Cypress Gardens "Florida's First Theme Park"

2009 Teacher Appreciation Weekend - Attention All TEACHERS Cypress Gardens and Splash Island Water Park is offering free admission to all teachers on April 18th and 19th, 2009!

Come out and learn why "Why Cypress Gardens & Splash Island Water Park is the best field trip EVER", this free admission weekend you will get all of the information you will need to plan your 2009 end of year field trip and make you look like the coolest teacher ever!

Cypress Gardens allows your students to have lots of to have fun while learning! Your students will learn about Florida�s History, life in the old South, Southern Belle�s, Topiary Gardens featuring a collection of colorful topiaries, including a variety of animals such as a rabbit, swan, inch-worm and ladybug and of course the beautiful botanicals. Cypress Gardens best known for historic botanical gardens which were planted over 72 years ago. The Botanical Gardens has so much to offer including native plants and exotic species combine in a magnificent display creating a horticultural masterpiece across more than 30 acres. Standing sentinel in the historic gardens is the giant Banyan tree, which was planted in 1939 from a seedling during the Gardens� early years. The botanical gardens world-famous vista is complimented by the pristine wedding gazebo where couples from around the world continue to share their vows to this very day.

Splash Island Water Park is the place to come if you are looking for just plain fun! The Water Park has so much to offer including Polynesian Adventure a four story gigantic water play structure loaded with hundreds of interactive features, students can climb platforms and rope ladders, delight in slippery slides, shoot water cannons and take a ride on a spinning water wheel. But watch out below; the 42-foot high Tikki Head will send more than 300 gallons of water cascading over bathers every few minutes! Also in the Water Park is the VooDoo Plunge, Kowabunga Bay, Tonga Tubes, the Paradise River and much, much more!

And there are great rates for your 2009 end of year field trip!

This weekend includes

For more information please call 863-324-2111.
** Valid Teacher ID is required to receive these discounts

Make sure to visit the designated School Information Booths to book your event

If you cannot make this weekend please still feel free to contact us to book your 2009 end of year field trip e-mail dearnest@cypressgardens.com

Cypress Gardens sets March 28 as reopening date - WINTER HAVEN - Shuttered since Nov. 17 for renovations, Cypress Gardens will reopen March 28 with a former park veteran at the helm, attraction officials said today.

Bill Sims, introduced by owners Brian Philpot and Rob Harper as leader of the attraction's new management team, said Florida's first theme park will open in time for spring break.

The announcement was made during a 10 a.m. news conference at the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce building downtown.

Sims is a former executive vice president of Cypress Gardens who worked with the founding Pope family from the early 1970s until 1985, when the park was sold for the first time. He also is the former chief executive officer and executive vice president of the Silver Springs attraction near Ocala, a former executive with Weekee Wachee Spring Hill and a former state tourism representative.

Sims is president of CG MGMT LLC, which has been retained by Philpot and Harper to oversee the day-to-day operations of their Winter Haven investment.

"I cut my teeth in the entertainment industry at Cypress Gardens and learned from the best in the business, Dick Pope Sr.," Sims said in a press release distributed at the news conference. "I am thrilled to be returning."

No longer Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, the attraction will go by the name Cypess Gardens and Splash Island Water Park.

The reborn Cypress Gardens will focus on the botanical and topiary gardens along with Splash Island. To save on operating costs, the park owners have found new homes for the creatures from the attraction's former zoo and are selling and removing the carnival and adventure rides installed in 2004. Sims said 14 of the park's previous 38 rides have already been removed.

The famous ski shows and the electric boat tours also will resume operation and concerts and special events, including flower festivals, will return as part of the regular entertainment package.

The gardens and the water park will have separate admission gates and separate ticketing, though a combination pass also will be available. Sims said ticket prices will be reduced up to 40 percent off the 2008 prices.

Season passes will go on sale March 1, and the expiration date of valid season passes sold before the park closed in mid-November will be extended by four months.

Park officials said many past employees of Cypress Gardens will be contacted in the next few weeks about possible re-employment and resumption of duties.

Gardens Announce Lower Prices, More Options - DAVENPORT | Cypress Gardens will offer lower ticket prices with separate access for the water park and botanical gardens when the attraction reopens later this month in Winter Haven.

Bill Sims, Cypress Gardens' new operations director, said the park is still on track to reopen March 28 and will operate its new Splash Island Water Park through the season ending Oct. 18. Visitors can expect cheaper tickets with more options, and the signature water ski show will return for opening day.

"You will see many changes and improvements with more to come," Sims said Tuesday during a presentation at the Polk County visitors center in Davenport. "Remember, we're a work in a progress."

The new ticket schedule includes:

Daily tickets for Splash Island will be $23.95 each for ages 10 to 59 and $17.95 for children ages 3 to 9 and seniors 60 and older. Daily tickets for Cypress Gardens will run $12.95 for adults and $9.95 for young children and seniors. Tickets for both attractions will cost $29.95 for adults and $22.95 for children and seniors. Previously, daily admission to the site was $35 to $40.

Annual passes will cost $49.95 for Splash Island and $39.95 for Cypress Gardens. A combined pass for the 2009 water park season and 12-month access to Cypress Gardens will be offered at $69.95.

Current Season Pass holders will receive an extended expiration date to offset time lost to the park's seasonal shutdown in November. Cypress Gardens is not offering refunds for customers upset at the removal of rides, officials said.

Splash Island will primarily be open on weekends, but will operate weekdays during June, July and August.

Cypress Gardens, which idled about 200 full- and part-time employees when it closed in November, has since rehired more than 90 and plans to eventually have a staff of 150 during the peak season, Sims said.

Sims, the former chief at Silver Springs in Ocala, said Cypress Gardens is better positioned with its new model.

He said the park was smart to remove its rides because of upkeep costs and intense competition from similar attractions in Orlando. Sims also said the park needed separate pricing to better market itself to fans of nature attractions or water parks.

"It's a fact that the demographics are different," said Sims, a former executive vice president at Cypress Gardens who worked for founder Dick Pope Sr. from 1970 to 1985.

"Most operations around the country are two-gated," he added, mentioning the Wild Waters park that operates alongside Silver Springs.

The future of some Cypress Gardens attractions is still unclear.

The water ski show will return for opening day but additional performances will likely depend on traffic and demand, Sims said. The boat tours are scheduled to resume in the "near future," and concerts and seasonal festivals have been announced with few specifics.

In any event, county tourism director Mark Jackson said Cypress Gardens' return will be a boon during a weak economy.

"Leisure travel has really taken a hit with the economic climate being the way it is," Jackson said. "The Gardens is vitally important."