland is more than just a gator park! Our free-flight aviary, petting zoo, one-of-a-kind animal shows, thrilling Screamin’ Gator Zip Line and new Stompin’ Gator Off-Road Adventure ensure your day will be chock-full of fun, smiles, and special memories!
Gatorland, Florida’s leader in alligator safety and education since 1949®
The fact is there’s a ton to do at this neat spot and my roommates and I have only scratched the surface on their offerings. Our most recent trip there was in August of 2023 and I think it was one of the most memorable. Although, each time we go, we find ourselves doing or experiencing different things as well as some of our favorites.
Gatorland has gators and plenty of other critters
Gatorland is 110 acres and they do self-identify as a “theme park and wildlife preserve.” According to their website, they have over 2,000 American Alligators and say they’re “The Alligator Capital of the World®.”
There are a ton of gators, which makes sense, at Gatorland. While on location, you’ll be able to see gators from varying ages and sizes, as well as some genetically unique specimens.
Fun fact, Gatorland was the filming location of the harrowing scene from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” where Mola Ram was torn to shreds and eaten by crocodiles – but they were in fact alligators.
Some of the cool critters that you’ll see at Gatorland are:
- Alligators – All shapes, sizes, ages, including albino and leucistic gators
- Crocodiles
- Birds – Amazon parrots, blue and gold macaws, cockatoos, budgerigars, emus, flamingos, and more
- Wild cats – A serval, Florida bobcats, and Florida panthers
- Capybara – With options to get to feed and pet these critters
- Other critters – Snakes, scorpions, toads, and lizards
Tortoises – Several different breeds of tortoise, including a Galapagos tortoise, and add-ons to feed these majestic reptiles - Petting zoo with – Goats, a miniature zebu, and other animals
Our arrival
We rolled into the large parking lot just around opening time on a Tuesday morning. Of course we stopped by the iconic giant alligator head in the front of the facility to snap some photos. At the ticket window we selected a package that I remember being called the “grunt package,” however looking online at the current ticket offerings, it appears to now be called the “The Gatorland Greater Gator Package.”
The Gatorland Greater Gator Package
My tribe is all about value, and that’s what you get with the Greater Gator package. The package includes a day ticket along with some other experiences for only $7.00 more per adult, or $9.00 more per child – at the time of this review.
What’s the extra cabbage get you? The package includes an alligator “meet n’ greet,” where you’re able to pose with an alligator in the Legends of the Swamp arena. It also allows guests to have unlimited train rides on their Gatorland Express train. And, you get some “Gator Chow,” Gatorland’s special alligator safe food that guests can feed to gators throughout the property.
Our most recent trip to Gatorland was a blast
We entered into the preserve and started to make our way to some of the attractions. To not be underdone, we saw the area with the “Junior Jumparoo,” and quickly veered off to participate in that.
The Junior Jumparoo is an area where, for an added fee, guests can feed some of the juvenile gators by dangling a fish down to them via a pole. Hold the fish above them and see how high you can get the gator to go. Gators will chomp down on the fish, leaving behind the weedwhacker line used to connect the fish to the pole. It’s pretty cool and fun for sure.
Swamp of the White Gators
Once we were done with the Junior Jumparoo, we walked the property, taking in all the sights and the scenery. We popped over to the “Swamp of the White Gators” and headed in to check out the genetically unique gators that were in there.
What’s interesting about the white gator area is there are two different types of “white” gators housed there. If I told you they had albino gators, you’d probably say, “Duh, they’re white. Of course they’re albino.” I’d have to then follow up and ask, “Okay, then what about the leucistic ones?”
Leucism vs Albinism
Gatorland goes into great detail in their signage explaining the difference between these pigmentally challenged beasts. Gatorland states that, “Albinism is a condition in which there is an absence of melanin, creating white skin and red eyes.” They continue, “Leucism, on the other hand, is a partial loss of pigmentation, which can make the animal have white or patchily colored skin, but the pigment cells in the eyes are not affected by the condition.”
