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Fruitland Park has a particular rhythm to it. The town borders The Villages, and between school holidays and long weekends a substantial number of houses here fill up with visiting grandchildren several times a year. Which raises the question every grandparent in this part of Lake County eventually faces: where do you take a six-year-old for a morning that suits both of you?
Most answers fail one party or the other. Playgrounds work for the child and not much for anyone over sixty. Anything with long lines, noise and a timetable works for nobody. What is wanted is somewhere with shade, somewhere to sit down, nothing to keep pace with, and something genuinely interesting for a child to do while the adults are comfortable.
That is close to a description of our farm, eighty minutes southeast. Cattle over the pasture; alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits at the rail for feed bought at the counter. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride, a playground under old oaks, shaded picnic tables. Admission is $18 from age 2 with under-2s free — and on Wednesdays one grandparent is admitted free alongside each paid general admission, every week of the year.
Green Meadows opened in 1988, started by Coni and Bob Keyes on shaded land in Kissimmee. For close to thirty years it was where children across the middle of Florida met their first cow, and a fair number of the grandparents reading this took their own children here in the nineties. Then it closed, and seven years went by before it came back.
It works again at Lancaster Ranch Park, supported by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening deliberately kept things as they were. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits stay within reach of a child. The wagon ride still runs out over the pasture. The oak canopy still moderates the heat. If you brought children here thirty years ago, you will recognize the feel of it.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some sixty-two miles and roughly eighty minutes southeast of Fruitland Park, generally down US-27 or the Turnpike. It is the longest journey of any town we write for, and the sections below take that seriously.
Begin with the day, because from here it decides everything. We open 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Wednesday through Friday, and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday, with Monday and Tuesday closed. The last admission is at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 2:00 PM on weekends. Wednesday is the one midweek day we would actively suggest, since it is Grandparents Day and one grandparent joins free with each paid admission. Otherwise weekends, where the extra hour makes eighty minutes each way defensible.
Pack properly. There is no cafe, only vending machines, and at this distance a full picnic eaten at one of our shaded tables is what turns a long drive into a morning worth having. Bring more water than seems necessary, plus hats, sunscreen and shoes that close, since not one part of the visit is under cover.
Then set out. Tickets go online in advance or over the counter when you arrive; general admission needs no booking. Entry is $18 a head from 2 years, free under that, cards only with no cash taken. Ten to nineteen guests are $15 each and twenty or more are $12 each on a reservation, with one free admission per twenty paid. Feed for the animals is an optional purchase at the gate, or added to your tickets online and is the thing that makes the visit.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens each fall and becomes the liveliest part of the farm. Clear from the outset: this is not a pumpkin patch and we grow nothing on this land. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home free with admission. It is open every day we are open through the season rather than on a narrow weekend window, which helps if a midweek morning suits you better than a Saturday. The Halloween Candy Hunt is held on 2 weekends around Halloween each year.
Birthday parties ask almost nothing of the organizer, which suits a grandparent hosting one perfectly well. A tent is $450 for up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 each, with four available per day on Saturdays and Sundays and tables already set. Choose the date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Every guest ranges over the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground carry the entertaining between them. Decorating and food are your side. Worth mentioning to guests: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and all of it takes place outdoors.
Larger family gatherings work well on the group rates, which is worth knowing when several households descend at once. Ten to nineteen guests pay $15 each, twenty or more pay $12 each on a reservation, and every twenty paid earns one admission free. Easter Egg Hunts come round each spring with other seasonal events through 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, some sixty-two miles and roughly eighty minutes southeast of Fruitland Park. Most people take US-27 down, or come round on the Turnpike.
This is the longest drive of any town we cover, and we would rather set that out plainly than have you find out on the road. Weekends are worth prioritizing for the extra hour of opening, with Wednesday the one midweek day we would actively suggest. Do check your maps app before you leave, since both routes change a great deal by hour.
Every Wednesday, one grandparent is admitted free alongside each paid general admission. It runs all year rather than as an occasional promotion, and there is nothing to book or claim in advance — just mention it at the counter when you arrive.
For families around Fruitland Park it is the single reason a midweek trip makes sense from this distance. Bring 2 grandchildren on a paid admission each and 2 grandparents come in free with them. Our Wednesday window is 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, so leaving by about half past eight puts you here for opening with the full three hours ahead.
Eighteen dollars a head from age 2, with under-2s free. That single ticket opens the whole property, meaning every animal, the wagon ride and the playground, and nothing more is charged once you are through the gate, parking included. Cards only — we take no cash anywhere on site.
Larger parties pay less each: $15 from ten to nineteen guests and $12 from twenty upward on a reservation, plus one free admission per twenty paid. An annual pass covers a year of unlimited visits from purchase, which is worth pricing if grandchildren visit more than once or twice a year. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online — and it is genuinely where the morning starts.
Not at Green Meadows. We are a petting farm, not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkins are grown on our property. What we open each fall is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and carries it home included with entry.
With The Villages next door, a good share of our Fruitland Park visitors arrive as grandparents with grandchildren in tow, and Wednesday mornings are the gentlest time to do that. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than weekends only, so there is no need to take on a Saturday crowd. Our Halloween Candy Hunt falls on 2 weekends either side of Halloween, with the dates published on our Special Events page and shared first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, and they suit a grandparent organizing one particularly well, since the farm does the entertaining and nothing needs planning. Set the date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 for up to 25 guests with anyone beyond that at $15 each, four running per day on Saturdays and Sundays with tables ready.
Because every guest has the run of the property, the animals, the wagon ride and the playground fill the time on their own, which spares anybody organizing games. Tents come undecorated, so the styling and the catering are yours. 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 celebration is held outdoors.
A full picnic and considerably more water than you would take on a short outing. We have no cafe, only vending machines, and after eighty minutes on the road that is the last thing anybody wants to learn. Shaded tables are kept precisely for this, and a proper lunch outdoors with cattle beyond the fence stretches the visit into something that earns the driving.
Everyone wants dressing for a farm rather than an outing: shoes that close, hats and sunscreen throughout. Old oaks shade nearly all of our ground, so it holds cooler than the forecast implies, though the weather does exactly as it likes. If the sky looks unpromising before you leave Fruitland Park, call (407) 994-2775 first — at this range we would much rather be honest than have you drive it for nothing.
Know Before You Go
Other Services we provide in Fruitland Park