A Quick Guide to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC

A mild fall or spring day is the perfect time to visit Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC. Head to the ranch for a fantastic time! When I took my kids and mother, we couldn’t stop laughing as the animals literally poked their heads inside the car looking for food pellets. It was such a great time, my teenager even stated, “I’m having so much fun.” Anyone who has a teen knows that's high praise, indeed.

Lazy 5 is a 185-acre safari-style zoo that you can drive through with your own car on the almost 4 miles of roads through the park. If you don't want to take your own car, you can pay a slightly higher admission rate and hop on a horse-drawn wagon ride instead.

The animals come right up to your windows looking for food, which you can hand-feed to most of them. Also, near the entrance are a few more walk through exhibits as well as picnic tables and an ice cream stand.

Getting to Lazy 5 Ranch

Mooresville is about a 45-minute drive from Charlotte, and the ranch itself is no trouble at all to find. We went on a Saturday, and it was busy but not unmanageable. There is plenty of parking to see the walking exhibits, and we only waited in line for a few minutes to enter for the driving bit. It took us about 3 hours to see everything, although I think we could have stayed a tad longer if we hadn’t been melting in the 90-degree heat. (Sometimes fall in North Carolina isn't so mild.)

The park is open Monday through Saturday from 9 am until 5 pm, but you need to arrive by 4 pm to ride through. On Sundays, they open at 12 pm, same closing rules apply.

The ranch is privately owned and is USDA inspected to ensure the animals are given quality care. The Hampton family has been caring for exotic animals for over 35 years, and they strive to help in the recovery of several endangered species. You can read more about the park's origin story here.

Feeding the Animals

The animals know what’s up in this place, and they are more than happy to pop right in your window to grab at the food buckets. The llamas were especially aggressive in a super adorable way and were my favorite to feed because they were dainty eaters that didn’t slobber all over you. The deer…not so much.Write your text here...

TIP: I recommend at least 3 buckets of food for the drive. We only purchased two and had to start rationing because we were running out about halfway through the park.

Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

My mom loved the ostriches, and she couldn’t quit laughing every time she fed them. (We let them eat straight from the bucket because we like our hands without holes in them.) I am not gonna lie, it is a little bit freaky being stared down by a bird that is taller than you are. They get all velociraptor at your window.

At one point, we came upon a mini-herd of buffalo lumbering across the path. One stopped at the car window, opened his mouth really wide, and stuck out his tongue. We assumed that meant he wanted to be fed, so my teenager threw a handful of pellets in his mouth.

When the longhorn cattle started rumbling towards us, however, we chickened out and rolled up the windows. Those horns look menacing!

A Day of Animal Fun: Lazy 5 Ranch

I 100% recommend making the trip out to Lazy 5 Ranch! It made for fantastic family time, and my youngest loved it so much, there was talk of a Lazy 5 birthday party. They do offer a group rate for parties larger than 10 people, so it does seem like an ideal place to bring a rowdy group of kids.

One thing to keep in mind — Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville is CASH ONLY!!!!! So don’t forget to stop by the ATM on the way.

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