See ya later, Alligator

 After finding a cheap gem of a hotel 3mi from Disney, I really did not spend Sunday in Orlando how anyone would expect, including me.  I weighed my options and figured with the amount of time I planned to be there (not too long, those parks can add up!), it would not have been worth it to walk through Disney again and only see half of it.  I had my heart set on doing Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, so I needed to find something that didn't require all day.  Out of all things, I chose Gatorland.  Never even heard of it, but what the heck...

It was surprisingly awesome.  I was afraid it was going to be kinda cheesy, but I really enjoyed it.  It's this park that have been around longer than Disney World and holds hundreds of alligators, snakes and birds in one habitat that you can walk through.  The first things I saw getting out of my car in the parking lot were these really big vultures, just watchin me as they hung out on the wall.

 

The park had feeding shows, interactive comical presentations of snakes and such, and gator wrestling!  But it doesn't have a zoo feel... you are pretty much walking along a boardwalk over swampy territory and looking over the rail at these alligators- huge ones, baby ones, rare white ones, etc.  Most of them have been bred in the park, but some of them are rescue stories: one hung out at a golf course in Florida at hole #14 and scared the golfers so much, the range needed it removed.  Another was found in a school's sewer system in New York.  Another one was taken out of the Tampa after he had been discovered eating dogs!  (Of course, the more aggressive ones have their own habitats, away from open viewing).

I donated $5 to sit on a gator after the wrestling demonstration... it was so exhilarating (even though the mouth was taped).  I tried to get a guy to take my picture with my camera while I was on it, but apparently the thing was too complex for him to point and snap.  No picture :( But he did get me standing in line...

Also saw water moccasins and rattlesnakes, and got hollered at by all the different swamp birds along the way.  This attraction was definitely a great find, away from the famous Disney and Universal ones.

My Halloween Horror Nights ticket fell through and after going to 5 other places without success, I decided to leave Orlando early.  It was just too much to spend for a full price ticket + parking.  Besides, the Saw haunted house was taken out this year, and I was really looking forward to that one in particular (ironically enough, they have it at Six Flags in Gurnee this year! figures).

Orlando is a fun place, but somewhere you spend with friends and family for sure.

I had dinner in West Palm Beach- Rocco's Tacos and Tequila Bar.  It has over 200 tequilas and awesome fish tacos.  I also sampled the grilled shrimp (no, I didn't sample all the tequilas. Just browsed the menu).  It's a cool area in City Place- full of shopping and restaurants.  Full of date nights.  But nice to stroll through to walk off a full stomach.