Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Tours

Many people don’t realize how many of Florida’s beautiful and rare birds they’ll see on an airboat ride!  Michael and his family took an airboat ride with us, and here’s what he had to say: 

I’ve made an Excel spreadsheet of the birds I saw either from the boat, or on land near your boat launch. Considering the trip was in the heat of the day, and in the middle of summer, it isn’t a bad list for a trip that is NOT focused on birds.  

Here’s Michael’s list of birds:  Wild Turkey, Double-Crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Green Heron, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Wood Stork, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Crested Caracara, Limpkin, Purple Gallinule, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Florida Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Grackle, Osceola Turkey and Boat-tailed Grackle.

By the way, Linda, our son Brandt, and I all had a wonderful time.   We loved it and have no regrets at having chosen the 2-hour trip.   It seems that the short trips couldn’t possibly get one back into the more remote sections of the county as you were able to do with the longer trip.   Thanks again.  Michael Hay

I bet you think that you’ll pick the best airboat ride in the Orlando and Kissimmee area by asking at the Guest Services desk at your hotel, resort, or timeshare… right?  Or by stopping at a Tourist Information Booth?  Well not exactly…

Many times these representatives are receiving a kickback for referring you to the airboat ride company.  A lot of times the information booth or guest services desk is actually there to convince you to go to a timeshare presentation, but we bet you’ve already figured that out!   What you probably didn’t know is that the timeshare also buys attraction tickets (like airboat rides) at a wholesale rate and then marks them up and sells them to you at retail.  The representative is going to steer you to the attraction that pays the highest commission – every single time – they are NOT being paid to recommend the best!

We know of one Airboat Company that has a very poor location, the ride is not scenic in any way.  Obviously they’re not going to get high ratings from their passengers, so you know what they did to get business?  They raised their rates by $10, so they could in turn kickback $10 to the guest services representative and/or information booth.   So for a family of four, that means you’re paying $40 more than you should so that the guest services representative can pocket $40.

At Spirit of the Swamp, we don’t play those games.  We the top rated airboat company in Florida for one reason – because our passengers think so!!  Make sure to check us out on Trip Advisor, and I hope you’ve learned just a few insider secrets that will help you get an airboat ride of a lifetime!

If you’re reading this blog, we hope you’re researching the right airboat ride company online.  This week there have been two local discount ticket attraction businesses that have had multiple employee arrests for selling fraudulent tickets to unsuspecting Central Florida vacationers.  Detectives advise that buyers should be wary of discounted tickets and they don’t recommend buying attractions tickets from anyone other than the vendor.  This is especially true of airboat companies!  So here are some more Florida vacation secrets:

Do make sure you can receive a refund! Don’t book with an airboat company who charges cancellations fees and doesn’t offer refunds.  This is especially true of weather related cancellations… Spirit of the Swamp never charges for a weather related cancellation!

Do make sure that the advertised name of the airboat company matches the web site. Don’t book with a company whose web address is different than the company name and make sure that the email address on the web site isn’t from a “free” email account. 

Big discounts can spell big trouble.  Many times they’re non-refundable and worse.  We know of one local airboat company that is charging a very high rate and then paying $10 per passenger to the local discount ticket sellers to recommend him!  Give us a call anytime to book direct, and we’ll be more than happy to make sure to answer all of your questions about our rates so that you can be sure to have the experience of a lifetime!