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There are not many places left in Central Florida that turned down the obvious upgrade. Windermere is one. The town kept its streets unpaved on purpose, to keep runoff out of the Butler Chain and traffic out of the neighborhoods, and the result is a square mile and a half of sand lanes under a canopy of century-old oaks with no traffic light in sight. Fifteen minutes from one of the busiest tourism corridors on earth, and it feels like nothing of the sort.
Families who value that in a town tend to want it in a day out too, and it is genuinely difficult to find. Most children’s attractions in this region are paved, ticketed, timed and loud. Ours is a farm: dirt underfoot, cattle grazing at the far end of the pasture, and a Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride that leaves when it is ready rather than on a posted schedule. Your children will come home with dusty shoes, which is rather the point.
What they will also come home with is the memory of an animal choosing to come to them. That is not something that can be scheduled. Admission is $18 for ages 2 and up, with under-2s free, and it covers everything on the property, the animals, the wagon ride and the playground alike. There is nothing further to buy once you are through the gate and nobody moves you along.
2 people, Coni and Bob Keyes, started this farm in 1988 under the oaks in Kissimmee. For close to three decades it did one thing exceptionally well: it introduced Central Florida children to animals they had only seen in books. There are parents bringing their own children to us now who came here on a school trip in the nineties. Then the farm closed, and there was a seven-year gap where it used to be.
We reopened at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee’s help, and we were deliberate about what came with us. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all close enough to touch and feed. The wagon ride still makes its slow circuit of the pasture. The oaks still do the cooling, exactly as the oaks along your own streets do. More room, same idea.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-two miles southeast of Windermere and about half an hour behind the wheel. Most families take Apopka-Vineland or Winter Garden-Vineland south and pick up the 192 corridor from there. It is a straightforward run and the scenery improves as you go.
Pick your morning. Our gates open Wednesday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, with Monday and Tuesday closed. Last admission falls at 1:00 PM Wednesday through Friday with 2:00 PM on weekends. Midweek is quieter and gentler and tends to suit the youngest visitors. Wednesday brings Grandparents Day as well, when one grandparent comes in free alongside each paid general admission, every week of the year.
Pack lunch before you leave. We have 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 for everyone, and do expect the shoes to get dusty. Anyone comfortable on a sand road in Windermere will have no trouble at all with the ground here.
Then come and find us. Tickets are available online in advance or at the gate. Admission is $18 per person from 2 years up, with under-2s free. We take all major credit cards and no cash at all. Larger groups pay $15 a head between 10 and 19 guests, or $12 a head at 20 or more with a reservation, which also includes one free admission for every 20 paid. Ask about the annual pass if you suspect you will be back. Animal feed is an optional few dollars, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens with the fall and quickly becomes the fullest part of our week. Before anyone sets off, 2 facts: we are not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkin on this farm was grown on it. What we offer instead is straightforward — every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home free with admission. No pumpkin ticket, nothing to weigh, and the Zone open every day we are open across the season rather than on a few crowded weekends. The Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, which is when the costumes come out in force.
Birthday parties take remarkably little arranging. Settle on your date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents are $450 and cover up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and four are available each day across Saturday and Sunday with tables provided. Your guests get the entire farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining and you plan nothing. Bring decorations and bring food. For the guest list: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the celebration is outdoors from start to finish. Weekend tents are claimed early, especially in fall.
The calendar carries on either side of that. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring and smaller events crop up through the year, all listed on our Special Events page and shared 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 everybody through the entrance and out to the paddocks much faster on the day.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-two miles southeast of Windermere and about half an hour on the road. Most families come down Apopka-Vineland or Winter Garden-Vineland and join the 192 corridor from there.
It is an easy enough drive that a farm morning does not eat the whole day. Set off around nine thirty and you will be back in Windermere by early afternoon. Check your maps app before you leave, as the tourist corridor between here and there can be unpredictable depending on the hour.
Admission is $18 per person for everyone 2 and older, and children under 2 are free. That single ticket covers the whole farm, meaning all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground, with nothing further to pay once you are inside. We are entirely cashless, so bring a card; all the major ones are fine.
Groups pay less per head. It is $15 each for parties of 10 to 19 and $12 each at 20 or more with a reservation, which also carries one free admission for every 20 paid. An annual pass is available too, giving unlimited visits for a year from purchase. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online, and it is the part your children will actually talk about afterward.
Not here, and we would sooner tell you now. Nothing orange is grown on this land and we would not call ourselves a patch. Our fall version is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest picks one out there and carries it home included with the ticket.
For a town that has kept its roads unpaved on purpose, there is something fitting about a fall outing with this little machinery to it: choose a pumpkin, feed the animals, go home. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than on weekends only, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. We publish the dates on our Special Events page and are announced first on Facebook and Instagram.
Gladly, and plenty of our parties come from the Windermere area. Booking is simple: choose your date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A tent costs $450 and includes up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and there are four available per day on Saturdays and Sundays, all with tables.
Because every guest can roam the whole farm, the entertainment is settled before you plan anything at all. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground fill the time on their own. Nothing about the tent is pre-decorated, so the look of the day is entirely your call. One for the invitations: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, available at the gate or with your tickets online. Weekend tents disappear early through the fall.
A picnic first of all. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, and it does catch out first-time visitors. We keep shaded picnic areas for exactly this, and lunch under the trees with cattle grazing nearby is one of the better half hours available anywhere near Orlando. Bring plenty of water as well, especially in the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress for a farm: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen all round. Most of our ground sits under mature oaks so it is shadier than you might expect, though the weather still has other ideas at times. If the sky looks unsettled before you leave Windermere, call us at (407) 994-2775 and we will give you a straight answer, because 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 nobody is waiting at a fence, and children under 2 come in free. Nothing here is loud, timed or complicated, which matters more with a 2-year-old than almost anything else.
The ground is flat and shaded, there are picnic tables for a proper sit-down, and the playground gives older siblings somewhere to burn off energy while the youngest stays at the rail. Come at opening if you can manage it. The mornings are cooler, the animals are more active, and you will be home in Windermere before anyone falls asleep in the back.
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