Cypress Gardens – one step closer?
by Kemp Brinson
UPDATE: Ask and you shall receive! From a helpful commenter, presumably related to the Gardens’ PR firm:
With only a little more than three weeks having passed since work started, I can assure you that the modifications are numerous behind those fences. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Consider my skeptical look to have melted away into a pleasant anticipatory smile.
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Original Post:
So apparently the new part-owner, Bill Sims, announced the pricing and hours for Cypress Gardens this morning. They’ve been saying it will open up again at the end of March, and the new target date is March 28. My observations are, however:
1. The website is unchanged.
2. There doesn’t appear to be a whole of work going on at the park in furtherance of the previously announced improvements.
What’s the deal? Supposedly the parking area needed to be moved. I would think some fences or other attractive barrier would need to be erected to hide the now-idle portions of the park from guests. And I would expect that the whole thing would need a little sprucing up. Where are the crews getting this work done? Wouldn’t you want some funky, cool buzz-generating website feature long before now?
Cypress Gardens, I’ll take your word for it until you announce something different, but please consider this a slightly skeptical and confused look in your direction.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m behind you 100%. When you do open, I’ll be there. I’m just having difficultly matching what I’m hearing with what I’m (not) seeing. I would love to be wrong.
Kemp,
Seems the party of the first part (web developer) is not releasing the files to the party of the second part (web developer that I am confident would make this shine) at yet. Stay tuned. We are hopeful.
Beautiful! Glad to hear there is a reasonable explanation. It’s easy enough to get your domain back, get another host, and put up a pretty splash page. I’m sure party of the second part is aware of that…
In any event, I would sure feel a whole lot better if I saw somebody moving dirt and paving a parking lot out there. Clearly whatever happens on March 28 will not be the final version, more like Cypress Gardens version 3.0 beta. My little girl has been begging me to take her to the water park all winter. We’re ready to go!
It’s exciting news about Cypress Gardens reopening and those of us who have watched the progress over the past three weeks are amazed at the work being done. I would like to address your observations, which are completely valid.
1. The Web site: You are correct. There has been no change, although this is not for a lack of trying. There have been major technical issues with the current site, and though an “updates coming soon” page could have alleviated the current situation, the decision was made to hold off in hopes of the situation being rectified. No, it hasn’t happened yet, however, the management team is aware of the urgency of this situation and ask for patience.
2. Though from outside of the fence it appears work is not being completed, this is furthest from the truth. All of the carnival-type rides have been sold or moved to a closed area of the property. The fence hides the activity taking place on the property, but please know that there is extensive work being done. Additionally, more than 40,000 annuals have been planted in the Botanical Gardens and all of the water rides in Splash Island Water Park are being resurfaced.
The parking area being moved is to fulfill the vision that Mr. Sims has to restore the park as closely to it’s original state as possible. Of course there are differences, though the parking area around the circle is an element that most people remember from the past. It will allow the guests of both parks a substantially shorter walk to the entrances of the parks.
With only a little more than three weeks having passed since work started, I can assure you that the modifications are numerous behind those fences. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.