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Disney World

Walt Disney World

Millions of visitors come to Florida each year to visit Walt Disney World. Here are our picks of the best day hikes within an easy drive of Walt Disney World.

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Contents

  • 1 Resources
  • 2 Hikes around Walt Disney World
  • 3 Reedy Creek Basin
    • 3.1 Tibet-Butler Preserve
    • 3.2 Reedy Creek Swamp
    • 3.3 Disney Wilderness Preserve
  • 4 Shingle Creek
    • 4.1 Historic Babb Landing
    • 4.2 Shingle Creek Steffee Homestead
  • 5 Gatorland
    • 5.1 Gatorland
  • 6 St. Cloud
    • 6.1 Lake Runnymede Conservation Area
  • 7 Clermont
    • 7.1 Lake Louisa State Park
    • 7.2 Lake Louisa Hiking Trail
    • 7.3 Crooked River Preserve
    • 7.4 Palatlakaha River Park
  • 8 Tougher Hikes
    • 8.1 Lake Lizzie Conservation Area
    • 8.2 Florida Trail, Bull Creek WMA
    • 8.3 Triple N Ranch
    • 8.4 Prairie Lakes Loop
  • 9 More Suggested Trails
    • 9.1 Bill Frederick Park
    • 9.2 Split Oak Forest WEA
    • 9.3 Van Fleet Trail
    • 9.4 Twin Oaks Conservation Area
    • 9.5 Oakland Nature Preserve
    • 9.6 Hal Scott Preserve
  • 10 Articles
    • 10.1 Osceola: Back in Time
    • 10.2 In Bloom at Epcot

Resources

5 Star Trails Orlando 50 Hikes in Central Florida Central Florida Orlando Explorers Guide book cover Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us continue to provide public information on this website.


Hikes around Walt Disney World

Millions of visitors come to Florida each year to visit Walt Disney World. You’ll walk many miles around each of the theme parks and between the resorts.

If you’re staying on property at the Mouse’s house, take a boat ride over from the Contemporary Resort to Fort Wilderness Resort to wander their miles of paved trails through the campground.

For those who contact us looking for immersion in Florida’s wild places outside the park gates, here are our picks for the best day hikes within an easy drive of Walt Disney World.

We chose these hikes based on the quality of the hike and ease of access via a major highway. Read through the descriptions to choose the best fit.

Some are better for families, some better for couples or solo hikers looking for a truly wild experience.


Reedy Creek Basin

Immediately outside Walt Disney World boundaries, you can hear the train whistle from the Magic Kingdom at Tibet-Butler Preserve, an excellent destination for families near Lake Buena Vista.

On weekends you can walk the boardwalk and trails at the Osceola Environmental Center in Poinciana to see the cypress-lined banks of Reedy Creek.

A few miles beyond is the Disney Wilderness Preserve, so named since The Nature Conservancy was able to preserve this palmetto prairie and its cypress domes with funds provided by Disney.

Tibet-Butler Preserve

Tibet-Butler Preserve

A wildlife haven within earshot of Walt Disney World, Tibet-Butler Preserve provides 3.6 miles of well-kept and gentle hiking trails for family fun

Reedy Creek

Reedy Creek Swamp

At the Osceola District Schools Environmental Study Center, trails along Reedy Creek Swamp showcase the beauty of the ancient cypress and floodplain forest.

Disney Wilderness Preserve

Disney Wilderness Preserve

Managed by The Nature Conservancy, the Disney Wilderness Preserve is a 12,000 acre showcase for habitat conservation amid growing suburban sprawl south of Orlando


Shingle Creek

Considered the headwaters of the Everglades, Shingle Creek rises in cypress swamps not far from International Drive in Orlando.

Following US 192 east towards Kissimmee, look for a half-mile hike at the Osceola County Historical Society on Bass Rd at Shingle Creek Steffee Homestead across the street.

Nearby Shingle Creek Babb Landing has a pioneer village and a great playground for the kids, paved trails, and a launch point for paddlers.

Historic Babb Landing

Historic Babb Landing

Take an easy walk to Shingle Creek at Historic Babb Landing along a family-friendly trail with great opportunities for birding and outdoor play.

Shingle Creek Steffee

Shingle Creek Steffee Homestead

With 1.3 miles of meandering trails through pine flatwoods and along the floodplain of Shingle Creek, the Historic Steffee Homestead portion of Shingle Creek Park makes for an easy family ramble.


Gatorland

North along US 441, Gatorland is an attraction that has been around more than 50 years, and the Godwin family’s roots are even deeper along the Kissimmee River.

