“With visions of Billy Crystal in City Slickers and derisions of Texan oil field grandeur biting hard, I set about booking a long weekend at Westgate River Ranch to saddle the bridge between theme park frenzy and beach serenity in the middle of our Florida holiday. And I wasn’t disappointed. Westgate is no fake outpost to draw in the tourists, it’s a genuine working ranch in the thick of the central swamplands which draws a crowd of locals every Saturday night for the all-American rodeo. Either side of the rodeo, we divided our time between horse riding, swamp buggy rides and airboat trips through the wetlands. And by the time we saddled up and rode out of town (in the hire car) I felt I had truly earned my spurs.”
- Stuart Roach, Mickey Mouse’s Florida Challenge, The Wokingham Times, May 27, 2009