- Boardwalk and Baseball
Boardwalk and Baseball was a
theme park built nearHaines City, Florida ,United States , on the east corner of the intersection of US 27 andInterstate 4 . It replacedCircus World at the same location, and was owned by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (now Harcourt, a division ofReed Elsevier ). It opened onFebruary 14 ,1987 .The park recycled many of the rides and exhibits of the original
Circus World . The petting zoos were removed, the rides and shows were re-themed, and they builtBaseball City Stadium on the site. There were several exhibits that borrowed artifacts from theBaseball Hall of Fame inCooperstown, New York . HBJ attracted theKansas City Royals fromFort Myers, Florida , to make Baseball City Stadium their newspring training home and the site of their Class AFlorida State League affiliate. The Royals also had a Rookie-level affiliate in theGulf Coast League , one of two lowest level minor leagues in the U.S. (along with theArizona League ).In addition,
ESPN taped agame show , "Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia", on the site. The show aired in 1988 and 1989 and featured single-elimination tournaments of three-person teams representing U.S. colleges anduniversities .Chris Berman hosted the show.Washington State University won the 1988 tournament.HBJ sold its theme park assets (which included
SeaWorld andCypress Gardens ) to Busch Entertainment Corporation onSeptember 28 ,1989 , and Busch closed Boardwalk and Baseball onJanuary 17 ,1990 . Most of the park was demolished except for the stadium and one building that held anIMAX theatre (the very first building atCircus World ). The Baseball City Royals (FSL) were sold following the 1992 season and moved toDaytona Beach, Florida , becoming theDaytona Cubs , where they remain to this day. The GCL Royals, whom had moved at the same time to Ft. Myers, returned to Baseball City in 2000, for their final three years in Florida, before being replaced by the Arizona League Royals. The Royals moved their spring training home and entire Florida operations department toSurprise, Arizona in 2003. The stadium and the theatre were demolished soon afterward.Although the park was considered far superior to its predecessor,
Circus World , Boardwalk and Baseball was predicted to fail by industry observers at the April 1987 grand opening. The park's standard carnival rides were considered no match for aDisney competitor. TheOrlando Sentinel quoted bothemployees and industry experts who attributed its closure in 1990 to inept management by CEO Richard Howard. The park was quickly run into financial ruins within 18 months of its grand opening. At that point,employee layoffs and reduced park hours were used to try to cut costs. The park closed before sunset for almost the entire year, rendering the costly antique style gas lighting useless (that cost over $1 million to install in 1987).Howard spent millions building the ultimate
baseball stadium for a Single A baseball team, yet invested almost nothing in new rides and attractions throughout the park's life. The park had the exact same roster of rides and attractions from opening day in April 1987 to its closure in 1990. Permits and plans for new roller coasters were made but never implemented. The fatal flaw of the park was a stagnant attraction roster and an advertising budget 1/15th of its closest rival (Disney ) -- the only ride different from the previousCircus World theme park was the Grand Rapidsflume . Had the new steel coaster that was planned been built, Boardwalk and Baseball would likely not gone down in history as the first corporatetheme park to close (as many observers suggest in its "Orlando Sentinel " retrospective article). After all, the park was considered to have the only "real" roller coasters in the Orlando area (Disney only had junior coasters and this was a decade beforeIslands of Adventure was built). The Hurricane wooden coaster and Shuttle Loop coaster were significantroller coasters by 1987 standards. Yet, the $25 million dollar renovation made in 1987 didn't pay for a single attraction competitive withDisney .A second Boardwalk and Baseball park was planned to be built beside
SeaWorld San Antonio . However, financial difficulties prevented HBJ from building the second park. Busch still owned the property as of 1997 as it was reported they had a potential buyer, but the deal didn't go through. The Baseball City site is currently being redeveloped as a residential and retail complex known asPosner Park .External links
* [http://www.lostparks.com/bandb.html Boardwalk and Baseball] at Florida's Lost Tourist Attractions
* [http://www.actwon.com/bb/default.htm Boardwalk and Baseball Gallery] ACTWON's Info Site
* [http://www.dizzyrambler.com/legends/ThemeParks/LostParks.html Dizzy Rambler's Retrospective] Boardwalk and Baseball History
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