Cypress Gardens in full bloom

• Splash Island Water Park - slides and tubes plus the lazy Paradise River
• Cypress Gardens with the original Botanical Gardens filled with thousands of flowers and trees, the Plantation Gardens and Wings of Wonder butterfly house plus ski shows, concerts and the Sunshine Sky Adventure where you can get a wonderful birds-eye view of the whole park

Recent History and Financial Difficulties

Cypress Gardens has had a chequered history over the last few years and on September 11, 2006 Adventure Parks Group (APG) who were then running both Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valosta, Georgia and Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven, Florida voluntarily filed for reorganisation under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The current owners closed the park again with a view to returning it to it's roots concentrating on the botanical gardens, ski shows and the recently developed water park.

Cypress Gardens had previously closed in 2003 and was purchased by APG late in 2004 but before it could re-open, the park was hit by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne causing over $25 million of damage.

The damage caused by the storms delayed the opening and APG had been unable to reach agreement regarding a claim settlement with their insurers.

APG secured $15 million of additional funding which allowed both parks to continue operating as normal whilst APG try to resolve their financial difficulties. In the end both parks were sold, and Land South Holdings LLC now own Cypress Gardens.

Though APG were able to continue developing and restoring parts of Cypress Gardens to its former glory, it does seem to have lost some of its earlier (some might say old-fashioned) charm.

Having said that, it still makes an enjoyable visit, particularly if you like beautiful gardens or have small children who will particularly like the zoo and water park.

Late in 2004, Cypress Gardens bought the classic "Starliner" wooden coaster (built in 1963) from Panama City Beach's Miracle Strip Amusement Park when it closed. It was up and running at Cypress Gardens in mid 2007, making it the sixth roller coaster at the park and the second wooden coaster, alongside the "Triple Hurricane".

Starliner was designed by the legendary John Allen and features negative g-forces with hills, bunny hops and turns during the 2,640 foot long circuit.

Cypress Gardens had also started to develop a new children's area called "Bugsville". The first phase was opened in 2007 with 13 different rides.

The Nature's Way where you could see local wildlife including alligators has gone and Adventure Grove containing nearly 40 rides including roller coasters, steam train, an old fashioned carousel and children's rides is being removed and the rides sold off.