In Search of a Swamp

[cloudboy]

It's been a long winter in New England, and we are not even through January yet! I was planning on going down for a weekend to Orlando, and decided that I would invite my parents along.

Original plans were that we would fly down, spend three nights, and fly back up. Since my parents aren't really the park kind, I figured we would spend a day or day and a half in the parks, and then spend the rest of the time around Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. The old Swamp Trail was a big selling point to getting my father to go along.

Well, my mistake. First, I waited a few days to book the hotel, and now I can't get in - so we will be staying off site (somewhere!). Even worse, I had thought they had started rebuilding the Swamp Trail but I guess not - it's completely closed now. So that is out.

I need to find a way to keep my parents occupied. They aren't the type to sit around a pool or a resort, they are into nature. My father was really looking forward to a boardwalk through a swamp. So I want to find one that is within a reasonably close distance. I know Tibet Butler has a boardwalk, but I have not been there myself - does it have a swamp? I have also heard of there being one planned for Shingle Creek Reserve, but does this exist yet? If no ideas for that, any other suggestions?

 

[albino_pygmy]

Gatorland

 

[cloudboy]

OK, something that does not involve admission. And attractions!

 

[yankspy]

There is always Wekiwa natural springs park. It is about an hour away and it has plenty of trails. Here is the web site. It is very nice.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/WekiwaSprings/

 

[Lamping3]

According to Bob Sehlinger in the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World there is a wilderness preserve owned by Disney about 40 to 60 minutes south of WDW. He says it has hiking trails and guided outings on weekends. The preserve's phone number is listed as 407-935-0002. I have not visited there but I thought I might pass along this info because I remembered reading about it during my planning for my next trip.

PS...The book states that Disney information does not know much about the preserve....so for questions call the preserve directly.

Hope this helps!!!!:sohappy:

 

[Club Cooloholic]

There is always Wekiwa natural springs park. It is about an hour away and it has plenty of trails. Here is the web site. It is very nice.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/WekiwaSprings/

I second Wekiwa. It has a hiking trail and if it's warm, you can swim in the natural springs, which are quite bracing even in the summer.
WARNING THOUGH....you will see signs warning of black bears, but the thing to really fear is the gators. We rented a canoe for 2 hours. We go out and start hearing bellowing...it's a mating call from the gators, then before I know it we float over one that is sleeping on the lake bottom.....it WAS huge. We decided to hightail it out, the boat guy laughed and said we still had an hour and half on the rental! We didn't mind cutting this one short.

 

[Nemo14]

According to Bob Sehlinger in the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World there is a wilderness preserve owned by Disney about 40 to 60 minutes south of WDW. He says it has hiking trails and guided outings on weekends. The preserve's phone number is listed as 407-935-0002. I have not visited there but I thought I might pass along this info because I remembered reading about it during my planning for my next trip.

PS...The book states that Disney information does not know much about the preserve....so for questions call the preserve directly.

Hope this helps!!!!:sohappy:

We've been there twice - nice place to see bald eagles in the wild, as well as other wildlife. Here's the link:
http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/environmentality/environment/preserve.html

 

[KaliSplash]

There's a state park up in Ocala that has trails and plenty of nature. I can't remember the name but I think it's Silver River or something like that. Maybe it's Crystal River. Anyway, would be a good day trip. Has a small museum with some interesting stuff that's only like $2 to get in.

 

[ewensell3]

I need to find a way to keep my parents occupied. They aren't the type to sit around a pool or a resort, they are into nature. My father was really looking forward to a boardwalk through a swamp. So I want to find one that is within a reasonably close distance. I know Tibet Butler has a boardwalk, but I have not been there myself - does it have a swamp? I have also heard of there being one planned for Shingle Creek Reserve, but does this exist yet? If no ideas for that, any other suggestions?

About an hour outside of Orlando is Bok Tower Gardens. Not exactly swampland, but it is acres of trails winding through beautifully tended gardens with a tall pink marble carillon in the middle which is played every hour.

$10/person unfortunately.

http://boksanctuary.org/

 

[cloudboy]

We did end up going to Tibet butler Preserve. This is a great natural park, quite a bit of land with some nice trails. Not quite a whole day adventure, but the location is so close that you can still do other things. Just be aware that right now they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

They have a boardwalk that does go through a swamp, although it is not the kind of cypress swamp you might expect. It is a stillwater swamp, which is more a wetland than swamp. Still it is beautiful and has an abundance of wildlife.

There is a second boardwalk as well through a cypress grove. Not really a swamp, this is more woods. It does end in a marsh area, however, and there are a number of birds to be found here. I would imagine on warmer sunnier days a few gators would be present, too.

All in all, this is a great location. While not quite what I was initially looking for, we all enjoyed it very much, and I highly recommend it.

 

[sbkline]

There's a state park up in Ocala that has trails and plenty of nature. I can't remember the name but I think it's Silver River or something like that. Maybe it's Crystal River. Anyway, would be a good day trip. Has a small museum with some interesting stuff that's only like $2 to get in.

You might be thinking of Silver Springs, which is the place I was thinking of, as well. However, it's an hour and a half or two hours away from Orlando, so it will be a little bit of a drive.