Cypress Gardens' New Coaster-Go-Round

The new owners of Florida's retooled Cypress Gardens continue to play catch-up as turnstile clicks blow away projected attendance numbers. To handle the overflow crowds, the park has been adding new rides and attractions as quickly as possible and recently debuted Galaxy Spin, a spinning coaster. Like similar rides (including Primeval Whirl in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World), individual coaster cars spin freely as they navigate a Wild Mouse-style track. The number of riders in each car and their weight distribution influence the spinning. Cypress Gardens also recently opened some water park rides and will be rolling out more over the next few months. Florida's historic Starliner, a woodie roller coaster that was orphaned when Panama City's Miracle Strip Amusement Park closed, may be heading to Cypress Gardens sometime in 2006. Adventure Parks Group, which runs both Cypress Gardens and Georgia's Wild Adventures, bought the coaster and announced that it will be relocating it to one of its two parks.
Spinning Coaster Video
Florida Theme Parks