Orlando's Holy Land Experience

We decided to try something different this year. We decided to visit the Holy Land Experience. We see this theme park sitting just off I4 every time we pass through Orlando, so, this year we decided to pay them a visit.

What is at Holy Land? Gardens, statues, gift shops, a kid play area, and fabulous stage shows. When we arrived, we got a copy of the Holy Land park map – which was a complete waste of time. The map is horrible. We found it easier just to wander around and get a lay of the land. The park isn’t very large, so, it didn’t take us very long to figure it out.

If you like gardens and statues? Then this place is for you. We don’t like them. So, we headed straight to the coliseum, which is a 2000 person auditorium. The auditorium is incredible with a huge stage, comfortable seats, and everything you would expect a TV station like TBS to put into it. The biblical centered plays were serious and funny and heartwarming. We found ourselves crying at times and laughing out loud other times. For us, the various shows in the coliseum made the trip worth it. I believe that before the coliseum was built, they might have done many of these shows in various areas around the park, but, all the shows we saw were inside the theater. 

We did walk around and look at the rest of the park. The child’s play area is impressive and even our 13 year old was able to find some things that were fun. We didn’t realize the area included a miniature golf or else we would have played it. 

The park has various things to see, like replicas and wax statues. We enjoyed having communion, given by an actor who was playing Jesus, in a building made to resemble the 

room of the last supper.

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The park closes early. While most Orlando parks have fireworks at the end of their day, Holy Land does something different. They have Jesus near the exit providing a blessing and praying with gatherers as they head out. You don’t have to participate, but, if you stop over at the garden next to the exit, we found several dozen people partaking. 

Affordability? Admission price was around $50 per person. Parking was free. We didn’t eat while we were there or buy any souvenirs so I can’t speak to that.

 

We had a surprisingly good time at Holy Land. We didn’t know what to expect and were surprised. If I were to return again? I would set my expectations that I’ll be spending most of the day in the Coliseum enjoying the shows. I might venture out for some miniature golf or a Chick-fil-a sandwich. But the real gem are the shows they put on.