Gatorland gets you up close to native Florida wildlife and has an excellent boardwalk trail for families to explore a cypress strand.

Gatorland Jumparoo Pond

Gatorland

Gatorland is not just a historic Florida attraction but an immersion into what this part of Central Florida used to be, a cypress swamp full of critters.


St. Cloud

Little Peghorn Nature Park is the heart of St. Cloud but is not open Sundays. Lake Runnymeade Conservation Area has short trails perfect for families with children.

Live oak canopy over hiking trail

Lake Runnymede Conservation Area

Ancient live oaks provide a tightly knit canopy over the 0.9-mile trail system at Lake Runnymede Conservation Area, a 43 acre urban preserve.


Clermont

To the northwest, Clermont offers easy day hikes. Explore the lower, easier portion of the trail system at Lake Louisa State Park between the lake parking area and the stream through the park.

The park itself has a campground, cabins, and luxury camping where everything is set up in advance just for you to enjoy the outdoors.

Rolling hills at Lake Louisa State Park

Lake Louisa State Park

As longleaf pine reaches for the sky, the rolling hills of Lake Louisa State Park near Clermont return to their forested roots

Trail beneath archway of oaks

Lake Louisa Hiking Trail

Using the decades-old Lake Louisa Hiking Trail as its backbone, this 7.7-mile loop spans natural wetlands and rolling hills at Lake Louisa State Park.

Nearby Crooked River Preserve lets you walk through scrub to the lake’s weird cypresses and paddler access with rental canoes.

On the opposite side of the river is Palatlakaha River Park with its short loop trail. It has a boat ramp and paddler access.

Crooked River Preserve

Crooked River Preserve

On a 1.7-mile loop, Crooked River Preserve showcases a wide variety of habitats in a short hike on the northernmost extent of the Lake Wales Ridge in Clermont

Tree reflections in river

Palatlakaha River Park

Picturesque waters flow between two lakes on a narrow river, immersing visitors who paddle within a corridor of cypress swamp abounding with wildlife.


Tougher Hikes

For much longer and more rugged day hikes within an easy drive of Walt Disney World, we suggest Lake Lizzie Preserve, Bull Creek WMA, Prairie Lakes WMA, and Triple N Ranch.

All lie east of St. Cloud and all contain segments of the statewide Florida Trail with backpacking campsites. Conditions can be rough, particularly at Triple N.

Marsh Loop at Lake Lizzie

Lake Lizzie Conservation Area

Hugging the eastern shore of Lake Lizzie, Lake Lizzie Conservation Area encompasses more than a thousand acres along several lakes set among a vast mosaic of prairies, pine flatwoods, and scrub forest

Florida Trail under dark water in floodplain

Florida Trail, Bull Creek WMA

Following a significant tributary to the St. Johns River, the Florida Trail through Bull Creek WMA showcases history and botanical beauty.

Cypress strand

Triple N Ranch

Vast pine savannas and pitcher plant bogs await at one of the toughest loop trails in the Orlando area a 7.5-mile challenge at Triple N Ranch WMA.

White blazed post in pine savanna

Prairie Lakes Loop

Enjoy the counterpoint of moss-draped oak hammocks and expansive prairies at Prairie Lakes along one of the older and more beloved pieces of the Florida Trail.


More Suggested Trails

As shown with trailhead icons on the map at the top of the page, some are specifically for biking or paddling and others for hiking.

Bill Frederick Park

Bill Frederick Park

Bill Frederick Park

Split Oak Forest WEA

Split Oak Forest WEA
Cyclist Van Fleet Trail

Van Fleet Trail

Van Fleet Trail

Twin Oaks Conservation Area

Twin Oaks Conservation Area
Ferns in a marsh

Oakland Nature Preserve

Oakland Nature Preserve
Young longleaf pines at Hal Scott

Hal Scott Preserve

Hal Scott Preserve
 


Articles

Osceola: Back in Time

November 14, 2015//  by Sandra Friend

On a day trip to Kissimmee, we were sidetracked by history at the 23th annual Osceola County Historical Society Pioneer Day, held, to our surprise, at Historic Babb Landing.

Garden houses in the butterfly garden

In Bloom at Epcot

April 24, 2014//  by Sandra Friend

In March, we participated in the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival as invited speakers, talking about Florida hiking. It was delightful to reach a new audience who enjoys the outdoors.


NEARBY: Clermont, Lakeland, Kissimmee, Orlando | PART OF: Central Florida

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