Screamin' Gator Zip Line

Screamin’ Gator Zip Line

Is it crazy to combine an alligator farm, amusement park, and a Screamin’ Gator Zip Line into one location? Gatorland has the answer. To the best of my knowledge, zip-lining above pools swarming with alligators is only found at Gatorland. Gatorland has combined wildlife adventures into a gator-themed thrill ride.

We are moving north through Florida and thankfully, we had family come for a visit. So far we have spent nearly four months having a great time looking for gators and crocodiles in Florida. Most people visit Orlando to go to Disney World (not us). We focused on wild Florida and gators for the last four months. How could we best share it with the family, that will only be in town for less than a week? The answer is Gatorland. How could we combine some personal thrill into the visit? Screamin’ Gator Zip Line.

Disney Springs

The closest we got to Disney Land was this Disney-inspired restaurant village (shopping mall). At Disney Springs, only about half of the shops were owned by Disney. Mostly they sold Disney memorabilia. You don’t have to go to Disney World to buy things from Disney.

Disney Springs selfie
Disney Springs selfie. Three are Holleys and two are Foxes for a total count of four.

About half of Disney Springs village is restaurants. The one that has the most impressive outdoor display is the Rain Forest Cafe. We have seen the Rain Forest Cafe in Las Vegas, Orlando, and California. The theme at Disney Springs is a volcano. Even if you don’t eat at the cafe, the volcano eruption is very impressive.

Rain Forest Cafe at Disney Springs
Rain Forest Cafe at Disney Springs

Swamp Buggies

We didn’t venture into the swamps in a swamp buggy. This one was in Clermont and looks ready for some serious mud.

Swamp buggy has the school bus them
This swamp buggy has the school bus theme going.

Airboats

We have been saving our airboat trip for when our family was in town and even though we were not in the everglades, we did spend some time in very shallow water.

PT Airboat Adventures
This picture was taken by the airboat owner-operator at PT Airboat Adventures. He performed a little cameral magic by tilting the camera to give the photo a little action view. To make the illusion even a little more convincing he could have had each of us tilt our heads a little to the right.
PT Airboat Adventures action photo
Here is my action photo that clearly shows the wind and the spray during our airboat ride.

Gatorland

Gatorland has some huge alligators and crocodiles. Thankfully they are all safely behind some nice thick wire fence and usually well below the suspended walkways. This wasn’t true for us the last month when we were searching for gators per se on their own turf. We even had a gator visit us in the campground and encountered a few here and there in the wild (perhaps 100 or thereabouts). Here is a link to our recent past stories from the swamps in southern Florida. Deep in the Swamp

Gator visiting our campground in the everglades.
Gator visiting our campground (not our site) in the everglades.

At Gatorland, they have both gators and crocodiles. Crocodiles and alligators are in separate pools. Likewise, small gators are separate from large gators. Some of the young gators (four feet and less) would be on the menu for these big ones.

Big Nile Crocodile at Gatorland. Our Screamin' Gator Zip Line route went directly over the pool
Here is a picture of a big Nile Crocodile at Gatorland. They also had a pair of crocodiles from northern Australia. They are much bigger than the average gator.

Screamin’ Gator Zip Line

I guess you could say that I have been a thrill-seeker for my entire life. It first started with skiing in Colorado. Others know I like to ski fast. I also did a bit of mountain and rock climbing. When I joined the navy, my express purpose was to become a pilot. My last duty station was flying the oldest helicopter in the Navy, the Huey, doing search and rescue in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Making rescues from cliffs in the mountains was almost a combination of all my experiences.

How does all of this relate to the gator zip line? Speed, climbing equipment, and practice for helicopter rescue in the mountains are all similar to the equipment used in zip lines. Of course, I had to share some of the flying time with the other pilots. When I was not at the controls of the helicopter, I would volunteer to be the person rescued by the crew and spent lots of time hanging by a rope under the helicopter. Once you are tied to the bottom of a helicopter, getting lifted isn’t really an option. When the helicopter goes up, you go with it.

Screamin' Gator Zip Line before picture.
Screamin' Gator Zip Line 17

For me, this kind of activity was just an extension of my youth. As for Tami, except for skiing, this kind of activity was totally outside her experience… and totally outside her desires. Especially since the zip line was routed above the gator pools.

Tami wasn't nearly as worried about the Screamin' Gator Zip Line after the first ride.
This is a great photo of Tami showing focused attention just before her second launch. On her first launch, if we had a picture of it, you would have seen the expression of apprehension and concern. What normally sane person would pay extra money to slide along a wire, suspended above pools of alligators.

Don’t expect Tami (or me) to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Well, the story goes that it was all about Tami’s sister Allison, who not long ago did a tandem jump out of an airplane, skydiving. Allison was the one focused on the zip line. Tami was game for the experience.

Tami is still not totally relaxed on the Screamin' Gator Zip Line.
Here is a picture of Tami, at the end of her first ride. This is as relaxed as she got and was really starting to enjoy it. You can tell that she is not completely relaxed by looking at her white knuckles. She was trying to squeeze the color right out of the rope.

The picture at the top of this post is Tami after her successful landing. Happy and relieved.

By the time of the third launch, Tami was much more relaxed. Just prior to this launch the team told her to go fast so that she would make it the entire way. Notice the belly in the line. If you don’t make it to the landing platform, the rescue would include lowering you to the ground and hopefully, you wouldn’t land in or next to the water.

Tami on her trip across the gator pool at the Screamin' Gator Zip Line.
Yes, this is a pool full of gators that Tami is crossing on the zipline.

As for me, I was much more relaxed on the zipline. Tami thought I was just showboating but releasing one hand was all about steering the direction of my body and offsetting the wind drag on my legs that was causing me to spin on my way to the landing platform.

I let go to help steer my body on the Screamin' Gator Zip Line.
I’m not trying to grab the tree.

Photo credits

I should mention that photos of the zipline rides were all taken by the Gatorland photographer. At Gatorland, you are not allowed to take anything on the zipline. I wasn’t allowed to carry a car key, in a zipped pocket during the adventure let alone a cell phone or camera.

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I had not noticed the splash of green next to the eye of the Great egret before. This bird doesn’t seem worried about the obviously well-fed gator.
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There are three reasons that this is not a good place to launch our kayaks. Two reasons are in the picture. The third reason is that this launch site is at Gatorland.

It was really good to have Allison and Clark visit us in Florida, especially at Gatorland. It is a great place to really increase (double, maybe triple) your gator count all in one day.

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Links to places mentioned in this article.

Disney Springs

Rain Forest Cafe

PT Airboat Adventures

Gatorland

3 thoughts on “Screamin’ Gator Zip Line”

  1. These are the most informative and interesting blogs I have ever read.

    I, like the one lady, decided to wait to read your blog. I wanted to read them all at once. This was a great Sunday read for me.

    I love you both. And YES, Scott, you are a fabulous storyteller

  2. Ok, this is my favorite!!!!!

    I love ziplining! And then to see Clark n Allison.

    Made my morning. You guys just know how to have fun.

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