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It is easy to forget now, but this whole area was once covered in slatted sheds. Gordon Barnett opened a fernery here in the 1920s, Hibbard Casselberry followed and platted Winter Park Ferneries, and between them the district became one of the largest producers of asparagus plumosus ferns anywhere in the world, shipping to florists across North America. The town incorporated in 1940. By the end of the war the sheds were making parachutes instead, and the fern business never fully came back.
What is left is a comfortable Seminole County city with good lakes and no agriculture to speak of. Children here grow up in a place whose entire origin was growing something, without any remaining way to see what that actually looks like.
Forty-five minutes south there is still a canopy and still a crop, though the shade comes from old oaks and the livestock walks about. Cattle out over the pasture; alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits at the rail waiting on feed bought at the counter. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride, a playground in the shade. Entry is $18 from age 2, nothing below, covering the whole property.
Coni and Bob Keyes founded Green Meadows in 1988 on shaded ground in Kissimmee. Over close to thirty years it was where children throughout Central Florida first stood next to livestock, coming by school bus, for birthdays, or on ordinary weekends when a parent wanted them outside. Then the gates closed and stayed closed for seven years.
It is going again at Lancaster Ranch Park, supported by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening protected the original rather than modernizing it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits all stand close enough for a child to put a hand on. The wagon ride still makes its way over the pasture. The oak canopy still handles the heat. Broader ground beneath, the same idea above it.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-seven miles and roughly forty-five minutes south of Casselberry, typically via FL-417 or down I-4. It is a straightforward run and fits inside a morning without much difficulty.
Settle on the day to begin with. 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, with Mondays and Tuesdays shut. Last entry is 1:00 PM Wednesday to Friday and at 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Midweek mornings run quietest, which the smallest visitors appreciate. Wednesdays bring Grandparents Day, one grandparent admitted free with each paid general admission, every week of the year.
Pack the food yourself. No cafe operates here, just vending machines, so put together a picnic with ample water and claim one of the shaded tables set aside for it. Sun hats, sunscreen and shoes that fasten for everyone, as the entire visit takes place outdoors on grass rather than paving.
Then come down. You can book online first or pay when you arrive; general admission requires no reservation. Entry is $18 per head from 2 years upward, free underneath, and we take all the major credit cards while accepting no cash whatsoever. Between ten and nineteen guests it is $15 apiece, and from twenty upward $12 apiece on a reservation, with a free admission for every twenty paid. If this looks like becoming a habit, ask about the annual pass. The animal feed is optional, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens with the fall and turns into the busiest thing we do. Being straight about it: this is not a pumpkin patch and we grow nothing here. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and carries it home, included with admission. It stays open every day we are open through the whole season instead of a narrow weekend window. The Candy Hunt is held on 2 weekends around Halloween each year.
Birthday parties ask almost nothing of the organizer. Confirm a date and time, then pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It runs $450 for up to 25 guests with anyone extra at $15 each, four available daily across Saturday and Sunday, tables already out. Everyone invited has the run of the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground carry the entertaining and you arrange none of it. How it all looks and what everybody eats is yours to decide. For the invitations: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and every part of it happens outdoors.
Group visits suit the distance well and we host plenty from Seminole County schools and community groups. Ten to nineteen guests come in at $15 each and twenty or more at $12 each with a reservation, plus one free admission per twenty paid. Easter Egg Hunts appear each spring with further seasonal events across the year, everything posted to our Special Events page and released first through Facebook and Instagram.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-seven miles and roughly forty-five minutes south of Casselberry. FL-417 or I-4 are the usual ways down.
That keeps a farm visit comfortably within a morning. Set off around nine thirty, spend a couple of hours here, and you are back with your afternoon intact. Do have a look at your maps app first, since both routes shift noticeably depending on the hour.
It is $18 a head for everyone from 2 years old, with children under 2 free. That single ticket takes in the entire property, meaning all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground, with nothing further charged inside and no parking fee. Bring a card, since no cash is taken on site.
Larger parties pay less each: $15 apiece between ten and nineteen guests and $12 apiece from twenty upward on a reservation, carrying one free admission per twenty paid. An annual pass covers a year of unlimited visits from the date of purchase. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online — and it is where most mornings really start.
Not at Green Meadows. We do not grow pumpkins and we are not a pumpkin patch. Our fall version is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and takes it home free with entry.
Casselberry was built under fern sheds, and there is still a good deal of shade in how the town sits. There is shade here too — old oaks over the picnic tables, animals at the rail beneath them, and a pumpkin to choose before you go. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than on set weekends, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. Dates go on the Special Events page and go out first on Facebook and Instagram.
Gladly. Lock in a date and time and pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It runs $450 and covers up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 apiece, with four standing ready each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables laid out.
As guests wander the whole farm, the entertaining takes care of itself before you have organized a thing. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground share it between them. Tents come undecorated, so the styling and the menu are wholly yours. Do flag to guests that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online. Weekend tents go early once autumn arrives.
A picnic, mainly. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, and it does catch first-time visitors unawares. Shaded tables stand ready for precisely that, and eating in the open with cattle grazing beyond the rail makes a fine half hour. Carry ample water too, particularly through the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress everybody for a farm rather than a day out: closed shoes, hats, sunscreen. Old oaks shade most of our ground so it stays cooler than expected, though Florida keeps its own counsel. If the sky looks unconvincing before you leave Casselberry, call (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you honestly.
It spreads wider than most children’s outings manage. The very smallest stay at the rail with feed for far longer than anybody expects, and the under-2s are free. Older ones move on to the wagon ride and the playground once the animals have had their turn, and there is enough ground to walk that nobody feels boxed in.
Grown-ups fare reasonably too, which cannot be said of everywhere built for children. Shade, tables and nothing at all being timed. Bring grandparents on a Wednesday and one comes in free alongside each paid admission, which makes a three-generation morning simple to put together from Seminole County.
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