Looking for a great way to spend the day in Florida?
Those days are long gone. Yes, there are still lions, but now they are housed in their own enclosure. Back in 2006, the park decided it had one too many visitors driving through and opening their windows or even worse, their car doors. Both are still strictly forbidden, even now minus the roaming lions. It is hard to imagine why some crazy tourist would want to take his chances with a pride of potentially man-eating lions, but as the saying goes...there is always one in a crowd.
Even though the lions no longer have free range, the sheer amount of big animals that do is simply amazing. Want a giraffe to lean down and look into your sun roof? Or an ostrich to peck at your mirrors? You are in the right place! As you drive through this park with your family, you are bound to see tons of creatures up close and personal.
Some of the animals like to head for the shade. Who can blame them? We visited in August and it was HOT. No polar bears at this park. Most of these species have African or Asian origins, so warm weather tolerance is built into their DNA.
As you drive ever so slowly down the well-marked roads, you never know who you are going to bump into. You just have to keep your fingers crossed that they don't bump into you first. This picture is deceiving. This little fella was the size of our car! At least I think it was a fella. I will admit that I am totally thrown off by horns. Utterly confusing. Anyone with me here?
Let's just take a moment to appreciate all these beautiful and varied creatures. It probably helped that it was feeding time as we drove through. It sure made it a whole lot easier to spot them, don't ya
think?
Take a look at those horns. This guy was a little testy with all the traffic and I don't blame him one bit! Hence the reason that you MUST keep your windows up. Pro tip- wash your windows before you go to the park. Otherwise, your pictures are going to be mighty blurry.
Let's talk about the animals for a minute. Not all, but many of the animals here were taken in by the park from other places. Eventually, someone might find their pet monkey or their pet rhino for that matter a little too much to handle. That is where the park steps in and gives these poor creatures a "forever home." What are these people who decide it is a great idea to have a pet tiger even thinking?? Serious issues right there.
Some of the park's residents are just looking for quality time with each guest. Also, they may be checking out their reflections in your window.
And some could care less and are just out enjoying the sunshine. Happy to ignore all the crazy humans driving by slowly in their cars.
Not going to lie. I was so happy he didn't venture close to our car. Once we were on the safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom and a rhino got a little too close to our tram and then started chasing it a bit. That was years ago when the park first opened, but I still am haunted by my "rhino phobia."
Driving through this safari park really is an adventure. This was actually our second time there. We had been so many years ago, that my youngest had no memory of it. Because we have a gap in kids ages, we tend to have a lot of attractions that we have to "do over" so that everyone gets to see it. Do any of you have that issue? Last time we were at LCS, the giraffes were literally all over us. We sat for the longest time as they stood around our car and looked at us! It was amazing. Today...not so much. It must have been the heat!
The nice thing about Lion Country Safari is that once you are done driving by all the animals, you park and go into the rest of the park. Kind of a two for one deal. Now I could sugar coat this and tell you how amazing this attraction is, but I am going to be honest here. Is it old? Yes. Does it seem like it could use some upkeep? Yes. Think of it this way. It is definitely a throwback type of experience. Small rides, a quick boat ride, a few more animals, you feed the giraffes, eat some ice cream, slide down a water slide or two, visit the very touristy shop and call it a day. You get the picture. If you go in with a Disney mentality (note- see daughter above wondering where they have hidden all the roller coasters), you will be sadly disappointed. However, this attraction is what ALL Florida attractions were like "back in the day" before the big theme parks appeared on the horizon. If you are nostalgic or just want to see what things used to be like in old Florida, this is a great place to spend the day.
Not every park visit needs to involve standing in endless lines waiting for rides that last a total of three minutes. Sometimes it is nice to just wander around and feed the birds!
At the end of the day, it may be worth it to skip the long lines and the roller coasters. Especially if you get to spend time with your family feeding this face and getting licked in the process!
Happy Travels!
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