WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – All good things come to an end.
For water skiers, being able to ski at Cypress Gardens is like a baseball player pitching at Yankee Stadium, said Mark Jackson, the director of Visit Central Florida who skied at the historic Winter Haven Park throughout the 80s.
“For me, it was a true honor to ski there. You’re performing in front of thousands of people, four shows a day, every single day, rain or shine,” Jackson said.
For now, you can find a variation of the historic production at Legoland – Brickbeard’s Watersport Stunt show. But that ends Dec. 30.
A spokesperson for the theme park said the decision to no longer run the attraction wasn’t easy to make, but the park is excited to make way and open a SEA LIFE Aquarium in the spring.
“While we cherish this legacy, we are listening to our guests, and our focus is on introducing new and dynamic experiences to continue creating family memories,” a Legoland spokesperson said in a prepared statement.
The water ski show holds the title for the longest continuous entertainment production in the world, Jackson said. It started in the early 40s, at Florida’s first theme park – Cypress Gardens.
When the founder of the park, Dick Pope, went off to war, his wife took over operations. Jackson said some soldiers heard about a ski show and asked Julie Pope when the next one was.
“Pope rounded up her kids and some of her friends, pulled them out to the park and just started skiing for these soldiers, and it just blossomed from there,” he said.
The attraction was so popular it led to Winter Haven becoming the water ski capital of the world, Jackson said. Millions of visitors would watch the talented skiers and “Aquamaids.”
“The Olympic Committee, governing body of the sport of water skiing is based here, because of Cypress Gardens, the only water ski museum in the world is based here ... it’s a huge industry here in Polk County,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile, in 2003, after over 60 years of entertaining guests, Cypress Gardens closed. It was sold to the owner of the Georgia-based theme park Wild Adventures in 2004, Jackson said. The new owner sold it to an attorney – a land developer duo in 2006 – which then led to Legoland opening here in 2010, he said.
“Bringing in Legoland was certainly nothing short of a blessing, and they have increased the attendance, almost 2 million people a year go through there, he said. “It’s been a real boost to the Winter Haven and Polk County economy.”
However, there is still a group that continues this legacy – the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team. They host free water ski shows the third Saturday of each month at Lake Silver.
All in all, Jackson said he has mixed feelings about the ending of this show, but he understands it was a right decision from a business standpoint.
He said it is costly to run the attraction, and it wasn’t producing a solid return of investment. He also noted that for theme parks to stay relevant for consumers, there needs to be evolution.
“The ski show was a very expensive attraction to operate, and even though it’s very entertaining, everybody loved it in the historical roots are phenomenal, going all the way back to the 40s ... well, attractions evolve,” Jackson said.