Wallaby Ranch Hang Gliding

Tired of Disney? Want some adventure? Great! Come here and take a Discovery flight, relax, have some locally prepared breakfast or lunch for a small price, enjoy their small pool. Converse with friendly people. Note: Call ahead to schedule the Discovery Flight, otherwise determine when breakfast or lunch is come and hang out!
What’s initially cool is driving through the woods to have it open up into a wide grass field area, greeted by a metal Kangaroo sculpture. Keep on driving toward the opposite end.
It’s a cool place, one I’ve been to before a few years ago, soared for a shirt while seeing patchwork of fields outside the ranch. A welcomed view as the instructor demonstrates how to climb, dive, bank left and right. Setting up for final creeps up fast and landing is a rush (so is takeoff via a ultralight airplane!)
They also record flights with a wing-​mounted Go-​Pro, and give you the SD Card to keep. If you’re still not ready to leave, relax under the trees, look at the cabins, share stories with others. Tip: Discovery flights usually occur in the mornings due to calmer winds. The experienced fliers go up in the later afternoons and don’t come down unless:
a) They can’t find a thermal to stay airborne.
b) Get hungry/​thirsty or
c) Most importantly have to use the restroom ;)

OK, so there are no Wallaby’s involved, but still a very fun experience
The Hang Gliding School offers tandem tows for new flyers and tows for experienced hang gliders. They are off I4 Champions Gate exit, and a bit difficult to find, so you may want to call for better directions than the ones offered on the website.
There is also a campground available if you would like to camp at the site and trade stories with other hang glider enthusiast.
It is a laid back environment, but safety is the prime initiative. The views from the air are magnificent. If you want to experience the weightless soaring heights, Fly Wallaby Ranch is a great option.

So, my friend and I arrived at Wallaby around nine pm on February 15^th. About an hour after getting our bonfire going we were approached by some of employees of Wallaby Ranch. The opening line by the reject carnie/​baldheaded cook whose name wasn’t important enough to remember was I heard there was some M.I.L.F.S over here!!! Really??? If you don’t know what a M.I.L.F means feel free to Google it as it is pretty derogatory to women and border line sexual harassment. When asked about the Jacuzzi the reject carnie/​baldheaded cook replied «It’s not working but I’m an electrician and can get it up and running if the women get naked… Really? Everything else that came out of this rejects mouth was of a sexual connotation. Very unprofessional to say the least and not really why we drove three hours for my friend to get sexual harassed. The next morning, we were not able to hand glide because of «bad weather conditions». So, we sat around all day with nothing to do. The pool was up and going but after the sexual comments that were made the night before my friend was pretty uncomfortable about swimming in front of the creepers. I really couldnt blame her on that one right there. When the afternoon flights were supposed to take place guess what we didn’t get to do it then either because of «bad weather conditions». Throughout the day there was no update given to us by any of the staff and we had to go and track them down to ask questions and every person there seemed to have a different answer as to what they were looking for and what times the flights would take place. Thankfully, we took our own food because the staff that cooks the food doesn’t believe in wearing shoes and likes to stir the eggs with their bare hands. I’m sure that the health board would have a field day with all the health violations that took place at Wallaby Ranch. The bathrooms were pretty unacceptable as well and I decided from first glance that I would not be taking a shower at this facility. So, after sitting there all day with zero updates from any of the staff we decided to look into something else to do and called a place down the road called Quest Air Hang Gliding. We inquired about their services and they have been flying all day. My friend and I decided that we were going to get our money back and go to this place being Wallaby Ranch was a complete joke. When we got in touch with the owner Malcolm he explained «that he was not God and can’t predict the weather». We seemed to be intruding on his down of hanging out with the rejects that worked at the facility and told us we would have to go and find Lisa to get our money back. This guy could have got off his ass and tried to make the situation right but he choose not to. We have no idea of who Lisa is and we just wanted to get out of this place and go somewhere that was more concerned with delivering some sort of customer service. I guess this is the sort of attitude that you will get when the owners dad funds the whole operation out there that sense of entitlement. It translates to I really could care less if you are satisfied or not. Not a good business attitude to take with your customers. After I received my money back we were out of there and I had to go and rent a motel room because there was no way we wanted to stay at this place any longer than we had to. The next morning we went to Quest Air Hang Gliding. The people there were amazing and went above and beyond to make the experience a good one us. If you are wanting a good experience and don’t want to be sexual harassed by the staff then go to Quest Air Hang Gliding and forgo Wallaby Ranch because the place is for the most part disgusting and the staff could care less if you have a good time or not.

This is an excellent operation. Very laid back. But very efficient. Malcom is the owner and he runs a great group. Laurie, Faye, Eric, the whole group were great. Seemed to really love the sport, the operation, seemed really genuine.
No negatives. The only bit of advice is that I rushed to get there at 7AM and that turned out to be a bit unneccesary. The morning and afternoon are best for the smooth flying that newbies, like me, need. But I didn’t need to be there at 6:45AM.
Use a GPS system to get to the address. There’s no sign. But the address was easily recognized by my Garmin. The people involved here are enthusiasts. You will have a nice time.

I highly recommend every1 try hang-​gliding once in their life. Ranking the MUST do sports:
1.) Skydiving (15k ft with backflips & spins)
2.) Fly a helicopter
3.) Hang gliding
4.) Cave jumping into the ocean
5.) Base jumping (I’m sure i’ll do this once in my life off a tall cliff)
…
998.) Bungee jumping (thrilling, but hurts your nuts a ton)
999.) Parasailing (soooo boring, I’d rather watch grass grow).
The staff is very attentive and friendly and for only $ 120 (it costs $ 275 – 300 in the Bay Area). Come at 730am for the private lessons so you can fly your own (tandem) or late night. But do check the weather and call ahead in case it’s windy out and they can’t fly.
The air up there is incredible. It’s not as a rush as falling out of a plane, but soaring headfirst into the air, while overlooking the pristine southern Orlando Swamps, Disneyworld in the distance, the sights of alligators and crocs roaming the free earth, now that is living.
It’s about a 20 minute soar and it’s very safe. Do it now or regret it later on.

Ever thought about going skydiving, but questioned the idea of waiting for a parachute to open and keep you from plummeting to the ground? Well hang gliding is just as adventurous without the worries of a parachute malfunction.
The crew at Wallaby Ranch is extremely inviting. Upon arrival, you will quickly realize that the staff and regulars that hang around the ranch are extremely laid back. However laid back they may be when hanging out, they are completely professional when prepping you for flight and throughout your soar time.
Obviously we dont have any jumping off points for launch, so at Wallaby they use ultra-​light airplanes to tow the gliders up to a couple thousand feet. Once the satisfactory altitude is reached, the pull of a single cord sets you free and you begin soaring like a bird over the Florida terrain.
I have gone skydiving, para-​sailing, and para-​gliding and I have to say that hang gliding offers the most free feeling. Your flight time lasts for 10 – 15 minutes — depending on how daring you want to be with your flight path.
Be sure to go early in the morning as the thermals pick up later in the day and can make the flights a little rough. Besides that, after they finish taking everybody up for the morning flights, they invite everyone who hangs over to their outdoor kitchen and serve up a huge buffet-​style breakfast. The food isnt too shabby and the conversation is charming.
If you are looking for something fun and interesting to do, take flight with Wallaby Ranch!