Pioneer Village at Shingle Creek — Attraction in Florida

As a tourist attraction, this place is kind of cool. Do not expect a lot of shade. It’s old houses and buildings out in the sun.

As a spot for any photographer, 0/10. Nothing on the website mentions photography being an issue. Had a friend take some photos for my family (for free). We got chased down by some woman in jogging shorts who told us we needed to pay $100/hr within 5 minutes of us being there. She accused me of being disrespectful when I asked for a refund since we now had to leave. She accused my friend of being unprofessional for not “knowing” they charge that rate. She mentioned a sign up front (which I had not spotted). She was very combative and I’ll never return here nor recommend it to others.

The thing is, $100/hr is STEEP for a photo background only. It’s not a studio, and the sun is actually quite harsh. They open at 10am so no golden hour. Point is, that’s more than most photo studios charge, and with no special setups specific to photography or anything. It is absolutely not worth that cost, and the idea that because someone has a camera it must be for profit is extreme. I’d have gladly paid a few bucks extra for taking photos but that cost is highway robbery. And I also wouldn’t have driven an hour had it been published on their website.

Long story short, fine to walk around in the sun and see some old wood buildings that are of their time, but...

I went with my family on Saturday, and we had an awful experience with the employee working that day. When we arrived there were many visitors that apparently didn't pay the entrance because they crossed the fence. The employee was on his cellphone when we arrived, and didn't notice the amount of people in the premises. And just because we recognized a couple of them, he try to accuse my wife of "letting them in". She was very upset and told him off. He was lucky I was informed about it when we left. God knows what would've happen. No one wants to be treated like that. He also chased everyone out at 3:30pm with a fourwheeler, half hour before the closing time because he was "closing earlier". We paid $32 for the entrance and were able to enjoy only 45 minutes of it. It's not worth it. I hope management will do...

Pioneer Village was nice and peaceful especially since the weather was so perfect. The buildings were interesting to see and read about. When I went it was only $8 per adult and my 2 and 3 year old were free. They loved running around and my husband and I loved learning. I would recommend bringing water and sunscreen. My only issue is that there were a lot of wasps around so there must be nests everywhere and we were constantly worried the girls were going to be attacked. The nests were clearly in the buildings, too, based on where they were hanging out, so the staff needs to pay attention to that. Other than that, the grounds were well maintained and clean and it was a nice place to spend an hour. We probably would have spent longer if they were old enough to learn and...