Gator Park

Gator Park has airboat rides every 20 minutes and according to my bf's research, the cheapest place around at $27/person. However, the ride is short and is shared with ~20 people on a boat. We took an airboat out to the slowest river in Florida. In all the boat ride was about 20 minutes, including stops. However, it was still fun. It felt like we were gliding on the water at 30 mph. We saw a few adult alligators, baby alligators, turtles and birds. The guide was friendly and informative. FYI, they work for tips. Later, we saw a show that was included in the ticket admission. A guide showed us a scorpian, skunk, toad, baby alligator and an adult alligator. He showed us how the Indians used to wrestle the alligators. The guide was a bit rude. After the show, it's possible to take pictures with the baby alligator for $3. We also at the park. We got a gator sausage. It was pretty delicious. It was difficult to tell that the meat was gator as the spices covered up any distinctive meat taste. Overall, the park was fun and of good value. Tips: find coupons online for the gator park - airboat ride - fun, saw gators, tour guide is nice, works for tips, short ride, about 20 ppl - show - animals (scorpian, skunk, baby alligator $3 for pix, toad, 9 year old gator); guy wasn't nice - gator sausage - overall ppl weren't very friendly - get coupons online more

The experience was a fair value for $23. Pick up a coupon prior to arriving onsite. It is even cheaper if you go early. Call for details. more

I have lived in Miami all my life, and I cannot get enough of the everglades. I came here with my boyfriend with a coupon for an airboat ride. Although it was towards the end of the Florida freeze, we still got to see tons of gator and wildlife & our tour guide was really funny!. We also saw the gator show and held a tiny gator. We also have the gator sausage and frog legs (both of which we quite an experience and really good! I highly recommended it!) I also found it funny that my boyfriend and I were the only Miami-ans in our airboat. A lot of tourists go. more

After reading the reviews on tripadvisor, my nephew and I decided to stop at Gator Park before leaving Miami today. The airboat ride was a great experience and we saw several baby alligators and some larger ones. The animal show with the gator "wrestling" was fun, and it was interesting to learn about alligators. Another perk is that this is only a 12 mile drive off the Florida Turnpike. This place is welcoming for people of all ages. The staff was very friendly. If you want to ride and airbort, see a bit of the Everglades, and learn about alligators (about an hour altogether) this is a perfect place to go. more

This tour is great more

When we booked our cruise, we were tempted by their debarkation tours offering air boat rides in the Everglades. However, the cruise excursions were set up for people flying home and ended at the airport. Since we drove to Miami, this didn't work for us, so I did some research to find a similar activity on our own. I'm not really sure what convinced me to choose Gator Park from the dozens of options that my search pulled up, but I'm glad I did. The price ($23.00/adult) was really quite reasonable, and included both the air boat ride and their brief wild life show. Our boat ride began slowly, working our way up the canal from the park towards the Everglades proper. Along the way, our boat operator/tour guide (a very personable character named Dan) discussed the ecology of the Everglades and pointed out the different types of plants and birds around us, and demonstrated a thorough familiarity with the alligators that live in the vicinity. We saw dozens of different birds, and dozens of newly hatched alligators, along with several of the larger mothers. None of the males made an appearance the day we were there, but the ones we saw were impressive enough. After we exited the canal, Dan asked us if we prefered ""Safe and Sane"" or ""Fast and Wild"". We voted for ""Fast and Wild"" and he proceeded to give us an exciting high speed ride across the wet lands. After a few minutes of this exciting ride, he stopped us out in the middle of the grass, and talked some more about the Everglades and its geography, before bringing us back to the dock. After the brief wild life show, which was very entertaining, I was able to talk to some of the others that had joined us for our ride. One gentleman lived locally, and was impressed with the quality of the experience. He seemed to feel that this was an exception that provided a quality product, rather than a tourist rip-off just looking to fleece visitors. more

If you go before 10 am you can get buy one get one free with a coupon. IT IS 100% worth it. You get a animal show with it that is fun and entertaining. It is also the best looking everglades touring place we could find. Ok so. You get in the airboat and you pretty much immediately find a gator at least we did. For the first 15 minutes we were just clicking away THERE WERE GATORS EVERYWHERE. Our tour guide was also hilarious. He kept us completely entertained. AFter we get through the channel we take a quick high speed air boat ride. then we took a break and he got out and walked around explaining what was around us. Then on the way back we saw more gators. Baby gators and Big gators it was awesome. I would 100% come here again. more

