The Everglades became a national park in 1947, and it is not one place with one gate. The main entrance sits at Homestead, with the Ernest F. Coe and Royal Palm visitor centers behind it and the road running on to Flamingo on the coast; Shark Valley has its own gate out on the Tamiami Trail. Which one you choose shapes the whole day, because they are not a short hop from one another.
Come self-supplied. Food inside the park amounts to snacks and drinks at a couple of visitor center bookstores and the marina store at Flamingo, plus a concessioner food truck, and the park itself tells visitors to bring their own. Boat tours, rentals and the campgrounds are run by concessioners and are paid for separately from the entrance pass, which is also not refundable once bought.
The summer rainy season is the honest trade-off: visitor numbers drop, but so does the programme, and the park says many ranger-led walks and talks are not offered then, while other guided tours continue. If a ranger walk is the reason a child is coming along, that is worth checking against the time of year you can travel.
