On Friday morning my family took the first boat ride from the Hwy 19 center. It wasn't crowded. There were lots of free parking. The boats are not covered and leave every 30 minutes. The ride itself, once it departs, is around 20 minutes. You never know what you'll see on the boat ride. We saw lots of turtles and a wood duck. There are restrooms at both welcome centers where the boat departs and many restrooms throughout the center.

The tram usually is continuous except today they only had 1 driver. That mode of transportation takes around 6 minutes once it departs.

There were complementary children and adult strollers. It seemed like a very handicap accessible park with even the boat having handicap ramp and seating.

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit seeing every animal featured at the park by first going left to see the manatee at the feeding station and later seeing the hippo eat. If my family would have went to the right first, we would have missed both those animals since they moved away later on.

The road on west entrance is busy so you should press the crossing light. There is a smaller parking lot there. Some who parked at that lot wanted to take the boat ride thinking it is the way to the park.

There are gift shops at each visitor center. The one at the west entrance has the snack bar and a couple pressed Penny machines.

If you forget your sunscreen and bug spray, the gift shop has it.