Saturday, October 27th: Gatorland Day, continued
We hadn't been to Gatorland in almost 8 years: our last visit was in December 2012, and while we enjoyed it immensely on that Christmas trip (where we split the day between Gatorland and an air boat ride for a full "Gator Day"), for some reason we had never made it back for a repeat. We were both excited to see how the park had changed (or not changed) over such a lengthy span of time, and also how a different season (autumn versus winter) would affect the overall experience.
Being a Saturday, and the fact that the weather was simply spectacular.....warm but not hot, no humidity, and sunshine with errant clouds.....we kind of figured the park would be busy with locals as well as tourists. We didn't expect thick crowds, per se.....not like you'd find at the major theme parks, anyway....but we definitely didn't think we'd have the attraction to ourselves, either. We were pretty much spot on with that crowd prediction, too
.
We stopped for the obligatory photo in front of the iconic gator mouth at the entrance to the park. This was attempt number 7? 8? because some folks apparently have a problem waiting their turn
and kept walking behind us. Seriously, people!!
We had pre-purchased our admission at a tidy discount through Tickets At Work, a program offered to all employees at Steve's firm. By purchasing them online through TAW, we saved about $8 per person versus gate prices, and of course parking was free. They had a bit of an issue figuring out how to put those specific pre-purchased tickets into their system, but the gate agent was quick to call in someone to assist so our wait was minimal. We opted to add on an in park experience, "Adventure Hour", while we were at the front gates so we paid for that and received instructions on where and when to meet. She handed us our receipt, wished us a great day in the park, and we were on our way for our gator fun!
There are alligators big and small literally everywhere you look once you are inside those main gates: you need not worry about having to search for them. And on this sunshiny warm morning (which followed cool nighttime temperatures), they were eager to stretch out and soak up all the sun those scaly bodies could absorb
.
I absolutely love their signs
. Be sure to take a moment to read some of them, like the one above. Their silly sense of humor still always has a ring of truth about it.
For the first little while, we just strolled around and marveled at all those little faces (and, in some cases, massive jaws) that were regarding us as intently as we were regarding
them.
Near the entrance, the gators were grouped by age: these little darlings were some of the young'uns at between 2 and 4 years old. I suppose they'd seem "big" if you ran across them in a natural area outside of the Gatorland gates, but here....after passing the MASSIVE gators in the water just a few yards away.....they seemed like cute and cuddly babies
. I wouldn't want to test that theory, though
. Pretty sure their teeth would still pack a nasty punch!
After checking out some of the gators near the front of the park, we decided to head toward the breeding marsh. On the way, we passed the train station: park guests have the option of adding on unlimited train rides to their admission for a small fee ($2.50 per person, if I remember correctly).
We had rode the train on our first visit 8 years prior, and while it would definitely appeal to those with young children, we didn't feel the need or desire to ride it a second time. We did, however, get a smile from the sign posted at the railway crossing:
#truth !!
Much more Gatorland yet to come!