Hear from Our Customers
Ocoee grew up on citrus. Captain Bluford Sims planted the first nursery here after the Civil War, the Florida Midland Railroad arrived in the 1880s, and for decades the town was groves, packinghouses and rail sidings. Then came the freezes, and then State Road 50 and the Turnpike, and the groves gave way to subdivisions. The West Orange Trail that families ride today follows one of the old rail corridors that made that trade possible.
Most children in Ocoee now grow up with the lakes and the trail and no particular sense of what the land did for a living beforehand. That is not a complaint, just a gap, and it closes fast the first time a child gets close enough to a cow to understand how much animal is actually standing there. Working Florida is still out there. It has mostly moved south into Osceola County, which is where we are.
The farm sits about forty minutes from Ocoee and it is exactly what it says: pasture, cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits, a Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride through the trees, and a playground for when the fence has done its work. Admission is $18 for ages 2 and up with under-2s free, and one ticket covers the whole morning. Nobody hurries you and nothing else is sold at the gate.
Coni and Bob Keyes started this place in 1988 on shaded Kissimmee ground, and for nearly thirty years it was where Central Florida children met their first cow. School trips, birthday parties, ordinary Saturdays when a parent needed everyone outdoors. Then it closed, and for seven years there was nothing quite like it in the region.
We reopened at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee behind us, and we brought the substance with us rather than reinventing it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all close enough to meet, feed and touch. The wagon ride still carries everyone out past the grazing cattle. The oaks still take the edge off the heat. The site changed; the idea did not.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-eight miles south of Ocoee and about forty minutes on the road, most easily via the Turnpike or FL-429 down toward the 192 corridor. The last stretch runs through cattle country, which gives you a fair preview of the morning ahead.
Pick your day first. We are open Wednesday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and closed Monday and Tuesday. The last admission is at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with 2:00 PM on weekends. The weekday window is three hours, so leaving Ocoee by half past nine gives you a proper morning rather than a rushed one. Wednesday is Grandparents Day, when one grandparent comes in free with each paid general admission.
Bring lunch with you. We have no cafe on site, only vending machines, so pack a picnic and plenty of water and take one of the shaded tables we keep for it. Hats, sunscreen and closed shoes for everyone. Anyone who has spent a morning on the West Orange Trail knows how to dress for Central Florida outdoors; the difference here is that mature oaks cover most of the property, so there is proper shade to sit in.
Then come and find us. Buy tickets online in advance or at the gate. Admission is $18 per person from 2 years old, with under-2s free, and we take all major credit cards and no cash at all. Larger groups pay $15 a head from 10 to 19 guests, or $12 a head at 20 or more with a reservation, which includes one free admission for every 20 paid. Ask about the annual pass if you think this will become a habit. The animal feed is optional, bought at the gate or included when you book online.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens each fall and becomes the liveliest part of the farm while it lasts. We should be direct about it: this is not a pumpkin patch, and nothing here is grown on site. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home, included in admission, with no extra ticket and nothing weighed. The Zone stays open every day we are open through the whole season, not just weekends. The Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, which is when a single visit handles pumpkins and costumes at once.
Birthday parties need very little organizing. Name the date, settle up, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A tent is $450 and includes up to 25 guests, with anyone beyond that at $15 each, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays with tables provided. Every guest gets the whole farm rather than a roped-off corner, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining and you plan nothing. The decorations and the food are yours to choose. Worth noting on the invitation: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the day is outdoors from beginning to end. Weekend tents are claimed early in the fall.
The calendar carries on around all that. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring and smaller events appear through the year, everything posted on our Special Events page and announced first across Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger groups from West Orange County schools are very welcome on the group rates above, and paying ahead 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-eight miles south of Ocoee and about forty minutes on the road. Most families take the Turnpike or FL-429 south and join the 192 corridor from there.
It is a straightforward run and the traffic is generally kinder than the equivalent trip through the middle of Orlando. Leave by half past nine, particularly midweek when we close at 1:00 PM, and you will have the full morning here with your afternoon still intact. Worth a glance at your maps app before you set off all the same.
Admission is $18 per person for everyone 2 and older, with children under 2 free. That single ticket takes in the entire farm, meaning all our animals, the wagon ride and the playground, and there is nothing further to pay once you are through the gate. Bring a card, because we are completely cashless, though all the major ones are fine.
Groups pay less per head: $15 each for parties of 10 to 19, and $12 each at 20 or more booked with a reservation, which also includes one free admission for every 20 paid. We offer an annual pass as well, giving unlimited visits for a year from the date of 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 on the way home.
Not at Green Meadows. We do not grow pumpkins and we are not a pumpkin patch, and it is better to know that before driving out. Each fall we open the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from it and takes it home free with entry.
Given how much of West Orange County’s history sits under the subdivisions, families here tend to appreciate the plain version of things. There is no pumpkin surcharge, and the Zone is open every day we are open rather than on a handful of weekends. The Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, with dates published on our Special Events page and announced first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, and they are among our favorite days. Booking could hardly be simpler: choose your date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A tent costs $450 and covers up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and there are four available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, all with tables.
Every guest can roam the whole farm, so the entertainment is settled before you have planned a thing. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground take care of it between them. Nothing about the tent is pre-decorated, so the look of the day is entirely your call. Worth flagging to guests: 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 accordingly. Weekend tents disappear early through the fall.
A picnic, mainly. We have no cafe, just vending machines, and it does surprise first-time visitors. There are shaded picnic tables set aside for it, and eating outside with cattle grazing behind you is a fine way to spend half an hour. Bring plenty of water too, particularly through the summer months.
Beyond that, dress for a farm rather than an outing: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen for everyone. Mature oaks shade most of our ground, so it is a good deal cooler than you might expect, but Florida still has other ideas. If the sky looks uncertain before you leave Ocoee, call us at (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you straight whether it is worth the drive.
It works across a wider spread than most outings do. Toddlers do best on a quiet weekday morning, and children under 2 come in free. Older children tend to gravitate toward the wagon ride and the playground once the novelty of the fence has worn off, and there is enough ground to walk that nobody feels penned in.
Grown-ups generally do fine as well, which is not something that can be said for every children’s attraction. There is shade, there are picnic tables, and there is no schedule to keep up with. Bring grandparents on a Wednesday and one of them gets in free, which makes a three-generation morning about as easy as these things get.
Know Before You Go
Other Services we provide in Ocoee