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Weeki Wachee
Rating Details »
Categories: Local Flavor, Amusement Parks [Edit]
6131 Commercial WaySpring Hill, FL 34606
(352) 592-2004
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
9 reviews for Weeki Wachee
After living in Florida all my life we finally made it over to Weeki Wachee. Thanks to our family zoo membership we got half off making tickets to both Buccaneer Bay (the water park) and Weeki Wachee only $13 each (kids under 5 are free).
We started in the dry area of the park. We watched the Little Mermaid show which was corny but quaint and cute. The performing area was bigger than I expected with panoramic windowpanes overlooking the spring fed lagoon. All the seats seemed to have a good view of the action. I was impressed with the actors themselves- I thought they fit their parts well. The theater itself was nicely cool but a bit dated (let's face it, the entire park is a step back in time). Prior to the actual show they played a video about the park and mermaids but the volume was sooo loud even my hearing impaired father commented about how loud it was! We took the boat tour up and back which was nice enough with views of fish, turtles and birds with narration along the way.
Then for the long walk around to Buccaneer Bay (my Dad almost didn't make it). The water was clean and a cool 74 degrees. I love the fact that they use the spring water for the flumes. Everything was exceptionally clean except for the one and only bathroom on that side of the park. It was not air conditioned, was very dark and had paint peeling off the floor (not to mention the smell). It would have been nice if they had changing areas with doors or at least a small shelf in the bathroom stall.
Aside from the bathroom we really enjoyed the water park. My 2 year old loved the kiddie area, even though I wasn't too impressed. It was a shallow pool with a baby slide and tube kids could crawl through that squirted water. The 4 flume rides were fun enough and best of all... NO LINES! We got right on everything, a big change from what we are used to at Orlando water parks. I was worried I could get scratched since you go down without a tube or mat but the rides were smooth. There were plenty of lifeguards around if you're worried about your kids. There is a small sandy beach and a tall wall surrounding the swim area. It would be nice if there were stairs in the middle of the wall; instead you have to drop down about 3 feet or walk all the way around to the one ramp. We had lunch from one of the food stands- your typical fried selections (chicken tenders, fries, onion rings, etc), sandwiches and burgers/dogs. I was happy to see they had sweet potato fries which are a nice treat.
Weeki Wachee is a Florida classic and I'm so glad we went. I would go every summer and maybe get the annual pass if I lived in the area. As it is my Dad lives about 30 minutes away, I'm sure we'll be back next summer!
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My friend wanted to take me here since I like mermaids and this place was awesome! After we canoed down the weeki wachee river, we came to the park for the afternoon. For $13 each, the adult price, you get access to the park except for the water park area. What a great deal for our afternoon entertainment. We got a schedule and got to see both shows currently playing, Fish Tails, which is a 30 min show about the history of the mermaid show and the park. Part of it was on the tv monitors and some were the actual mermaids in the tank. The mermaids train for a long time to become a mermaid at this park and they stay underwater most of the time, they breathe through these air pipe tubes that push out oxygen and the mermaids take hits from it from time time when they need a breathe of fresh air.
We went to the store which was mermaid heaven. Things were a little pricey so if you have little kids, just warning you to maybe not go in here or else you will come out poor since they will beg and plead for all the toys they have in there that are marked up. They do have an ice cream store in there which was popular so get some ice cream if it's too hot for you.
We then went to see the Little Mermaid show which was awesome! The show was at 3pm so get there at like 2:35pm if you want to get a good center seat. We sat in the front row in the very center in front of the stage, I would have sat in the next section over on either side so you are closer to the tank and not have this black stage in your way. The show was awesome. I don't want to get into detail on the 30 minute shows and ruin the experience for you but I was in awe over their expertise as mermaids, it take a lot of work and skill.
