Everglades Wonder Gardens

Gave it 4 stars because there is so much potential to revive this magical place to it’s former glory, but they are nowhere near it now. I have visited it in 2007 and it got much worse since then. There is not much to see if you are not either a gator fan or a unique plants fan, which are amazing there. With that said, I also enjoyed the sight and sounds of pink flamingoes.
I hope for the great future of Wonder Gardens.
Your visit will help it to become reality.

Highly recommend this place! Staff knowledgeable and friendly, and the animals and reptiles are awesome. Plenty to see and beautiful variety of trees and flowers. Well worth the visit and we plan on returning every year. Thank you everglades wonder gardens for an enjoyable visit.

The Garden was for sure a wonder! We had a great time and the animals were amusing… We recommend it all the time!

The Gardens are a beautiful peaceful place to be. We brought our young children (11 & under) who loved seeing all of the birds and tortoises and snakes. We fed the alligators. All of the animals were happy and peaceful. No doubt this refuge for rescued animals is a family friendly place and an asset to Bonita Springs.

I’d like to give 5 stars here but they just have too much work to do. It can and will be very nice. My favorite part was the birds. Kiwi especially was very entertaining as soon as you walk through the door. Very sad to hear about the birds being rescued mostly from owners who have passed away. All of the birds have funny personalities and we really enjoyed Casey the bird as well. Will definitely be back and would recommend anyone to stop by. The alligators were pretty cool too. I guess on Saturdays at 2pm you can feed them hotdogs

I brought the kids and their friends here many times. Big Joe, my buddy.
It was a unique and interesting place to tour. There was a ‘show’ a couple of times a day. It was like a mini zoo, but now only reptiles. Very affordable.
I was so happy when we found EWG. I sure hope the creatures being held here are treated well, bad enough they’re locked up. Considering there are so many pythons on the lose now in FL they would probably be eaten out there anyway.
The original owners began this as an animal rehab center. Thanks Bill and Lester Piper for the education and wonderful memories.

Went here growing up, used to be awesome but now it’s under new ownership. The only thing worth going for are the gators and the parrot inside the building. Not well kept and the animals don’t look like they have the best habitats. wish they hadn’t gotten rid of the sea otters.

So. I get how this is more of a natural unsanitized, non-​Disney non-​zoo type of place. The gators don’t need crystal clear waters because it’s the habitat that they live in out in the wild. And I get that it’s more of an experience to be savored as its an institution that’s been around for a long while, and that the flora that is there is not seen in many other places and never all together in one place. And I get that there’s a charm in not really having great signage because the place isn’t that big and why not get lost and explore a bit. And I get that sometimes it’s cool in the butterfly garden (which looks exactly NOTHING like the pic on this page) and so you won’t see any butterflies.
But people who write that this could make a great place for a wedding or such event must be on crack. Everything is overgrown. The Butterfly garden needs help. The whole place is in need of a pruning. I understand the idea of making the place as close to natural as possible. But I just can’t see how this place survives without better signs, better lit habitats, and more aggressive pruning of the overgrowth. Had no idea we could even feed the gators hot dogs-​no sign, and no info from the greeter. The lobby gallery has amazing photography – that’s where I suppose an event or reception would be a success. And I imagine there are people who keep coming back here over the years and love it. I just think they could do a much better job of making it visitor friendly – not theme park sanitized – just more visitor friendly.

We love this place, old school charm as a historic roadside attraction. Gone are the mammals as the previous owner sold them all. So the people who said the cages are too small must have not really visited. But the old world charm along with Alligators, snakes, birds and the Flamingos are all still there. This would be an awesome place for a party or birthday event. They have a greenspace in the center which would be wonderful for entertaining. I am actually thinking, wine party myself. Where else can you see all of this up close and right in downtown Bonita Springs? zif you are looking for botanical sightings along with some old history of the area, this is a must see location.

I like the old florida feel, the park-​like setting, however, I believe too many of the animals are cooped up, especially the alligators. Seems like many of the cages are too small for the type/​number of animals confined.

Perfect spot to take my 5 year old niece and 6 year old son. $ 12.95 per adult, $ 7.95 kids, 3 and under free, over 65 $ 10.95. Small park, but perfect for the short attention spans of kids. We were there a little over an hour, talking with the parrots, walking over the scary alligator bridge, and looking at lots of snakes. This would also be the perfect place to have a private party or wedding and reception. They do rent it out for private events.

