The Disneylander Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 I visited Cypress Gardens once, back in 2005. I imagined it would be a quick thirty minutes, tops, to get there from Orlando. I was wrong; I don't know if it's the GPS's fault or it's just that the roads are crazy, but it took me well over an hour navigating through side streets and industrial areas. It was...interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 The most scary image that sticks with me to this date from the park came from my first of only two visits. The park was so empty, yet so understaffed that a cast member literally followed us between the different flat rides, just so that he could operate them for us. From what he explained, the ride ops were trained to work as many rides as possible in order to ensure that they could move from attraction to attraction based on guest demand. In our case, we got what felt like VIP treatment with rides opening just for us, but it wasn't something I would go back to experience again. I'm sure this practice carries over from them managing Wild Adventures. We have visited that park on days when it was so empty that they would basically "assign you a ride op." And they would go with you and open and operate whatever ride you wanted to go on. It was very, VERY strange! It never made sense to me why that park was open 365 days a year when it clearly had no visitors mid-week in January for February. I'm actually happy to see that Hershend must have also realized this was a problem and have scaled back their operating schedule to something that looks a lot more practical. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 My most scary memory at that park is walking over giant live power cables thrown all over the park randomly to try and supply power to the 'rides' area. Anyone remember that from re-opening season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 ^ yes they were insane, bigger than the speed bumps in the parking lot!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Screamscape has been tipped off about some new property ownership documentation indicating the sale of the troubled Cypress Gardens Adventure Park to Merlin Entertainment (the owners of Legoland, SeaLife and the Tussaud's group which includes Alton Towers and Thorpe Park). http://www.screamscape.com/html/cypress_gardens.htm The big shocking news of the day is that Merlin Entertainment may actually have purchased Cypress Gardens. Check out the Polk County website and do a search for “land south adventures” and you’ll find three documents at the bottom dated 1/12/2010. The first two detailing how property ownership is being transferred from Land South Adventures to “Merlin Entertainments Group Florida” while the third involves the matter of unpaid tax Land South owed, but has now suddenly been laid and the lein from the Florida Department of Revenue has been released. As mentioned above, when you search "Land South Adventures" (the previous owner of Cypress Gardens), four of the five most recently updated documents list Land South Adventures as the "grantors" and Merlin Entertainments Group Florida as the "grantees." http://ori2.polk-county.net/wb_or1/or_sch_1.asp Considering that Merlin had expressed interest in the location not too long ago, I can't say I'm entirely surprised, but the concept of a high-quality attraction in the plot still worries me. Cypress Gardens' greatest weakness has always been its location, and I'm not exactly sure that even a brand as strong as Legoland could convince crowds to drive through the residential mess that leads to the park. That being said, I can also say that I am absolutely excited for the prospect of a Merlin park in Orlando, especially if it ends up being a Legoland. Considering the amount of existing infrastructure within the park (especially the water park), I can't imagine it being too difficult to overlay the Lego theme onto some existing attractions to save some money, while spending the real money to transform this aged attraction into a destination for tourists and locals alike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imhotep Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Yeah this will work... if they invest some money in building an offramp that goes from I-4 directly to the park's front door. Bring on the fail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Locals are certainly going to be the determining factor in the success of a Legoland Park on the CG site. The park might be able to pull some people away from Orlando, but not enough to support the park. They will need to offer something that is not available elsewhere in Florida. I'm just speculating here but a single gate water park/theme park with a quality brand behind it might work. The challenge is that Legoland tickets/season passes are not cheap, so they won't be able to play up the park as a budget conscious alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I wonder what this will do for the proposed Legoland in Illinois. Nothing was finalized yet, but a tax-free incentive was sent to the state. If that gets approved, we might have two Legolands being built soon. I'm still really unsure about this park though. The park is far from the Orlando area, and given the parks track record, I don't see a park surviving there. Even if it was the size of Legoland Windsor, there just doesn't seem like enough to draw guests away from Orlando. The brand might be good, but if there is nothing else to really draw guests there, then the park will fail as has been seen with Freestyle Music Park. Basically, you can't build a major park on the site of another failed park and expect a different result. The first park failed for a reason, a lack of guests, and the same will probably happen if it is built here. They would be much better off by purchasing some land in the Orlando area. While they would be closer to the competition, they would be where everyone was. If it was in Orlando, people might be more inclined to visit rather than drive out to the middle of nowhere to visit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand why everyone thinks this place must be operated on a huge scale. I'm still picturing Gilroy Gardens East/Legoland "Lite." Is that impossible? I know the path to the park keeps being brought up, but heck, if you have a solid business plan (i.e. don't try to be something you're not), and provide quality family entertainment, people will find it. There's plenty of very successful parks in this country that are "off the beaten path." A perfect storm of Sept. 11th, hurricanes, bad owners/business plans, and a struggling economy may have derailed this place over the last decade, but there's still something unique about the property that can be salvaged with the right management and imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 ^But those off-the-beaten-path parks aren't anywhere near the largest collection of world class theme parks in the world. I think it is a problem for them. It's like Americana/LeSourdsville Lake losing out to Kings Island. All the locals wound up driving the extra distance to go to Kings Island. And Americana never had enough stuff to attract enough Cincy locals who were closer to Kings Island anyway. Have you been to any Legoland parks? They're not rinky dink operations. I wish they'd just man up and build a full scale Legoland in Orlando. