Circus World (theme park)


Circus World was a theme park built north of Haines City, Florida in Polk County, on the south-east corner of the intersection of US 27 and Interstate 4. It was originally a property of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Combined Shows Inc., and was intended additionally to be the circus's winter headquarters as well as to have the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and its museum located there.

History

Circus World plans, which did not change by opening, were announced by Irvin Feld as a project of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in September 1972. Plans included a 19 story elephant-shaped hotel and Barnum City, a state-of-the-art residential community. These items and some of the other items were never built, but the plans did not change until after Mattel sold the theme park.
Circus World Showcase, its preview center, had its groundbreaking on April 26, 1973 with building contractor Mercury Construction Company of Haines City. The showcase was due to open in December 1973 when Mattel placed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Combined Shows Inc., including the park, up for sale. Venture Out in America, Inc., a Gulf Oil recreational subsidiary, agreed to buy the combined shows in January 1974, and the opening was further pushed back to 1975. While the Circus Showcase for Circus World opened on, Venture Out placed the purchase deal back into negotiations, and the opening of the whole complex was moved to an early 1976. Early added rides included the Zoomerang and the Hurricane. Attendance topped out in 1979 at 1.3 million then began a slide for seven years. In 1980, the theme park made a profit.
Mattel sold the circus back to its previous owner, Irvin Feld and other parties in 1982, but kept the park, further expanding it with shows, rides, and a new roller coaster.
Attendance declined for five straight years when Mattel agreed to sell the park to Jim Monaghan in 1983 and which was finalized in 1984. Monaghan nicknamed the park Thrill City USA and made his objective to have the park be a world-class theme park. He added nine major, European-built thrill rides and six youth rides.
According to Funways Holidays reports Circus World developed a big problem with the opening of Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in late 1982. With most tourist taking a full four days visiting Central Florida, Disney World added Epcot to its passes, resulting in three days being filled, thus tourists usually only had one day to visit other venues and usually selected Sea World, Busch Gardens and/or Wet 'n Wild over Circus World.
In February 1985, Circus World started putting up for auction with Guernsey`s auction house vintage objects and exhibits including a 1921 original Marcus Illions Coney Island carousel and Gargantua II. These items did not add to the park's draw of attendees per Monaghan. The park made a profit in 1985.
Monaghan sold the park for stock to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich on May 10, 1986. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which had just bought several parks including the SeaWorld parks and Cypress Gardens, had a new idea for the area and closed the park at opening time that day to rebuild it into Boardwalk and Baseball. Circus World was never successful, as its standard carnival-type rides were no match for Disney's state-of-the-art attractions and the location was out of the way relative to the very prominent location of Disney World.
Under Mattel, then some under Monaghan, Funways Holidays also noted the park attendance was hurt by lagging in cleanliness, value and food. Also, constant staff turnover, ticket discounting, marketing errors and swift policy changes were issues.

Attractions

Starting with a nose-bleed, 150-feet climb backward up a flagpole, the coaster then zips down into a series of shoulder- crunching turns and then a neck-twisting full loop. Ah, a temporary reprieve. Then, a forward ascent up the same pole with a trip backward through the same route shortly thereafter. I mean shortly thereafter. The trip backward is more frightening because passengers can`t see the twists and turns ahead.