Florida Springs

Florida Springs (formerly known as Circus World Showcase, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus World, Circus World, and Boardwalk and Baseball) is an amusement park located in Davenport, Florida with a Haines City mailing address.

History
The park opened as Circus World Showcase in 1974, built by Felds, then owners of Ringling Brothers. The park initially consisted of an IMAX theater inside a building designed like a circus tent. Over the next couple years, new displays and shows were added as well as a carousel, and the park was renamed Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus World.

The toy manufacturer Mattel took ownership of the park as it came with the purchase of Ringling Brothers from Felds. Mattel tried to sell the park but was unsuccessful. So to make the park more valuable, they expanded. By 1982 the park had two roller coasters, a diving show, a wild west show, animal displays, a petting zoo and a couple flats. The park was also renamed to just Circus World.

In 1984 Mattel sold the park to developer Jim Monaghan for $10 Million. Monaghan made various improvements from landscaping to the Weiner Looping roller coaster.

In April of 1986 publisher Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich (HBJ) purchased the park. This was part of sort of a buying spree on HBJ's part as they also purchased Sea World, Stars Hall of Fame, and Cypress Gardens around the same time. HBJ closed the park late in the 1986 season to start construction of the new "Boardwalk and Baseball" park. Circus displays were replaced with a turn of the century seaside boardwalk theme.

In 1989, HBJ sold off their amusement parks to Busch, who in turn closed the park in January of 1990 and relocated the park's three major coasters - Zoomerang, Florida Hurricane, and Wiener Looping - to other parks. A few months later, Baker Amusements offered to purchase the park for $60 million, and reopened it in 1991 as Florida Springs, giving the park a complete rehaul as well as a new wooden coaster, Florida Hurricane II.

In 1993, Boomerang opened.

In 2001, Medieval Kingdom opened, featuring two new coasters.

In 2007, Iron Knight opened. It's currently the park's tallest coaster.

Areas

 * Florida Boardwalk
 * Kiddie Camp
 * Medieval Kingdom (originally planned to be called "Medieval Times", but the name was changed early on due to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament complaining about the name similarity)

Roller coasters

 * Boomerang (1993; A Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster) [Florida Boardwalk]
 * Dragon's Flight (2001; A Giovanola inverted coaster, the original 2-seat-across trains were replaced with B&M's 4-seat-across ones in 2014) [Medieval Kingdom]
 * Florida Hurricane II (1991; A Dinn wooden coaster, retracked partially by CCI in 1998, the rest of the track was retracked by GCI in 2006, given Millennium Flyer trains that same year, the CCI parts were retracked by GCI in 2018) [Florida Boardwalk]
 * Iron Knight (2007; A 313-ft tall Intamin Giga Coaster, trim brakes were added at the bottom of the first drop during testing after fears that the ride would be too intense, given vest restraints in 2011) [Medieval Kingdom]
 * Knight's Apprentice (2001; A Vekoma Junior Coaster 207m, formerly known as "Little Dragon" [2001-2006], got VR for a limited time in 2014) [Medieval Kingdom]

Flat Rides

 * Carousel (One of the few rides left over from the pre-Baker era)
 * Eagle (2005; A Zamperla Hawk 48 ride) [Florida Boardwalk]
 * Velocity (2003; An S&S Space Shot ride) [Florida Boardwalk]
 * Whirling Maces (2011; A Tivoli Extreme Orbiter ride) [Medieval Kingdom]
 * X-Skate (2010; A Zamperla Mega Disk'O, nets were added beneath the ride in 2019 to prevent vomit getting onto the foliage) [Florida Boardwalk]

Kiddie Rides
All of the kiddie rides are located in Kiddie Camp.


 * 4x4 Trail (1997; A Hampton Rides open-air umbrella ride with convoys)
 * Baja Buggies (2007; A Zamperla Jump Around ride with dune buggies)
 * Sailor Spin (2007; A Zamperla Rockin' Tug ride)
 * Wacky RV (1997; A Zamperla Crazy Bus themed to an RV)

Roller coasters

 * Florida Hurricane (1978-1990; A Michael Black and Associates wooden coaster, relocated to Magic Springs as Arkansas Twister, replaced with Florida Hurricane II)
 * Wiener Looping (1985-1987; A Schwarzkopf portable shuttle loop, sold to a German showman in 1988, relocated to Flamingo Land in 1991)
 * Zoomerang (1977-1990; An Arrow Launched Shuttle Loop, relocated to Screamin' Safari [then known as Fun Spot] where it currently operates as Lion's Tail)