Gatorland Orlando

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes | February 11, 2023

Florida’s oldest theme park

One of the most exciting day trips for those “in the know” in Orlando is a visit to Gatorland, one of Florida’s Oldest Theme Parks. It’s quintessential Florida. Started by Owen and Pearl Godwin in 1949, who with their family grew it from a meat, fish, and hot dog stand into what it is today, a 45 ha (110-acre) wildlife adventure park, 22 years before Walt Disney arrived. Their 27 descendants (from 4 children) remain actively involved. One granddaughter and her husband, Mark McHugh, who have a great origin first date story, currently run the venue with her father still involved. It’s her husband’s sense of humor, though, that runs through the signage you’ll see as you traverse the park. Read to the end to learn of the only handicapped-accessible zip line.

If it’s cold the day you visit, be warned the alligators aren’t likely to be very active during the shows where they’re fed. When the air is too cool, they stay deep in the water. Then, when the sun comes out, they want to lay out on the grassy knolls around the park, with only a few even interested in participating in the show for their lunch.

People would sit around, back in the 1940s and ’50s, watching the gators and then Owen purchased the locomotive, created a train tour, and Gatorland was on its way to what it’s become today. As they became better known, people would drop pets off. Those “crazy wild critters” became the basis of the current show, the Wild and Crazy Critters. There are three shows, each about 1.5 hours apart.

If you attend the shows, walk around the park, and do the zip line, you could easily spend 6-7 hours here.

Always under construction or inventing more great experiences for everyone to enjoy, the children’s water park area was closed for renovation. Don’t ask them what it’s like to watch concrete dry for 27 days. Let’s just say they’re not accustomed to running anything that slowly.

But as Pearl and Owen learned, it does take time to grow a venue of this nature and become one of the premiere attractions in the area. They’re grateful to Walt Disney who brought the crowds to central Florida. And, especially during the pandemic with crowd limitations in those parks, led to more tourists discovering Gatorland.

Located near the Hunter’s Creek subdivision, it’s shockingly close to town. I almost rented a house perhaps two miles away and had no idea so many alligators, crocodiles, and other wildlife were so nearby. When my daughter realized it, she said, “I could’ve ridden a bike to come run the zip lines all day.” She’s right, and they’re hiring.

Walking from habitat to habitat you may wonder about the alligator life cycle. You can only tell their gender by size and on internal examination. They breed in late March, lay their eggs, here at Gatorland they collect them all and incubate them to increase the survival rate. They hatch in August or early September, across Florida, not just here. But they’ve got better than the 9% survival rate quoted at most places.

Across the entire venue, they have 2500 Crocs and Gators throughout the entire park, with crocs perhaps 100 of that number.

As we tour the facility, fortunate to see it prior to opening thanks to the generosity of Gatorland, Mr. Mark McHugh, and the Visit Orlando VIP Media Passport, we see snowy egrets riding the backs of alligators to cross the pond. Mark points out there are no raccoons or snakes on the ground. The birds generally stay in the tree when they’re not on the alligator’s back. The alligators eat the raccoons and other small critters that may be a danger to the egret chicks. But if the chicks fall out of the nest … well, their alligator food, too, so the egrets must be watchful. The alligators are clever, too. If the babies are out walking around on the branches, the alligators try to knock the branches to shake the babies off.

So it’s a love-hate relationship that they’ve got going and the birds know exactly how far they need to stay away from the alligator’s mouth.” Mark shares.

During a typical visitor experience, you’ll do your own tour but it’s easy to navigate with plenty of great signage. It’s most economical to purchase tickets online as you can group your entrance fee, zipline tour, and even turtle experience for a guaranteed day of fun. If you don’t purchase or reserve your zipline in advance, especially during Christmas and Spring Break weeks, you may not have the opportunity to ride. That would be a shame.

Alligators were endangered in the early 1950s but aggressive conservation efforts have allowed re-population so they are no longer endangered since the 1980s. Important legislation has passed in Florida to make it illegal to feed or hunt alligators and alligators that enter the “nuisance” length (4 feet) can be relocated to Gatorland.

Alligators don’t naturally want to be near people it’s just that we’re building homes and offices on land that has been alligator habitat for centuries. After all, alligators and crocodiles go back to the time before dinosaurs.

When you enter the park, the alligators may still be in the water, or they may already be sunning themselves on a small island. Especially after a cold night, the sun comes up during the day, all the big guys climb out of the water. In the heat of summer, you don’t see the big guys, they stay in the water, stay cool.

Right away, there’s the place for Jump-a-Roo show, where the Gators enter, the boys (staff) will hang chickens over the water, and the alligators jump out of the water to get the chicken.

Gatorland has programs “trainer for a day” you can go online and sign up. You’ll spend a couple hours with Michael or Casey and go around the park and get all the behind-the-scenes stuff even before the park opens (like we did). You’ll meet and learn all about the alligators, crocodiles, turtles, and the animals that people have dropped off in the middle of the night.