Wild Florida: Honest Review & Visiting Guide 2025

Planning a visit to Wild Florida?

You’ve come to the right place as I’ve visited Wild Florida multiple times during my 3 trips in total, amassing to over 3 months in the state.

Wild Florida has gone from a hidden gem to a must-visit during any trip to the Sunshine State.

Before visiting the park, you may have some questions you need answered, or are simply looking for tips and tricks.

Luckily for you, I have visited Wild Florida and I have created a review with everything you need to know about visiting.

So let’s get right into it.

What is Wild Florida?

Wild Florida is an animal park in Florida which has grown in recent years to be a must-visit. And for good reason. The park offers a drive-thru safari park, gator park, animal shows and encounters, and who could forget the infamous Everglades airboat tours?

Visiting Wild Florida is the perfect day out for all the family and anyone visiting Florida should schedule it into their itinerary. There are few places in the world where you can ethically get so close to wildlife and animals like you can in Wild Florida. It’s an incredible experience.

A picture of a Bald Eagle in a tree which I saw during an airboat tour in Wild Florida.
A Bald Eagle I captured during an airboat tour at Wild Florida.

Where is Wild Florida?

Wild Florida is located in the Everglades of Florida, hence the name “wild”. The park is closest to Kenansville in Central Florida. It’s approximately a 40-minute drive from Orlando and it’s a beautiful drive too.

You can easily get there by using a navigation system like Google Maps by typing in the name of the park, or by using the address.

The address is: 3301 Lake Cypress Rd, Kenansville, FL 34739, USA

How much does Wild Florida cost?

There are lots of different ticket options when it comes to visiting Wild Florida, so the prices depend on what you want to do at the park. Here is a brief overview of the ticket prices.

Gator Park

Ticket TypePrice
Standard EntranceAdult – $15 / Child – $12
Florida Resident EntranceAdult – $8 / Child – $6
Annual PassAdult – $35 / Child – $35
*children are under 13
A picture of some gators in Wild Florida.

Airboat Tours

Ticket TypePrice
Half-hour Airboat TourAdult – $35 / Child – $31
One-hour Airboat TourAdult – $62 / Child – $49
Florida Resident One-hour Airboat TourAdult – $52.70 / Child – $41.65
One-hour Private Airboat Tour$75 per person (minimum 4)
One-hour Airboat Tour at Night$85 per person (minimum 4)
All airboat tours include free entry to the Gator Park. *children are under 13
A picture of a wild alligator taken during an airboat ride.

Drive-Thru Safari Park

Ticket TypePrice
Standard EntranceAdult – $34 / Child – $24
Florida Resident EntranceAdult – $24 / Child – $19
All Drive-Thru tickets include free entry to the Gator Park. *children are under 13

Animal Encounters

Ticket TypePrice
Sloth Encounter$45 per person (8 and older)
VIP Sloth Experience$230 per person (8 and older)
VIP Safari Tour$175 per person (12 and older)
Giraffe Painting Experience$145 per person (any age)
Gator Feeding Encounter$15 per person (12 and older)
Albino Gator Training Encounter$45 per person (16 and older)
VIP Reptile Encounter$119 per person (16 and older)
African Crested Porcupine Encounter$45 per person (8 and older)
Dine with Crusher$59 per person (16 and older)
Ring-Tailed Lemur Encounter$45 per person (12 and older)
Capybara Encounter$45 per person (8 and older)
All encounters include free entry to the Gator Park.

Drive-Thru Safari Park

Ticket TypePrice
Half-day adventure packageAdult – $90 / Child – $76
Ultimate Adventure PackageAdult – $245 (12 and up can participate)

As you can see, there are lots of different things to see or do. I would recommend as a minimum doing either the Airboat tour or the Drive-thru safari park, as they both include free entry to the park on top of the attraction.

If you can afford it, the Ultimate Adventure Package is the best for your money. You get both the airboat and the drive-thru, entry to the gator park and FOUR animal experiences (sloth, porcupine, lemur, capybara). It’s pricey, but it’s worth it for the memories, and it’s a good discount too.

Wild Florida Review

Words can’t describe how amazing Wild Florida is. I’ve been to Florida three or four times, done Disney, Universal, Tampa, and pretty much everything the state has to offer to a British tourist looking for a typical Florida trip, and I can say with confidence that my favourite place is Wild Florida. And I mean that- I have no affiliate links in this post so it doesn’t benefit me at all to sugarcoat it.

Wild Florida is – even though it has grown massively in popularity – severely underrated. It’s such a surreal day out. Although I absolutely love animals and Wild Florida is my favourite animal park in the world, for me, nothing beats the Airboat Tours.

