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Gatorland

Photo: Brent Moore / CC BY-NC 2.0 · source

🎡 Attractions

Gatorland

Orlando, FL · Central Florida

About

Walk in through the giant aqua-and-white gator jaw on South Orange Blossom Trail and you have entered the roadside Florida that Owen Godwin started fattening up here in 1949. A boardwalk threads the breeding marsh past hundreds of bellowing alligators and a few rare white leucistic ones with pale blue eyes, while the train, the wading-bird rookery, and the daredevils on the zip line keep the place humming. It is part wildlife preserve, part old-school attraction, and the trainers who hand-feed the big bulls clearly love showing it off.

Highlights

The giant gator-mouth entrance, a Central Florida icon since 1962Breeding marsh boardwalk with hundreds of alligators and a rookeryRare white leucistic alligators with blue eyesScreamin' Gator Zip Line over the marshGatorland Express train and live trainer feedings

Getting there

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Florida Attractions44 places

Florida Attractions

For much of the world, Florida means the attractions. The theme parks that built Orlando, a working spaceport on the Atlantic coast, mermaids who have performed underwater since 1947, and a coral castle one man carved by hand. This is the big statewide guide to what people fly to Florida for, the giants and the roadside icons alike, from the Keys to the Panhandle.