ORLANDO, Fla. — Strap yourself in for a ride like you’ve probably never been on before.
Imagine climbing into and operating a real-life military tank. It’s something you can actually do now, thanks to a newer attraction not from Orlando’s more traditional theme parks called "Tank America."
“When you are driving one of these 17-ton beasts around our three-quarter-mile tank trail, you are driving it through mud, we've got a 75-foot long, 4-foot deep mud hole that you get to go ripping through,” Tank America’s co-founder John Kinney said. “We've got the car-crushing experience, which is always a crowd favorite. A bunch of fun obstacles. It doesn't get any better than that.”
Kinney said his business partner Troy came to him with the idea a few years ago.
“Basically, he called me one day and said, 'John, did you know that we can buy tanks?' I said, 'I did not know that. And you definitely have my attention!'”
Turns out that buying tanks from the U.S. military is tough as a civilian, but there are far fewer obstacles when it comes to buying surplus British tanks.
“So, we've got FV-433 Abbots like we have here. And that's what we do all of our trail driving with,” Kinney said. “And then we also have a few armored personnel carriers, which is what we use our car-crushing and group events for.”
Kinney says they opened their first location on Florida’s east coast about six years ago. But late last year they decided to move their operation to Orlando, where it would be more accessible to tourists.
The experience starts with a 20-minute safety briefing which is made even more authentic by Tank America's staff.
“Most of our instructors, as well as our mechanic staff, are all veterans from various branches,” Kinney said.
All of the tanks are still fitted with 105-mm Howitzer cannons which have a range of about 9 1/2 miles.
But that's a no-go.
“Number one question that we get asked is, 'Can we shoot the canon while we are out here?' And, unfortunately, we don't have quite enough property to do that,” Kinney explained. “9 1/2 miles give you a pretty big range. So, we've got plenty of fun that you can have driving these things around, but no live firing here.”
That's still fine with folks like Matthew Dunnigan, who had traveled from southwest Florida to climb aboard.
“I love tanks and military equipment especially,” Dunnigan said. “I mean, come on, you get to drive a big machine that you only see in the movies. And you get to crash cars? Drive through a nice little terrain area in Florida? It's a guy's dream!
The experience has been popular with both men and women, Kinney says. Often, people will come here while on vacation – or team building during a convention looking for something outside the typical theme park experience.
“You know, I always say, when dad is a little tired of driving the teacups. It's time to come to Tank America. When you're tired of waiting in lines at the theme parks, it's time to come out to Tank America,” Kinney said. “We can definitely offer something that you can't do anywhere else. And makes for a really memorable time with us.”
“It was fantastic,” Dunnigan said as he climbed out of the tank.
And that, Kinney said, is almost always the reaction from novices to veterans – even former tank instructors who’ve come here looking to relive a military memory.
“When you are running over cars with a tank, when you are blasting through mud, we've got guests coming in they are covered head to toe in mud, and they are still smiling. And that's what really makes it so awesome,” Kinney said. “Both working here at Tank America and seeing those reactions from all of our guests.”
You can't just roll up on Tank America. They operate on a reservation system. 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., Thursday through Monday. Most people book about two weeks ahead of time, Kinney said, through their website.
Packages currently range from $299 - $1,299.
“The best thing about Tank America is that every day we get to see our guests come off of these vehicles, and to date,” Kinney said, “I haven’t seen anybody get off a tank without a smile on their face from ear to ear yet.”