Central Florida Springs: Blue Spring Went From 14 Manatees to 729
In 1970, biologists counted 14 manatees wintering at Blue Spring. In 2023 the count reached a record 729. That single number is the best argument anyone has made for what Florida’s spring parks are actually for.
Blue Spring State Park
The spring holds 72 degrees, which is why hundreds of manatees move in from the colder St. Johns River between mid-November and March. Swimming season runs April 1 through November 14, so the animals get the spring run to themselves for the winter. The three-story Thursby House still stands near the river. As of July 2026 every day-use visitor needs a reservation. Six dollars per vehicle, Orange City.
Wekiwa Springs State Park
Minutes from downtown Orlando, which is the whole appeal and also the problem. The spring feeds the Wekiva River, the water sits around 72 degrees, and there is camping, paddling, hiking, biking and horseback riding on the same property. Day-use reservations have been required since September 2025. Six dollars per vehicle, Apopka.
Kelly Park and Rock Springs
Run by Orange County, not the state, and the closest thing Florida has to a natural lazy river. The water runs 68 to 72 degrees. There are no advance reservations, but there is a hard cap: 280 vehicles in the morning and another 50 after 1 p.m. In summer it fills by mid-morning, so arriving at opening is not caution, it is the plan. Five dollars per vehicle. Bring your own float, nothing over five feet.
De Leon Springs State Park
The one where you cook your own breakfast. The Old Sugar Mill Pancake House sits on the spring, with griddles built into the tables. The Mayaca called the spring Acuera, meaning healing waters, and the site later powered a sugar cane mill and then a grist mill during the Civil War. John James Audubon described the basin as about sixty feet across with the water thrown up with great force. Still 72 degrees. Six dollars per vehicle.
Planning Around the Crowds
Three of these four now gate entry in some form, and the fourth caps vehicles outright. That is what it takes to keep a finite amount of 72-degree water working for a region this size. Book Blue Spring and Wekiwa ahead, and treat Kelly Park as an early morning.