Gatorland is home of the only known hatched in captivity leucistic alligator. Mystic, as she was named, is one of eight known leucistic alligators to be living at the time of the writing of this review. She, along with her normally pigmented brother, hatched the summer of 2023. It was observed that the eggs of Mystic and her brother both incubated ten days longer than a normal American Alligator would prior to hatching.
The quick and dirty is if the eyes are red, you’ve got an albino. Blue eyes, the gator is leucistic. A great video put out by Gatorland about Mystic and the difference between leucistic and albino gators can be viewed HERE.
We swung by the petting zoo
If you have a little traveler, like we do, you’re probably accustomed to hitting up petting zoos whenever you see them. We don’t even groan anymore. We just go straight for them and prepare ourselves to fork over the cheddar to buy some feed. Maybe we groan a little and try to evade them from time to time.
What’s unique about the petting zoo at Gatorland, “Allie’s Barnyard Petting & Feeding,” is they have a zebu. What’s a zebu? Basically a mini cow that hails from South Asia. Gatorland’s zebu is a miniature one.
Going to the petting zoo did pay off in other ways though. There, we learned about the capybara feeding experience. Spoiler alert, we bought some tickets for that cool experience.
Bring on the Jumparoo!
One of the shows at Gatorland is their signature “Jumparoo.” The Jumparoo is a mock interview or audition between two potential Gatorland employees and a manager/host. The host of the show had the two candidates compete in completing different tasks. The big draw to the show is watching the gators leap out of the water to snag some food dangling from a line. Perhaps the most intriguing portion would be when the two candidates hand feed gators some chicken by holding it just above them.
The Jumparoo is a great show that will get your heart racing. We caught the 11:30 a.m. show and really enjoyed the spectacle. The script has not seemed to have changed in several years, but it’s a fun show that’s worth marking down on your “to-do” list while at the park.
Enjoy the property and scenery
As mentioned, Gatorland is a preserve of sorts. The property has so many undeveloped elements that it gives guests an opportunity to enjoy seeing all the critters safely in a natural habitat.
Walking the boardwalk through the breeding marsh is one of the coolest areas to go through. This is one of those spots where you’ll get a good bang for your buck on feeding some gators with the Gator Chow, if you purchased it. I can remember in years past, we used to buy hotdogs from the park to feed the gators, but they’ve since swapped over to these giant pellet looking blobs of food. The boardwalk through the breeding marsh also has an observation tower.
The swamp walk
Another area that’s neat, yet a bit secluded, is on the south end of the property. Past the “Legends of the Swamp Arena” is the “swamp walk.” The swamp walk is a boardwalk that meanders through the swampy bayou on the outskirts of Gatorland.
Whatever you might find while on the swamp walk is not part of the preserve per se, but includes straight up wild critters which are not under the husbandry of the park. Along the trail there are informational signs for visitors to read about things they may find in the area. It’s a nice and peaceful little stroll and I recommend doing it. The swamp walk can be lonely though if you geaux bayou self.
Flamingo Island
Other areas in the park are great to stroll through as well. “Flamingo Island,” a spot closer to the middle of the park, perpendicular to what I’d call the main drag, is a great location to spy these odd birds.
Fun fact, flamingos have their ankles halfway up their legs. What we would assume is a “knee” is actually a flamingo’s ankle, and the knee is where we’d think the hip might be.
If you’re lucky, while spying on the small flamboyance at Gatorland, you might catch a glimpse of some of the resident capybaras.
The Gatorland Express Train
I’m a sucker for trains. I’m not hanging out in my garage playing with a model train set of the Blue Comet in my down time, but I enjoy parks that have scenic train rides around the property. The Gatorland Express Train is good fun and takes about 15 minutes to go around the park.
While riding the Gatorland Express, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Bigfoot. In the Gatorland Express Train Station, there are TVs playing an episode of “Unresolved Mysteries,” telling the tale of a Bigfoot on the loose at the Gatroland property. The Bigfoot that’s roaming the property isn’t your garden variety relative of gigantopithecus, but may very well be the Florida Skunk Ape.
