Unforgettable Cypress Gardens: Banyan Tree and Bricks

Welcome back to our tour of Cypress Gardens! Now, as you may remember from last time, we had been marveling together at the water-ski show, the Southern Belles, the 8,000 varieties of plants, exotic butterflies, and a 14-foot albino python named “Banana Boy.” In other words, we had taken a stroll through Florida’s own Garden of Eden. (Although “Banana Boy” is a good boy, not a sneaky serpent!)

Perhaps the park’s greatest marvel was an enormous banyan tree that was planted as a seedling by the Popes in 1939. As we shall see, it was a tree rooted in the Florida community’s love and faith, and with roots like that, not easily moved.

However – through no fault of Banana Boy’s – not all was well in the Garden.

Withering Away?

Cypress Gardens experienced its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, but as the ‘70s rolled around, the flowers started to fade – at least in the eye of the public. They were blinded by the sparkle of another attraction: The Magic Kingdom.

Now, it should be noted there were no ill feelings between the two parks. Disney did not move to Orlando (about 45 minutes from Winter Haven) to purposefully divert tourists from the Gardens, and Dick Pope didn’t see it that way, either. In fact, Dick rolled out the red carpet of welcome in 1966, proclaiming, “We welcome Walt Disney and his brother Roy, and all of the rest of them with open arms.”¹

Although Dick had been big-hearted about the whole thing, it was evident by the late ‘70s that the Magic Kingdom was not just another roadside attraction – it was stiff competition. No matter how exotic, gentle plants and animals could not provide the thrills and spills of rides like “Space Mountain.” Dick and his successors watched as Walt Disney World not only diverted tourists but completely overshadowed the Gardens – and how was a garden to grow without a glimpse of the sun?

Uprooted

During this time of shadow that Dick and Julie retired, handing over the reins (or should I say watering can?) to Dick Jr, their son. However, despite Dick Jr’s best efforts (adding a petting zoo and a Kodak sponsored “thrill ride” called “Island in the Sky”), attendance was plummeting. Cypress Gardens had been built and grown as a tribute to Florida, representing its culture and history. Still, suddenly the state was evolving, moving forward, and outgrowing her little Garden.

In 1985, Cypress Gardens was uprooted from the hands of the Pope Family, the hands that had tilled its soil and planted its seeds, and it was bought for $22.6 million by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.² Dick Jr. said, “That wasn’t an easy thing to do,” but he made the sale with the hope of ultimately saving the Gardens because Jovanovich had “the strength and money to do things we couldn’t do.”³

Just three years later, Dick Jr. would also have to say goodbye to his father, Dick Sr., who passed away after a long illness.⁴ Dick’s passing occurred in January 1988: winter. The season when plants, too, no matter how loved, often fall asleep beneath the snow.

Attempts to Transplant

Although high hopes had been placed on Jovanovich, he, too, sold the Gardens. The sale was made to Anheuser-Busch in 1989 – another transplant in ownership. Optimism was still running high, though. Busch had more experience in entertainment and more financial capabilities to rejuvenate the park. Even professors of Tourism Studies at the University of Central Florida hypothesized that Cypress Gardens would be back in business soon. The larger amusement parks were implementing reservation policies that could only aggravate tourists and send them scrambling to more hospitable places like Cypress Gardens. Right?

Wrong. Disney only continued to grow, and Universal Studios Florida moved in, creating yet more seemingly insurmountable competition. Even for the Busch group, it was too much who “poured untold money” into paving paths and flower plantings.⁵ With maintenance fees soaring in the millions, they sold Cypress Gardens yet again in 1995 to a group of the park’s managers.⁶

Cypress Gardens tried to take root in the soil of its new management, again, and well, you probably see the pattern by now. Except, instead of re-selling Cypress Gardens, the park’s managers had to make the incredibly tough decision to close the gates on April 13, 2003. The extra decline in tourism caused by 9/11 seemed to be the final death knell for this precious American landmark as well.

I know this is super depressing. But keep reading! The clouds will part soon, letting in some sun – but not before a storm…

Branches Bending, but Never Breaking

Luckily the roots of Cypress Gardens ran deep, and they gripped the hearts of people. The “Friends of Cypress Gardens” group was created to save the park, and they raised $13,500,000 in three and half months!! It was a breath of life for Cypress Gardens, and the park was on the verge of its second chance as “Cypress Gardens Adventure Park.”
But that would be too easy now, wouldn’t it?

