When my wife and I heard Wawa offered free tickets to Bok Tower Gardens, we signed right up for the special summertime promotion. After all, we love Bok Tower Gardens, one of the most beautiful botanical landmarks in Florida.
We also are huge fans of Wawa, a Philadelphia-area convenience store that moved into Florida years ago.
Wawa Days at Bok Tower Gardens began in the early 2020s. The Wawa free Bok Tower Gardens tickets offer usually spans from May through August or September.
The Wawa free admission to Bok Towers Gardens is generally offered on weekdays. You need to visit the free Bok Tower Gardens tickets on their Wawa Summer Fun Days page to register. You can also sign up to receive notifications for Wawa Summer Fun Days each year by email.
What It’s Like To Visit Bok Tower Gardens During Wawa Summer Fun Days
My wife and I scheduled a day off from work to visit Bok Tower Gardens during the Wawa Summer Fun Days promotion. It’s well worth it! And not just because we visited one of our favorite botanical gardens in Florida for free!
It’s also because the Wawa Summer Fun Days celebration is such an enjoyable experience. The Bok Tower Gardens and Wawa teams go all out to make sure everyone feels welcome and has a good time.
Wawa free tickets to Bok Tower Gardens often draws big crowds. But the place handles these throngs of visitors very well. And my wife and I were able to get in relatively quickly at the entry gate.
Once we drove up and parked our car, we made our way to the visitor center. That’s where we found out about a special Wawa-themed scavenger hunt… We could win a prize if we found 10 pictures of Wawa’s mascot, Wally.
“Free prize, you say?” Yes! Read on to find out what it was…
My wife and I picked up a Bok Tower Gardens map with a list of locations where the 10 images of Wally — the friendly, cartoonish Canada goose, a “wawa” in the Lenni Lenape Native American language.
Map and scavenger hunt list in hand, we were on our way for what truly shaped up to be a Wawa Summer Fun Day!
The Search For Wally
We had visited Bok Tower Gardens before, so we were familiar with the place and knew how to get around. Surprisingly, our search for those 10 Wally images pleasantly consumed our morning!
I won’t share too much about this, just in case Wally ends up in the same places when you visit. But, let me tell you, that little guy surely gets around — sometimes in places where you’ll least expect him.
When all was said and done, my wife and I found all 10 Wallys. Though I’ll admit it was a lot more challenging than either one of us expected. That certainly made it fun. And the search for Wally helped us get around to see pretty much all of Bok Tower Gardens. I’m sure that was the point.
Well, we checked off the places where we found Wally hanging out around the gardens. We even took photos of each spot where we saw him. The scavenger hunt paid off. We each scored a free Wawa coffee coupon — which we promptly used on the way home! Did I ever tell you I just LOOOOOVE Wawa coffee? (No, I didn’t get paid by Wawa or anyone else to write this post!).
Why You’ll Love Bok Tower Gardens
There are many reasons to visit botanical gardens like Bok Tower Gardens. And if you’ve never been to Bok Tower Gardens before, you’re going to see it’s unlike anyplace else in Florida. The beautiful carillon tower and its charming, chiming songs… The winding paths through lush tropical and native Florida flora… And even the views!
Yes, the views…
Bok Tower Gardens is situated on the Lake Wales Ridge atop Iron Mountain about 300 feet above sea level. It’s the highest point within 60 miles of the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf Coast between Orange Mountain, New Jersey and the Rio Grande.
Bok Tower Gardens was established in the 1920s by Edward W. Bok, who once served as the editor of the popular magazine known as The Ladies Home Journal. He and his wife, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, built a 25-acre bird sanctuary on the land to ward off mass development of the land. They also hired Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the guy who helped designed Central Park in New York City, to design “a spot of beauty second to none in the country.”
Over the course of several years, 1,000 oak trees, 10,000 azaleas, 300 magnolias, and thousands of other trees, shrubs, and other plantings were situated on the property. Also constructed was the famous focal point now as Bok Tower. The 205-foot-tall “singing tower” was designed by architect Milton B. Medary and features 60 carillon bells. It was dedicated in 1929 in an event attended by then-U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. The landmark, made from marble and coquina, is surrounded by a moat and overlooks the hillside.
Today, Bok Tower Gardens encompasses some 250 acres and is one of the most picturesque of Florida tourist attractions. It offers many hiking trails and includes El Retiro, an early 1930s estate built as a winter home for Bethlehem Steel Company Vice President Charles Austin Buck.
Visiting Bok Tower Gardens For Wawa Summer Fun Days
Bok Tower Gardens is a great place to spend a morning or afternoon. However, it’s easily possible to wile away an entire day there and not see everything.
Getting Wawa free tickets to Bok Tower Gardens? Be sure you get to the gardens early, before the crowds really get big! Oh, and don’t forget the free Bok Tower Gardens tickets promotion is offered during Wawa Summer Fun Days! So that means getting there early will help you avoid some of the infamous summertime Florida heat and humidity!
Bok Tower Gardens is located about 1 hour south of Walt Disney World and some 90 minutes east of Tampa. If you’re visiting from out of state and have kids, you might want to pair it with a trip to LEGOLAND or PEPPA PIG Theme Park of Florida, both of which are within 45 minutes of Bok Tower Gardens.
For more information about getting Wawa free tickets for Bok Tower Gardens, be sure you check out the Wawa and Bok Tower Gardens website. And be sure you register online as soon as you can so you don’t miss out on this fun opportunity to visit Bok Tower Gardens for free.