They’re an unforgettable experience and I would encourage anyone visiting Florida to take an Everglades Airboat tour, and there’s nowhere better than in Wild Florida. The tours here are the best alligator tours in Orlando, without a doubt.

A picture of a bird flying during my airboat tour at Wild Florida.
A picture I took during my airboat tour.

But everything at Wild Florida is extraordinary. The staff are really friendly and helpful too, happy to answer any questions you may have about the animals and you can tell that the park really does care for the animals and it’s an ethical park. The conservation efforts of Wild Florida are impressive too.

So to summarise my review, Wild Florida is the best park I have visited in Florida, beating Disney, Universal, Bush Gardens, Legoland, Gatorworld and more.

Wild Florida Airboat Tours

I can’t emphasise enough how much I enjoyed the airboat tour at Wild Florida. We did a one-hour tour and it remains one of the best things I have ever done, and I have swam with sea lions in Fuerteventura, paraglided over Turkey and went underground at the Colosseum.

Firstly, being on an airboat in itself is really fun. You feel like you’re in a movie as you glide over the water, through reeds and other greenery. With the wind blowing in your face and the fresh smell of the Everglades, it’s a complete sensory experience.

I got to see a wild Bald Eagle (wow!) and lots of other wild birds but the main attraction for most, myself included, is getting to see alligators in the wild. Obviously, it’s pretty easy to see alligators in Florida as they’re in pretty much any open water in the state. But being on an airboat in the water only a few metres away from an alligator is indescribable.

A picture of a wild alligator in the water a few metres away from my airboat.
Spot the gator!

As I said earlier, I would encourage anyone visiting Wild Florida to take an airboat tour. It gets you free entry into the Gator Park and you will be left with a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you will tell stories about forever.

Wild Florida Drive-Thru Safari Park

Obviously, there’s nothing like a safari drive in Africa, but the Drive-thru Safari Park in Wild Florida is as close as you can get.

Driving through the safari, you get a more authentic experience compared to seeing the animals in a zoo. You get to be amongst the animals and see how they live in open terrain free to roam much more than in an enclosure.

The park is a 4-mile road spanning over 170 acres. You can start and stop as you please and take as long as you want. I would say between an hour and 90 minutes would be standard. You’ll feel like a proper explorer as you peel your eyes to spot some wildlife. Some animals might even approach your car…looking at you Mr. Ostrich!

Some giraffes and other animals in the drive thru safari.

There are lots of animals in the park, from zebras and bison to oryx and giraffes. And the giraffes you can actually stop and feed! It’s an extra $5 per person but feeding giraffes is worth a lot more than $5. You get some incredible photos too, take a look!

A picture of me taking a selfie with a giraffe.

And like the airboat tours, entry to the Gator Park is also included, so be sure to check it out after your mini safari trip.

Wild Florida Gator Park

The Gator Park in Wild Florida is, as I’ve said throughout, my favourite animal park anywhere in the world. It’s got so so many alligators to see – and feed if you buy some food, I can’t remember exactly how much but it was only a few dollars. It’s pretty cool getting to throw the pellets into the water and seeing them race each other to snap them up.

There’s a good variety too. I remember seeing the albino alligator for the first time and just being mesmerised. I hadn’t seen one before and it was beautiful. The red eyes are the perfect contrast to the white skin.

A picture of 14 alligators in a bit of water below me.

On top of the alligators, there are plenty of other animals too. Lemurs and other monkeys, loads of reptiles and amphibians, and farm animals too. There’s a petting zoo in the Gator Park, which is perfect for those younger kids who aren’t old enough for the official animal experiences.

As is the bird aviary, it’s a huge netted area where there must be hundreds of birds flying around. You can get a lolly stick with some food on the end, inviting the birds to land on your hand and enjoy a treat. It’s another way children who are too young can get a hands-on animal experience, and it’s pretty fun for adults too. My record was 4 birds on me at once, see if you can beat it!

A picture of a bird on my hand at Wild Florida, eating food from a stick.

But overall, the Gator Park is spectacular. It would be worth visiting Wild Florida for the animal park alone. But I would still encourage the airboat tours and drive-thru safari.

Wild Florida Animal Shows

One of my favourite things about Wild Florida is the animal shows. Usually, zoos and animal parks offer lots of animal shows that are pretty disappointing and underwhelming. This is far from the case here, the shows exceeded my expectations.

The handlers know so much about the animals and are entertaining too. I’ve found at most other animal parks you either a) can’t hear them speak and the sound system is terrible or b) they are boring. Again, neither of these applies here.

A picture of the handler holding a skunk during a tour
A skunk in the Exotic Animal Show

You can watch any of the shows for free, they are included in entry to the Gator Park (including entry which was included from the airboat tour or drive-thru safari park…if you are in the Gator Park, you can watch the shows). And they are put on multiple times a day so don’t worry if you miss one.

