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Cypress Gardens

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Cypress Gardens opened on January 2nd, 1936, making it Florida's first theme park. Although it had remained popular through the 60's with elaborate water ski shows and family attractions, the family-owned Cypress Gardens was in direct competition with the Disney parks starting in the 70's.
Between the 80's through the mid 90's, Cypress Gardens continued to be bought and sold: Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich purchased the park along with Sea World and Circus World, but sold it to Anheuser-Busch. Busch continued to operate the park until 1995, and then sold to Bill Reynolds. Reynolds was forced to close the park on April 19, 2003, due to the decline in tourism following the terroist attack on September 11th, 2001. To many, that was to be the end of Cypress Gardens.

However, in 2004, Kent Buescher's Adventure Parks Group purchased the property, and became "Cypress Gardens Adventure Park", getting more attractions into the park then ever before. Yet, on the same year, hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne hit hard, enough to cause $30 million in damages to the park (and the park even opened the ride "Triple Hurricane" named after them!) On September 2006, Adventure Parks Group filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, though it had no bearing on the park's operation. As of January 2008, Baker Leisure Group are the new owners.

Amid the up and downs of Cypress Gardens, it remains central Florida's sweet spot: ticket prices have always been less then Disney's or Universal's. And the Southern Belles make it all worth it.

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