When Walt Disney World opened its gates in 1971, it transformed Central Florida from a sleepy citrus area to a world-class tourist destination. Naturally, other attractions soon sprang up all around, seeking a piece of the tourist pie. For the area’s older attractions, owners hoped that the sudden spike in tourism would mean a boost in their own revenues.
In the first few years, business was good for everyone. However, as Disney opened new parks and entertainment options, many visitors began viewing it as a multi-day destination resort, and stopped venturing off property. As the ‘70s and ‘80s gave way to the ‘90s and beyond, many local venues simply couldn’t compete. Here is a look at 3 once-prominent, now closed, Central Florida attractions.
1. Six Gun Territory
Opened in Ocala in 1963, Six Gun Territory was one of Central Florida’s top tourist destinations. The 200-acre recreation of a Western town was the brainchild of R.B. Coburn, who had found success with the similar Ghost Town attraction in North Carolina. The meticulously recreated town included 40 buildings and even a faux mountain. Shootouts, bank robberies, and train ambushes happened multiple times per day. With a low admission fee, it was a popular spot for visitors of all ages.
By the time Disney came to Central Florida in 1971, however, times were changing. Once dominant in prime time television, Westerns were becoming passé. Ocala is an hour and a half from the Disney area, and visitors simply had no desire to make the trek to what they now considered an outdated attraction.
In 1984, Six Gun Territory closed for good. Many of its assets were moved or sold, while the rest of the site was bulldozed two years later, and eventually developed into a shopping plaza. A sad ending for a once must-do attraction, yet the legend lives on. A reunion is being held at the Kirby Family Farm in nearby Williston in September 2015. The event is open to the public, and will include meet and greets with some of the Six Gun Territory gunslingers and can-can girls.
2. Circus World/Boardwalk and Baseball
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus developed the first new theme park to compete directly with Walt Disney World. In 1973, they erected a circus tent and IMAX theater on Highway 27 near Interstate 4, and announced that a circus-themed park was coming to town. Circus World opened in 1974.
Though the park was clean, well-staffed, friendly, and unique, it never managed to become profitable. Although the area has now built up a lot, in the early 1980s, it was really the middle of nowhere, and it proved tough to draw tourists away from the tourist corridor that ran from Walt Disney World northeast into Orlando.
Mattel sold the park to developer Jim Monaghan in 1984, for the bargain price of just $10 million. Monaghan tried hard, and might have made Circus World a success, if not for textbook publisher Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ, now Harcourt). HBJ was on a theme park buying frenzy, and in May 1986, they made Monaghan an irresistible offer. The park closed without warning, leaving employees and ticket holders alike to learn what happened only when they showed up the next day.
HBJ wanted a new name and a new theme, so they shuttered the park for almost a year. With the animals and circus elements gone, the park reopened on Valentine’s Day 1987 as Boardwalk and Baseball, complete with a turn of the century look and a new baseball stadium. However, the same problems that had plagued Circus World also affected Boardwalk and Baseball. Meanwhile, HBJ successfully fought a hostile takeover attempt, but the battle left the company in serious debt.
In 1989, HBJ sold its theme park assets to Busch Entertainment Corporation, which already owned Busch Gardens Tampa. Busch kept Boardwalk and Baseball open until the following January. On January 17, 1990, the park closed without warning in the middle of the afternoon. Some assets were moved or sold, the rest demolished. The site sat empty until it was sold to a developer in 2001, and re-opened as a shopping complex in 2008.
3. Cypress Gardens
The brainchild of consummate promoter Dick Pope, Cypress Gardens opened as a botanical garden in 1936 and grew to become Florida’s first theme park. Pope worked tirelessly to promote both his attraction and Florida tourism in general, and many of the park’s most beloved elements were crafted out of necessity.
For example, a freeze in 1940 left visitors without much to look at in the vital front section of the park. So Pope hired beautiful young women to put on old-fashioned dresses and serve as a distraction. Thus, the legendary Southern Belles were born. Likewise, Cypress Garden’s famed water ski shows came about because a local newspaper published a photo of a random water skier in the park, and people began to call and ask about the ski show.
Pope also wooed the film industry, and his park was featured in both short films and feature productions starring Elvis Presley and Johnny Carson, among others. But the Hollywood name most linked with Cypress Gardens was Esther Williams, whose signature Florida-shaped swimming pool was built at the park for her 1953 film, Easy to Love.
Pope welcomed Walt Disney World to Florida, believing that increased tourism would be good for all, but Disney visitors typically excluded Cypress Gardens, located an hour away in quiet Polk County, from their plans. Nonetheless, the park flourished as a local spot, particularly with Pope’s tendency to give out free tickets to local hospitals and charity organizations.
Pope and his wife retired in the early 1980s, turning over control to their son, Dick Pope, Jr. But when HBJ came along with a tremendous offer in the mid-80s, Dick Pope, Jr. accepted. It was the beginning of the end for Cypress Gardens.
Despite several changes in ownership, and the addition of numerous rides along with a water park, Cypress Gardens never returned to its glory days. In 2011, it became part of the Legoland children’s theme park chain, although parts of the original botanical garden were retained along with Lego tributes to some of Cypress Gardens’ most iconic elements.
Of course, Central Florida is littered with the remains of good attractions that simply could not compete with the Disney juggernaut. What were some of your favorites? Which now-lost attractions do you wish you could visit today? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
