N E 1 remember Circus World?

[sTINKS]

Does anyone remember the amusement park Ringling Brothers used to have called Circus World? I used to love going there as a child. What ever happened to that place?

 

[Disney_Jill]

I remember it, I went once with my mom, her friend, and her friend's brother (who was my age). They had that big wooden roller coaster, I loved it. I think I went around 1979-1980? I dont' remember a whole lot about it other than the roller coaster. I think they had another coaster that went upside down but I was afraid to ride it.

 

[Joshua_me]

My Dad and I used to ride that wooden roller coaster over and over again. I think he liked it more than I did...

Aside from that, what I remember of Circus World is that it was a bit of a snoozer. I was only 8 or 9 at the time, and I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to get back to the Magic Kingdom.

I think the place was bulldozed down just for lack of business, basically. There wasn't enough to draw the crowds in... I have many pictures of Circus World *somewhere*...

If I can find them I'll scan them and post them in a new thread.

 

[Planogirl]

Didn't it become Boardwalk and Baseball for a while? I remember thinking that it looked like fun but we never made it.

We did however go to the Stars Hall of Fame Wax Museum. Does anyone remember that?

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I remember taking my oldest dd there in l982. The thing I remember most where the zillion of flies! I couldn't wait to get out of there.

 

[Jason71]

Didn't it become Boardwalk and Baseball for a while? I remember thinking that it looked like fun but we never made it.

Yes, it was transformed after Circus World started to fail. It was a shame, too, I remember enjoying CW as a kid, but I think it was just too far from the Mouse to survive, at least at the time.

Almost all of Boardwalk & Baseball was torn down as well, but you can still see the lights from the parking lot if you go to the (relatively) new Target and Best Buy at exit 55. It's located on "Home Run Road." I imagine newbies see that and have no idea how it got the name.

 

[proud_canadian]

I remember!! I have pics of me there as a kid!

 

[Minniemouse07]

We were there on our trip as a kid...it was before Epcot opened and I rode the looping coaster (the Zoomerang?) with my dad. It was my first roller coaster ride ever!

 

[Ernie]

The location of Circus World is now a shopping mall.
We were there a year or so before it closed and we remember going to one of the shows as soon as we arrived. We then went to the next show, and noted that the performers were exactly the same as in the first one. Same thing for the third show.
We then watched the parade and saw again that the performers in the parade were exactly the same ones as in each of the shows.
It must have been exhausting to work at Circus World at that time!
We did sense then that its days were numbered

 

[Missus Toad]

I do! I do! We'd always get our faces painted and go pose for pictures behind those boards where you put your head on the body painted on the board. I remember there was a snake charmer, a clown, and a fat lady. We'd also pose in the circus train cages with the rubber bars. Good times. I remember it being very hot there though, with little shade-- always glad to get back to the resort afterwards.

 

[Detailor]

We went in early 1977 when it was still fairly new (three or four years old) and had a good time though it was really only about a half day theme park experience. I liked the location - Davenport where I-4 and SR 27 intersect - because it was just a short drive from Disney World's Magic Kingdom (that was the extent of WDW at the time) and a neat stop on the way to or from Cypress Gardens. As others have noted, Circus World ultimately failed after passing through several owners and became the short-lived Boardwalk and Baseball in the late 1980s. I'm pretty certain that the Kansas City Royals major league baseball team held Spring Training at their Baseball City complex on that property, too, during the late 80s/early 90s. That property is now, at least in part, the Posner Commons/Posner Park retail/community development that you can see from I-4 at exit 55.

Dick Taylor

 

[BiancaBernard&Penny]

I do! I do! We'd always get our faces painted and go pose for pictures behind those boards where you put your head on the body painted on the board. I remember there was a snake charmer, a clown, and a fat lady. We'd also pose in the circus train cages with the rubber bars. Good times. I remember it being very hot there though, with little shade-- always glad to get back to the resort afterwards.

