This is where it all began. Yes, it’s true, Silver Springs was running glass bottom boats before the turn of the century, but that was simply a matter of capitalizing on a ready-made attraction. In the opinion of many, the Central Florida theme park phenomenon actually began when Dick Pope carved a man-made paradise out of a patch of swampy cypress forest along the east shore of Lake Eloise to create Cypress Gardens in 1936. Most people thought he was nuts. One newspaper called him “the Swami of the Swamp.”
But Cypress Gardens soon became world-renowned for its spectacular botanical gardens and its innovative water ski spectaculars. As theme parks boomed in the 1970s, Cypress Gardens retained much of the easygoing, leisurely air that characterized its early days, relegating it to perennial also-ran status and gaining a reputation, partially deserved, as a park for senior citizens. The story almost came to an end in 2003, when Cypress Gardens closed, seemingly forever, a victim to changing tastes, declining attendance, and mounting financial losses. It looked like the park’s prized lakeside real estate would be turned into luxury home sites. But the park had its fierce partisans and the idea of Cypress Gardens refused to die.
Then an amusement park owner from Georgia decided to rescue Cypress Gardens. The results have been mixed. Purists note that many of the park’s best features have suffered due to a variety of cost-cutting measures. There is less horticulture than before, the dining isn’t what it used to be, and a somewhat cheesy amusement park has been tacked on. On the other hand, the new management has retained the robust line up of musical concerts featuring oldie-but-goodie stars and old timers can easily avoid the newer elements and enjoy the somewhat diminished pleasures of the park’s older areas. Whatever the carping of the purists, there’s still plenty here to engage visitors of all ages, just so long as they don’t come expecting another Universal Orlando or SeaWorld. Or the Cypress Gardens of yesteryear.
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