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There is something particular about raising children in a city of a square mile and a half. Everybody knows the lakes — Conway, Gatlin, Jennie Jewel, Jessamine, Mary Jess — and everybody knows which streets have the best oaks. Edgewood has been a declared bird sanctuary since 1960, which tells you most of what you need to know about how residents there feel about wildlife and green space. It is a town that has deliberately not become a suburb, right in the middle of a metropolitan area that became one.
Families who choose that tend to want the same qualities in a day out, and they are surprisingly hard to find in Central Florida. Somewhere unhurried. Somewhere shaded. Somewhere small enough that a four-year-old is not overwhelmed within ten minutes of arriving. Our farm is thirty-odd minutes south of Edgewood, and it is precisely that kind of place — open pasture, cattle in the distance, a Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride that goes when it goes, and grown-ups sitting on a bench watching it happen.
The moment that sticks is nearly always the same one. A child holds a handful of feed at arm’s length, a goat helps itself with more enthusiasm than expected, and there is a shriek of laughter that carries right across the paddock. Admission runs $18 for anyone 2 or older, with under-2s free, and the ticket takes in the animals, the wagon ride and the playground together. Nobody hurries you along, and there is nothing further to buy once you are through the gate.
2 people started this, Coni and Bob Keyes, back in 1988, on a patch of Kissimmee land shaded by old oaks. For nearly three decades, an enormous number of Central Florida children came through the gate and met their first cow here — on a school trip, at a cousin’s birthday, or on an ordinary Saturday because their parents needed them outdoors. Then the farm shut, and for seven years there was a gap where it used to be.
We are back now, at Lancaster Ranch Park, thanks in large part to the City of Kissimmee. The scenery changed a little; almost nothing else did. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all within arm’s reach rather than fenced off at a polite distance. The wagon ride still takes everybody out through the pasture. The oaks still do the cooling. If you visited as a child, you will recognize the feel of it long before you recognize the ground.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741 — around twenty miles south of Edgewood and roughly a half-hour drive, straight down Orange Avenue and onward, or by way of FL-417 if the traffic suggests it. Given that Edgewood sits on land that was itself farmed long before Orange Avenue arrived, the drive amounts to a short trip back to what the whole area used to look like.
Start with which morning suits. Our gates are open Wednesday to Friday, 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, with Monday and Tuesday closed. Last admission is 1:00 PM from Wednesday to Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Midweek is calmer and better for the very young. Wednesday is also Grandparents Day here, when one grandparent joins you free alongside every paid general admission — and in a community where a good many households have grandparents living close by, that is a weekly reason to make the trip.
Pack lunch before you set out. There is no cafe on the property, only vending machines, so bring a picnic and plenty of water and take one of the shaded tables we keep for the purpose. Hats, sunscreen and closed shoes all round. One useful quirk of our hours is that everything wraps up before the Central Florida afternoon storm gets going, which means an Edgewood family can be home with the day still largely unspent.
Then just come down. Buy at the gate or online ahead of time; admission is $18 each for 2 and over, and the under-2s are free. All major credit cards are welcome and cash is not — we are entirely cashless, which surprises people if nobody warns them. Groups of 10 to 19 pay $15 a head, and 20 or more pay $12 a head with a reservation, which also brings one free admission for every 20 paid. Ask about the annual pass if you think a farm morning might become a habit. And do buy the optional animal feed at the gate, or add it to your tickets online, because that is the thing everybody actually came for.
Plan Your Visit
Come fall, the Pumpkin Zone opens and the farm fills up. Worth stating plainly, because Edgewood is a town of a square and a half where people notice detail: this is not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkin here was grown here. What happens instead is that every paying guest chooses one from the Zone and takes it home, free with the ticket. There is no separate pumpkin charge and no weekend-only window — the Zone is open every day we are open, right through the season. The Halloween Candy Hunt falls on 2 weekends around Halloween, and those are the days to aim for if costumes are involved.