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 ^ Understood. But lest we forget, CG operated in that saturated market for at least three decades. It wasn't until they got the idea to make it a "thrill park" that things went south. I'm just saying I don't think it's impossible for a unique park to exist there. I'm probably wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 ^Kind of like how Six Flags took Geauga down by over expanding it. It might be difficult to come back from that. But it's also difficult to say whether or not the original concept would have remained relevant. People certainly have a lot of great options down there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriestofSyrinx Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 But Cypress Gardens is a very unique place. I remeber going there as a kid when i still lived in Orlampa (Lakeland Fl). If it opperates as a gillroy Gardens, then we have no problem! The place is still popular with Snowbirds, and they will bring their children to see these nice Gardens in addition to Disney. But to have a Legoland there! I dont know... I guess I'm looking at the glass half full, because I really like that park, especially with out the rollercoasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capitalize Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand why everyone thinks this place must be operated on a huge scale. I'm still picturing Gilroy Gardens East/Legoland "Lite." Is that impossible? I know the path to the park keeps being brought up, but heck, if you have a solid business plan (i.e. don't try to be something you're not), and provide quality family entertainment, people will find it. There's plenty of very successful parks in this country that are "off the beaten path." A perfect storm of Sept. 11th, hurricanes, bad owners/business plans, and a struggling economy may have derailed this place over the last decade, but there's still something unique about the property that can be salvaged with the right management and imagination. Very true all around. One example off the top of my head is Knoebels, that place is waaay off the main road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Yeah, I don't think it's impossible. Certainly, "Legoland" has a great built-in identity. Even if you've never heard of their parks, you and your kids probably loved legos. What was the new Cypress Gardens' angle, anyway? We have a bunch of kiddie coasters? Trying to corner the thrill ride market might have worked better if they'd had better thrill rides--and there was no Busch Gardens a little further on down the road. Not that I thought the new Cypress Gardens was a bad park. I actually liked it. But I'm way more excited about the idea of Legoland. Maybe the GP will be, too. /Or maybe not. I'm no venture capitalist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Cow Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Woah! Alert! Alert! Holy sweet baby mama! (1/15/10) The big shocking news of the day is that Merlin Entertainment may actually have purchased Cypress Gardens. Check out the Polk County website and do a search for “land south adventures” and you’ll find three documents at the bottom dated 1/12/2010. The first two detailing how property ownership is being transferred from Land South Adventures to “Merlin Entertainments Group Florida” while the third involves the matter of unpaid tax Land South owed, but has now suddenly been laid and the lein from the Florida Department of Revenue has been released. Source: http://screamscape.com/html/cypress_gardens.htm Let the insanity begin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsterfan99 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 ^ Understood. But lest we forget, CG operated in that saturated market for at least three decades. It wasn't until they got the idea to make it a "thrill park" that things went south. I'm just saying I don't think it's impossible for a unique park to exist there. I'm probably wrong though. In the 90's things starting going south for the place. It went from just Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Sea World to 7 world class parks in a period of 10 years. Add to that Sea World adding thrills to their park, all the water parks built and Busch Gardens not far away and the place never stood a chance. Cypress Gardens time has come and gone. The idea of a garden with a ski show as it's headline attraction is over. The Legoland idea is not a bad one, but they must get deals with a shuttle service or it will never work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 ^^That information was posted on the previous page. Please make sure to check the thread before you post information that could already be present. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2010/01/merlin-entertainments-buys-cypress-gardens.html British amusement operator Merlin Entertainments Group has purchased Cypress Gardens, the venerable Polk County attraction that shut down last fall. A spokeswoman for Merlin said Friday the purchase includes the current Cypress Gardens theme park, the Splash Island water park and the adjacent botanical gardens. The sale closed Jan. 7. The price was not immediately disclosed. Merlin is the second busiest amusement operator in the world. Its holdings include Legoland theme parks, Madame Tussaud’s wax museums and the London Eye. Rumors have been circulating for months that Merlin would like to open a Legoland in Florida, which would be its second U.S. location. The company currently operates four parks themed around the toy building blocks in Carlsbad, Calif.; Germany; Denmark; and England. Spokeswoman Julie Estrada said Merlin has been working with Polk County and Florida officials on new business plans for Cypress Gardens. Details are expected to be unveiled at press conference Merlin has scheduled