By: Megan Miyamoto

time to read: 7 mins | times mentioned “gator”: 47

When I first moved to Florida I had a goal of finding the best Floridian experience out there. It was my quest to find something that would perfectly embody the essence of the most southern state. What I found was beyond my wildest Floridian dreams… GATORLAND. As soon as I laid eyes on my first gator-shaped billboard, I knew I had to make a visit.

Known as the “Alligator Capital of the World,” Gatorland is a unique combination of Florida’s two greatest commodities, alligators and theme parks. It has been a leader in alligator safety and education since its opening in 1949. At the entrance attendees are greeted by the “Historic Gator Mouth Entrance ” which is honestly one of the coolest things ever. It is a 15-foot tall green, cartoony gator head that you can walk through. At the entrance you pay for park admission and you can add on any additional experiences like the gator monster truck off roading, behind the fence feeding, and the “Screamin’ Gator Zipline”

Shows

The theme park’s main attractions are the 3 shows happening at different times throughout the day. The first that we saw was “Upclose Encounters.” In this show, there were two hosts on a stage with tons of boxes. They both made it clear that the boxes contained lots of dangerous and exotic creatures like spiders, snakes, gators and more. Then, naturally, they scouted the most terrified looking audience members to hold the creatures. The hosts were fun and lively but the show did not give that gator wow factor I was looking for so I give this show a 3/5.

The next show was “Alligators: Legend of the Swamp.” This show happened in the middle of a small stadium with an elevated dirt pit stage surrounded by a shallow moat filled with gators. The show started out with a bang as the host gator wrangler jumped straight into the moat of alligators and then hauled one right out onto the stage by its tail. The two then had this intense standoff where the alligator hissed at the man while the man tried to calm the gator until in a swift motion he jumped on top of the gator’s back, shutting its mouth closed. He then performed some interesting stunts that had the crowd looking on in anticipation. I would give this show a 5/5 because the anxiety of whether or not the gator would snap down on the wrangler at any moment kept us on the edge of our seats.

The third show was the “Gator Jumparoo show.” The set up was a competition between two hillbilly contestants with the goal of proving their gator wrangling skills to get a job at Gatorland. However these hillbilly contestants were not the sharpest tools in the tool shed, so much chaos ensued. The main event in this show is when they tried to get the highest gator jump by dangling pieces of chicken towards the pond of hungry gators below. I thought this was a really fun show and the crowd was pretty enthusiastic however it was not quite as thrilling as the Alligators: Legend of the swamp show so I would give it a 4/5 .

Food

All the excitement sure worked us up an appetite so we headed to Pearl’s Good Eats to chow down. Sticking to the gator theme, we had to try their signature gatorbites. Gatorbites are basically chicken nuggets, but instead of chicken they are made of alligator meat. Thankfully, there were signs posted that the gator in the bites were not made from those in the park. Phew.I thought these bites were not bad but had a bit of a salty aftertaste that I did not enjoy. Also, I must mention that my friend got a refillable cup here which had a gator shaped cap which he was obsessed with.

Feeding the Gators

Now I knew coming to Gatorland was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so when a man in a wrangler outfit who called me “Chicken Little” asked if I wanted to get up close and feed the gators behind the gate, I said “Heck yeah!” This $12 experience was called “Adventure Hour.” During this time you get to go to the heart of the breeding marsh where it gives way to land and stand in front of at least 50 gators practically stacked on top of each other. They give you a glove which you use to grab a piece of raw chicken from a bucket and then you chuck it at the army of gators with their mouths open. The only thing protecting you from the gators is a line drawn in the dirt and the wrangler man with a long stick. Honestly it was a pretty fun time getting to see the gators chomp up the chicken I threw at them. I would give this experience a ⅘ because although it was a really unique and cool experience, there was not as much action as I had expected from the gators. But now I can say that I have fed gators so that’s pretty cool.

Other (non-gator related) attractions

Even though the name is Gatorland, there were also a lot of other non-gator related attractions. One of my favorites was the “Very Merry Aviary”. In this free to roam house space there are a ton of budgerigars (aka the pet store birds) and at certain times of the day you have the opportunity to go inside and interact with them. If you buy one of the seed sticks, the birds are not afraid to land on you and nibble the stick straight from your hand. My friend and I got a stick, (that we totally did not find off the ground) and took turns holding it out so that birds would come land on us. The birds were so pretty and cute so we absolutely adored our time in the aviary. Other attractions were an owl house, exhibits with other reptiles like snakes, tortoises, and lizards, and a flamingo pond. There was also a nice marsh walk that looped around the edge of the park and so much more.

Gatorland truly was truly a wild experience. There were so many fun and unique attractions that I enjoyed so much. After coming here I can call myself a real gator-enthusiast. See ya later Alligator!

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