Yes, I have pictures of my mother and myself there. I don't remember much of CW as I was pretty young but I do remember my dislike of clowns. LOL.
I'd love to go to the Ringling Museum someday, though. After reading "Water for Elephants" twice in the last three years, my interest is piqued in the gritty-glamour of the old circus days. Someday, we'll take time to see much more of Florida.

 

[clownboy007]

The whole history of Circus World is kind of interesting. Originally, it was to be called "The Living World of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey" and was to feature a "circus town" where parade wagons were built, a circus train, a wild west show, animal exhibits and a 10-story "elephant" with a restaurant on it's back that was to be the park's "castle". At various times, plans were to move the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College there as well as a school for training circus artists.

Irvin Feld had an imagination that was almost as big as his ego but the grandiose plans that he unveiled to the public never came to be. I have a print of the original concept drawing in my work room and it really does look like a bit of a mad scheme. Originally, the park was run by circus people with no experience running a theme park. After Mattel (who owned Ringling Bros. at the time) took a bath the first year they demanded that people from Disney and other theme parks be brought in to run it but given it's location, it's rather limited appeal, and the Feld's short attention span (and, after Mattel was out of the picture, the lack of operating capital) the place really didn't stand a chance. Although some of the circus acts that performed there over time were some of the best in the world.

But what amazed me was when HBJ bought the property and re-themed it as something that I thought had even more limited appeal. For a time, it was the spring training home of the Kansas City Royals and they built a rather nice stadium that I enjoyed going to on several occasions. Today, it's all just a very non-descript strip mall.

The Circus World IMAX film was one of the first large-format films to be produced and has been lost for several years. There was supposed to be a viewing of a copy at a Clown College reunion a few years ago but the film that arrived in the cannister turned out to be a badly worn documentary on the Monte Carlo circus festival...which was very disappointing.

Many of the people who worked at Circus World have fond memories of the place and they held a reunion at one of the hotels nearby a few months ago. You might still be able to search for stories about the gathering in Google News.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I remember going there in the mid 70's.. then it did become Boardwalk & Baseball with the Ted Williams hotel across I-4. Then it became a spring training site and my son played AAU tourney's there... now it is a shopping center.. sad how things change.

 

[DVCJones]

I remember!! I remember my brothers and I having our faces painted as clowns. I'm sur I could find a picture. Back then WDW was only the MK and my family also visited Cypress Gardens, Gatorland, WichiWachi (sp?), Tarpon Springs, Busch Gardens and other things I can't remember right now.

Hey, does anyone remember Wichi Wachi? I don't even know if I am spelling it correctly. I just remember the mermaids.

 

[Joshua_me]

Hey, does anyone remember Wichi Wachi? I don't even know if I am spelling it correctly. I just remember the mermaids.

http://www.weekiwachee.com/


Still going strong.....

 

[Planogirl]

clownboy007, that's very interesting. I hope that someone finds the film someday.

I wonder what became of all the props? I watched the dismantling of Six Flags Astroworld with interest and I can just imagine some of the interesting artifacts scattered to the winds when Circus World closed.

 

[DVCJones]

http://www.weekiwachee.com/


Still going strong.....

Thanks for the link. I didn't know it was still open. I may take my girls there next year. I think they would get a kick out of seeing the mermaids.

 

[DISNEMOM]

I remember Circus World. I remember it was pouring rain and we were inside somewhere w/a stage, running around playing and found a huge box of clown nose's and everyone put them on. I got my face painted but my sister was too scared to get her's done! Weeki Wachee too. We were in florida last year and were planning on going there, but didn't. Would like to go there again. I know I thought it was great as a kid!

 

[swffsu]

I'm so glad there is a thread about Circus World. No one I ever talk to remembers this place. We went there when I was a kid in the early-mid eighties. I remember almost getting killed on their crappy rollercoaster. It was one loop- you made the loop and then it went backwards. At the time I was probably 9, all they had was the overhead bar and nothing else. I was so small I almost slipped through the harness and fell to my death. Needless to say, we never went there again!