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St. Cloud is not the town it was fifteen years ago. Something close to twice as many people live here now, and a good share of them arrived recently — new streets, new schools, new neighbors still working out where everything is. So we tend to meet 2 kinds of family. There are the ones whose grandparents farmed in Osceola County and who consider a cow entirely unremarkable. And there are the ones whose children, until quite recently, had never stood next to one.
Both of them get something out of a morning here, though not quite the same thing. For newer arrivals, this is often the first time the word “Florida” means pasture and oak shade rather than highway and rooftops — and it turns out to be an easy way to feel settled somewhere. For families who have been here for generations, it is simpler than that. It is the farm their own parents took them to, still going, twenty minutes from the house.
What everybody takes home is much the same in the end. A child stretches out a handful of feed, a goat wanders over and helps itself, and the laugh that follows is the whole reason we do this. Admission is $18 for ages 2 and up, with under-2s free, and that covers the animals, the Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride and the playground together. Because we are so close to St. Cloud, plenty of families here treat us as somewhere to drop in rather than somewhere to plan for — which is exactly how we like it.
Coni and Bob Keyes started this farm in 1988, in Kissimmee, under a stand of old oak trees. For close to thirty years it was where Osceola County children met their first donkey, milked their first laugh out of a stubborn goat, and came home smelling faintly of hay. If you went to school anywhere in this county during those decades, you probably went on a field trip here. Then we closed, and for seven years there was nowhere nearby that did quite this.
We reopened at Lancaster Ranch Park with the City of Kissimmee’s support, and we were careful to bring the important parts with us. Our cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are close enough to reach out and touch, not penned behind glass at a distance. The wagon ride still rolls out through the pasture the way it always did. The oaks still keep everybody cool. What we gained in the move was room, and what we kept was the point of the place.
You will find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741 — roughly a dozen miles west of St. Cloud, about twenty minutes along US-192. For a town that already knows where the good outdoor mornings are, from the Lakefront Park shoreline to the quiet end of East Lake Tohopekaliga, we are simply one more of them, and a short drive at that.
Pick your morning. We open Wednesday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and we are closed Monday and Tuesday. We stop admitting at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 2:00 PM on weekends. Midweek is our gentlest stretch, which little ones tend to prefer. Wednesday has something extra to it: one grandparent comes in free with every paid general admission, every single week. In a town founded as a home for veterans and still full of families with grandparents nearby, that is a standing invitation worth using.
Bring lunch with you. We have no cafe here, only vending machines, so pack a picnic and plenty of water, and use the shaded tables we keep for exactly that — eating outdoors with cattle grazing in the middle distance is a fine way to spend half an hour. Closed shoes, hats and sunscreen for everyone. And because we finish before the afternoon storms roll through, a farm morning leaves your St. Cloud afternoon completely intact.
Then come along. Tickets can be bought here at the farm or online beforehand, and admission is $18 a head for ages 2 and up, with under-2s free. We take all major credit cards and no cash at all, so please do not arrive with notes and nothing else. Larger groups pay $15 each between 10 and 19 guests, or $12 each at 20 or more with a reservation, which also earns one free admission for every 20 paid. Given how near you are, do ask us about an annual pass — unlimited visits for a year makes obvious sense at twenty minutes’ distance. Animal feed is optional, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the morning takes care of itself from there.
Plan Your Visit
Fall brings the Pumpkin Zone, and with it the best-loved days on our calendar. It is not a pumpkin patch, though, and we do not grow a single pumpkin on this farm. The arrangement is much plainer than that: a pumpkin from the Zone comes home with every paying guest, free with admission, chosen by the child rather than handed over at a checkout. It is open every day we are open across the whole season, which suits a town twenty minutes away that can come more than once. The Halloween Candy Hunt takes place on 2 weekends around Halloween, so one trip covers costumes, pumpkins and an hour of feeding goats.
