This is the activity I would most highly recommend in the greater Orlando area and I am so glad I stumbled onto it. Located in the middle of nowhere, it seems, about an hour north of Orlando, this compound began as a conservation effort for monkeys. They now have over 300 animals on 100 (soon to be more) acres. There are different tour prices depending on the amount and level of animal interaction involved.

I took my daughter, the cheetah lover, on the safari tour which was specially priced at $94.00. After a tour of the facilities that house the lions, tigers, lemurs, apes, monkeys, wolves, lynx, servals, leopards, bears and the occasional turtle, sloth or pot-bellied pig we began our animal interaction by petting Diggety, an 80 lb. Russian lynx. After that, we fed pineapple to a black and white lemur named Nabisco. Then on to a room where we were able to play with two three month old apes, a gibbon and a simang, for more than half an hour.

It was an amazing experience to play with these comical and adorable creatures. Clad in diapers and often with pacifiers, they play, swing from our limbs, jump to us, let us tickle them and try to investigate hair clips, cameras or bags you may have with you. Finally we moved back out to the main yard to pet our "big cat", a gorgeous spotted leopard. Several feet away at the time was Zeus, a white tiger.

I would highly recommend visiting Amazing Exotics to any animal lover. The admission goes toward maintaining and expanding the facilities to save these animals, including an accidental and unexpected leopard-jaguar hybrid, the endangered lemurs and one of only thirty-five tabby tigers in the world. Visitors are by appointment only and there was only one other couple with us, allowing an extremely personal experience. Our trainer/guide was sweet, friendly and knowledgeable and, although the price was a bit steep for this single mom, it was extremely well spent.