Courtesy of Wild Florida

We all know about Florida and the popular Disney/Universal/SeaWorld parks but there’s more to see than the major theme parks. I recently wrote an article about the Kennedy Space Center located in Cape Canaveral. Today, I’d like to tell you about a little gem I found – Wild Florida Airboats.

When we arrived in Orlando, it was my boyfriend’s idea to go on an airboat. Truthfully, I kind of snubbed the idea. I was in Florida and all that I wanted to do was immerse myself 24/7 into Disney. I wanted to live and breathe Disney. Basically, I wanted to live in the parks until I had to fly back to the UK.

During our vacation, I realised that it wasn’t only my vacation but my boyfriend’s too, so begrudgingly I agreed to go on an airboat ride. We drove from Orlando all the way to Kenansville, Florida, a place I have never heard of.  Wild Florida wasn’t very well advertised on the roads we were traveling and I was convinced that the car would end up with no gas at some point as we looked like we were in the middle of nowhere.

Eventually, we got to Wild Florida and there were some horses at the entrance and you could see all the animals in the mini zoo they have at the back of the building. Being from the UK, when we bought our Disney tickets, we received a voucher for money off our airboat ride; hence, the reason we visited Wild Florida.

Guests are divided into groups and are given a time when your airboat ride will take place.  Prior to the tour, guests are given a quick talk on safety and what you could potentially see in the swampland.

I was still unimpressed at this point until we set off! The fact that you’re not strapped in and you feel like you are going crazy fast had me laughing as we did sharp turns and water was being sprayed all over people. The airboat ride took around an hour and, unfortunately, we didn’t see any gators. It was so hot that day, the alligators had been hiding under the marshlands. Our guide took us to places where the gators normally were and a few of us were convinced that we saw gators. I’ll not admit to the fact that I had everyone excited when I saw a floating log thinking it was a gator!

After the airboat ride, we had a free entry with our ticket to go to the mini zoo that they have which is composed of gators of all different sizes, zebras, horses, parrots and other wonderful animals. There is also a talk that is held in front of the miniature animal park where the handlers tell you about the different animals and you even get to hold a real live gator.

Photo by Dawn Puerto.

When you go to Florida know that there are plenty of other things you can do if you would like to take time out from visiting one of the parks or you fancy a bit of an adventure.

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