Gatorland is for the Birds!

In June, my family and I were so excited to return to Orlando for our annual family vacation post pandemic shutdown. The original date of our trip was actually last September which would have been in celebration of my 60th birthday, but we had to reschedule to June so we celebrated Tayair’s 30th Birthday instead!

It was a great flight out of Philly via American Airlines and our Vrbo condo was amazing, I’ll share details about both in another post. However, there was one disappointment and that was the fact that you now have to reserve time at the parks and it’s based upon availability. Unfortunately, I didn’t check the schedule until after we arrived and Disney World was booked for the remainder of the month. I was able to book a day at Epcot and a day at Animal Kingdom, so we decided to go to Gatorland for a day as we were there for 5 days.

We started vacationing in Orlando beginning in 1998, and had always visited only Disney parks while there. The boys were young and we loved going, so much so that we even purchased a timeshare with Marriott. All those trips to the parks, the money spent and memories made was definitely worth it, at least for hubby and me because when I asked my sons, they both admitted that they didn’t remember most of it!

family at Gatorland — Me and my mini-men

Anywho, Malik was our vacation activity planner and he chose Gatorland, a park that we had never visited when they were young, but it was fun, at least before a Florida storm hit. We didn’t have an opportunity to ride the Zipline or take a Swamp Tour but we did see more birds than gators which was fine by me plus most of them just wanted to be left alone in the water because it was HOT AS HECK!

Mecaw bird at Gatorland — Beautiful Macaw

Yes, we did see a lot of gators too, but I loved the birds the best!

Gator beating the heat at Gatoland — Trying to beat the heat

Blue and Gold Macaw at Gatorland — Blue and Gold Macaw

Gatorland also has snakes, tortoises, crocodiles and wild cats, so if you are in Orlando and need a place to visit outside of the Disney Parks, make sure to check out Gatorland, the staff is friendly and the food is good, just make sure to bring plenty of water!