Wild Florida - Encounters

[miss_mouse]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone here has done the Encounters here please?

We are really interested in the Sloth encounter.
I've found just the little bit of info on their site, but would love to know more like how long you spend there, what the enclosure is like, do you actually get to touch them etc...
It also mentions birds being in the enclosure so I wondered if it was like an aviary too and if the birds land on you?

Our daughter is 18 just before we go and just loves the animal encounters and her highlight of Discover Cove is the aviary.
We aren't doing DC this trip, so I thought that this encounter would be perfect if the birds come up to you too.
(hubby nick names her 'sloth', so thought this would be a sweet birthday treat).

Any info would be really appreciated and anything about the park in general here too please.
We did Wild Willys last time and really like the look of this place.

Thank you.

[WhereIBelong]

We did Wild Florida sloth encounter at Easter last year. It was the highlight of our holiday - we have a sloth mad DD.

You do "share" the encounter. I think it was a max of 10 people - we had 9 on ours.

You all go into the enclosure with the animal carer - the carer holds the sloth (you should ask to see the deep grooves on her neck where the sloth holds on! ) and you get to feed it a teeny cube of fruit and stroke it, it looks up at you whilst you do!

We were allowed our own cameras and phones and took tons of pics (I think they changed their rules - people used to not be allowed and had to buy a memory stick with photos on) We were in the enclosure for around 45 min, asking questions, being given info about the sloth, its care, the sloth orphan project they support in Costa Rica (some of the fee goes there) and could take our time stroking and looking at the sloth.

there were a few birds in there - a couple of ground dwelling ones - about the size of a duck and a few little ones flitting about, we didn't notice them til the lady said to watch out on the way out. She carried the sloth round to the permanent enclosure where his mother was (he was only 10 months old in that pic above) and we watched them reunite (from outside) and asked more questions.. Was fabulous and done in a way that showed they really care for them.

[miss_mouse]

Thank you so much.
This is so helpful

This was just what I was hoping to find out.
Yes, I did see that it was up to 10 people.

So you buy your park tickets and then the encounter too?
Did you also do the airboats there?

[loves2plan]

We also met George the sloth last Easter too and had a wonderful experience - pretty much the same as WhereIBelong had. Wonder if we were there on the same day? The handler was really nice, happy to answer questions, let us stroke George, take photos etc. and we also went round to the main enclosure to watch him be reunited with him mother.

We did the 1 hour airboat ride too and had a really lovely day out.

[WhereIBelong]

haha wonder if it was the same...

We booked a 1 hour boat ride and sloth encounter together on the Wild Florida website. It cost the 4 of us just under $220 in total - we had a discount code from destinationcoupons.com that you enter on the Wild Florida booking page - gave us 20% off airboat and free entry to wildlife park.

DESTC - I think it is still valid.

The wildlife park itself is tiny, you can walk round it in 20min. The airboat ride was fun. The drive to Wild Florida is quite long (can't remember how long it took us sorry..) if going from Kissimmee area and you do get to see Florida off the beaten track - some huge fancy houses and some ermmmm ... banjo on the porch type places too.

[fletchie148]

We've got free admission to wild Florida
Is it worth the drive?

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by fletchie148

We've got free admission to wild Florida
Is it worth the drive?

See more...

Think it took us about 45-50 minutes from POR. The park itself is only small, so I wouldn't drive out just for that, but we did a 1 hour airboat ride and the sloth encounter, so it was a nice afternoon out for us.

We booked a special birthday offer with Floridatix which was only £20pp for park entry, 1 hour airboat ride, sloth encounter and lunch. Thought that was a bargain! Just looked on their site and unfortunately they've got nothing like that now.

[WhereIBelong]

Originally Posted by fletchie148

We've got free admission to wild Florida
Is it worth the drive?

See more...

In my opinion - no, not just for the wildlife park, but if you fancy a drive out somewhere in the middle of nowhere (literally!) then it would be pleasant enough. "wildlife park" is stretching it a bit really...

wildfloridairboats/inter...life-park-map/

The size of the cars seems to scale, so gives a pretty realistic indicator of the size of the park..

[fletchie148]

Antoine done the airboat ride here, or the truck ride?

[WhereIBelong]

We did a 1hr airboat ride - was fun, quite exhilarating, saw lots of wildlife at Easter time - Bald Eagles, egrets, herons, turtles, alligators and flies - many, many flies (but only when stopped to look at something)! Wear sunglasses!