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Lady Lake sits about ninety minutes north of us, which makes it the longest journey of any town we serve. Our name has been paired with this one before — the Wildwood, Lady Lake, Withlacoochee and Gulf Railway was chartered back in 1885 — but a railway charter and a Tuesday morning with 2 children in the car are different propositions entirely.
So we will not pretend a spur-of-the-moment visit makes sense from here. Three hours of driving against a three-hour midweek window is a poor exchange, and a family who made that trip would be right to feel short-changed.
What does work is picking the single best weekend of our year and treating it as the outing. Fall: the Pumpkin Zone open every day we are open with a free pumpkin on every ticket, the Halloween Candy Hunt on 2 weekends around Halloween, cooler air, and the animals at their liveliest. Cattle over the pasture; alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits at the rail for the feed bought at the counter. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride, a playground beneath old oaks, shaded tables for a proper picnic. Entry is $18 from age 2, free below.
Green Meadows began in 1988, opened by Coni and Bob Keyes on shaded ground in Kissimmee. For close to thirty years it was where an enormous number of Central Florida children met their first cow, arriving by school bus, at birthdays, or on ordinary weekends. Then it shut, and seven years went past before it opened again.
It works now at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee behind it, and the reopening protected what was there rather than modernizing it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits all stay close enough to touch and feed. The wagon ride still goes out among the trees. The old oaks still take the heat out of the day. Wider ground now, the same intention across it.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly sixty-eight miles and about ninety minutes south of Lady Lake, usually down US-27 or round on the Turnpike. It is the longest drive on our entire list and this page is built around that fact rather than in spite of it.
Come at a weekend. Our hours are 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Wednesday through Friday and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday, and from Lady Lake the midweek window simply does not repay the driving. The last admission is at 1:00 PM from Wednesday to Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. A Saturday or Sunday gives four hours, and leaving about eight thirty puts you here for opening with the whole of it ahead.
Pack as though the picnic is part of the day, because it is. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, and after ninety minutes on the road a full lunch spread across one of our shaded tables is what makes the trip a morning instead of an errand. Bring considerably more water than seems necessary, plus hats, sunscreen and closed shoes, since nothing about the visit is under cover.
Then set off. Buy tickets online first or pay when you arrive; general admission requires no reservation. Entry is $18 per person from 2 years, nothing below, cards only with no cash accepted. Ten to nineteen guests are $15 each and twenty or more are $12 each on a reservation, with one free admission per twenty paid — which from this distance is the arrangement we would most encourage. Animal feed is an optional extra at the gate, or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
Fall brings the Pumpkin Zone and the fullest weeks of our year. Worth stating clearly before anyone sets off: we are not a pumpkin patch, and we grow nothing on this farm. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home, free with admission. It is open every day we are open right through the season rather than on a run of weekends, which matters when the drive is a long one. The Candy Hunt is on 2 weekends around Halloween.
Birthday parties are worth knowing about even at this range, particularly if family are coming in from nearer the farm anyway. A tent is $450 for up to 25 guests with anyone beyond that at $15 each, four available each day on Saturdays and Sundays with tables already set. Choose the date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Everyone invited has the whole farm to roam, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining between them. Decorating and catering are yours. To note on the invitation: 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.
Group bookings are the other thing that changes the sums from Lady Lake. Twenty guests or more brings it to $12 a head with one free admission per twenty paid, which is how most schools, churches and large family parties from this far north reach us. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring alongside other seasonal events, 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, roughly sixty-eight miles and about ninety minutes south of Lady Lake. Most people run down US-27 or come round on the Turnpike.
It is the longest journey of any town we write pages for, and we would rather say so plainly than let a family find out on the road. Weekends are the only version we would recommend, since the extra hour of opening is what makes the distance defensible. Check your maps app before setting off, as both routes vary considerably by hour.
For a casual visit, no, and we will not argue otherwise. Three hours in the car against a short window is a poor trade and we have no interest in a family making that drive and regretting it.
For one properly chosen trip a year, yes. Come in fall, when the Pumpkin Zone is open and every paying guest takes a pumpkin home with their ticket, the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween, the weather is at its most reliable and the animals are liveliest. Arrive at 10:00 AM, stay the full four hours, bring a real picnic. That version of the visit repays the driving. The casual midweek version does not.
Eighteen dollars per person from age 2, with under-2s free. One ticket opens the entire farm — every animal, the wagon ride and the playground — and nothing further is charged once you are inside, parking included. Cards only, as we take no cash anywhere on the property.
Groups pay less each: $15 from ten to nineteen guests and $12 from twenty upward on a reservation, with one free admission per twenty paid. From this distance a group booking is genuinely the arrangement that works best. There is also an annual pass covering a year of unlimited visits, though at ninety minutes it only pays off for families intending several trips.
Every day we are open, right through the fall season — there is no weekend-only window to plan around. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home included with admission.
The one date worth watching for is the Halloween Candy Hunt, which runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. We publish those dates on our Special Events page and announce them first on Facebook and Instagram. From Lady Lake it is worth building the day out around them, and arriving at opening makes a considerable difference to how the morning goes.
We do, though from Lady Lake it usually only makes sense if guests are coming from nearer the farm. Pick a date and time and pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 for up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 each, with four running per day on Saturdays and Sundays and tables in place.
The farm handles the entertaining entirely, which is the appeal — every guest has the run of the property, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground fill the time without a single arrangement from you. Tents arrive undecorated, so the styling and the food are yours. Say on the invitation that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
A full picnic and a great deal of water. We have no cafe, only vending machines, and after ninety minutes on the road that is genuinely the worst thing to learn on arrival. 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 journey.
Everyone wants dressing for a farm rather than an outing: shoes that close, hats and sunscreen throughout. Old oaks stand over most of the property, so it runs cooler than any forecast would suggest, though the weather answers to nobody. If the sky looks unpromising before you leave Lady Lake, call (407) 994-2775 first — at this range we would far rather be honest than have you drive it for nothing.
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