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Every town has its quirk and Oviedo’s is better than most. Chickens have wandered the historic downtown since the 1990s, entirely unbothered, and residents defend them with a straight face. Children growing up here are unusually relaxed about livestock in a way that children from most Florida suburbs simply are not — a rooster crossing the road is not an event, it is Tuesday.
That is a genuinely good start, and it stops at about eight pounds. A chicken will let you look. It will not lean into your hand the way a donkey does, and it gives you no sense at all of how much animal a cow actually is until you are standing next to one.
Fifty minutes southwest, the rest of the yard is waiting. Cattle out over pasture; alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats and rabbits along the rail expecting the optional feed sold at the gate or online, alongside plenty of chickens who will look familiar. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride runs out among the trees and there is a playground shaded by old oaks. Entry is $18 for anyone 2 and over, free beneath, covering the whole place.
The farm dates to 1988, when Coni and Bob Keyes opened it on shaded ground in Kissimmee. Across nearly thirty years an enormous number of Central Florida children met their first cow here, arriving with classes, at birthdays, or simply because somebody wanted them outdoors for a few hours. Then it closed, and seven years passed before it came back.
It works again at Lancaster Ranch Park, supported by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening preserved rather than reinvented. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all near enough for small hands to get at. The wagon ride still crosses the pasture. The old oaks still keep the temperature honest. Wider ground now, the same idea running on it.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, about forty miles and roughly fifty minutes southwest of Oviedo, usually via FL-417 the whole way round. For a town that once shipped more celery than anywhere in the country, the destination should feel reasonably familiar.
Settle the day first. Our gates open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, and stay shut Mondays and Tuesdays. Last admission falls at 1:00 PM Wednesday to Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Midweek runs quietest, which very young children appreciate. Wednesday is also Grandparents Day, with one grandparent admitted free alongside each paid general admission.
Pack lunch before leaving. We keep no cafe, just vending machines, so bring a picnic and ample water and claim one of the shaded tables set out for it. Hats, sunscreen and shoes that fasten all round, because every part of the visit takes place outdoors on pasture.
Then come across. Buy online beforehand or pay at the gate; nothing needs reserving for general admission. It is $18 a head from age 2, nothing below, and we handle every major credit card while taking no cash at all. Between ten and nineteen guests the rate is $15 apiece, and from twenty upward $12 apiece on a reservation, with one admission free for every twenty paid. Feed for the animals is an optional purchase at the gate, or added to your tickets online, and it is the thing worth buying.
Plan Your Visit
Each autumn the Pumpkin Zone opens and becomes the fullest stretch of our calendar. We should be straight about what it is: we are not a pumpkin patch and we do not grow them here. What we do instead is include one. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and carries it home at no extra charge, and unlike the weekend-only patches scattered around Seminole County, the Pumpkin Zone is open every single day we are open, right the way through the season. The Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, so with a little timing one trip covers pumpkins, costumes and a long stint at the fence.
Birthday parties need very little organizing. Set a date and time, then pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents are $450 for as many as 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and four run per day on Saturdays and Sundays with tables in place. Every guest ranges over the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining while you plan none of it. Decorating and catering remain yours to sort. Worth noting on the invitations: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the celebration is outdoors from beginning to end.
Group bookings suit the distance and we host a fair number from Seminole County schools and community groups. Ten to nineteen guests are $15 each and twenty or more are $12 each with a reservation, plus one free admission per twenty paid. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring alongside other seasonal events across the year, everything listed on our Special Events page and shared first via Facebook and Instagram.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, about forty miles and roughly fifty minutes southwest of Oviedo. FL-417 around the east side is the usual route and generally the kindest.
It keeps a visit comfortably inside a morning rather than costing you the day. Leaving about nine thirty puts you here for opening with a couple of unhurried hours ahead. Do glance at your maps app first, as the 417 varies a good deal with the hour.
Entry runs $18 per person for everybody aged 2 and above, and children under 2 are free. That one ticket opens the entire property, meaning all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground, and nothing else is charged once you are inside, parking included. Cards only — no cash is taken here.
Larger parties pay less each: $15 apiece from ten to nineteen guests and $12 apiece from twenty upward on a reservation, with one free admission per twenty paid. An annual pass runs a full year of unlimited visits from purchase and suits families who find themselves returning. Animal feed is an optional extra — buy it at the gate or bought online with your tickets.
Considerably, and the chickens are the least of it. Our flock behaves much like yours, but the rest of the farm is a different proposition altogether — cattle grazing out over open pasture, alpacas and donkeys that come to the rail when they feel like it, pigs, goats and rabbits all close enough to touch and feed.
The scale is what changes the experience. A child who is entirely unbothered by a rooster still tends to go quiet the first time a cow turns round and looks at them properly. Animal feed is optional, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online and the difference becomes obvious within about five minutes.
Not here, and we would rather say so plainly than have you drive fifty minutes on a misunderstanding. Green Meadows is a petting farm, not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkins are grown on our land. What we run each autumn is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and takes it home free with admission.
For a lot of families that turns out to be the better arrangement. There is no separate pumpkin ticket and no per-pound weighing at a register, the Zone is open every day we are open rather than on a handful of weekends, and the pumpkin is one part of a day that also has cattle, alpacas, donkeys, the Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride and a playground under the oaks. The Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, with dates on our Special Events page and announced first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, gladly. Name the date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It is $450 covering up to 25 guests, with anyone beyond that at $15 each, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables already set.
Because everyone invited has the whole farm, the entertaining is settled before you organize anything at all. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground sort it out between the three of them. Tents come undecorated, so the styling and the menu belong to you. Do mention to guests that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and that the whole day is outdoors. Weekend tents disappear early once autumn arrives.
Lunch above all. We have no cafe, only vending machines, and it catches out a good many first-time visitors. Shaded tables are set aside for picnics, and eating outdoors with cattle grazing beyond the fence is one of the better half hours available anywhere nearby. Bring generous water too, particularly across the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress the whole party for a farm rather than an outing: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen. Old oaks shade nearly all our ground so it holds cooler than the forecast implies, though the weather makes its own arrangements. If the sky looks unconvincing before you leave Oviedo, call (407) 994-2775 and we will give you a straight answer.
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