Orlando - Day 2 - Gatorland

My original plan had been to rent a car and then make the 1 hour and 15 minute drive to the beach. But that morning, the rental place at the hotel was out of cars. I had been nervous to travel that far alone, so I decided that was a sign I needed to stay closer to the hotel. 

Plan B was to go to Gatorland. I took a taxi there, but after that, I download the Uber app and used it each time I wanted to go somewhere. It worked wonderfully. I even thought about using it to go to the beach, but even that was out of my price range. So hopefully some day I'll be able to go that way again and see the ocean. 

Gatorland was pretty cool. I ended up spending most of the day there. I'm getting better about doing things by myself and being able to relax and enjoy it. 

They had a few shows that go on during the day. The first one I went to was Gator Wrestling. It was my favorite.

After the show, they give you the chance to sit on a real gator and have your picture taken. The line was huge! I wasn't going to do it. But later in the day, I happen to walk by after another show had ended and the line was much smaller. So I decided to do it. 

After the first show, I had some time to wonder around before the next show started.

Of course the turtle was my favorite thing to see. 

The next show was the Jumperoo. They did a few different things with chicken and the gators would jump out to get it. It was pretty cool, but also very crowded, so it was hard to get a good view. 

There was a ton of birds. Some were more friendly than others. 

I got to watch this bird catch a fish. 

They had a bobcat area. The first time by, I was able to find one behind this tree. 

Later in the day, when I walked by again, I found these two laying out in the sun. 

They had a pond where you could feed turkey hot dogs to the gators.

Of course there was a crowd of birds lined up to try and steal the hot dog bits. I thought it was cool how they were all lined up right here. At first I thought they were statues until I saw a few of them move. 

Checking out the white gators. 

The last show was with a few different creatures. Nothing I would want to hold!

I loved this ladies look on her face when she opened her eyes to see what she was holding. 

The biggest part of the day was that I held a small gator and a snake. I was just going to hold the gator, but after watching a little girl insist she hold the snake, I decided to suck it up and do it also. I was freaking out the entire time and that is the fakest smile I have ever made. Its probably something I'll never do again, but now I have picture proof that I willing held a snake and lived to tell about it.