Today my wife and I went to Cypress Gardens.  The last time we visited I was pretty disappointed, the park was run down.  We were extremely pleased with what we found this time. 

The park has has a rich history that started more than 72 years ago and it has been billed as Florida’s first theme park paving the way for the likes of Disney and Universal.  Julie and Dick Pope founded the park and the botanical gardens in 1936.  The gardens became a backdrop for beautiful southern belles and many movies and advertising campaigns.  Familiar Starlets who have walked our paths include: Betty Davis, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, Esther Williams and Elvis to name just a few. Proclaimed the Water Ski Capitol of the World, Cypress Gardens became the birthplace of performance water skiing in 1941.

Over the years the park ownership has changed hands a couple of times.  With competition from the larger parks attendance dwindled and a decision to close the park came in April 2003 after the severe blow to the tourism industry on September 11, 2001.

In 2004 Kent Buescher, owner of Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, GA became interested in purchasing the park.  In the spirit of the Pope family who initially built the park, Buescher signed a historic deal in 2004 with state and local governments to save the attraction.  Now there are rides, Splash Island water park, a concert venue, historic gardens, animals, the famed Southern Belles and world-famous water ski show.

Here are a few pictures of the ski show and few sights from the garden.  Also, one of Nancy taking a picture of me photographing the ski show.  It would have been good to have my zoom lens but I wanted to travel light.