View Full Version : Cypress Gardens to close?
It is rumoured that the oldest park in Central Florida is to close down. Their website has disappeared. Shame as it had a really good water ski and ice show and lovely gardens. I guess it was just too pedestrian to compete with the bigger parks. I thought it was a quiet little haven and I will miss it.
The closure is definite. It will close this Sunday. Their website has been put back up now and gives the reason for closure to be financial reasons following a fall off in attendance after 9/11 and now with the war with Iraq. They have laid off the entire staff apart from a skeleton staff to secure the park. It will be greatly missed. They did hundreds of weddings a year. There must be some brides out there with their weddings already booked and planned who will be devastated today.
Apparently the owner of Wild Adventures, a successful Georgia theme park with thrill rides, has expressed an interest in purchasing Cypress Gardens. He said that it would not be a mirror image of Wild Adventures and would take Universal and Disney on by offering competitive prices. No negotiations with the owners of Cypress Gardens have yet been started. It is likely that whatever happens the original botanical gardens will be saved as Polk County is interested in acquiring and preserving the gardens even if the rest of the site is developed.
steph_goodrum
24-04-2003, 23:11
the way I read the article in Polk online the owner of Wild Adventures said he wouldn't try and compete with Disney and Universal as they are so successful at what they do but would try and operate a park that ran at a different pace. I must admit that was what we like about Cypress, it was a much more relaxing day out to give you chance to calm down a bit after the queues and rides of the other parks.
Trouble is that Cypress Gardens already did the slower paced thing and evidently failed to attract the crowds. I thought they did it very well too. Acedemic anyway as he also says that the owners are not answering his phone calls and may have "other plans" for the site. Let us all hope that this is not for one huge housing estate!!
steph_goodrum
25-04-2003, 02:07
I wouldn't mind betting it is Julie, the waterfront sites must be worth a bob or two. There is bound to be some big hotel chain wanting to build an exclusive resort development or something. The fact that the closure was announced on Thursday for the following Sunday makes me think there was a buyer lined up.