The ticket package we purchased included an unlimited Gatorland Express Train ride bracelet.
Alligator “meet n’ greet” and the Legends of the Swamp
Over at the Legends of the Swamp arena, guests are able to engage with gators themselves, up close and personal. For a fee you can pose straddling a gator while under the supervision of some of the trainers. Our ticket package included this opportunity.
What’s not included when you pay for just the meet n’ greet is the photographs that the onsite staff photographer takes. Those pictures can be purchased for an additional fee.
Also at the Legends of the Swamp arena is the Legends of the Swamp show – shocking. The meet n’ greets flank the show, with guests getting a chance to get their pictures before or after the trainer shows off their skills in the ring with one of their gators.
A trainer will usually have an audience member pick out a gator for them to pull out of the moat that runs around the main ring. Skillfully the trainer jumps into the water with the gators and pulls out the selected one by its tail – if it’s cooperating.
We’ve seen the Legends of the Swamp show several times and every time it’s great. You get a chance to learn a bit about the individual trainers as well as learn about the park and gators.
Meet the mighty coconut beaver, or capybara for you fancy people
There was no way we were going to let the opportunity pass us by to do a meet and greet with some capybaras. The capybara is an interesting critter from South America and is the world’s largest rodent.
The capybara’s North American cousin – the beaver – is North America’s largest rodent. The beaver clocks in at the high end of its average weight not even piercing the low end of the capybara. Capybaras on average weigh double of their northern counterparts – from 77 to 146 pounds – with the largest recorded specimen being 201 pounds.
For a small upcharge to upgrade your ticket at Gatorland, you’re given an opportunity to hang out with some capys and feed them. Our junior adventurer had a great time getting to interact with the rodents of unusual size.
The capybaras were gentle and seemed well acclimated to humans. While being fed some treats, they did not recoil when their coarse fur was being petted.
In my opinion, this is a must do at Gatorland.
But wait, there’s more…
While we ended up calling our latest trip to The Alligator Capital of the World® quits after our rendezvous with rodents, Gatorland has so much more to offer that we did not do.
In the past we participated in other offerings of the park such as feeding tortoises or feeding some of their parrots and birds.
We also missed the “Up Close Encounters” show while on our latest visit. In the past we did get to sit through the informative and fun spectacle and we even did participate in some of the show’s antics.
Some of the other experiences advertised on their website we’ll just have to come back for in the future:
- Two different zipline adventures, Screamin’ Gator Zip Line – Special and Gator Gauntlet
- The Croc Rock Adventure, which includes climbing a climbing wall, going across a cable bridge, and then doing some ziplining
- There are several off-road vehicles offering 15 minute rides through the park with the Stompin’ Gator Off-Road Adventure
- The Adventure Hour tours offer a personalized, behind the scenes, and up close encounters with gators in the park
- Gator Night Shine is an hour to hour and a half nighttime adventure through the breeding marsh, Gatorland supplies the flashlights
- For those that want a bit more behind the scenes, Gatorland offers a Trainer-For-A-Day program
Gatorland is a chomping good time
As previously mentioned, members of my travel party have gone to Gatorland three times since 2015. The park has the old time charm of traditional Americana and offers up an entertaining and educational experience without the noise. If you’re interested in wholesome family fun or just want to check out the magnificent critters that are under the husbandry of the caring staff, Gatorland is worth visiting.
Tickets aren’t over the top expensive and any of the add-ons, while they cost money, aren’t completely out of this world expensive.
Gatorland also has on their property decent on-site dining as well as a coffee shop where you can get your caffeine fix, a “snack shack,” and a general store. This destination has a nice gift shop where you can get all your gatorrific souvenirs.
Gatorland is not just another roadside attraction…It’s a distillation of American heritage and embraces the ruggedness of adventure. We will be returning in the future.
Gatorland, “The Alligator Capital of the World®” is located at: 14501 S Orange Blossom Trl, Orlando, FL 32837