Birthday parties take very little organizing. Settle on a date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents cost $450 and cover 25 guests, with anyone beyond that at $15 a head, and there are four of them available each day across Saturday and Sunday, tables provided. Your guests get the whole farm rather than a roped-off corner — animals, wagon ride and playground included — so the entertainment is sorted before you have planned anything. Bring decorations, bring food, make the tent look like your child. Worth mentioning to guests: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the entire celebration happens outdoors. Weekend tents are claimed early, autumn especially.
The calendar carries on either side of that. Easter Egg Hunts land in spring, and smaller events crop up through the year, with everything listed on our Special Events page and announced first across Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger groups are very welcome on the rates above, and paying ahead of the visit gets everyone through the entrance and out to the paddocks far more quickly on the day.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741 — around twenty miles south of Edgewood, or roughly a half-hour behind the wheel. Most people head down Orange Avenue and continue south, though FL-417 is the better bet if the middle of the day looks congested.
It is a comfortable distance for a morning rather than a whole expedition. Leave Edgewood around half past nine, and you will be back home in time for a late lunch with the afternoon still yours. Worth glancing at your maps app before you go, as the southbound run varies quite a bit depending on the hour.
Entry to the petting zoo is $18 a person for everybody aged 2 and above, and children under 2 get in free. One ticket covers everything on the property — all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground — and there is nothing further to pay once you are inside. Bring a card rather than cash; we are entirely cashless and take all the major ones.
Larger parties do better on the group rates: $15 each for anywhere between 10 and 19 people, and $12 each once you reach 20 or more with a reservation, plus one free admission for every 20 paid. There is also an annual pass covering unlimited visits for a year from purchase, which suits families who find themselves coming back. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online — and it is genuinely the centerpiece of the visit, so factor it in.
Not at Green Meadows. We do not grow pumpkins and we are not a patch, which is worth saying before anyone makes the half-hour drive expecting rows in a field. Our version is the Pumpkin Zone, open each fall, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from it and carries it home free with admission.
What families tend to like is the lack of fuss: no pumpkin ticket, no scale at the exit, and the Zone open every day we are open rather than on a short run of weekends. The Halloween Candy Hunt lands on 2 weekends around Halloween. We publish the dates on our Special Events page and announce them first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, and they are one of our favorite things to host. The booking is straightforward — pick your date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A tent costs $450 and takes 25 guests, with anyone above that at $15 each. Four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, all with tables set up ready.
The farm does the entertaining for you. Every guest can roam the whole property, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground fill the time without you organizing a single game. The tent is left plain deliberately, so bring your own decorations and your own food and make it yours. Worth saying on the invitation: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and everything happens outdoors, so dress for it. Weekend tents disappear early in the autumn, so book ahead if October is what you have in mind.
Lunch, mainly. We have no cafe, only vending machines, and it does catch out visitors who assumed otherwise. There are shaded picnic tables set aside for it, and eating outside with cattle grazing behind you is one of the better half hours available in Central Florida. Water too, particularly through the summer.
Beyond that, dress for a farm rather than an outing — closed shoes, hats and sunscreen for everyone. Mature oaks cover most of the ground here, so it is a good deal cooler than you would expect, but the weather still gets a vote. If it looks doubtful before you leave Edgewood, give us a call at (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you straight whether it is worth setting off, since everything we do is outdoors.
It is arguably at its best for them. Toddlers do particularly well on a weekday morning, when the paddocks are quiet and there is no crowd at any fence, and children under 2 come in free. The scale helps as well — this is a farm rather than an attraction, so there is nothing loud, nothing timed and nothing that needs explaining to a 2-year-old before they enjoy it.
Practically speaking, the ground is shaded and largely flat, there are picnic tables for a proper sit-down, and the playground gives older siblings somewhere to go while the little ones stay at the fence. Come at opening if you can. Mornings are cooler, the animals are livelier, and you will be back in Edgewood before anyone needs a nap in the car.
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