Another great draw of Cypress Gardens is that there is a water park within the grounds.  Like the dry side, there were no queues at all.  After spending almost an hour waiting to ride Summit Plummet and the like at Blizzard Beach, climbing the steps and then just getting on the 2 kamikazee slides, and a handful of tube slides (both with and without rings to sit in) was a new experience.  For younger children, there is a great pool area with lots of slides and waterfalls.

For the less energetic, there is a Lazy River and a wave pool.  Lockers are available for rent.

There were dozens of unoccupied sunbeds, but shade was a little more difficult to come by.

With the water park, it’s possible for you to set up a ‘base camp’  and let the kids wander around on their own, safe in the knowledge that they can get to you quickly, should the need arise.

Another attraction of the park is the water ski show.  All the acrobatics you would expect, made to look easy.

I’m not sure if it happens all year round, but when we visited in mid August, they were giving a second day’s entry free.  You just go to customer services and they exchange your ticket for a second one that can be used on any of the next 6 days. 

So, for $40, you get 2 days in a theme park / water park with virtually no queuing.  This however could be the downfall of Cypress Gardens.  They can’t possibly sustain a park with so few visitors.  Is it worth avisit?  If you have bought a set of Disney / Universal tickets, its probably not worth paying out the extra for a park that lacks the style of the Orlando parks.  If you’ve done the other parks to death, and especially if you have younger children who like the more gentle rides, then the 45 minute drive down Highway 27 could be worth a try.  The drive time will be more than made up for in the time you don’t waste queuing, and anyway, for $40 you can’t go that far wrong, especially if you get a second day free!

Cypress Gardens was the original theme park and opened in 1936.  It was famous for its wonderful flowered gardens and the Florida Belle ladies wearing their ‘Gone with the Wind’ dresses and the famous water ski shows.

However, due to lack of custom, it went into liquidation in 2003.  Fortunately, it was purchased and it re-opened in December 2004, still showing the Florida Belles and water skiing but also with many new rides.

We have been holidaying in Florida for quite a few years and have done Disney and Universal many times and so decided to give Cypress Gardens a try.

The park is open for 362 days a year and only closes at Easter and Christmas Day.

The park opens at 10.00 am and closing times vary depending on season.

First of all we were really surprised by the prices - around $40 per day and quite often you can get a second day free.

Getting there was easy, South on Highway 27 and just a few minutes along County Route 540.

Parking was very easy as the car park is very big.  No queuing like the larger parks.

The rides are not as large as some of those at Disney or Universal BUT when we visited Cypress Gardens there were no queues at all.  Our two children literally walked onto every ride within 2 minutes.  They loved it and went on ride after ride again and again.

The main roller coaster is a real old fashioned wooden ride called Starliner and is really great.  It has eight up and down hills and a 65 foot drop.

There are also a couple of other roller coaster rides as well such as Triple Hurricane, Swamp Thing, Fiesta Express and Okeechobee Rampage.

Storm Surge and Wave runner are two water rides which are good fun and fortunately you do not get too wet.

In total there are around 36 rides varying from rides for the very small to rides for teenagers.

There are several places to eat ranging from kiosks selling ice cream to cafes selling coffees and pizza etc.  Prices are pretty good too.

One good thing too about Cypress Gardens (in my opinion) is that there are not loads of gift shops tempting you to spend your hard earned money on cheap nick nacks.

The staff were very friendly and always very obliging.  In particular was the bumper car man.  When our two boys went on the bumper cars, there were hardly any people on them.  The whistle blew to stop the ride around every five minutes but after a while, he just asked the boys if they wanted to carry on without the stopping.  They of course said ‘yes’ and he let them ride around for over twenty minutes non stop - absolutely wonderful for them.  We really appreciated his friendly attitude.

We all had a really enjoyable two days at Cypress Gardens and can highly recommend it as an alternative to other parks.