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Sanford exists because the river runs out. Laid out as a planned city in 1870 on the south shore of Lake Monroe, it sat at the head of navigation on the St. Johns — the last place a Jacksonville steamboat could reach — so freight and passengers came off the water here and went on by wagon and rail. Later the artesian wells and sub-irrigation turned it into one of the largest vegetable shipping centers in the country, which is how it got the name Celery City.
Places built as transfer points tend to raise families who think nothing of a drive. Sanford has never been somewhere you arrive at and stop; it is somewhere things pass through on the way to somewhere else, and that habit lasts.
An hour south is a reasonable destination for it. Cattle graze over open pasture, and alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits come to the rail for the feed bought at the counter. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride runs out through the trees, with a playground in the shade of old oaks. Admission is $18 for anyone from age 2, nothing below, and takes in every part of the farm.
Coni and Bob Keyes established the farm in 1988 on shaded land in Kissimmee. Through the best part of three decades it was where children right across the region first stood beside livestock, arriving on school buses, at parties, or on ordinary Saturdays when a parent wanted the house emptied for a while. Then it closed, and seven years elapsed with nothing filling the space.
It is going again at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee’s support, and what came back was the original rather than a modernized version. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits stay near enough for a child to lay a hand on. The wagon ride still works a slow circuit of the pasture. The old oaks still take the edge off the day. More ground, unchanged purpose.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some forty-eight miles and roughly an hour south of Sanford, generally down I-4 or by way of FL-417. It is the longest of the Seminole County runs and worth a little planning.
Hours first, because at this distance they decide things. Our gates run 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM from Wednesday to Friday, and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, shut Monday and Tuesday. Last entry is 1:00 PM Wednesday through Friday and at 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Midweek from Sanford means an hour each way for a three-hour window, so weekends are generally the better proposition. Wednesday does bring Grandparents Day, with one grandparent free alongside each paid general admission.
Sort the picnic out beforehand. There is no cafe on the property, only vending machines, and after an hour on the road a proper lunch at one of our shaded tables is what turns the trip into a morning. Take plenty of water, hats, sunscreen and closed shoes, since none of the day happens under a roof.
Then head south. Tickets go online in advance or over the counter when you arrive, and general admission takes no booking. Entry is $18 a head from 2 years upward, free below, and we accept every major card and no cash. Ten to nineteen in a party is $15 apiece, and twenty upward drops to $12 apiece on a reservation, with a free admission per twenty paid. Worth doing the sums on an annual pass at this range. The feed is an optional extra, sold at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
Fall opens the Pumpkin Zone and it becomes the fullest stretch of the year here. Said plainly: this is not a pumpkin patch and we do not grow pumpkins on this land. The Zone means every paying guest chooses one and takes it home, free with admission. It stays open every day we are open through the season instead of a short weekend run. The Candy Hunt lands on 2 weekends either side of Halloween.
Birthday parties ask almost nothing of you. Choose a date and time, pay in advance, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It costs $450 for up to 25 guests with anyone extra at $15 each, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables already positioned. Everyone invited gets the whole property, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground handle the entertaining. Decorating and food fall to you. Worth raising with guests: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and every bit of the day is outdoors.
Group bookings make particular sense at this distance, and we take plenty from Seminole County schools and congregations. Ten to nineteen in a group is $15 apiece, twenty and above $12 apiece with a reservation, and one admission is free for every twenty paid. Easter Egg Hunts arrive each spring with other seasonal events through the year, all published on our Special Events page and announced first across Facebook and Instagram.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some forty-eight miles and roughly an hour south of Sanford. I-4 straight down, or FL-417 around the east side, are the 2 usual approaches.
It is a proper drive rather than a quick outing, so worth planning around, particularly midweek when we shut at 1:00 PM. A weekend hands you four hours at this end instead of three. Check your maps app before you set out, since I-4 through this stretch is famously changeable.
Eighteen dollars a head for everyone aged 2 and over, with under-2s admitted free. One ticket covers the entire farm — all the animals, the wagon ride and the playground — with nothing further to pay once you are through and no parking charge. Bring a card, since no cash is taken on site.
Bigger groups pay less each: $15 from ten to nineteen guests and $12 from twenty upward on a reservation, carrying one free admission per twenty paid. An annual pass covers a year of unlimited visits from the date of purchase, which at an hour’s distance starts making sense around the third trip. Feed for the animals is optional, available 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. Each fall the Pumpkin Zone opens, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and takes it home free with the ticket.
Sanford has a zoo of its own, and the 2 are not the same outing at all — one is for looking, this one is for feeding, touching and carrying a pumpkin back to the car. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than on a handful of weekends, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. Dates are published on our Special Events page and go out first on Facebook and Instagram.
Very much so, and from an hour out it is much the most sensible way to come. Group rates begin at ten guests: $15 each between ten and nineteen, and $12 each from twenty upward with a reservation, which also brings one free admission per twenty paid. Seminole County schools and congregations make up a good share of our visitors from that direction.
Reserve ahead and settle up in advance where you can, since it moves a large party through the entrance markedly faster on the day. There is open ground here rather than a fixed route, so a big group spreads out naturally and finds its own pace, and the shaded picnic areas give everybody somewhere proper to sit and eat together.
Lunch, and more water than a short outing would need. We run no cafe, just vending machines, and after an hour on the road that is not a welcome thing to discover. Shaded tables are kept for picnics, and a full meal outdoors with cattle beyond the rail makes the journey feel worth it.
Otherwise dress everybody for a farm rather than a day out: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen. Old oaks cover nearly all our ground so it runs cooler than the forecast suggests, though Florida has never taken instruction. If the weather looks doubtful before you leave Sanford, call (407) 994-2775 first rather than driving it on hope.
2 to 3 hours covers most visits, which fits a weekend window neatly. The opening stretch nearly always goes on feeding animals, then the wagon ride, then the playground, with a picnic somewhere in the middle. Nothing runs to a clock here, so you leave when the children have had their fill rather than when a schedule dictates.
Coming from Sanford it pays to arrive at opening. Early on the animals are at their most active, the heat has not built and the rails are largely clear. A 10:00 AM Saturday arrival leaves four hours available, which sits far better against an hour’s drive than a compressed midweek visit would.
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