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The Tavares and Gulf Railroad served this stretch of Lake County for the better part of a century, hauling citrus and passengers between Tavares, Astatula, Montverde and Clermont, and it was slow enough that residents gave it a whole set of affectionate nicknames — the Tug and Grunt, the Try and Go, the Turtle and Gopher. Astatula has never especially minded being a quiet place, and around 2 thousand people live here still.
Somewhere that size cannot supply everything, and nobody expects it to. What it does mean is that families here are entirely used to driving for the things worth driving for, and reasonably good at judging which ones are.
We would put ourselves in that category, an hour southeast. Cattle graze across open pasture. Alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits come up to the rail for the feed you collect on the way in. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride heads out through the trees and there is a playground beneath old oaks. It costs $18 for anybody aged 2 or more, with nothing charged below that, and the ticket covers the whole property.
Coni and Bob Keyes began this farm in 1988 on shaded ground in Kissimmee. Across nearly three decades it became the place children throughout Central Florida first stood beside livestock, whether they came by school bus, for a birthday, or because somebody at home wanted a few hours of quiet. Then it closed, and seven years went by with nothing filling the gap.
It runs again at Lancaster Ranch Park, with support from the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening deliberately preserved rather than improved. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits all sit where a child’s hand can find them. The wagon ride still makes its way out over the pasture. The old oaks still keep the heat manageable. More acreage, unchanged intention.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly forty-five miles and about an hour southeast of Astatula, usually through Clermont and down US-27. That is a real drive, and the rest of this page assumes you would rather know that up front.
Choose your day first, since from Astatula it decides a great deal. We 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. Last admission falls at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 2:00 PM on weekends. On Mondays and Tuesdays we do not open at all. Midweek that leaves three hours at the end of an hour’s driving, so weekends are the better bet. Wednesdays do bring Grandparents Day, when one grandparent is admitted free with each paid general admission.
Sort the food out before you leave home. We keep no cafe, only vending machines, and at this range a proper picnic eaten at one of our shaded tables is what makes the day feel worthwhile. Plenty of water, sun hats, sunscreen and shoes that fasten, because there is no indoor part to any of this.
Then make the run. Tickets can be bought online first or paid for on arrival, and general admission asks for no reservation. It is $18 for anyone 2 and over, free underneath, and we handle all the major cards while taking no cash whatever. Between ten and nineteen guests the rate falls to $15 each, and from twenty upward to $12 each on a reservation, with one admission free for every twenty paid. Animal feed is an optional purchase at the gate, or added to your tickets online — and it is what the visit is really about.
Plan Your Visit
Fall brings the Pumpkin Zone and the busiest weeks we have. Worth naming plainly: we are not a pumpkin patch, and nothing here is grown on site. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home, free with the ticket. The Zone stays open every day we are open right through the season instead of a short weekend run. Our Halloween Candy Hunt takes place on 2 weekends either side of Halloween.
Birthdays require almost nothing of you. Settle the date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It runs $450 for as many as 25 guests with anyone further at $15 each, and four are available daily across Saturday and Sunday with tables already positioned. Everybody invited has the whole property, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground carry the entertaining between them. How it looks and what everyone eats stays with you. Worth passing along: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and nothing about the day is indoors.
Coming as a group changes the arithmetic considerably from this far out. Ten to nineteen guests pay $15 each and twenty or more pay $12 each with a reservation, plus one free admission per twenty paid, which is how most Lake County schools and church families reach us. Easter Egg Hunts arrive each spring and other events appear across the year, all of it listed on our Special Events page and announced first through Facebook and Instagram.
We sit at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly forty-five miles and about an hour southeast of Astatula. Most families come down through Clermont and pick up US-27 toward the 192 corridor.
It is a proper drive and worth planning rather than deciding over breakfast, particularly midweek when we close at 1:00 PM. A weekend adds an hour at this end, which the distance genuinely calls for. Check your maps app before you set out, since the route varies noticeably with the time of day.
Eighteen dollars a head for everybody 2 and over, and no charge at all below that age. One ticket takes in the entire property — every animal, the wagon ride and the playground — with nothing more to pay once you are inside and parking included. Bring a card, as no cash is accepted here.
Larger parties get a better rate: $15 each between ten and nineteen guests, $12 each from twenty upward on a reservation, and one free admission for every twenty paid. There is an annual pass covering a year of unlimited visits from the day of purchase, which at this range earns its keep from about the third trip. Feed for the animals is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online.
Not here, and we would rather tell you before the drive. Green Meadows grows no pumpkins and is not a pumpkin patch. Each fall we open the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from it and takes it home free with admission.
Astatula’s old railway was nicknamed for a turtle and a gopher, which tells you something about the pace here. A morning at the farm keeps to it — nothing to rush for, nothing timed, and the Zone open every day we are open rather than on set weekends. The Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends either side of Halloween. We publish the dates on our Special Events page and go out first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, gladly. Fix the date and time, pay up front, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 covering up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 apiece, with four running each day on Saturdays and Sundays and tables laid out ready.
Because everyone invited can wander the whole farm, the entertaining is settled before you organize anything. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground manage it among themselves. Tents come bare, so the decorating and the catering are your side of it. Do tell guests that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and that every part of the celebration is outdoors. Weekend tents go quickly once autumn starts.
Lunch, first and foremost, and rather more water than a short outing would need. We run no cafe, just vending machines, and after an hour on the road that is a poor discovery. Shaded tables are kept for it, and a full meal in the open with cattle beyond the fence is a fair reward for the driving.
Beyond that, everyone wants dressing for a farm instead of a day out: shoes that close, hats and sunscreen throughout. Old oaks shade nearly all our ground so it holds cooler than the forecast implies, though the weather here does entirely as it pleases. If the sky looks doubtful before you leave Astatula, call (407) 994-2775 and we will give you a straight answer.
2 to 3 hours suits nearly everyone, which fits a weekend window comfortably. The opening stretch almost always goes on feeding animals, then the wagon ride, then the playground, with a picnic somewhere in the middle. Nothing runs to a clock here, so you go when your children have had enough rather than when a schedule dictates.
From Astatula it is worth arriving right at opening. Early on the animals are at their most active, the air has not built up yet and there is hardly anyone at the rails. Reaching us at 10:00 AM on a Saturday leaves four hours available, which sits far better against an hour’s drive than a compressed midweek visit would.
Know Before You Go
Other Services we provide in Astatula