[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

We went to Silver Springs yesterday and I had very mixed feelings about this place. When I first got there I was very disappointed. The park is very old and run down. I like the feelings of old places as long as they are maintained and this place is not. There were very few patrons which may be why the place is so run down.

There are very few food places and two of them were closed. The main restaurant had a line out the door so we went to the pizza place and found out why people were willing to wait so long for the main restaurant. The pizza was terrible and the place felt dirty and unkempt. The rest rooms were old, musty and smelled awful. I did want to go back in a second time but it was either that or a nearby tree.

After we ate we headed over to Ross Allen Island where the alligators and other Florida animals are. Again the whole place was just dirty and run down. There were a lot of gators but we could barely see the few big cats they have as they were lying down in the far corners of their enclosures. We stopped for a "show" which pretty much was about insects and pretty boring. There is very little signage to tell you where to go and there are a lot of paths so it is quite confusing.
We left that area and took a ride on the glass bottomed boats. Now this was fascinating. Very interesting and very informative. Well worth the trip. It was interesting to find out how many old movies and television series were shot there.
After the boat ride we saw a place called treats so we went for an ice cream. Nothing special, just an ice cream in an old run down building.
We headed over to the other end of the park where we saw some cool animals. The giraffe ate out of our hands.
Also on that side of the park is a safaris ride which was pretty cool. Not great and again, everything including the vehicle seemed old, run down and not maintained. But the ride itself was pretty interesting.
We headed back over to Ross Allen Island and the big cats were moving around a bit, but one of them seemed very ill. He vomited several times. We went for the historical river cruise on that side and again it was OK. A lot of fake buildings and indian villages but it was nice.
I don't know exactly how I feel about this place. Some things make me want to go back and other things just make me never want to go again.
It's too bad the owners are letting it go downhill so badly. A lot of the buildings need to be torn down and replaced, but at least throw a coat of paint on them if you can't afford to replace them.
Don't know what to tell you. It's probably worth going to see once and it's a pretty good deal for Florida residents. Show your license and pay about $18.00. Food was outrageously expensive. $10.00 for two slices of terrible pizza and a soda. Five bucks for a small ice cream cone and $3.00 for a bottled water.