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Dundee was named in 1910 by a Scotsman who thought the place deserved his hometown’s name, and it grew up around the depot, the packing house and the groves along the Lake Wales Ridge. The first arrivals came north from Minneapolis in a side-door rail car with their household goods and their livestock riding together. That is a fairly literal founding story for a farming town.
It has stayed one in temperament. In 2024 residents were asked whether Dundee should become a city and a clear majority said no, keep it a town. Around five thousand people live here, the depot is a museum now, and Lakeland and Winter Haven have grown outward while Dundee has largely declined to.
Families who like that tend to like what we do, which is nothing fancy at all. Cattle grazing out in the pasture. Alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits along the rail, expecting the feed you collect at the counter. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride through the trees and a playground under the oaks. Admission is $18 for anyone 2 and older, with under-2s free, and it covers everything on the property. No timings, no upgrades, no fuss.
Green Meadows began in 1988 when Coni and Bob Keyes opened it under shade trees in Kissimmee. For close to thirty years it was the place children across this part of Florida first stood beside livestock, arriving by school bus, for somebody’s birthday, or because a parent needed everyone out of the house. Then it closed its gates and stayed closed for seven years.
It is open again at Lancaster Ranch Park, with help from the City of Kissimmee, and what came back is the original rather than a rethink of it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all within a child’s reach. The wagon ride still trundles out across the pasture. The oaks still keep the temperature down. More ground than there was, and the same purpose running across it.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-eight miles and about forty minutes northeast of Dundee, generally up US-27 and east toward the 192 corridor. The route runs off the Ridge and out across ranch country, which is a decent introduction to where you are heading.
Choose the day first. We are open Wednesday, Thursday and 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. Last admission falls at 1:00 PM midweek and 2:00 PM on weekends. Weekday mornings are quieter and gentler, which suits the youngest visitors, though from Dundee the weekend hours give you a more comfortable margin. Wednesday brings Grandparents Day, when one grandparent is admitted free alongside each paid general admission.
Bring food along. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, so make up a picnic and bring a good deal of water, then take one of the shaded tables we keep for the purpose. Sun hats, sunscreen and closed shoes for everybody. Nothing about the ground is difficult, but it is a farm and not a park.
Then drive up. Tickets can be bought online in advance or at the gate on arrival. Admission is $18 per person from 2 years old, with under-2s free, and we take all the major credit cards and no cash whatsoever. Groups of 10 to 19 pay $15 each, and 20 or more pay $12 each with a reservation, which carries a free admission for every 20 paid. Ask about the annual pass if this looks like turning into a habit. Animal feed is an optional few dollars, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
Fall opens the Pumpkin Zone, comfortably the busiest part of our year. Being straight about it: we are not a pumpkin patch and nothing here is grown on site. The Zone is where every paying guest chooses a pumpkin and takes it home, free with admission and nothing added at the gate. It stays open every day we are open across the season rather than on a narrow weekend window. Our Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween.
Birthday parties take very little arranging. Confirm the date and time, settle the payment, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents cost $450 for up to 25 guests, with each additional guest at $15, and there are four per day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables included. Everybody invited gets the run of the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining and you organize nothing at all. The decorations and the menu are yours. Worth saying 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 celebration is outdoors from beginning to end.
The year keeps moving on either side of that. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring, smaller seasonal events appear across the calendar, and all of it goes up on our Special Events page and out first through Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger groups are very welcome on the rates above, and settling the bill in advance gets everybody through the entrance and out to the paddocks a good deal quicker on the day.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-eight miles and about forty minutes northeast of Dundee. Most families head up US-27 and cut east toward the 192 corridor.
That keeps a visit comfortably inside a morning, though it is far enough to be worth planning rather than deciding on the day — particularly midweek, when we close at 1:00 PM. Weekends give you an extra hour at this end. Do glance at your maps app before setting off, since US-27 varies a lot by time of day.
It is $18 per person for everyone 2 years and older, with children under 2 free. One ticket takes in the whole farm, meaning every animal, the wagon ride and the playground, and nothing further is charged at the gate or for parking. Bring a card, because we accept no cash at all.
Larger parties pay less per head: $15 each between 10 and 19 guests, and $12 each from 20 upward booked with a reservation, plus a free admission for every 20 paid. There is also an annual pass giving unlimited visits for a year from the date of purchase, which suits families who end up coming back more than twice. Feed is an optional few dollars, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Not at Green Meadows, and we would rather say it than let you assume. We grow no pumpkins and we are not a patch. The Pumpkin Zone opens each fall, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from it and carries it home free with entry.
Dundee’s first families arrived in 1911 by rail with their livestock travelling alongside them. Something of that is still the appeal — the animals are the reason to come, and the pumpkin is what your children carry back to the car. The Zone runs on every open day rather than a chosen few, and the Candy Hunt falls on 2 weekends either side of Halloween. The dates are listed on our Special Events page and are shared first on Facebook and Instagram.
Certainly. Name a date and time, settle up, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 and covers up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and there are four tents available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, all with tables provided.
Since every guest can wander the whole farm, the entertainment sorts itself out before you have planned anything. Between the animals, the wagon ride and the playground, it runs itself. The tent arrives plain, so decorations and food are entirely your call. Worth putting on the invitation: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online. Fall weekends book furthest ahead.
A picnic, mainly. We have no cafe, just vending machines, and that surprises a fair few visitors. Shaded picnic tables are set aside for exactly this, and lunch outdoors with cattle grazing behind you is one of the better parts of the morning. Bring plenty of water as well, particularly in the warmer months.
Otherwise dress everyone for a farm rather than an outing: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen. Mature oaks cover most of our ground so it stays cooler than you might expect, though Florida will still have its own opinion. If the sky looks uncertain before you leave Dundee, call us at (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you plainly whether to come.
It suits them particularly well, and a weekday morning is the best time to bring one. The paddocks are calm, there is no crowd at any rail, and children under 2 get in free. Nothing here is loud, timed or in need of explaining, which counts for a great deal at that age.
The ground is largely flat and shaded, there are picnic tables for a proper sit-down, and the playground gives older brothers and sisters somewhere to go while the smallest stays down at the rail. Arrive at opening if you can manage it — the mornings are cooler and the animals are livelier, and you will be back in Dundee before anybody needs a nap.
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