Fun and entertaining tour guides. Lots of gators to see. more

The airboat tour reminds one of simpler times. Get away from the daily grind and take a trip to Gator Park. We saw several gatahs right away. ""CHOMPERRR"" was our favorite. The guide was very knowledable and answered all of Caro's demanding questions. Favorite part of the whole experience is racing through the grassy canals and letting the fresh warm water spray our sunburnt skin. Ali thought the skunk spray was RUDE, but altogether comical. Ainslee was a little to close for comfort when Barry broke out the creepy crawler. Very reasonably priced that includes an airboat tour, animal show, and memories to last a lifetime. Get off ya tush and feel the power. more

I did this trip too! The boats is driving in 70 mph, (Over 50 knots). Cool boats and cool gators. more

So we got to the Gator Park at like 9:15 because they opened at 9 and we wanted to get on the first boat out so the water would be less disrupted. Once we picked up the tickets that we bought online, we were told that the first boat doesn't go out until 10, so we had to sit around and wait for 45 mins. That put us in a bad mood for the place, but more people came and we started the tour. We saw a lot of wild life, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable and we read reveiws before we went, and everyone was saying how they were begging for tips. The guide we had mentioned it only once that tips were appreciated, that was it. Then after the air boat ride, we went to the gator show, which was also informative and the tour guide for that part was interesting and funny, and only mentioned about tips being appreciated once at the end as well. We watched a real gator wrestling, and were able to touch and hold a gator. Overall, it was a great experience. We started out unsure based on what we read, but overall it was good. I don't know what some of these people expect for $20 in the Everglades. It took us a full hour, and we enjoyed it. more

We were in Miami for a week and decided to check out the Everglades. The hotel sugessted Gator Park...go before 10 am and it's buy 1 get 1 FREE! That's the best deal we found for all the Everglade/Gator Tours. The tour guide was awesome...he was very informative and we were able to see quite a few gators and other wild life. He started off slow then cranked it up and we were cruising pretty fast on the boat...take off your hats and hold on to your kids! On the way back an alligator swam right up to our boat...that was very cool! After the tour was over we headed over to the show...that was pretty funny! The show guy's voice was ""interesting"" and he had a few tricks up his sleeve. I'll let you find out! Afterwards we headed to the store and ordered some Gator Nuggets...you gotta try them atleast once! Be sure to bring water bottles with you! more

Cool! I actually visited one of these in Miami and loved? it! I held a baby one too? and it was very calm! more

Cheesy/campy fun. We were in South Beach and wanted to get away for a day...so combined this trip with some snorkeling in the keys. I think the Everglades are a must see for everyone. It's a treasure. There are plenty of Everglade tours to choose from, but this place is one of the closest to South Beach and does a great job. The airboat ride is a lot of fun....you'll see plenty of gators big and small, as well as other wildlife...different birds who like to fly into the boat and beg for food, turtles, fish, etc. After starting out slowly to look for gators...the airboat opens up and you get to pick up some speed through some of the canals. It's about 30 minutes long although I'd like it to be longer to explore more of the Everglades. After the boat, you have a short animal show and learn about some of the wildlife in the glades...including a 'alligator wrestling' demo. Don't forget to tip the airboat guide and showman. more

What trip to south Florida would be complete without checking out the Everglades. I had read many good things about Gator Park, so decided to check it out. The airboat ride is about 30 minutes long. Unfortunately, it was extremely cold on the day I went, so that 30 minutes seemed like a lifetime. Because of the cold weather, not too many alligators were seen, perhaps 5 or so. There were many birds that could be seen that live in the Everglades. There is also an animal ""show"" following the boat ride, which, while short, is pretty informative. All in all, a good experience that could have been made better with warmer climate.? more

I? went ther for a? school field trip. more

we did? this trip too. awesome. more

I did? this trip too! The boats is driving in 70 mph, (Over? 50 knots). Cool boats and cool gators. more

I used? to work at Gator park and it's good to see Sal, he is? the best, GATORMAN more

I loved? it! I held a baby one too? and it was very calm! more