What is Everglades Holiday Park, Florida (An Honest Review)

If you're visiting the Miami or Ft. Lauderdale area, especially if you're heading out or coming in on a cruise, then one of the top attractions in the area is the Everglades Holiday Park. A "sort of" theme park offering airboat rides, possible alligator and other wildlife sightings, a gator show, wildlife and some snacks. The Everglades Holiday Park is actually most famous for hosting "Gator Boys" - a reality series on Animal Planet where 2 men deal with the nuisance alligators in Florida.

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What to Expect at Everglades Holiday Park

The Everglades Holiday Park is pretty much what the name suggests - a park near the Everglades that is perfect for a family holiday. The main things to know is that the Everglades Holiday Park is actually not located in the Everglades National Park, and is actually 1 hour north of the real Everglades National Park.

The park offers airboat tours and the chance to see wildlife, as well as a gator show and the chance to interact and take photos with some of the wildlife for an extra fee. There's also a snack shack offering "gator bites," fries, pizza, burgers, etc.

They also offer fishing (either from the dock or with a boat rental) and the entire park is open rain or shine, making it a great option if the weather isn't looking too promising.

Our Honest Review of Everglades Holiday Park

To be completely honest...we wouldn't necessarily recommend the Everglades Holiday Park if you're looking for a way to experience the true Everglades. Personally, this felt more like a county fair/park to us. We saw no wildlife on our tour (no group on our charter bus to the cruise did), the "gator show" was a basically a comedy show with some gators laying around, and the other animals onsite were in cramped, stinky cages. Our truly honest opinion is that we were quite disappointed.

If you're looking for a rain or shine activity to bring the kids to, then they might have fun on the boat ride and seeing some alligators in the gator pit, but other than that we honestly can't tell you to expect much else. The snack shack had decent food, we tried the fries and gator bits, and although it felt a bit ironic they tasted just how everyone told us they would taste - like chicken.

Watch our Everglades Holiday Park experience!

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