Butterfly World — Attraction in Coconut Creek

I visited Butterfly World in early June 2025 and I want to start out by saying that I could not be more impressed and a bigger fan of the staff at Butterfly World from the Gift Shop (Emily & Kathy), to the Garden Center (Jason, Mark, & Bo), to the Lab (Marvin & Mark). I came from a bit of a distance (5+ hours) and expense just to specifically purchase Wild Lime Bushes at Butterfly World that I could not find locally or online. That was my only reason to come to South Florida. I very much wanted to facilitate hosting Giant Swallowtail caterpillars for the daily Giant Swallowtail(s) I saw and was having limited success with my 2024 Lemon Tree & Lime Bush.

The communication and collaboration between Butterfly World departments was amazing and quite honestly, I have not seen anything like it within an organization before. Additionally, their willingness to help me cross-departments try to expand my Butterfly Host Garden was Exceptional. They did this not only by “holding” two Wild Lime Bushes as requested for several days (that looked amazing) but by further helping me expand my Butterfly Host Garden. They did this by going above & beyond in accommodating my requests regarding Chrysalises and other Host (& Nectar) Plants so I could attempt to increase my Butterfly population and attempt to colonize a few more types here in Jacksonville, FL while getting cool & pretty plants. In fact, I made two different visits based on all their willingness to help the weekend I came!!!

The entire staff throughout Butterfly World was also very friendly, helpful, and professional from the Front Entry Staff, to the Habitat Staff, to the Café Staff, and others in the Gift Shop but HUGE KUDOS again to those above who made my trip (time & expense) totally worth it and Truly Amazing by helping me to expand my Butterfly Host Garden in every way they could accommodate.

In addition, the Butterfly habitat was out of this world and gorgeous with the number and types of Butterflies and Beautiful Plants/Flowers inside and out. It is by far the best Butterfly Park habitat out of the 2-3 I have been to since my first visit to Butterfly World in September 2020. I genuinely enjoyed the Bird Habitats, but my passion for butterflies since my first visit has truly transformed my life in the last several years.

In September 2020, my husband and I went to Butterfly World during COVID because we could not go to our usual vacation spot and went to Lauderdale by the Sea instead. I have that visit to Butterfly World that changed my whole world of gardening, daily enjoyment, and beauty when I innocently bought two packets of Passion Vine Seeds and germinated them in June 2021 and got my very first gorgeous Passion Flowers in April 2022 and similar my very first Senna Alata Candle Bush flowers in August of 2023 after buying the seeds online from Butterfly World and germinating the seeds in 2022. I didn’t really know about Butterfly “Host” Plants for caterpillars then but soon learned more as I suddenly was seeing these Orange (Gulf Fritillaries) and black striped (Zebra Longwings) and Yellow (Orange Barred and Cloudless Sulphur) butterflies and had these crazy caterpillars on my plants that at first I was very upset about. Thank goodness after pulling out the packets and reading the packet descriptions, I realized that this was a wonderful thing!!! 😊

Fast Forward to 2025, I have grown my Butterfly Host Garden plants to approximately 35 Butterfly types and can usually in a 10-30 minute period see at least 10 different Butterfly types and up to 20 or more Butterflies at a time enjoying my gardens on a Sunny Summer Day. Last year I hosted at least 9 different butterfly types that I know of and this year at least 14 to date. If you plant, they will come. 😊 Sometimes 2 days and sometimes 2 years.

Thanks to all at Butterfly World and its creators (The Boenders) who touch so many lives including mine by introducing us to Passion Vines, Butterflies, and the World of Butterfly Host Plants that make our World more Beautiful and Bring more Happiness...

We arrive at the park at 3:15 PM on a Thursday afternoon. They did not inform us that it would take 2 to 3 hours to explore the entire facility, but we were still charged full price to enter Butterfly World. Upon realization that it was close to closing time, and we had not even made it halfway through the park. We heard announcements that certain attractions were closing down at 4:30 PM. Suddenly we started to receive an unsettling amount of attention. We were literally followed by one female employee, Who was rushing us through the park saying we’re closing at 5 o’clock and it was only 4:30 PM we were unable to enter the large Parrott display. The doors were locked on us while we were trying to see the insects display and because they were so annoying we decided to leave, but we needed to use the bathroom and we ended up using the bathroom in the dark because they had already turned off all the bathroom lights, I had to literally use my cell phone lantern to see while I utilized the restroom and it was only 4:45 PM. I couldn’t understand if they claim they close at 5 PM why we were being rushed out the facility from 4:30 PM. We did not get to finish touring the facility. We got to our car at 4:50 PM and employees were leaving the parking lot before we could get in our car. What an awful experience especially since I took my daughter there as a birthday gift. They should change half price if a person entering has less than 2 hours to see the facility or not allow people in. Employees should expect to leave before 5pm if the facility closes at 5pm anywhere else you go if the place closes at 5pm employees normally leave shortly after. They are falsely advertising their hours and making customers feel like criminals walking behind them at 4:30pm. We are talking $64.20 in today’s economy. I truly regretted spending my money there. But of course they didn’t rush us out of...

What a great little find, nestled about 1 hour out of Miami on the way up to Orlando, was Butterfly world, I love a secret little find so I had to visit.

It did not disappoint, I got a decent price in and you start by going straight into the butterfly cage, you look around and nothing… then you look closer and on most leaves and branches are the most beautiful butterflies, then as you explore more you see more beautiful and exotic butterflies… they are literally everywhere and then you start seeing colourful birds, I was like a kid in a candy store, I had my SLR with zoom lens on and I felt like I was on a BBC Attenborough show.

Once through the butterfly cage and having made sure there were no tourists on me, trying to escape the cage, I went to the bird cage part, and there were the most beautiful birds on every branch chatting away, some kissing, it was very sweet.

Then on to the kinda museum part, it wasn’t the most impressive collection of insect I’ve seen, but there were definitely a lot, and if you’ve never seen a collection before you will be impressed, then just past this are the live specimens, I wasn’t so happy with this part as you had the most magnificent spiders, mostly tarantulas, and a very impressive bird eating spiders in very small glass boxes, great for the kids, a little sad for the spiders.

Then a quick tour of the plants they use and gift shop and done.

This would be a fantastic day out for kids, and if you like taking pics, there are so many lovely butterflies and birds like I said. Best to go on a slightly colder day if you want pics as the butterflies are slightly more sedated, but I imagine on a hot day, which it wasn’t for me, the activity in the butterfly cage could be quite...