Florida’s oldest tourist attraction is about to become its newest. Merlin Entertainment will be building a new Legoland theme park at Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, FL. Winter Haven is about a 45 minute drive from the Orlando attractions area, assuming light traffic. But that… Read More »Legoland Official, Memo Leaks Out
Merlin Entertainment Group, a division of Blackstone Group (owner of SeaWorld and co-owner of Universal Orlando), was just uncovered by Screamscape as the purchases of Cypress Gardens. Merlin Entertainment owns the Legoland theme park brand and it has been rumored to be considering the Winter Haven historical park for some time, even before it closed last year.
I really hope that this works out. The park’s location has a lot of problems. But Legoland has made stand alone theme parks work before and Cypress Gardens does have a lot going for it that makes it a good prospect for a Legoland.
Read more about the deal at the Orlando Sentinel and the Motley Fool.
Below the jump I’ve placed a few ideas on what sort of change I think the property needs to work going forward, no matter what is built there.
Read More »Merlin buys Cypress Gardens. Can Legoland be far behind?
I really hoped that Cypress Gardens could make it. But even in the best economic climate it wouldn’t have been easy. So it was not a shock to learn today that the historic attraction has closed its doors. After a turbulent last few years, Cypress… Read More »Cypress Gardens Closes
The news that was spreading across the internet 10 days ago about LEGOland’s serious look at building in Central Florida has started to pick up steam with coverage by print and TV media. I’m hearing two rumors about the potential new theme park and some… Read More »LEGOland in Florida Rumors Grow
I’m all about keeping Central Florida as the premier theme park vacation destination in the world. So I think it’s a terrific idea if LEGO wants to build one of their themeparks here. That’s the rumor that was just posted on Screamscape. The not-so-great part… Read More »LEGOland coming to Central Florida?
Sadly the rumor I posted last week has come true. Cypress Gardens will close for four months to retool into two separate gates. The water park will grow larger while the attractions and animal exhibits will be removed and sold to other amusement parks. The… Read More »Cypress Gardens to divest itself of Animals, Attractions
The experiment that turned the beautiful, but dying, Cypress Gardens into an amusement park may be nearing an end. It pains me to write this rumor, but I completely understand the reasoning behind it. Winter Haven is just too far off the beaten path to… Read More »A Cypress Garden Rumor
By cutting prices for admission on Fridays in September Cypress Gardens actually improved attendance to the point where they had the most successful weekend in a long time. So they’re going to do it again in October. “We realize that times are tough for people… Read More »Cypress Gardens to open on Fridays for just $10 in October