Florida's First Theme Park Was A Total Bust In The 2000s — Now It's Part Of A Must-Visit Resort For Families

"A theme park in Florida? Groundbreaking," to paraphrase Meryl Streep's character in the 2006 film, "The Devil Wears Prada." After all, the Sunshine State is packed with theme parks: from Disney's multi-magic empire to marine life-centered SeaWorld, these sprawling entertainment venues have become miniature economies and household names. But it wasn't always this way. Back when Mickey Mouse was still little more than a cartoon on a steamboat, Florida's early-20th-century land boom drew hordes of Northerners looking for business opportunities, nightlife, and even a place to evade the law. Dick and Julie Pope, a young couple from the Midwest, opened Cypress Gardens, the state's first theme park, in 1936. For decades, it was one of Florida's hottest tourist destinations, but it also helped spark a trend that perhaps caused its downfall: As more and more theme parks moved in, Cypress Gardens struggled to keep up. It finally shut down in 2009. Today, what's left of Florida's earliest tourist attraction and first commercial theme park exists within Winter Haven's LEGOLAND, which opened in 2011.

In the early 20th century, when Florida was mostly sandy shrubland, mangroves, and pine forests, Dick and Julie Pope made their way to Winter Haven, then a small town several miles outside of Orlando. Inspired by a magazine feature of a man who had made good money charging tourists money for private estate tours, the Popes decided to try something similar. With the help of labor provided by the Depression-era federal work programs, they cultivated 16 acres of canals and swampland surrounding Lake Eloise, transforming the space into a sprawling botanical garden filled with inventive topiaries and carefully landscaped paths through picture-perfect spots among thousands of flowers from all over the globe. When the park opened, admission cost just 25 cents.

The Popes wasted no time expanding Cypress Gardens. They added electric canal boat tours, a butterfly garden, water ski shows, family-friendly rides and games, and the "Southern Belles" — women dressed in vintage formal gowns who greeted park visitors. Dick Pope became known as a master marketer, using creative films, photography, and special events to promote Cypress Gardens as a vacation destination. As residents and tourists flocked to central Florida, Cypress Gardens became known as "the Showplace of the South," and Winter Haven transformed from a naturally scenic small city into a theme park mecca. The city also became "the water ski capital of the world," thanks to daring ski shows performed at the park, which included jump stunts and human pyramids. Movies were also filmed here, including the Betty Grable musical comedy "Moon Over Miami" and Esther Williams' "On an Island With You."

At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, Cypress Gardens attracted millions of visitors annually, including celebrities like Elvis Presley, Esther Williams, Muhammad Ali, and even Roy Disney, who reportedly told his brother Walt about it after a 1955 visit. Walt Disney eventually opened the Magic Kingdom in 1971, and the Popes welcomed the move, even promoting it publicly.

In 1985, the Pope family sold the park. New owners invested millions to introduce new rides, concessions, and attractions before they flipped it to Busch Entertainment in 1989. By then, Disney had begun outcompeting Cypress Gardens, and its "out-of-the-way" location proved detrimental. Busch sold the struggling property in 1995. New ownership added a zoo, dinner cruises, and more events, but high operating costs followed by a dearth of post-9-11 tourism stifled Cypress Gardens, and the park closed in 2003. 

In 2004, the owner of a Georgia theme park called Wild Adventures revived Cypress Gardens, adding traditional roller coaster rides as well as a water park called Splash Island. Then came another setback: a devastating hurricane season that year significantly damaged the park just days after the botanical garden restoration was completed, skyrocketing costs yet again. By 2007, Cypress Gardens was operating exclusively as a water park, but it still couldn't compete with the glossier mega theme parks now crowding Orlando. Florida's first theme park closed again in 2009.

Luckily for Cypress Gardens, the developers of a brand-new venue decided to purchase the legacy park and incorporate some of its original garden landscapes into its new attraction. LEGOLAND, an imaginative California theme park and a must-visit for families, opened its Winter Haven hub in 2011, featuring not only the colorful, brick-style backdrops and kid-forward activities LEGO's known for, but also pristine botanicals and an original Banyan tree planted in Cypress Gardens in 1939. (LEGOLAND even maintained the gardens' famous water ski shows for several years, though they ended in 2024). Today, with the purchase of LEGOLAND admission, visitors can enjoy free entry to Cypress Gardens (there is no separate admission for Cypress Gardens alone as of this writing). Visitors can also take LEGOLAND's Pirate River Quest boat ride, which navigates the original canals and offers a different perspective of the botanical landscapes.

In 2026, Orlando was named one of the best summer destinations, thanks in part to the foundation Cypress Gardens helped establish decades earlier. While Florida's first theme park is no longer the standalone destination it once was, its historic legacy lives on in its rival parks and among the tranquil botanicals that started it all.