Birthday parties are refreshingly little trouble. Agree a date and time, pay ahead, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A party tent runs $450 and covers up to 25 guests, with extra guests at $15 each, and we have four available per day across Saturday and Sunday, tables included. Everyone on your guest list gets the whole farm — animals, wagon ride and playground alike — which means the entertainment is already handled and you need not plan a single game. Bring your own decorations and your own menu and make the tent yours. Worth passing along: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the day is entirely outdoors, so dress accordingly. Weekend tents fill early, particularly through the fall season.
Beyond that, the year keeps turning. Easter Egg Hunts come round in spring, with other seasonal events dotted through the calendar, and everything is posted on our Special Events page and shared first on Facebook and Instagram. We are also glad to host school field trips and larger groups from St. Cloud schools and homeschool circles on the group rates above, and settling up in advance gets everybody through the gate and out to the animals a good deal faster.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741 — roughly a dozen miles west of St. Cloud and about twenty minutes’ drive, mostly a straight run along US-192. You are among the closest towns we serve, and it shows in how often we see the same St. Cloud families.
Because it is such a short hop, a visit here does not need to be a whole day out. A good many local families come for the morning, are home by lunch, and still have the whole afternoon in front of them. Do check your maps app before setting off all the same, since 192 can slow down through the middle of the day.
Admission to the petting zoo is $18 per person for everyone aged 2 and over, and children under 2 are free. That single ticket takes in the whole farm — every animal, the wagon ride and the playground — and nothing further is added at the gate. We accept all major credit cards but we are completely cashless, so leave the cash at home.
Groups are cheaper per head: $15 each for parties of 10 to 19, and $12 each at 20 or more when booked with a reservation, which also includes one free admission for every 20 paid. If you live in St. Cloud, the annual pass is worth a serious look — unlimited visits for a year from the date you buy it, which at twenty minutes away pays for itself quickly. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online, and it is money well spent, because feeding the goats is what children come for and what they remember.
Not in the traditional sense, and it is better you hear that from us. We are a petting farm, not a pumpkin patch, and nothing is grown here. Each fall we open the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin there and takes it home included with entry.
The short drive west is part of the appeal for St. Cloud families — you can be through the Zone, past the animals and home again inside a morning, with a pumpkin in the back seat and nothing extra paid for it. The Zone is open every day we are open rather than a few weekends, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. Dates appear on our Special Events page and go out first on Facebook and Instagram.
We would be delighted. Booking could hardly be simpler — choose your date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. A party tent is $450 and includes up to 25 guests, with additional guests at $15 each, and there are four tents available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, all set up with tables.
Because every guest has the run of the farm, the entertainment is taken care of before you plan anything at all: the animals, the wagon ride and the playground are part of the celebration. The tent is a blank slate, so bring decorations, bring your own food, and make it look like your child’s party rather than a package. Worth putting on the invitation: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the whole celebration is outdoors, so everyone should dress for the weather. Weekend tents book up well ahead, autumn most of all.
A picnic, first of all. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, which surprises a fair few first-time visitors. We keep shaded picnic areas for precisely this reason, and lunch under the trees with cattle grazing nearby turns out to be a lot of families’ favorite part of the morning. Bring plenty of water too, especially through the summer months.
Otherwise, dress everyone for a farm rather than a day out — closed shoes, hats, sunscreen. Most of our ground sits under mature oaks, so it is shadier and kinder than you might expect, though this is still Central Florida in August. If the sky looks doubtful before you set off, give us a call at (407) 994-2775. We are entirely outdoors, and since you are only twenty minutes away, we would far rather you came back another morning than made the trip for nothing.
Wednesday through Friday mornings are our quietest and calmest, which suits toddlers and anyone who would rather have the fence to themselves. Wednesday is worth singling out because it is Grandparents Day — one grandparent joins you free with each paid admission, every week of the year. Being so close by, St. Cloud families are well placed to take advantage of a midweek morning when the rest of the county is at work.
Weekends have more life about them and they are when the seasonal events happen, so choose Saturday or Sunday if the Pumpkin Zone or a birthday party is what you are coming for. Either way, arrive early. We close at 1:00 PM midweek and 2:00 PM on weekends, and being finished by early afternoon means everyone is back in St. Cloud long before the daily storm has any say in the matter.
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