Confirmed. Cypress Gardens will now be Legoland Florida.

[Chitown]

Very good news!!!! Legoland Florida?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/a ... 2259.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[onyxhotel08]

Legoland is the coolest...good for them

[Chitown]

Cypress Gardens will now be Legoland.

Legoland Florida

[monsterfan99]

I wish them the best of luck. They will need it was getting people to actually drive there. Hopefully, they get the FL government to build some type of highway to the park.

The amazing part is this is the first major theme park in Orlando to open in 11 years, the longest drought without a new park since the Magic Kingdom opened. Yes, I know this is a rework of an old amusement park, but I expect this to be nothing like Cypress Gardens.

[Ilovthevu']

So, now Merlin owns Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World, and Cypress Gardens? It says Blackstone got Merlin. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-132681542.html

With that, I think this is work out just fine. I've been to Cypress Gardens 2 times before, and I thought it was around 30 - 40 minutes away from Walt Disney. Busch Gardens though isn't that close either, and they raking in the people. I think it has to do with it being unique enough, and advertised wonderful.

Cypress Gardens to me was advertised (when it was) on those billboards as a Gardens whereas when I see those Buch Gardens signs, I see Sheikra, and other roller coasters, and maybe a Giraffe here and there. Cypress Gardens had poor advertising, and the rides at the park were nothing big and spectacular. They had some nice carnival rides like Power Surge and the Yo-Yo, but the roller coasters weren't B&Mesq, but more on cheaper side.

So, I think Legoland would hit a homerun. They would have tickets for Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa (as they do already), and than have Legoland on that ticket, and that would just help Legoland get in the door without much advertising, but I still think they need to do that. To me, Winter Haven is a senior type of town, and to get the tourists you have to advertise near Disney / Universal at least on those billboards.

[monsterfan99]

^Most of Cypress Gardens problems had to do with location. It was too close to Orlando to be a first (or even 8th) choice of theme parks but too far away to draw in Orlando visitors. Had Cypress Gardens been closer to Miami or Jacksonville, it might have survived.

Legoland is at least learning from the mistakes of when Cypress Gardens became the adventure park. Putting in crappy carnival rides and off the shelf family roller coaster will not work in FL. Theme and the guest experience comes first over the rides. It should be interesting to see what changes are made to the water park when it re-opens.

[MForce4ever]

I think this is a great idea, it should give Cypress Gardens something to set them apart from just being some other park to dump money into (from the tourist perspective)

[Ilovthevu']

I was wrong. They were talking to the pr lady on a podcast, and they asked her if they would do some promotion with Busch Gardens and Sea World because Blackstone is part of Merlin, and she said NO. So, I think this park if it advertises a lot, they will still do good, but they must advertise around the Disney World area.

It seems obvious but they need to advertise the Lego part of the park in the billboards at least. They say they want to keep the gardens. To me, Cypress Gardens had terrible billboards around there, and than they decided to take out brochures out of the hotels which was another idiotic move.

[monsterfan99]

^ That was something I was confused by with Julie (pr person's) interview on In the Loop. They are making a huge mistake by not teaming together with Sea World, Busch or even Universal. Just because Merlin is a different division of Blackstone, there is no reason they should not team up.