Ready to see some gators? If you’re planning a visit to the theme park Gatorland in Orlando, Florida, you’ve come to the right place. Gatorland has been around since 1949, even before a mouse named Mickey came to the area and started the local Disney empire. The 110-acre theme park and preserve is home to a staggering 2,000-plus alligators as well as many other animals.
A visit to Gatorland can fulfill your need for a smaller, more laidback theme park and help you check off “See an alligator in Florida” from your to-do list.
Here are some basics on how Gatorland works, followed by a few ideas of things to do at the park in addition to marveling at the gators.
First, start your visit by getting a picture at the historic gator mouth entrance, which has large teeth and looks like, well, a gator mouth. Post your pics to social media and make your family in the Midwest jealous. Use the hashtags #gatorland and #WeAreAlligators.
Next, wait in line for your Gatorland tickets. Gatorland is more affordable than other theme parks, averaging $35/ticket for adults and $25 for kids. If you are a Florida resident, Gatorland often has 50% specials, so that price slashes down to about $18/ticket. (Check their website for package deals, like Gatorland Greater Gator.) Parking is free, too. If the lot seems full, follow any signs for overflow parking. We recommend that instead of parking across the street and trying to cross the busy road to reach the park.
There also are affordable annual passes–$54.99 for adults and $34.99 for kids. That’s wayyyy cheaper than an annual pass to Disney’s parks.
Like any theme park, we recommend getting there earlier for a better parking spot and fewer people in the ticket lines. You can go to the head of the line when you buy tickets in advance. Make sure to get a park map, which attendants should offer to you. The park is consistently open from 10 am to 5 pm daily.
Once you’re in the park, you’ll immediately see alligators. Lots of them. And a few crocs (crocs are often bigger, a little less dark, and have a V-shaped head). The park has several set ups toward the front, including smaller alligators that lay on top of one another and sun themselves and a larger area for some big gators. The park has a Juvenile Jumparoo, where you pay a few bucks and get small fish and a fishing pole to try to feed the juvenile gators. They will happily take the bait.
Next, most of the park’s main attractions follow a horizontal line where you can see more gators, snakes, birds, a petting zoo, white gators (two of only 12 leucistic gators known to exist in the world, according to Gatorland) and shows. Behind these main attractions is a Breeding Marsh (read below for details) that’s a peaceful home to more than a hundred gators and many more birds. Even further behind that you can see even more animals, including crocodiles, bobcats, panthers, owls, and raccoons. Use the train (about $3) if you want to check out all the park has to offer without walking too much.
If you have little kids, check out the playground and the Gator Gully Splash Park (don’t worry, mom and dad–no real gators are in the splash park to our knowledge). The part of the park with the kids’ stuff also has enclosures where you can see baby gators, panthers, and giant tortoises.
Gatorland also seems to constantly add new attractions, such as its Stompin Gator Off-Road Adventure, which takes passengers on a massive all-terrain vehicle for a look at Florida wetlands and ultimately toward a huge pond of gators. There’s a separate admission fee for it.
So, you get the idea. There are plenty of animals even beyond just gators to keep you entertained at Gatorland. Now, here’s even more insight on what to see and do at Gatorland. For more details, read older articles about Gatorland here and here from our other blog, Florida Culture. In fact, Gatorland was the subject of our very first blog article in 2011. It all comes full circle!
7 Things to See and Do at Gatorland
- Take some excellent pics at the Breeding Marsh. At the 10-acre Breeding Marsh, there are hundreds of alligators that sun themselves all day and breed in the spring. You get to see these alligators by walking along a boardwalk that goes above the marsh and via an observation tower. If you’re lucky, you’ll hear an alligator bellow–it’s a sound you don’t want to hear at night if you’re alone in a swamp. What’s also cool is the multitude of egrets living at the marsh who also have babies every spring. You can get close enough for some great pics while also staying just far away enough to keep them safe. Fun fact: Parts of the 1984 movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” were filmed at the breeding marsh. You’ll see some of the staff dressed as if they helped out Indiana Jones in the movie with their hats and khaki shirts.
- See a show. These aren’t Broadway style shows, but you’ll see a real production. During “Alligators–Legends of the Swamp,” discover more about these prehistoric creatures and watch employees pry open the mouth of select gators (we watched the gator Mighty Mouse). The whole experience would feel down home at the swamp if you weren’t surrounded by a hundred or so fellow tourists. You’ll also get some practical tips, like how to run away from a gator (you can also watch a gator safety video from Gatorland’s CEO here). Don’t run zig-zag, as you may have heard before! Run straight and run fast. (For the record, alligators are probably more afraid of us than we are of them…but knowing how to escape never hurts.) Gatorland has another show, Up Close Encounters, where you get to see snakes and other exotic animals.
- Interact with animals. Another cool thing about Gatorland is that you can actually interact with the animals. There’s an open display of parrots (don’t reach out to touch them, they bite!), and they’re colorful and loud. Then there’s the bird aviary, filled with hundreds (or thousands?) of parakeets. Buy a stick covered with food and they’ll perch on you, including on your head and shoes. For another photo opp, take a picture with a small snake and a small gator with its mouth taped shut. Then, there’s the petting zoo, with goats and other friendly barnyard animals like capybaras from South America. Finally, take the boardwalk down to Flamingo Island and pay a quarter to throw some gator chow into the water for the gators who also live there and to snap pics of the flamingoes. You may also see egrets hitching a ride on top of a gator’s back.
- Eat. If all this gator hunting has you hungry, you have the usual theme park eats. There’s also Pearl’s Good Eats, which serves gator nuggets (“No, we don’t use our own gators,” it says on its website). There’s also a coffee shop, snack bar, and the Gator Gully General Store. If you want a more substantial meal after your visit, consider Las Palmas, located right across the street and serving yummy Colombian food.
- Get the zipline view. The Screamin’ Gator Zipline is seven stories high and goes over hundreds of gators and crocodiles. We have yet to try it, but AOL Travel rates it as the Best Zipline in the U.S. There’s a separate admission fee for it. In fact, you should make sure to check the park’s website for other special experiences and programs with extra admission fees but that may be worth it for you or your fellow visitors (like Gator Night Shine).
- Walk the swamp walk. You may not see any gators on your strong along the swamp walk, but it can be a peaceful respite from the action around the rest the of park. It’s a flat trail through the woods and it will take you 15 minutes or so to complete it. Find it past Pearl’s Good Eats, toward the far side of the park. After walking there, we did see a wild snake near one of the park’s snack areas–so you really never know what to expect at Gatorland.
- Shop. Gatorland has a terrific, expansive gift shop. Load up on everything from souvenir T-shirts to Florida-themed coffee mugs to pocket knives to candles andd so much more. It’s got a bit of Cracker Barrel gift shop feel to it. There also are smaller venues throughout the park if you need to pick up something quick (gator jerky, anyone?!).
