Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers

Tour director funny, funny guy. Interesting place. More history than I could take in. Beautiful grounds. Pleasant. Very relaxing. Cheerful employees. Somehow attracts down to earth touristas from around the world. Wanna go back. Encourage you to read about place before first visit. For you gear heads, ditch first tour so you can tour museum unencumbered.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY GREAT! INFORMATIVE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY AND PLEASANT TO TOUR. HAVE BEEN SEVERAL TIMES.CHRISTMAS TIMES IS ESPECIALLY MAGICAL WITH ALL THE LIGHTS AND GARDENS SO NICELY MARKED.

I loved the historic homes. You may go at your own pace, but if you want to view the lab, you'll have to wait for the tour guide. It will be posted when the next tour is. The giftshop has great gifts and you can also buy plants that have been grown on the property. The only drawback is that it can be very hot in the summer!

We visited with my family in July 2005 and really regretted it! It cost $16/person for admission and was not worth it! The tour involved an uninteresting walk past the Edison winter home (which was under rennovation so you couldn't go inside) and tiny Ford home. They didn't even give a tour of the Edison laboratory and I learned more history from the museum that adjoined the gift shop. In my opinion, the best part of the experience was looking at the plants and trees on the estate which included an amazingly huge banyan tree (largest in the US, 2nd largest in the world) and the interesting trees (pond apple, mango, lychee, hanging sausage, bamboo) that were scattered through the estate. Aside from pointing out a few of the trees, the tour guide didn't cover these. This attraction is historic, but is not run by the national park service! And the fee they charge is ridiculous. Unless you're a huge fan of Ford or Edison, I'd give this a miss!