We were in Naples around beginning of February 2013. My 3 year old really wanted to see some alligators. We went for a drive in the everglades, but he fell asleep and missed the close up view of the gators. We found a brochure for this place and even though admission seemed a little expensive, we decided to go. When we first pulled up, it looked like a run down place with only 2 cars in the parking lot. If my 3 year old was not begging to go in, we would have left.
I am happy to say we had a great time!
— be sure to follow the tour guide around at least once, you learn some fun facts. This is such a great place to view alligators of all sizes up close (I was actually nervous because I felt a little too close to them.) There are a good amount of animals at the zoo. You can feed the deer and the turtles! They were very hungry so bring your quarters .
If you follow around the tour, you get to pet a baby alligator and watch an otter show.
I plan to go back next time we are in Naples. Be sure to say «hello» to the parrots in the gift shop!
I gave this 4 stars because admission is priced a little high (doesn’t seem as bad if you were just at Disney World.)
Bottom line: this is a must if you want to see a lot of alligators of all ages up close !

We also used a Groupon which made the price about right. Many improvements are being made presently. It was enjoyable but not spectacular. We spent about about 90 minutes walking around looking at the trees and some animals like turtles and gators. Overall we enjoyed our time but don’t expect to be thrilled.

Got a groupon… 2 for $ 20. That’s about the right price for two adults, but regular price is about double. I’ve been visiting about every 5 years since I was a kid. The good: alligators are super cool, but they used to be cooler because they had tour guides that fed them meat. You can buy over priced pellets (bring quarters) to feed gators, chickens, fish, and turtles… Turtles were surprisingly entertaining to feed.
Other than that, it’s more tourist trappy than ever. However, I am grateful they are keeping the place open… It’s very «Florida» and a good cool day activity while on vacation. Kids under 6 or adults that are bored on vacation… That’s probably best target audience.

Wonder Gardens was a slice of old «Florida». You know just like Old Route 66 with concrete Indian Teepee’s. Well it is all gone my friends. All the mammals are now gone disappeared no longer available. I don’t know if the correct police came in and closed them made them gone. The important things is it is now gone. But don’t fret instead of the alligator jaws hat, you can now purchase, a $ 3400 black and white photo. Yeah that is cool. Oh if you remember the old guides who for tips walked you around and pointed things out and you gave them a tip? Gone. All gone. Do no despair as they do have alligators but no one is going to tame them. You get to stare at them. Really a lot of fun HA!

I like this place a lot. It is a well-​preserved 1940’s era roadside attraction that is very much unchanged since it was built alongside Old Rt. 41. I suspect some of the employees, and certainly the biggest of the gators, have been around for much of this time.
It is an excellent opportunity for children and adults to see animals up close. The otter shows are really entertaining, as are the alligator feedings. Tours are usually quite interesting, but feel free to wander the gardens yourself if you show up at a time when the tour is not ready to leave. It’s not huge: if you spend «a long time» studying each animal and enjoying the many exotic trees/​flowers, and some time in the somewhat macabre gift shop expect up to 1.5 hours.
I consider myself a conservationist and a supporter of animal welfare and remain a fan of this place. The animals are well tended to by what appear to be caring individuals with a deep understanding (though this understanding was perhaps not developed in academia) of the animals and their needs. Many of the animals, including most of the birds and even the now deceased «Big Joe» were rescues. I recognize that captivity is not the ‘natural’ state of these animals, however neither are regular feedings or vet visits. Lastly in this regard, I question reliance upon the reviews at tripadvisor which purport to be from a single-​review-​posting self-​identified zoologist ( Unilocal would filter this out), and those who do not understand that in Florida sun/​heat any non-​chlorinated pool will have algae and any turtle who lives long enough will also have algae on their shell. Anthropomorphizing what you think you would prefer if you were an animal is no substitute for rational and reasoned analysis. Animals in ‘the wild’ are not naturally strong, sleek, healthy, and well fed. They live shorter lives in constant danger from starvation, parasitosis, disease, exposure, and predation.

It has been about 5 years since I have been there, but it would be safe to assume not much has changed in that time. The animals live in small, dirty cages. Not much of a life for them. esp for the large gator i believe they call joe. The charge of $ 15/​person should be enough to keep the gardens up a little better. I gave it 2 stars because I have a nice memory of my little brother petting a baby alligator. My dad loves this place. I’ll write a fresh review when I go back again soon.

3* for the visit with kids.
1* for the quality and ethics of the place.
Conservationists and anyone put off by animal poo stay away, but this place is great for families with younger kids. The entire «garden» is small and consists of a walking loop that takes about 10 minutes or less to go around if you don’t stop and look at everything. But when you stop, you see small enclosures that are visitor rather than animal friendly, which means you get to see (and in some cases feed) animals. There are deer, geese, crocs, gators, lizards, panthers, bobcats, various birds of prey and Molly the river otter who puts on a show.
Talking parrots Peanut and its friend in gift shop are a good distraction for kids who «look with their hands». They’ll occasionally say «hello.“T
Surprisingly, the gift shop is remarkably inexpensive for such a place.
The old battleaxe behind the counter warns to you once you buy stuff in the shop.
Make no mistake: this place is a business and isn’t there to preserve or care for the animals. The entire garden looks rundown, is dirty, has small cages — see reviews on TripAdvisor for points made by those with more knowledge than me.