The new Cypress Gardens was set to open in September 2004, but a trial stood between the Garden and its new life. Not a trial by fire, but of water.

Four hurricanes struck Florida within six short weeks: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. Each storm brought its destruction to the state, Charley bringing 100 mph winds and Frances spawning 23 tornados.⁷ Like the rest of Florida, Cypress Gardens was scathed by the storms. Although the Gardens managed to reopen in November 2004, it had sustained over 30 million dollars in damage from the hurricanes, and by 2007, filed for bankruptcy. The Gardens were bought by Land South Holdings at the bankruptcy auction, then closed for good in 2009.⁸

And yet the towering banyan tree, three-quarters of a century old, was still standing; it was surveying the damage, watching the times change, and waiting for someone to rescue it and its park from obsoletion.

Its branches had bent in the hurricane-force gales, but they had not broken. They were continuing to grow, for they anticipated that they had a future.

Grafted In – and Home at Last!

That so many people and companies spent millions of dollars and an unmeasurable effort to save the Gardens speaks to Cypress Gardens‘ importance as a Florida landmark. Although the separate endeavors each ended in seeming failure, together, they managed to see the park through its darkest hours, passing it along like a baton and keeping it alive long enough to step into the sun.

The final stepping stone was laid when Merlin Entertainments purchased Cypress Gardens in 2010. This time, something was different. Maybe the name “Merlin” invoked a little bit of wizardly magic, or perhaps the Gardens had been enchanted all along. (My bet is on the latter!) But this time, the new ownership took root, and Cypress Gardens was no longer an orphaned attraction.

When Merlin Entertainments bought Cypress Gardens, they intended to use the site for their fifth Legoland.⁹ Yes, you read that right – Legoland. A manufacturer of plastic might seem at odds with plants, but with a fantastic flip of the script, plastic actually saved the environment! Cypress Gardens was not replaced by Legoland but grafted in as part of the new resort. The Gardens finally found a home in the Florida of the future.

Of course, it is not the entire 200 acres it once was, but the 30 acres remaining have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.¹⁰ That means the land is protected by state and county ownership and is carefully tended to by the employees of Legoland. Bob Gernert, the retired director of the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and periodic visitor to Cypress Gardens, said after being in the hands of Legoland, “I thought the gardens looked the best they had in years!”¹¹

The sun is truly shining on Cypress Gardens once again!

Not only does Legoland maintain the botanical gardens, but they are also keeping the legacy of Cypress Gardens. There are still flirtatious Southern Belles, but they are built of Lego bricks. Lego pirates perform a water-ski show, and there are even Lego-built zoo animals! The most tremendous respect has been paid to the original Cypress Gardens as it has been grafted into Legoland. The combination of plastic bricks and pretty plants is all the more successful for being so unique and unexpected; the harmony achieved is certainly worth beholding and will undoubtedly bring a smile to children and adults alike!

Perhaps, most importantly of all, the successful integration of brick and banyan trees will inspire a love in the hearts of those who are seeing it for the first time and warm the hearts of those who fell in love with the original Cypress Gardens when the banyan tree was but a sapling. Bob Gernert himself testifies to the fact: “For me to walk through the botanical gardens…it warms my heart because we could have lost it.”¹²

Thanks to tireless restoration work and the continued care of Legoland, Cypress Gardens is still “a destination neither words nor pictures can adequately describe…a wonderland of tropical and natural beauty,” just as reported in a 1937-38 guide to Florida.¹³ Cypress Gardens may no longer be its own stand-alone institution, but its heart – and its roots – still remain, and a fortress of Lego bricks lovingly protects them. (And if you’ve ever worked with Legos, you know how hard it is to pry them apart! Cypress Gardens is safe!)

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William Potter, a vice president of Walt Disney Co., said of Dick Pope, the man behind the Gardens: “He was Mr. Florida. The state is better because of him.” Today, the state of Florida remains a better state because Cypress Gardens still stands. So, when you visit the Gardens and sit beneath the great banyan tree, remember the stories it has to tell; not only the stories of its turbulent past, or the stories of Florida, but also the story of humankind – how one can withstand the strongest storms when rooted in love, faith, and Legos.

Cover Image

Photo: Kathryn Greenhill via Flickr

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Additional Resources in Print

Branch, Stephen E. “The Salesman and His Swamp: Dick Pope’s Cypress Gardens.” The
Florida Historical Quarterly. Vol. 80, No. 4 (Spring, 2002), pp. 483-503.