KELLY PARK

We try to do something new each time we visit Florida and Kelly park had been recommended to us so on a beautiful day in May we decided to visit.

It was outside the school holidays so it was relatively quiet which was good for us as we had no kids with us! The park is located at Apopka and is well sign posted and easy to find. We stopped at one of the roadside shops to hire inflatable tyres which cost $5 each, when we got there we realised that any one of the inflatables we had in our pool, even the foam ‘spaghetti’ floats would have done just as a good a job
.
There’s plenty of parking and a building with a café and changing facilities. We had gone prepared with fold up chairs, cool box with plenty of drinks and sandals to wear in the river. We didn’t really know what to expect, although we had read about it, it wasn’t what we imagined, it was better.

The river runs through the state park and is very clear and slow and meanders through the trees. We took our floats to the point to get in which is along a boardwalk, under the trees. The weather was glorious and hot and the water in the shade looked as if it would be freezing but it wasn’t actually too cold, once you were in. It’s quite rocky and takes a little bit of negotiation to get in, unless you’re really brave and jump straight in the deep bit.

After that it’s shallow and sandy and really slow moving. You just get on your tyre and relax and let the current take you down river. You can see turtles basking in the sun and although we were slightly alarmed when we heard a rustling off to the side, it turned out to be a deer coming down for a drink. We spoke to some locals who had been going there for years, they assured us that there are absolutely no gators in there!

It’s a natural lazy river ride and we loved it. There’s a part where the river opens out into a shallow pool with a sandy ‘beach’ area to sit in the sun. There are also several barbecue pits and picnic tables. There are trails to walk through the state park as well. I imagine it gets really busy in summer but the kids would love it.

A great and cheap alternative to the Orlando water parks.