There are three main shows: Exotic Animal Show, Gator Feeding and Crusher Show. Crusher is the celebrity alligator here and loves to perform for the crowd. The show entails a handler getting in the water with Crusher and performing tricks Steve Irwin style. Don’t worry- he isn’t forced to do anything, it’s completely ethical.

A picture of the handler getting Crusher to open his mouth
Crusher putting on a show.

Make sure to catch all three shows during your time in the park. It would be a shame to visit and not see them. Don’t miss out!

Wild Florida Animal Encounters

Another of the biggest selling points is the animal encounters, and as you can see from the pricelist I created earlier in the post, there’s a lot to choose from!

They’re all more than worth the money and are a great way to get closer to animals of your choice and learn a good bit of information about them. Most encounters involve you feeding the animal and petting it too. But that’s pretty cool if it’s a lemur or a capybara, right? You can hold the sloths too!

If you can afford it, I really would recommend getting the Ultimate Adventure Package. You get the 4 basic animal experiences (sloth, lemur, capybara and porcupine) on top of an airboat tour and the drive-thru safari. It’s the full package basically. You get everything that Wild Florida has to offer. And it’s more than worth it. It will be the best day of your trip.

A picture of me and my brother holding a baby alligator in Wild Florida.
Me and my brother holding a baby alligator at Wild Florida.

Wild Florida Visiting Tips

Like any attraction, there are some things that are worth knowing before visiting Wild Florida. I’ve come up with these 7 top tips to help you make the most of your day at the animal park.

Book an early airboat tour: In my opinion, the earlier you get to the park the better. The crowds gather in the late morning and early afternoon, so if you can get to the park early in the morning, you can explore with fewer people around. Not to mention that the morning tours have the highest chance of seeing alligators as they spend the later parts of the day on the bottom of the lakes.

You can enter Gator Park before your airboat tour: If you book an airboat tour for later in the day, you can access Gator Park before your tour as well as after. So don’t waste part of the day and wait until after to get in, make the most of your time and explore the park before your airboat tour.

Bring loose change: Throughout the Gator Park, there are lots of opportunities to feed the animals. Like in the bird aviary, petting zoo, and more areas. It’s only a few dollars to buy some food so make sure you have loose change handy so you don’t miss out on the opportunity to feed the animals.

Parking is free: It’s free to park at Wild Florida so you can drive to the park with no concerns about where to park.

Book in advance: The airboat tours and animal encounters are extremely popular and can book out in advance. So make sure not to leave it to booking in reception and book whatever you want to do before. This especially applies in the peak season, in the summer, when things can book out days or weeks in advance.

You can do the Drive-thru safari more than once: You are allowed to do the loop as many times as you wish. I would definitely recommend doing the route at least twice. You never know what you are going to see! Remember the follow the 5 mph maximum speed limit though.

Make sure you have sunscreen on: This is particularly important for those doing the airboat tours. The sun reflects off the water so make sure you look after your skin. Not to mention how sunny it is. Florida is known as the “Sunshine State” after all, and the sun really shines at Wild Florida.

Wild Florida: FAQ

Below are some questions about visiting Wild Florida along with my answers.

Is Wild Florida in the Everglades?

Yes, Wild Florida is in the Everglades. The airboat tours take you out onto the Everglades and offer a unique experience as you fly across the water searching for wildlife among Florida’s most fascinating landscapes.

Is Wild Florida worth it?

Yes, without a doubt. Wild Florida is an incredible day out and is super underrated. Whether you choose to do an airboat tour, the drive-thru safari, Gator Park or all of the above, it’s amazing. You’re guaranteed to have a good time at the park, and it’s more than worth the price.

Is Wild Florida ethical?

Yes, Wild Florida is ethical. The animals are kept in good conditions, and the safari park allows the animals to live in their natural habitats, instead of in enclosures. Not to mention the park’s dedication to conservation and rehabilitation, and the efforts made to educate visitors on animal welfare.

Can you feed giraffes at Wild Florida?

Yes, you can. As part of the drive-thru safari, you can stop at the giraffes and feed them from an elevated platform. Note that it costs an additional $5 per person, but it’s definitely worth it. It’s an unforgettable experience for a small price.

What city is Wild Florida in?

Wild Florida is in Kenansville, Florida, but the closest big city is Orlando which is approximately 40 minutes away.

Final Thoughts: Wild Florida

And there you have it, a complete review and guide of Wild Florida.

If you are considering visiting, you 100% should. It will be one of the best days of your trip to Florida.

There are so so many things to do, and all of them are excellent. They’re so good that I feel like I haven’t been able to do the park justice with this review- it’s incredible.

So enjoy your trip to Wild Florida, but I’m sure you will! 🙂