Our visit to the Shell Factory!

We visited LeHigh Acres Florida this summer on our vacation. When looking for places to visit and things to do with the kids while we were there I found a place called the Shell Factory.

It’s located in North Fort Myers Florida so it’s not a long drive to reach it. I found a Groupon for the tickets so it was a bargain price for an all day adventure for the kids as well as the adults. They have an absolutely amazing Christmas store with rooms full of Christmas ornaments and one of the largest Christmas Village displays I’ve seen in a long time.

When we visited they were having Christmas in July so the kids got a chance to visit Santa Clause. The Santa was very entertaining and told jokes and had the kids singing and laughing. We had children ranging from six to ten years old. They all had a great time visiting with Santa. He engaged with each child according to their age. He was probably the best Santa I’ve seen in a long time and I think the kids believed he was the real deal. Well, the younger ones did, the ten year old seemed like he was on to the whole thing but he didn’t let on to the little ones.

The Shell Factory has a petting zoo, as well as a zoo full of animals for the kids to view. The visit starts with an aquatic exhibit filled with fish and turtles that were interesting to view. We visited the petting zoo and the kids had so much fun feeding the animals and learning about them. Some of the animals on display seemed a little distressed in my opinion but the majority of them seem to be well cared for and comfortable in their surroundings. They have a Dinosaur park with raptors peaking out of the bushes and a T-rex that the kids could view along with a Triceratops and Brontosaurus. There is a park in the middle of the zoo with a jungle gym and swings for the kids as well as picnic tables for the adults to rest. We needed that rest as the trip through the zoo was long. The end of the walk through the museum has a reptile exhibit with a large variety of snakes and lizards.

There was an aviary in the zoo where the kids could enter and feed the birds. There were turtles in the aviary that were fighting. The boys enjoyed watching them but it was a little disturbing for me to watch them fight. One of the turtles seemed to be very aggressive and chased the others when they wouldn’t fight back. The kids fed the birds inside the aviary and the little ones enjoyed having them eat from their hands.

The Shell Factory also has a miniature golf course that was included in our Groupon. We managed to play the full course in speed mode as the weather man said it was going to rain. It rained buckets on us so we abandoned the golf course for the dryer interior of the gift and Christmas shop. The have a small Halloween store inside as well as the usual tourist gift shop items. The kids found cars made of shells that they could climb on and into and a talking buffalo head. The gift shop has a museum of sorts with displays of Pirates and Military uniforms for guest to view and learn about. They have a food court of sorts where we ate lunch and an ice cream eatery where we had desert. They have a seafood restaurant and a bar for the grown-ups outside.

The Shell Factory is the kind of place that everyone can find something to enjoy, even on a budget.