Orlando Forum: Silver Springs Theme Park

I think you would enjoy it. It can be a nice paced relaxing day with some interesting things to look at.

It's a beautiful & relaxed park. I think you would like it.

The adjoining Silver Springs State Park has a fabulous hardwood forest with Shumard oaks, sugar maples, and other species at the south ends of their ranges. The soil, unusually for Florida, is rich in clay and phosphorus. The ride to and from Daytona will be through Ocala National Forest, a dune system with sand pines and evergreen scrub oaks (plus patches of longleaf pine savannah). The scrub vegetation is managed for Florida scrub-jays (a separate species from the western version) and to prevent a repeat of the massive 1930s conflagration that burned somewhere above 30,000 acres in a few hours. The sand pines are short-lived and generally have cones that open after fire, assuring a new generation of pines. The oaks regrow from their roots.

You might also look into Juniper and Alexander Springs.

I think its a stretch calling it a 'theme park' to be honest. Its more like a wildlife and nature park.

Lovely park and to be honest, my teenage kids hated it a few years back... not enough excitement for them.

Nice walks - bird shows - jeep safari - lovely boat trips - gators - crocodiles - assorted other critters to see. I enjoyed it. The water is literally crystal clear.

A slow paced day for sure and I enjoyed it!

Reading the reviews, sounds like it has gone downhill and are not keeping the place up. Has anyone been there recently?

bump

last 5 reviews are 3 star and over on TA... which doesn't seem that bad at all.

just be aware, its not a typical Orlando theme park... its a nature park about 2.5 to 3 hours north of Orlando so don't expect neon lights and a bright freshly painted look like Disney.

Its just animals, swamp, the springs, glass bottomed boats, a cafe, zoo/safari and thats about it.

I found it nice and a diversion from the hustle and bustle of orlando for a day. I will pull together a few late 2009 videos I recorded and put them on youtube if you like, but I suspect there will be more recent stuff there already. Have a search and see if its something you'd like to visit.

Thank you McHaggis, that would be great!!!

It is definitely a nostalgia type park. I woldn't say it is run down. It is just old and isn't anything like Disney or Universal. Someone in their 60's might remember the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weismuller that were filmed there as well as the famous glass bottom boats. It is one of the few remaining pre-Disney theme parks in operation. They always seem to be reinventing itself. Now it seems to be a nature park. There are no rides, and not much excitement, but a relaxing walk through a by gone era with some new nature type attractions. We seem to go every few years as an exscape from the Orlando madness. As McHaggis said, it is a nice diversion.

From Daytona it is about an hour/ hour and a half. About 2 hours from Disney.