Many people don’t realize just how much there is to do in Kissimmee outside of the theme parks. My first experience while visiting Kissimmee to celebrate the kick off of the Decade of Kissimmee Memories contest was a day filled with Wild Florida airboat rides, a tour of their nature preserve and a little fun with a friendly alligator named Hercules!
Wild Florida is situated in the headwaters of the Florida Everglades, on 4,200 acres nature preserve. The wild Florida swamp is undeveloped and is really 100% pure Florida wilderness. So much so that we saw two American Bald Eagles while taking our air boat ride!
During an airboat ride with Wild Florida, you will travel deep into 4,200 acres of protected swamps, marshes and rivers that make up the Central Florida Everglades. The airboat captains are not only incredibly knowledgeable about the environment, but they love what they do – and make the rides so much fun!
The Wild Florida airboat captain will take you up close to look at the gators, birds, trees and plants that make up the beautiful Florida wetlands. As they lead you through your tour, the guide will tell you a little history about the Florida wetlands and share tidbits of information about the area, the animals and conservation efforts.
Fun fact: Did you know that Florida has the second largest American Bald Eagle population in the United States? This is the kind of interesting information we learned while on our Wild Florida Airboat ride!
Along with American Bald Eagles, you may also see cattle, goats, wild hogs and many other varieties of birds that call the Florida Everglades home.
And of course, you will find the Everglades’ most popular resident…the American Alligator!
While the airboat captain leads you through the airboat tour, they will seek out alligators for you to see up close in the wild! It is so exciting to see not only your typical “big” alligator, but even nests of baby alligators!
We happened upon one small nest with six baby alligators!
If seeing alligators in the wild isn’t exciting enough for you, once you return back to the Wild Florida park, you can have a truly up close and personal experience with an alligator.
Hercules was a rescued alligator and loves to pose for photos with visitors to the Wild Florida park! Don’t worry, his mouth is taped closed!
Once the airboat ride is over, your day at Wild Florida doesn’t have to end!
Wild Florida also has a wonderful wildlife and nature park, as well as a really unique gift shop and a BBQ luncheon!
The Wild Florida wildlife and nature park is home to a tropical bird aviary, as well as exotic species likes Zebras, Watusi, Water Buffalo, Emu and Zebu.
Wild Florida Hours and Admission Information
You can find out more about the activities available at Wild Florida by visiting their website, WildFloridaAirboats.com
Located at 3301 Lake Cypress Rd, Kenansville, FL 34739, Wild Florida is open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
½ Hour Orlando Airboat Tour: $25 adults, $22 children
1 Hour Orlando Airboat Tour: $45 adults, $35 children
1 Hour Private Airboat Tour and 1 Hour Night Tours: $60 per person
Budgeting Tip: You can receive a 10% discount on the 1/2 hour and full hour air boat tours if you book online here!
Written by Jenn, author of The Rebel Chick and Happy Travels, a travel-loving mom living in sunny South Florida. You can follow Jenn on Facebook or on Twitter @TheRebelChick.
My travel and accommodations were paid for by Experience Kissimmee, but all opinions are my own.
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Sounds like a ton of fun!
I used to live in FL and had baby alligators all the time, so cute ntil they grow. I’ve always wanted to take an airboat ride in Florida.
We went on a boat ride at Lion Country Safari and it was great. Love the wind in your hair.
I have ALWAYS wanted to take an airboat ride!
They really are a ton of fun! Some captains like to do twists and turns to make the ride fun, and others are just a wealth of knowledge and tell you all about the ecosystem. I love taking them whenever I can!
sounds like a fun thing to do if you’re visiting florida!
I’m too scared of all the gators!
I would love to go to Kissimmee for like a week with my family.
Kissimmee really is an undiscovered city in the Orlando big picture. We usually don’t spend much time there when we visit the area either, but we’ve loved the time we have spent there, some of our best memories of our Florida vacations!
So much fun! We loved our air boat ride and seeing the gators.
What a great activity for when you’re in the area! I can’t believe you saw those baby alligators – I guess not everything is cute as a baby
I want to go! I can’t believe that gal is hugging on an alligator
I always see people do this on TV when visiting Florida. Sounds like fun!
What a super cool experience! There is certainly so much more to Florida than Disney World and beaches.
how beautiful!
Looks pretty cool, but no way I’m cuddling up to any stinkin’ gator.
This looks like so much fun.
A week from today I will be going on an airboat ride in Orlando and I am so excited!!!
oh heck no. I have had the opportunity to hold a gator before but I would not do it. I’m a scardy cat
Florida boat rides are always full of interesting nature!
What a cool picture with the gator! They are actually kind of cute as babies.