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Winter Springs has been called a remarkable number of things. Tuskawilla, after a village up in Alachua County. Wagner. Clifton. Gee Hammock. White’s Landing and Solary’s Wharf, back when this was as far south as steamboats could put freight ashore on Lake Jesup. In 1959 it incorporated as North Orlando, which caused endless confusion because it is nowhere near the northern end of Orlando, and in 1972 it settled on the present name.
None of that is a criticism — it is the ordinary story of a place growing into itself. But it does mean children here are growing up somewhere still deciding what it is, in a county where the newest housing keeps arriving.
There is something to be said for the opposite. Fifty minutes southwest is a farm that opened in 1988 and has never been anything else: cattle out over the pasture, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits at the rail for optional feed bought at the gate or online, a Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride and a playground under old oaks. Admission is $18 from 2 years, free below, and covers the lot.
Coni and Bob Keyes opened Green Meadows in 1988 on shaded ground in Kissimmee. For close to thirty years it was where children throughout Central Florida had their first proper encounter with livestock, coming with a class, for a birthday, or because a parent wanted a few hours outdoors. Then the gates closed, and it stayed closed for seven years.
It operates again at Lancaster Ranch Park, backed by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening kept faith with what had been there. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits all stand within a child’s reach. The wagon ride still does its circuit out through the pasture. The oak canopy still moderates the heat. Broader ground, identical intention.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly forty miles and about fifty minutes southwest of Winter Springs, usually around on FL-417. It sits comfortably within a morning rather than costing you a whole day.
Pick the day to start. 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, with Mondays and Tuesdays closed. Last admission falls at 1:00 PM midweek with 2:00 PM on weekends. Weekday mornings run quietest of all and suit the youngest visitors. Wednesday brings Grandparents Day, one grandparent free alongside each paid general admission, every week of the year.
Bring your own lunch. No cafe operates here, only vending machines, so assemble a picnic with plenty of water and take one of the shaded tables kept aside for it. Closed shoes rather than sandals, plus hats and sunscreen for everybody, as the entire visit is outdoors on grass.
Then drive across. Tickets are available online beforehand or at the gate on arrival, with nothing to reserve for general admission. Entry is $18 per person from age 2, free underneath, and we take all major credit cards and no cash whatsoever. From ten to nineteen guests it is $15 apiece, twenty and above $12 apiece with a reservation, and each twenty paid earns a free admission. Ask about the annual pass if this looks like a habit forming. The 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 busiest corner of the farm. Worth being exact: we are not a pumpkin patch, and no pumpkin here was grown here. Every paying guest chooses one from the Zone and carries it home, included with admission. It is open every day we are open across the whole season rather than on set weekends. The Candy Hunt is on 2 weekends around Halloween each year.
Birthday parties need next to nothing from you. Set your date and time and pay ahead, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It runs $450 covering up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 each, with four available daily across Saturday and Sunday and tables already out. Every guest has the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground do the entertaining and you arrange none of it. Decorations and catering stay with you. Note 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 celebration happens outdoors throughout.
Group visits work well from Seminole County and we welcome schools, scout troops and community organizations on the rates above. Ten to nineteen guests come in at $15 each, twenty or more at $12 each on a reservation, with one free admission per twenty paid. Easter Egg Hunts appear each spring and further seasonal events surface across the year, all posted to our Special Events page and released first through Facebook and Instagram.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, roughly forty miles and about fifty minutes southwest of Winter Springs. FL-417 around the east side is generally the easiest way down.
That keeps a farm visit inside a morning rather than taking the day. Set off about nine thirty and you will be here for opening with a couple of unhurried hours in front of you. Do check your maps app before leaving, as the 417 shifts noticeably depending on the hour.
Admission is $18 per person for everybody 2 and older, with children under 2 free. That single ticket takes in the whole property, meaning every animal, the wagon ride and the playground, and nothing further is charged inside or for parking. Bring a card, as no cash is accepted anywhere.
Larger parties pay less per head: $15 each from ten to nineteen guests and $12 each from twenty upward on a reservation, plus one free admission per twenty paid. There is an annual pass giving unlimited visits across a year from purchase, which suits families who end up coming back. Animal feed is an optional extra, bought at the gate or bought online with your tickets.
Not at Green Meadows. We grow no pumpkins and we are not a pumpkin patch. Our fall version is the Pumpkin Zone, and every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from it and takes it home free with entry.
Winter Springs has gone by nine different names over the years. This farm has only ever been one thing, and it is the same thing in fall as in spring — animals a child can feed, with a pumpkin added to the day between September and Halloween. It is open on all of our open days rather than weekends alone, and our Halloween Candy Hunt takes place on 2 weekends around Halloween. Dates go on the Special Events page and are announced first on Facebook and Instagram.
We do. Pick the date and time, pay up front, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It is $450 and includes up to 25 guests, with anyone beyond that at $15 each, and four are available each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables laid out ready.
Because every guest can roam the entire farm, the entertaining resolves before you plan a thing. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground carry it between them. Tents come bare, so the decorating 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, and that the day runs outdoors from start to finish. Weekend tents go early through autumn.
A picnic, chiefly. There is no cafe on site, only vending machines, and it does catch out first-time visitors. Shaded tables stand ready for exactly that, and eating in the open with cattle grazing beyond the rail makes a fine half hour. Carry ample water as well, particularly through the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress everybody for a farm rather than a day out: closed shoes, hats, sunscreen. Old oaks shade most of our ground so it stays cooler than expected, though the weather keeps its own counsel. If the sky looks unconvincing before you leave Winter Springs, call (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you honestly.
It spreads wider than most children’s outings manage. The very smallest stay at the rail with a bag of feed far longer than parents expect, and the under-2s are free. Older ones move on to the wagon ride and the playground once the animals have had their turn, and there is enough ground to walk that nobody feels boxed in.
Adults tend to fare well too, which cannot be said of everywhere built for children. Shade, somewhere to sit and nothing at all being timed. Bring grandparents on a Wednesday and one comes in free alongside each paid admission, which makes a three-generation morning simple to arrange.
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