Cypress Gardens Re-Opens

Add this to our weekend possibilities: the re-opening of Cypress Gardens, the Polk County attraction that has been closed for about four months.

Part of the Cypress Gardens re-boot includes the shuttering of the rides, from small carny type attractions to the Starliner, a large wooden roller coaster that had been transplanted from a closed amusement park in the Panhandle. About half of thse rides have been sold and moved from the property but the stilled coasters, including the Triple Hurricane, remain in place. Instead, the attraction will concentrate on something old — the longtime gardens — and something newish –its water park called Splash Island. Each is a separate ticket, separate entrance (there is a combo ticket and annual passes for each).

For now, those attractions have the same features as when they closed late last year.  The park’s famed ski shows will return on a Saturday-Sunday schedule. (Saturday’s show times are 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.). The schedule could be expanded.

Daily tickets for Splash Island will be $23.95 for ages 10- to 59, $17.97 for ages 3-9 and 60 and older. And concession prices have dropped 22 percent overall.

For more information and the rest of Dewayne Bevil’s blog…please go to the Orlando Sentinel.