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Orlando Wetlands Park
Categories: Active Life Parks Active Life Hiking Parks, Hiking [Edit]
25155 Wheeler RdChristmas, FL 32709
(407) 568-1706
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
7 reviews for Orlando Wetlands Park
7 reviews in English
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Review from Mary S.
Deltona, FL
This park is truely gorgeous. It's a
huge area to walk with tons of wildlife to observe, especially birds & alligators. I especially love to see the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks here...a gorgeous bird with the cutest call....a whistle! Very peaceful here. Come....& be one with nature here for sure! Also, because of all our recent rain, this park is even wetter than I've seen in the past. There's trails to walk along the water & also trails that go through the woods. On the other side of the street from the "main" park, there's more paths to walk & there you'll usually find some alligators sunbathing on the trail! Fun! Saw the most beautiful, huge Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly there too. They close the park from Nov. 15th-Jan 31st each year. If you love nature.....You. Must. Go. There! -
Review from Tom G.
Orlando, FL
4/21/2011
Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators Alligators!!!
Um...there are a lot of alligators. And they like to hang out on the berms/trails. So if you're afraid of them don't go here. I'm actually shocked they allow this place to stay open during mating season.
If you're into environmental engineering or biology, this place is absolutely stunning. Wastewater effluent is filtered through this beautiful man-made wetland and ends up in the St. Johns river. They have some great pamphlets for birding and butterlying. Bring your camera! -
Review from Robert P.
Eagle River, AK
9/22/2011
A must for true nature lovers visiting Orlando. If you want to see Florida wild life, forget the theme parks go to the Orlando Wetlands Park. It's free too.
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Review from Cristina G.
Washington, DC
7/18/2010 1 Check-in Here
Another gem that is hidden in Orlando. we ventured out to the park for some photography and were pleased to see so much wildlife. We saw tons of birds but also saw two otters running across the path. And tons of alligators.....wow!
Great place for Florida wetlands photography. -
Review from L. L.
Orlando, FL
1/29/2010
The OWP is a great place for birdwatching & biking. There are also deer, bobcats, otters, lots of gators, and even the occasional Florida panther spotted. The trails are fairly long & it can get REALLY hot in summer, so take note. There are some shaded trails, but the berm trails are unshaded.
They've just built a new visitor's center, which is open most weekends that the park is open. It's staffed by volunteers, and has some interesting info for kids, and the volunteers can also take visitors on driving tours via a golf cart. Contrary to the previous review, it's open for MOST of the year, from Feb. 1-Nov. 15. So you can definitely visit during spring & fall, when it's cooler. -
Review from Amanda K.
Orlando, FL
8/30/2008
Check the Date!
Orlando Wetlands Park is very close to Ft. Christmas and is a great place to go to see some wildlife. However, there are two main drawbacks here 1.) the bugs and 2.) it's only open for half of the year.
The Good:
Get your nature on!: Orlando Wetlands Park is one of the best places to go bird watching or butterfly watching. And since it IS a wetland park there is a good chance of seeing an alligator or two!
The Bad:
Come back next year: Beacuse this place is tecnically owned privately, the place is only open from February to September. So if you wanted to go out while the weather is cool...touch luck!
BUGS: This place is literally crawling with bugs. Flies, mosquitos, ants, you name it, it's crawling on you. So definitely bring your bugspray reserves if you venture out here!
Florida WEtlands park is pretty cool when you go there, but if you are in the area I would probably reccomend you hit up For Christmas, just because there's more to do, less bugs, and of course it's open during the ENTIRE year.
Overall 6.1/10=Wetalnd Park is a little dissapointing.... -
Review from Dale O.
Orlando Wetlands Park was built around several (18!) large, shallow lakes that were originally dug as a place to reintroduce highly treated sewage water from the Iron Bridge Plant into the environment. Over 2 million aquatic plants and 200,000 trees were planted, in addition to the existing native vegetation.
After about 40 days of filtering through this man made wetland, and the neighboring natural wetland, the water eventually makes its way into the St.Johns river.
The 'lakes' and the surrounding land have since become home to a very diverse population of wildlife, especially birds.
In between the lakes are berms topped with hard sand/shell trails which are excellent for hiking, biking, and even horseback riding.
Pets, however, are not allowed.
If you crave some wide open spaces, If you want to see some wildlife, or some wild flowers, or just enjoy the absence of noise, this park will fill the bill. Its HUGE, and even on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, you'll only see a few, usually very polite, visitors.
You can hike for miles if you like, and never even get your feet wet.
Benches are scattered along the trail for resting or picnicking, and there are clean restrooms and maps available at the trail head visitors center. There are (thankfully) NO vending machines here.
We only picked up a couple of small pieces of trash all day.
On our leisurly six mile walk today, we saw roseate spoonbills, hawks, ducks, herons, egrets, turtles, bass and garfish, as well as armadillos and the tracks of raccoons, deer, rabbits, and fox.
On this, our second visit, we didn't even come close to seeing it all.
Be sure to bring water and a snack, and you can see things that are so far away from the theme park experience that its hard to believe.
This is Florida's beauty at its best, y'all.
Just look at the photos. They're all from our second visit, just one Sunday in April 2010.
Oh, yeah.
ITS FREE!
(hint: go early for the best chance to see wildlife and beat the heat.)
