Related gallery: 15 creepiest photos of clowns from Florida’s past

In 1974, a new theme park called Circus World Showcase opened its doors in Haines City, not far down I-4 from Walt Disney World. (photo via mouseplanet.com)
The idea for Circus World was originally conceived by the Feld Bros., who at the time owned Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus (via floridamemory.com)
The new theme park was supposed to be a preview center and amusement park where the circus could spend the winter. When the Feld Bros. sold the circus empire to toy company Mattel in the early 1970s, they sold the Circus World concept with it. (via floridamemory.com)
Brother Irvin Feld’s original concept for the park was grand – it even included a design for a 19-story tall hotel that would be shaped like a circus elephant. The hotel was never built, but Circus World did have a lot of elephants, including this baby one performing during a show. (via floridamemory.com).
There are also lion tamers and other Big Top-type performances (via floridamemory.com).
And rides, like this one called the Center Ring. (via floridamemory.com)
Circus World also had the best wooden roller coasters. This one was the Florida Hurricane. (via floridamemory.com)
Michael Jackson was said to have loved Circus World (via circus4youth.org)
Every time he came to the area, he visited. Here he is riding the Roaring Tiger coaster with director John Landis. (via jimhillmedia.com)
As the years wore on, Circus World expanded to include a Great Western Stampede and other spectacles. (via floridamemory.com)
Here’s the Barnum City Depot (via floridamemory.com)
Of course, there was face painting. Done by clowns. (via floridamemory.com)
And fire eaters. (via floridamemory.com)
There was even a flaming high diver. (via floridamemory.com)
And, of course, elephant rides. (via floridamemory.com)
There were polar bears, too. We can’t imagine that they liked the Florida heat very much. So they probably spent a lot of time in this pool. (via floridamemory.com)
They had their own show. (via floridamemory.com)
No circus theme park would be complete without clowns. Circus World had a Wonderful World of Clowns show … (via floridamemory.com)
… which featured this motley crew, among others. (via floridamemory.com)
Mattel tried expanding Circus World over the years, adding more rides and attractions. (via floridamemory.com)
But even though they let kids do crazy things, like try to learn to walk on tightropes supervised by this guy who didn’t really seem to be paying attention to them, it didn’t thrive. (via floridamemory.com)
So in the mid 1980s, they sold it to a developer for $10 million.
The developer also tried to make improvements, but in 1986, Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich — yes, the publishing company — was buying up theme parks and made an offer on Circus World.
They quickly decided they weren’t in the business of elephants, clowns and midways. (via floridamemory.com)
Within a year, they closed the park, renovated and changed the theme. (via floridamemory.com)
The new park was unveiled in 1987. It was called Boardwalk and Baseball. Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Remember the old entrance? The new park entrance looked like this. But the new park didn’t last long either. It didn’t last long. By 1989, the park had been sold to Busch Entertainment Corp., which closed it in January 1990.
Most of the park was torn down. This was the view near the entrance circa 1999, before strip malls were developed around the park property (via facebook.com)
This empty building really doesn’t give passersby any clue that there used to be an awesome theme park here. (via facebook.com)
These days, the only thing left of Circus World Orlando or Boardwalk and Baseball are the memories. (photo via orlandosentinel.com)