for Thursday. The acquisition expands the presence of private-equity colossus The Blackstone Group in Central Florida’s theme-park industry. Blackstone, which last fall purchased SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment for roughly $2.5 billion and co-owns Universal Orlando with General Electric Co., holds a majority stake in Merlin. Once famed for its botanical gardens and Southern Belles, Cypress Gardens has struggled over the last decade, enduring multiple closures and a bankruptcy. The 73-year-old Winter Haven attraction has been unable to compete with Orlando’s much larger, more modern theme parks. Cypress Gardens’ current owner, Land South Adventures, spent $17 million to buy the park at a bankruptcy auction in 2007, betting it could revitalize the park through a combination of scaled-back attractions and cheaper tickets. The bet failed and Land South abruptly shuttered Cypress Gardens in September, saying it could find no way “to keep the park running in its traditional form.” A representative for Land South on Friday referred all questions to Merlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownStreak Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 CG is about the same distance from I-4 as CP is from I-80/90 and it is also much closer to Orlando than CP is to Cleveland or Toledo- its not that far! I would like to see the park restored to its Busch-owned setting with a handful of kids' rides to keep them entertained, the boat ride through the gardens, the butterfly aviary, the great shows, and the stellar water ski show. Did they even have a water ski show before they closed last? Not every park needs to be a million dollar making mega-park. Its okay to have a small attraction that not everyone is going to come and see. If you try to stretch into too many demographic groups- you are not going to be able to run any of them to their best capacity. Look at CP- they have added many stellar rides as of late but their shows are now seriously lacking (and are all mixing into being copies of each other). If they do decide to Lego-ize the park it would be neat if they just mixed in the Mini-Land Section and maybe theme the kids rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doom1001 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Any way you look at it the park has little to no chance of surviving as the smaller traditional attraction that it used to be.It still is a beautiful park but the last couple of years have shown that the park from the 50's and 60's when Disney was not around cannot maintain enough visitors unless a major change is made.In my opinion one of two things is going to happen,Merlin will build a Legoland and will have success bringing in people with advertising,offering a shuttle service to simplify the process of getting there to the millions of people visiting Orlando and eventually 3 or 4 years down the road Legoland will just mesh into another Central Florida attraction where hundreds of people daily will make the drive down there without thinking about it.On the other hand if it doesn't work the only other viable option is for Winter Haven to make it a city park with only a few employees to maintain the site.An example of where something similar happened is when Parrot Jungle in Miami left the Village of Pinecrest to move to an island just off the Macarthur Causeway about 2 minutes before you enter South Beach.The old location in Pinecrest was beautiful,lush full of trees and gardens,where they moved to not so much,sure it is next to the water and they added trees to make it as nice as they could and in maybe 20 years it might have the same lush look similar to the old location,but one thing I guarantee you is they're getting waaayy more visitors 2 minutes from South Beach and charging higher prices as well than when they were located in Pinecrest which is tucked away in south Miami Dade county.I visited Pinecrest Gardens,where Parrot Jungle used to be about a month ago and I think I saw two employees,one cleaning and one charging $3 to use the water play area for kids,there was no charge to enter the gardens and there were maybe 10-15 people inside the gates.They're probably getting hundreds to visit the new location daily charging $30 a head and parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriestofSyrinx Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 CG is about the same distance from I-4 as CP is from I-80/90 and it is also much closer to Orlando than CP is to Cleveland or Toledo- its not that far! I understand your angle, but no. It is SOOOO much easier to get to CP from the Turnpike than it is from I-4 to CG. Plus People alredy know that CP is a resort destination, and dont mind driving through the slums of Sandusky to get to the point. Driving through the slums of Winter Haven is a bit different. And its not a resort destination, its more of a side trip of sorts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpengeist04 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Actually, it's really not that hard to get to Cypress Gardens from I-4, if you take exit 55. You drive 25 minutes south on route 27, then turn onto Cypress Gardens Blvd. , and it's less than 10 minutes from there. Once you get off I-4, it's really only one turn. ...Not really that difficult, but it does take a little time. With that said, it still wasn't worth going to the old Cypress Gardens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriestofSyrinx Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 ^ I did not mean to slander your city. But as for every Polk County city, It all has it slum parts. (I used to live in Lakeland) But I still dont see why or even how Merlin/Blackstone can turn this into a major park. It needs to be a side show like Silver Springs in Ocala. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam06pr Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Do any of you think Merlin may not want to put a Legoland...maybe they want to do something different? You never know. But I am sure it would not work out if it was not a Legoland park. A legoland brand has a much better chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpengeist04 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 ^^Trust me, no offense taken. I live on the outskirts anyway. Actually, I live closer to Lake Wales (near route 27) than downtown Winter Haven. As for Cypress Gardens, I think their best bet is to just keep the gardens, ski show, and water park. ...The rest is just a waste in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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