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Lake Hamilton is about four square miles, nearly a quarter of which is water, and roughly fifteen hundred people live in it. That is small even by Ridge standards. Nobody who lives here expects the town to supply a full day out, and there is no complaint in that observation — it is simply how life works in a place this size. You drive to things.
Which shifts the question. It stops being how far somewhere is and becomes whether it earns the journey once you get there. A shopping trip does not. A playground twenty minutes away does not really either, since there is one closer. Something your children have never done before is a different proposition entirely.
That is what is on offer thirty-five minutes northeast. Cattle grazing across open pasture. Alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits close enough to touch and feed. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride out through the trees, a playground under old oaks, and shaded tables to eat a packed lunch at. Admission is $18 for anyone 2 and older, with under-2s free, covering all of it. Come at ten, leave when your children are finished, and the afternoon is still yours.
The farm opened in 1988, started by Coni and Bob Keyes on shaded ground in Kissimmee. For the better part of thirty years it was where children across this region had their first proper encounter with livestock, whether they arrived with a school group, for a birthday, or simply with a parent who wanted everyone outdoors. Then it shut, and seven years passed before it came back.
It reopened at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee behind it, and the substance made the move intact. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all close enough that a child can put a hand on them. The wagon ride still rolls out into the pasture. The old oaks still do the cooling. There is more room now than there was and the same idea running on it.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-six miles and about thirty-five minutes northeast of Lake Hamilton, usually up US-27 and east toward the 192 corridor. It is among the shorter runs for a Polk County family, which is worth knowing.
Pick the day first. We open Wednesday to Friday, 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, and stay closed Monday and Tuesday. Last entry is 1:00 PM from Wednesday to Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Midweek mornings are the quietest of the week. Wednesday is also Grandparents Day, when one grandparent comes in free with each paid general admission, every week of the year rather than as an occasional promotion.
Bring lunch with you. There is no cafe on the property, only vending machines, so pack a picnic and plenty of water and use one of the shaded tables set aside for it. Closed shoes rather than sandals, plus hats and sunscreen for everyone, since the whole visit happens outdoors on farm ground.
Then drive up. Tickets are available online beforehand or at the gate when you arrive, with no reservation needed for general admission. It is $18 a head from age 2, under-2s free, and we take every major credit card and no cash at all. Parties of 10 to 19 pay $15 each and 20 or more pay $12 each with a reservation, which brings a free admission for every 20 paid. Given how close you are, the annual pass is worth asking about. Animal feed is optional — buy it at the gate or add it to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens each fall and becomes the fullest part of our week. Clear from the start: this is not a pumpkin patch, and we grow no pumpkins here. Every paying guest chooses one from the Zone and takes it home included with the ticket. It is open every day we are open through the whole season, which matters when the trip is a drive rather than a walk. Our Halloween Candy Hunt happens across 2 weekends around Halloween each year.
Birthday parties are little trouble to organize. Agree a date and time, pay up front, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents are $450 and take up to 25 guests, with anyone above that at $15 each, and there are four each day across Saturday and Sunday, tables already out. Every guest gets the whole farm rather than a roped-off section, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground handle the entertaining while you do none of it. Decorations and catering are entirely your choice. For the invitations: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the day happens outdoors throughout.
The rest of the calendar carries on around it. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring, smaller seasonal events turn up through the year, and everything is listed on our Special Events page and shared first across Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger groups are very welcome on the rates above, and paying beforehand gets everyone through the entrance and out to the animals considerably faster on the day.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly twenty-six miles and about thirty-five minutes northeast of Lake Hamilton. Most families run up US-27 and cut east toward the 192 corridor.
That is a comfortable enough distance to keep a visit inside a morning. Set off around nine thirty, spend a couple of unhurried hours here, and you are home well before the afternoon is spent. Worth checking your maps app first, since US-27 changes considerably depending on the hour.
Admission is $18 per person for everyone aged 2 and over, with children under 2 admitted free. One ticket takes in the whole property — every animal, the wagon ride and the playground — and nothing further is charged at the gate or for parking. We are card-only and accept no cash.
Groups pay less per head: $15 each between 10 and 19 guests, and $12 each from 20 upward with a reservation, which also includes a free admission for every 20 paid. There is an annual pass covering unlimited visits for a year from purchase, and at thirty-five minutes it pays for itself fairly quickly. Animal feed is an optional few dollars, picked up at the gate or included when you book online.
Not here. Green Meadows is a petting farm rather than a pumpkin patch, and nothing is grown on the property. The Pumpkin Zone is what we open each fall, and a pumpkin from it goes home with every paying guest, free with admission.
In a town of around fifteen hundred people, everything worth doing involves getting in the car, so it helps that this trip covers several things at once — animals, the wagon ride and a pumpkin, all on one ticket. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than a run of weekends, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. Dates are published on the Special Events page and out first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do, and they are among the best days on the farm. Set the date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 and includes up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, all set up with tables.
Because every guest has the run of the whole property, the entertainment is arranged before you have thought about it. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground share the work between them. The tent comes plain, so decorations and the menu are yours to sort. Do let guests know that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online. Weekend tents fill early in the fall.
A picnic above all. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, and it does catch out visitors who assumed otherwise. Shaded picnic tables are kept for exactly this, and eating outside with cattle grazing behind you is a decent half hour of anybody’s day. Bring plenty of water too, particularly through the summer months.
Beyond that, dress everyone for a farm rather than a day out: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen. Mature oaks shade most of our ground so it stays cooler than you might expect, though the weather here does as it pleases. If the sky looks doubtful before you leave Lake Hamilton, call us at (407) 994-2775 and we will give you a straight answer.
It stretches further than most children’s outings do. The youngest are content at the fence for far longer than parents expect, and the under-2s are free. Older children usually make for the wagon ride and the playground once the animals have had their turn, and there is enough ground to cover that nobody feels confined.
Adults tend to enjoy it as well, which is not true of everywhere built for children. You get shade, picnic tables and nothing at all to keep pace with. If grandparents are coming, a Wednesday visit brings one of them in free with each paid admission, which makes a three-generation morning simple to arrange.
Know Before You Go
Other Services we provide in Lake Hamilton