Cypress Gardens

[FLSharon]

Officially it's now called "Cypress Gardens Adventure Park"

The name says it all... :cry: I guess it's better than another Condo project or more housing.

Should be open early summer.. at least part of it. Regardless of what they do, I''ll be excited to go there again.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040225/NEWS/402250405/1039

[Snickerdoodlesmommy]

I'm glad it didn't stay closed permanently. Even though there isn't a lot to do there, the grounds were always so pretty.

LindaC :sun:

[HappyCamper]

Sharon:

What did they have at CG? Why did you like it?

Deb

[Rosebud]

Glad to see it will be reopened again - and at a cheaper price than when it closed. Even though they will be adding the "adventure" stuff, seems like they have plans to keep a lot the same too. In this environment it probably wouldn't work if they didn't add some rides.

Definitely way better than a condo/housing or business development!

[FLSharon]

Sharon:

What did they have at CG? Why did you like it?

Deb

Well first of all, it's an atmosphere of true serenity.. the gardens are gorgeous and being on a lake just adds to the beauty. There's little electric boats that meander thru the little canals lined with the cypress trees.

In addition to the gardens, there's lots of other things added through the years. I'm sure i'll leave out a few things but here goes... A little town "Southern Crossroads" has the restaurants, shops, a little radio museum, the buildlng with CG memoriablia shows all the movies filmed there and the various stars etc, a huge model train display, an ice skating show, "Moscow on Ice" which is excellent. In the center of Southern Crossroads is a gazebo that generally has entertainment.

And then there's the ski shows that are great!! Another section has an animal park and there's live FREE well known entertainment..oldies but goodies. The old mansion use to house a Gone with the Wind store/museum. The mansion is quite pretty (not so grand an yours tho..lol..) and sits right on the lake. Oh, the ride in the sky is pretty cool, a huge arm lifts up the big round thing that people sit around and gives a dynamite view of the park. It's so pretty at night and esp at Christmas time which brings me to....

Christmas time finds the park all lit up like WDW wiht thousands and thousands of lights and there's a huge poinsettia display and another christmas tree display sponsored by different organizations. There's tons of topiaries all over the park and some water falls too.

Lots of local people use to buy annual passes for the little water park and ride section for the little kids.

Even though lots of us baby boomers like to go for nostalgic reasons, the park could have been a success financially. Yes, it can use a face lift but, it's well known now that there was next to no marketing done for CG b/c the owners had development planned for a very long time. Blaming the loss on the slow down from tourism from 911 just fit into his pr plans nicely. He also leveled tons of old, old, gorgeous trees even tho a court order was issued not to. And what kind of person sells annual passes to retirees on the day before the announcement of the closing?? I'm on my band wagon...LOL...

So anyhow, we used to go a couple times a year.. and it's difficult to leave WDW, but when we do, we're always glad we did. However, that's only because we get to WDW several times a year. Otherwise I wouldn't leave wdw. That's why I just dont' see how they can draw the amount of people needed to justify all these millions.

Here's a link to the Friends of Cypress Gardens.. it shows a handful of pic b/c the official site isnt' up yet. :mickeyWalk:

[Snickerdoodlesmommy]

We only managed to to make it there one or twice a year as there is not a whole lot to do. Usually there are terrific discounts in the Orlando Sentinel. At least there used to be before it closed.

LindaC :sun: