Go RVing - Gatorland

When we decided to visit Orlando, we booked a room at the same hotel Derek and I stayed in nearly twelve (wow!) years ago when we went to look for an apartment.  So, I guess this was some more reminiscing!

The boys enjoyed that you could see out of the glass elevator.

And we all enjoyed the breakfast that was included with our stay.
(Yes, Miles did too, he was just trying to wake up still.)

After we filled up, we headed to Gatorland!

We'd hoped to encounter some gators on this trip, and we found them!

We may have had to settle for the contained-in-a-cage kind, but that's fine with me!

We saw all sizes of alligators.

Once we'd looked around, we headed to the "Up Close Encounters" show.

Where I got very up close when they chose me from the audience to participate.  They asked three of us to stand with our hands out and we would 'get' to hold some sort of creature.

It ended up being a huge python!  I wouldn't have chosen to touch the thing, but it wasn't so bad.

Cooper talked us into letting him hold it after the show too.

Needless to say, he was more thrilled about it than I was.

Later we went to the Gator Wrestling show where Miles got picked from the audience to participate!  They walked him around the outside of the pit to choose which gator they would wrestle.

Then took him INSIDE to make sure they knew which one he wanted.  He was having trouble making up his mind, but ended up choosing one named, "Chuck Norris".

Next they gave Miles instructions about how to grab the gator by the tail and pull it out onto the sand while they distracted it.  Miles was all in!  He listened very carefully to instructions and was about to run over and jump on a gator when they told him they were kidding! Then he acted disappointed and he didn't want to leave the gator pit.  ha ha ha ha!

You can see it all in this video. You can also hear Cooper saying he wants to go help!  My kids need a healthier fear of alligators perhaps!

 

Once Miles was safely back in his seat with us, we watched the real gator wrestling.

They did some pretty daring things.

And even put one to sleep...  then tickled it to wake it up.  My boys are still talking about that!

They also got to sit on a gator after the show and have their picture taken.

Miles finally got to get his hands on one!

And was recognized by the guys too.  He called Miles a crazy kid. Again.

Derek sat on it for a photo too, but somehow the gator doesn't look quite as big when Derek is on it.  :)

We took a walk around the swamp walk boardwalk.

And spotted a lizard of some sort!

Then we fed some alligators.

There are stands to get hot dogs for feeding them.

But they warn you that the birds like them too!  Miles' job was to scare the birds away.

We laughed at some birds that where hitching a ride on an alligator.

Someone had spilled flamingo food all over under the machine, so we picked some up and fed the flamingos too.

We saw the BIG gator, Chester.

And they have several albino alligators!

When we came to the splash pad, the boys decided to try it out.

Once they were soaked and cooled off...

We moved on and finally saw the Florida Panther Miles had been looking for!

Along with a tortoise. 

Plenty of snakes!

And a blond raccoon. 

We made one last stop on the way out to finish feeding what hot dogs we have left.
(I wonder if these gators have a sodium problem?)

And, of course, you have to exit though the gift shop.
Miles begged for the huge stuffed gator on the top shelf!  Even if he didn't cost $180, we couldn't have fit him in our suitcase!

We did let them each pick out a smaller stuffed alligator to remember our trip.

And our super fun time at Gatorland!