Boardwalk Case Study

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Boardwalk & Baseball Haines City Sitting on the site of the former Florida tourist attraction, Circus World, in Haines City, Boardwalk and Baseball came to life as a result of Orlando-based textbook publishers Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich desire to be a part of the theme park and entertainment business, in 1986. Feeling that the circus theme was losing its luster, HBJ closed the property and immediately started a complete makeover into a vintage, sports-themed entertainment park. The Boardwalk and Baseball complex sprawled over 135 acres, with Atlantic City-style boardwalk covering over one mile of concrete walkways, turn of the century gas lantern light poles and immaculate landscaping. The park housed popular rides such as the Roller coaster, Ferris wheel and Log flume, along with Wild West West Shows and IMAX theater. Aside from the entertainment complex, a state of the art, contemporary baseball stadium was built, and would serve as the spring training home to the Kansas City Royals. The property owners enticed the Royals from the spring home in Fort Myers with the assurance of huge tourism support. Once was 'Barnum City,” is now Boardwalk and …show more content…

Tourists were either headed east to the Orlando or west to the Gulf of Mexico and Busch Gardens in Tampa. Haines City was not a destination stop for most tourists in Central Florida, though it was situated at the intersection of I-4 and US 27. In September 1989, HBJ, successfully recovering from a corporate takeover attempt, sold Boardwalk and Baseball to Anheuser-Busch. Less than four months later, Anheuser-Busch would close Boardwalk and Baseball. Over the years, rumor had mega-entertainment park giant Six Flags America purchasing the property, but it never materialized. The remaining structures and baseball park were razed in 2003, to make way for big-box retailers, hotel lodging, office space and

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