Cypress Gardens closes today

[ellie]

Cypress Gardens has been finally closed today. It was taken over by the Baker Leisure Group who had big plans to revamp it and make it successful, but they have finally had to call it a day. We never managed to visit what we heard were beautiful gardens, but it must be a sad day for all involved.

At one time they had animals as well, but these were rehoused some time ago.

It must be difficult for a small attraction to maintain the sort of numbers necessary to make it viable, with the 'big boys' like Disney and Universal having a seemingly bottomless pit with which to improve and upgrade their parks. Being some distance from Orlando must also have been a problem.

A piece of Florida history will certainly disappear today.

[Steve]

It's a shame that after several attempts to revive it, it has failed. I suppose that years ago when there was not so much to do in Orlando, places like this got a larger slice or the tourist action and now there are so many things to do closer to Orlando and along with the credit crunch it wasn't to be.

[ellie]

Yes, Steve, I think you are right, the distance might have put people off, and it also had the reputation of being for 'oldies.' Nowadays people want excitement, entertainment and lots to do, and sadly, Cypress Gardens could not keep up with this. I wonder what will happen to the beautiful gardens.

[pbensur]

I feel so bad that I never got to go there. We kept saying we would go on our next trip and we just never fit it in. I too wonder what will happen to the gardens - such a shame.

[ellie]

We never made it either, Patty. I would think that gardens as large as these would be very expensive to keep in good condition, so unless someone has a huge amount of money to invest in something that has, in recent years, been largely unsuccessful in making money, then I suppose it will just get overgrown. Sad, really.

[Mary and Colin]

We to are guilty of not visiting. We were told how lovely the park was and the gardens flowers were amazing. As always time seems to have run out on us. Such a shame.

Mary

[pbensur]

Word is out that Cypress Gardens was purchased by Legoland.

[Mary and Colin]

Heard this to Patty. Lets hope they bring the gardens back to what they once were.
I also heard they were looking for a place to built a leggoland, so half gardens and half leggo would be great.
Fingers crossed.

Mary

[pbensur]

That would be great and I've promised myself that we WILL visit next trip!

[lizpaterson47]

after 20 years of visiting Orlando we finally made it to Cypress gardens in September 2008. It was a great day out particularly if you had small children with you who get restless waiting in line for some time, our grandson who was 2 at the time had a ball and we did too no long lines and a very pleasant day was had by all 12 of us. I must admit that we do not visit the parks much any more and only did so because we had family members with us who wanted to see as much as possible but were a bit disheartened with the long line at disney.

Great time had by all

[pbensur]

Word is that Legoland will open in 2011 and it sounds like they will keep the gardens.:)

[JAF]

They aim to open the park by the end of 2011 and it will be the largest Legoland in the world.

Merlin Chairman Nick Varney said plans for the park included an amusement park, with rides aimed at children ages 2 through 12, and a Miniland, which will feature miniature recreations of Florida landmarks built entirely with LEGO bricks.

Varney also confirmed there were no plans to touch the gardens that have been part of Cypress Gardens, Florida's first theme park, for so long.

[Mary and Colin]

Oh this sounds great. Something to look forward to.
I have heard so many nice things about the gardens i can't wait to see them.

Mary

[ellie]

A great addition to the attractions already available, and something completely new and different.

[pbensur]

Definitely new and completely different - this will for sure be an additional draw to the area. I believe the only Legoland in the U.S. is located in California (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), so the majority of Americans will never have experienced Legoland.

[JAF]

There is Legoland Discovery Centre in Chicago which is probably a scaled down 'experience'. They are also going to open one of these in Manchester in March.