By Emily Buckley, Staff Writer
Every year people flock to Florida for its’ many attractions, but what about Florida’s attractions of the past? History plays a major role in opening and closing of Florida’s past tourist attractions. There are countless numbers of noteworthy places in Florida to visit that have slipped from scene and only live on in visitor’s memories. Disney World was not the first tourist attraction to draw visitors to the sunshine state, and it won’t be the last it may even follow in path of its predecessors.
#5 Miracle Strip Amusement Park
Miracle Strip was appropriately named, for its small size it was a miracle that it was able to hold its own against the mega-amusement parks in Florida. Located on Panama City Beach this small park looked like a traditional ocean-side boardwalks of the past. The park opened in 1963 by Jimmy Lark, he kept his park well maintained and up to date, expanding and improving. In 1990 the park was renovated with bench swings and attractive landscaping. Many rides were also added: a ferris wheel, wave swinger, merry-go-round, music express, paratrooper, Looper, teacup ride, train ride, spider, Sea Dragon, Shockwave, bumper cars, mini-enterprise, the O2 drop ride, and small scale versions for the younger visitors. The most notorious ride was the Starliner rollercoaster, it was there at the beginning of the park’s opening and it was expanded till the end. After 9/11 the tourist industry took a fall and caused the park to lose money, Miracle Strip’s last day of operation was Labor Day, 2004. The ‘miracle’ Miracle Strip lasted a total of 41 years.
#4
Storyland
Storyland was Florida’s newest and most exciting attraction in November of 1955. This new ‘mini Disney’ was full of fun toddler geared rides and entertainment. The park was designed to let children experience their favorite fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Storyland consisted of a series of mini villages, fairy tale village, monkey village, and even a Seminole Indian village. The park featured miniature rides such as a train, merry-go-round, ferris wheel, pony carts and an airplane ride. The park opened at the beginning of the first baby boom after World War 2, so as a result the park was a huge success. Unfortunately, toddlers do not stay toddlers, and the park designers did not take into account that this new boom of toddlers would eventually grow out of their small rides. As a result the park shut down in 1961 and reopened under a new owner in 1964. Florida was hit by hurricane Cleo and caused critical damage that closed the park. The park’s remains were demolished in 1964.
#3
Dupree Gardens
In the 1930’s, Tampa Lawyer, J. William Dupree’s life was changed when these two things happened to him: he bought a 900 acre estate, and he was injured in a car accident. His new property was on a lake in Pasco County near Land O’ Lakes. Recovering from his injuries, Mr. Dupree decided to take up gardening; his property was soon covered with exotic plants, beautiful flowers and tropical trees. His friends were so impressed with his artwork they convinced him to open up his property as an attraction for the public to see. Dupree Gardens opened December 1, 1940 complete with a restaurant, boat rides on the lake, and he even had a sound system installed to play classical music around his beautiful displays. His property was now packed full of plants and people. Unfortunately, World War 2 caused a drop in the tourism industry due to gas rationing and wartime priorities. First the restaurant shut down, but the park was not able to continue and was closed in the 1950’s.
#2
Disney’s River Country
Walt Disney World opened their first water park on June 20, 1976. This park was built right on Bay Lake, (if you’ve ever been to the Magic Kingdom Bay Lake is the body of water that the ferry boats cross to carry park visitors from the entrance to the main parking lot) it was designed to be an old fashioned swimming hole with natural lake water and sandy bottom. River Country’s water was filtered through a unique system, however the water was not being completely purified. Tragedy struck when an 11 year old boy was killed by a rare disease from an amoeba. Disney started opening other larger and safer water parks Typhoon Lagoon opened in 1989 and Blizzard Beach opened in 1995, but River Country still endured despite the competition. Every year, like most water parks, River Country would close at the end of the warm weather season. The last time it closed for the season park officials had every intention of reopening in the spring. Due to the attacks on 9/11 tourism dropped and Disney suffered a blow that put a hold on the reopening. On April 11, 2002 it was declared that the park would never again reopen. A change in Florida Law was made that prohibited unchlorinated water bodies from being used in water parks. Its’ last day of operation was September 30, 2001. This attraction was never demolished it still stands today, the abandoned and overgrown skeleton of the park can be seen from a boat ride to and from Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort and the Magic Kingdom.
What is left of River Country sits abandoned and reclaimed by nature. The skeleton of the park can be seen on a boat ride from Fort Wilderness Disney Resort to The Magic Kingdom.
#1
Cypress Gardens
Cypress Gardens has the most complicated and rough history of all of Florida’s attractions put together. The original founder, Dick Pope, got the idea from a Charleston man who was charging admission to visitor who wanted to view his estate’s gardens. He bought some swampland in Central Florida on Lake Eloise, and with the assistance of the WPA he was able to fill the site of the soon-to-be Cypress Gardens. With the help of his plant expert wife the park opened on January 2, 1936 (before Disney World came to Florida). Dick Pope was an excellent promoter to Florida’s tourism industry, he sent pictures north to attract the people shut in by snow. His theory was that he needed to get people to want to come to Florida before his park. The gate entrance was the eye catching incentive to draw people inside, when a freeze in 1940 killed the Flame Vine off the gate people began to leave at the sight of the dead vine on the entrance, but meanwhile inside, the rest of the park’s gardens had survived the freeze. To remedy this problem the office girls were recruited to adorn the colorless entrance, by wearing colorful, southern belle dresses. This idea worked and they successfully distracted visitors from the damage. Cypress Gardens was not only famous for the beautiful gardens, they also were famous for their ski shows. While Dick Pope was serving his country in World War 2, a water skier was pictured in the local newspaper with Cypress Gardens in the background. People started showing up at the park and asking when the water ski shows began, but they didn’t have a water show. Mrs. Pope convinced her water skiing son and his friends to start up a water ski show, and it was a huge success. In 1960 Walt Disney announced construction of Walt Disney World. Mr. Pope was thrilled, thinking that anything that brought more tourists to Florida was great and would help his business. The construction of Walt Disney World changed travel patterns, people began to go straight to their destination, Disney World, then go straight back home. Many people did not bother to drive south of Orlando to see Cypress Gardens. The park struggled to compete with Walt Disney World’s high standards by adding theme park rides, but they were still unsuccessful. In the 1980’s Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, a publishing corporation, started buying out lots of theme parks and June 1985 Cypress Gardens made their list of new possessions. After over-spending millions on their new parks, they had to sell them to Busch Entertainment (BE). BE considered closing the park down because they did not know what to do with it. Bill Reynolds, a Cypress Gardens management team member, purchased the park. The park was then designed to target retirees, but 9/11 slowed the economy and hurt the fixed-income retirees. April 13, 2003, was declared to be the final day of operation. In 2004 a deal was made with another theme park company to purchase the non-gardens part of the park. The company spent lots of money into their new project, a waterpark was added, and many new rides. In August 2004 Florida was hit by a series of hurricanes and damaged the newly constructed park, despite the trouble it still opened under financial trouble in 2006. In 2007 it was purchased at a bankruptcy auction, closed in 2008 to return to the historical gardens as the main focus. It reopened in 2009 surviving only until September of that same year and closed down again. In January 2010 the park was sold to the owner of Legoland parks, and the gardens still thrive to this day. The title of Cypress Gardens may be gone, but its long historic roots run deep.
These once huge, successful attractions have been forgotten. They no longer make the lengthy list of Florida’s tourist attractions, but these past parks give way to a new future in Florida’s tourism industry. Florida is always growing with new, exciting places to experience, founded right on its’ solid, fun-filled past.
