The Disney Wilderness Preserve

[punkin712]

There is a story in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal about wildlife in Orlando. The story mentioned The Disney Wilderness Preserve (not Animal Kingdom) - here's a link to the story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114930003906470588.html?mod=hps_us_pageone

The article says the Preserve only gets 15 visitors a day (!) so I didn't feel too bad that I didn't know about it. Has anyone been there?

 

[HappyCamperToo]

bump

 

[safetymom]

I drove into their parking lot the other day. I was going to visit today but predicting rain.

 

[Northstar]

Wasn't able to look at the news story because it asked me to log in... subscribers-only access. But I'm betting that this is the place run by the Nature Conservancy on behalf of Disney... Disney doesn't run it, thus can't give you any info on it, customer service doesn't know it exists. I think that's perfect. Disney gives the money, supporting conservation and environment preservation, and the people who actually know about how to run a preserve manage it.

 

[cleo]

Yes, we've been there. It's a lovely, gentle experience, very nature oriented with a good trundle through the grounds on their buggy tour (as in, transportation, not as in it's a tour where you'll encounter lots of bugs! ).

Don't expect the bells and whistles of a Disney park though. It's owned by Disney so that they can claim certain legal rights (mostly because they bought up a bunch of land we all now enjoy and had to agree to hold some land aside in the name of conservation). There is nothing 'Disney' about it, other than the name. But it's a nice afternoon out, away from the hectic pace. And it only costs about $3 to get in.

 

[joe1946]

Is there a gift shop?

 

[cleo]

Yes.

But again, don't expect to find 'Disney' stuff. It's a Conservation project and the gift shop is full of nature-oriented gifts.

 

[Dawnywog]

How would we get there? We will not be renting a car. Would our only option be taxi?

 

[slimplaw]

At the Flower and Garden Festival, they had photos of the area. It looked like a very interesting place to visit. I told DH that we need to plan on going there sometime. Isn't it at least 60 miles from WDW? I don't believe a taxi would be an option. A rental car would be the only way to go. You could do a one day rental at the Alamo counter at Swan/Dolphin. I checked on a one day rental in May and it was around $30.

 

[joe1946]

It's only 15 miles from WDW. Here's a link with more info:

http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/environmentality/environment/preserve.html

 

[safetymom]

No it isn't 60 miles from WDW. It is in Poinciana. It is probably 20 some miles from WDW.

 

[slimplaw]

Glad it is not so far from WDW. I hope we get a chance to go there sometime.

 

[PatriciaH]

We have been. It is very nice to walk around in-lots of trails. We see more birds and wildlife in Celebration though! I would say the ride is 25-30 minutes.