A Strawberry Patch Ten Minutes Outside of Disney World

Eleven minutes outside Disney World is an activity you can do on a non-park day if you have your own car.

It is called Southern Hill Farms, and it is a fun place to go for all ages. Currently, they offer various vegetables, strawberries and sunflowers for you to pick. They also have a row of food trucks, a stage for live music, and a small collection of attractions that are common to see at a fair.

The price for a pound of strawberries is $5 a pound which is double the price of a pound of strawberries from Walmart. The cost to pick a sunflower is $6 for one and then $2 for each one after.

It is currently a free activity to walk in most days other than the festivals they have there. It is a fun change of pace from the crazy traffic and business of a Disney theme park. However, if you go on a weekend, it could remind you a little bit of Disney with how many people show up.

This place might be cute but the business model they are using is fantastic. Perfectly designed to provide a good experience.

The parking and entrance fee are free, and being in Orlando, this is quite uncommon. They sell immediately when you walk through the door, they have wagons for you to rent to pull your purchases from whatever you get, I purchased six pounds of strawberries so it can wear you down for how far you must hold them.

They also have a pre picked selection of veggies, strawberries, and sunflowers where you can just avoid the long walks of picking, even though I believe that is the most fun.

Going past that and there is a NEW wedding reception venue that is available. I didn’t know if there were any wedding venues set up, but the wedding reception area was there. It was closed for a private event that day which provides another revenue stream.

Walking closer to where the actual picking is available and there is a merch stand that has jellies, shirts, and other Cracker Barrell-Esque gift shop items.

You must pass by this shop coming in and out of the farms.

After that, the path opens up, turn to the right for blueberry picking which is closed in the winter time. Turn left and go to the picking of strawberries, veggies or sunflowers. Keep going straight to enter the food area and go past that for the carnival attractions for the younger kids.

The food area is great. There is a stage for live music, several different food trucks, and dessert venues.

If you love sugar, the donuts, ice cream, and a blueberry lemonade are incredible. Be aware you might need a shot of insulin if you indulge in all three like I did.

The harvesting area is a left past the food area where you can wait for a tractor to pull you in a similar way as a hayride. Or you can brave the walk to the strawberry fields. Due to the popularity of everything that day, we had quite a long walk. The strawberries looked amazing and tasted pretty good too. We ended up getting six pounds of strawberries walking down one row....

The sunflowers were a cheaper experience but this experience was geared for instagram. They had props set up for easy picture availability, it was clear it wasn't just made for picking sunflowers. Which made the entire family go into the path and not just one person to walk in and do the picking like my cheap party did. We have both walked in there and the cost of that is $12 and includes two sunflowers. You can spend the same $12 and get 4 sunflowers. Have to save that money by any means.

Overall, it is a fun way to spend sometime outside of the theme parks if you are on a theme park vacation with your own vehicle. It is a change of pace, something different and great for all ages.