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Minneola is changing faster than almost anywhere in Lake County. The Hills of Minneola keep expanding, new streets appear between one school year and the next, and a great many families here moved into houses nobody had lived in before. The city took its name from a Dakota word meaning much water, chosen back in 1926, and it has spent the last decade acquiring a great deal else besides.
New has genuine advantages — good schools, new parks, the athletic complex, the trail. What new construction cannot supply, by definition, is age. A landscape with depth to it takes decades that no developer can compress, and children raised entirely among fresh build sometimes reach eight or nine without having stood under a tree older than their grandparents.
We are fifty minutes east and rather old-fashioned about it. Cattle graze across open pasture under oaks that were mature long before any of this. Alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits come to the rail for optional feed sold at the gate or online. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride runs through the trees and a playground sits in the shade. Entry is $18 for anyone 2 and older, free below, and takes in the whole property.
The farm was founded in 1988 by Coni and Bob Keyes on shaded land in Kissimmee. Over close to three decades it became where children throughout this region first stood beside livestock, arriving on school buses, at birthday parties, or with a parent who wanted the afternoon spent outdoors. Then the gates closed and seven years went by before it returned.
It operates again at Lancaster Ranch Park, assisted by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening kept faith with the original rather than modernizing it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits all remain near enough for a child to lay a hand on. The wagon ride still makes its round of the pasture. The old oaks still moderate the temperature. More acreage, identical purpose.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-eight miles and roughly fifty minutes east of Minneola, generally down US-27 and across toward the 192 corridor. The route leaves the hills behind and opens into ranch country, which sets the morning up nicely.
Settle the day to begin with. We are 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, closing Monday and Tuesday. Last entry is 1:00 PM from Wednesday to Friday and at 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. From Minneola the weekend hours leave a far more forgiving margin than the midweek three. Wednesdays carry Grandparents Day, with one grandparent free alongside each paid general admission.
Bring your own lunch. There is no cafe on site, just vending machines, so assemble a picnic and ample water and claim one of the shaded tables kept aside for it. Closed shoes rather than sandals, plus hats and sunscreen for everybody, since the entire visit takes place outdoors on pasture.
Then head east. Tickets can be purchased online beforehand or paid for at the gate. Entry is $18 a head from 2 years up, free below, and we handle all major credit cards while accepting no cash at all. Parties between 10 and 19 come in at $15 a head, and 20 or more at $12 a head on a reservation, plus one free admission for every 20 paid. Ask about the annual pass if you expect to return. Animal feed is an optional extra, picked up at the gate or bought online with your tickets.
Plan Your Visit
Fall brings the Pumpkin Zone and with it our busiest weeks. Stating it plainly: we are not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkin here was grown here. The Zone is where every paying guest chooses one and takes it home, free with admission. It is open every day we are open right through the season rather than on a few crowded weekends. The Halloween Candy Hunt lands on 2 weekends close to Halloween.
Birthday parties need almost nothing from you. Name a date and time, pay ahead, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents run $450 covering up to 25 guests, additional guests at $15 apiece, four available daily on Saturdays and Sundays with tables already out. Everyone invited has the freedom of the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground shoulder the entertaining. Decorations and food remain yours to sort. Worth passing to guests: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the celebration runs outdoors from start to finish.
Either side of that the calendar keeps turning. Easter Egg Hunts arrive in spring, smaller seasonal events surface across the year, and everything is posted to our Special Events page and shared first via Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger parties are welcome on the rates above, and paying beforehand moves everybody through the entrance and out to the paddocks a good deal sooner.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-eight miles and roughly fifty minutes east of Minneola. US-27 south and then across toward the 192 corridor is the usual approach.
It is a proper drive rather than a quick hop, so a weekend visit generally works better than squeezing into the midweek window. Leaving around nine gets you here for opening with the whole morning ahead. Glance at your maps app before departing, as US-27 varies a great deal by hour.
Admission is $18 per person for everyone aged 2 and over, with under-2s free. One ticket takes in the entire farm, meaning all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground, and nothing further is charged inside or for parking. Bring a card, as no cash is taken anywhere.
Bigger parties pay less each: $15 apiece from 10 to 19 guests, $12 apiece from 20 upward when reserved, plus one free admission per 20 paid. There is also an annual pass running a full year of unlimited visits from purchase, which suits families who find themselves returning. Feed is an optional few dollars, bought at the gate or included when you book online.
Not at Green Meadows, and we would rather say so up front. We do not grow pumpkins and we are not a patch. Our fall version is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and carries it home free with entry.
Minneola has gone up quickly, and a lot of what surrounds it now is newer than the children looking at it. The oaks here are not, and neither is the routine — feed the animals, choose a pumpkin, go home. 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 are published on our Special Events page and out first on Facebook and Instagram.
Certainly. Pick your date and time, then pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It runs $450 and covers up to 25 guests, with further guests at $15 apiece, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables provided.
As guests wander the whole farm, the entertaining takes care of itself before you plan anything. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground split the job. Tents come plain, so decorations and the food are entirely your call. 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 disappear early once fall arrives.
A picnic, chiefly. We run no cafe, only vending machines, and it does catch visitors unawares. Shaded picnic tables are kept precisely for it, and eating outside with cattle beyond the fence is a decent half hour of anybody’s morning. Carry ample water too, particularly across the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress everyone for a farm rather than an outing: closed shoes, hats, sunscreen. Old oaks cover nearly all of our ground, which keeps things cooler than you would guess, though the weather answers to nobody. If the sky looks doubtful before you leave Minneola, call (407) 994-2775 and we will give you a straight answer.
Particularly well, and a weekday morning is the best time to bring one if you can manage the timing. The paddocks are calm, nobody is waiting at any rail, and children under 2 are admitted free. Nothing here is loud, timed or in need of explanation, which counts for a great deal at that age.
The ground is largely flat and shaded, picnic tables allow a proper sit-down, and the playground gives older brothers and sisters somewhere to go while the smallest stays at the fence. Arrive at opening where possible — mornings are cooler, the animals are livelier, and you will be back in Minneola before anybody needs a nap.
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