Wild Florida - Drive-through Safari, Airboat Tour, and Zoo!
As soon as I heard about Wild Florida, I knew I had to visit. I have come across many unique attractions, but this drive-through safari is something brand new to me.
There’s so much more to experience at Wild Florida than just the drive-through safari. Some zoos you can breeze right through, but prepare to spend the day here when you visit.
Let’s see what there is to explore at Wild Florida.
~ Gator Park and Zoo
Wild Florida calls this walk-through part of the zoo the Gator Park, but there are many non-reptiles living here. Some of the exhibits you will find in addition to the gators and crocodiles are deer, sloths, bobcats, foxes, and Florida panthers.
What I love about this side of the zoo is that peacocks roam free. They weren’t in mating season when we visited, but their feathers were still impressive.
~ Drive-through Safari
The main attraction at Wild Florida is the drive-through safari. I’ve never seen anything like this in Florida!
In the comfort of our own car, we traveled through 85 acres of open natural animal habitat. This part of the park is how I wish all modern-day zoos were set up. No cages!
The safari park is massive and there were not a lot of people condensed to one area with room for people to drive around you, so you really could go at your own pace without feeling rushed by anyone behind you.
It was truly an experience to see the animals as they would be in the wild, running free as fast as they can, playing and swimming.
~ Airboat Tour
This was actually my first time on an airboat. We opted for the hour-long airboat ride and I suggest this option as half an hour would just not be enough time.
We zoomed through the lake and over vegetation, stopping to watch birds fly by and catch glimpses of gators in the brush. It was the first cold day of the season and not ideal for gator sightings, but we still saw a handful!
In addition to the beautiful nature views, the tour was also educational. Our tour guide, Ken, was very knowledgeable about all of the different animals we saw and was happy to answer all of our questions.
~ Gator Feeding and Encounters
Gator feeding is always fun. I love seeing their cute little heads and mouths open trying to eat. It’s even wilder when they start making noise. Did you know alligators are one of the most vocal animals? It’s true!
You have two options for feeding, you can throw protein pellets into the bigger gators’ mouths or feed the smaller gators hot dogs off a metal pole similar to fishing but with no harmful hook at the end.
~Animal Shows
We were able to catch the exotic animal show where we were introduced to poisonous toads, snakes, and gators. Following the show were invited to hold the animals and get our photos taken.
There is no additional price for handling the animals, but we did purchase the full flash drive with all our photos. We typically skip this type of add-on, but we really wanted these photos to look back on many years from now. Holding a snake was one of my personal highlights from the visit.
~ Walk-in Aviary
I think this was my favorite part of the park. When we walked into the aviary, the birds flew onto our arms up to four at a time to feed off the popsicle sticks covered in bird feed. This was a really unique experience.
We loved having birds on our arms and having them fly and land just like in a movie. It’s not every day that we see something like this. Gator feeding is popular in Florida but this experience really took the cake as a collective family favorite.
~ Walk-in Petting Zoo
Who doesn’t enjoy a petting zoo? The baby animals are adorable, petting their soft little heads is always humbling, and I love to see them stick their heads through the fence and nibble away.
Well, not unsurprisingly, Wild Florida also takes the typical petting zoo experience to the next level. You can actually walk into it! Yes, we were able to walk into this giant pen and play with the goats, pigs, and ducks.
~ Giraffe Feeding and Selfies
This was the activity I was most looking forward to. I wanted to feed the giraffe and get a silly giraffe selfie! This exhibit is the only exhibit in the safari park where you can get out of your car and stretch your legs to enjoy.
You can feed the giraffe lettuce for only $5, so it’s super affordable for such an eccenstric memorable experience!
~ Chomp House Grill
In-between visiting the gator park and the safari, we stopped for lunch at Wild Florida’s on-sight restaurant, Chomp House Grill. Here you can order food from a window and eat your meal at picnic tables under the trees. I tried the catfish and gator bites, because how could you not?
The real star of the show were the slushies and ice creams that come in souvenir jars. The fruity option was a mix of vanilla and mango and tastes exactly like sunshine if you can imagine how great that tastes!