Bring your video or camera cause you can take pics, just don't use the flash. After the show, you can walk around the grounds and take photos on a dolphin seated figurine, a king and queen of the sea photo op where you put your faces through the holes, and last but not least, after the shows, you can go near the store and you can take a photo with a real life mermaid. Probably not the same mermaid you just saw in the tank cause they would have to move at lightening speed to get there with dried hair and perfect makeup post show. The photos are free if you bring your own camera or you can pay $5 to the store, bring your receipt to the mermaid area, and then a staff member there will take your photo for you with the mermaid.
I think it might be the only place in the US or in the world which has a live mermaid show. The show takes place in the Weeki Wachee Spring head which has like a million plus gallons of water coming out of it daily or something. The spring goes down deeper than 400 feet, they haven't reached the bottom of it yet but the divers who went to 400 feet marked that area with a mermaid statue down below, how fitting! If you want to experience a unique piece of history in the US and FL, you should go. It's not as expensive as going to Disneyland but it was really awesome and now I can tell my friends back home I saw live mermaids!
Take this review with a grain of salt as the only time I was at Weeki Watchee was a good 20 years ago and may bear no relevance to today's park.
Wildlife shows were fun as I recall. I particularly remember the bird show being much more interesting than I was expecting. Glass bottom boats were fun and the mermaid show was nice. As a 15-year old boy at the time, you can be rest assured I had a few mermaid fantasies after that. ;-).
However, besides those it was a pretty mediocre park. Not as big as the Orlando parks, but still a bit of a price tag for what it offered. Not well situated either...not a large population in Brooksville/Spring Hill to support it, and too small for many people to come to from Tampa and St. Pete and other big cities.
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Weeki Wachi is one of my favorite roadside attractions to which I've ever been. It's about an hour north of Tampa, at U.S. 19 and State Road 50. My husband and I visited his parents last summer and they knew I liked mermaids, and had a fascination with this rare breed of tourist kitch, so they took me for my birthday.
In 1946, a Navy SEAL named Newton Perry, needed a job after WWII. He patented an "underwater breathing apparatus" that basically involved an air tank, with a long hose, allowing girls dressed up as mermaids to stay underwater for a long time, sucking air out of the hose as needed. While the mermaids were underwater in the spring, they performed choreographed shows to audiences seated in an underwater theater that faced a glass wall, with the girls on the other side. They piped music into the theater so you could "hear them sing." They dug the theater out of the side of spring for this very purpose- their website says "more than 170 million gallons of clear, fresh 72-degree water bubbles up out of subterranean caverns" every day and the bottom of the spring has never been seen by human eyes.
Outside of the mermaid shows, Weeki Wachi also has a little waterpark called Buccaneer Bay, live animal shows, and a boat ride where you can travel a couple miles down the spring to "look for mermaids" and manatees and the like. You can also get your picture taken with a mermaid (I did).
There used to be a lot of these mermaid parks, but this was the first, and it's the only one still in existence. It's still reminiscent of its original midcentury modern design, and it's a real piece of nostalgia. Weeki Wachi is apparently having trouble staying open, and you can donate to their cause, named "Save Our Tails," in order to keep this slice of Americana open.
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I have always wanted to go see the mermaids!!! ( between you & I was was secretly convinced they would probably recruit me right then and there... and then I would swim off and live on Wonder Woman's island or something like that)
We went to see the famous "live" Mermaid show and it was super cool. And totally different. If you have kids they will adore this. I am ( supposedly) an adult and I was giddy, so just imagine.
The park is open ( at least in the Summer) from 10-5. The $25 admission includes all Mermaid Shows and some nature stuff (boat rides) and then a big awesome surprise to me, admission into the Buccaneer Bay thing, which is a sort of Water Park.
The whole park is built around these refreshing natural springs and it was so pretty, the water was crystal clear, and oh so gloriously cool (74.1 degrees year round) ( so much more refreshing than the SW Fla bathwater,in June yuck)
There are 4-6 water slides, a beach , raft rides, lazy river. That cool, clear water. We didn't want to get out. But man at 4:30 they were like see ya!
Get there early, leave lots of time for the water fun. We kept a cooler in the car for drinks and food, and it's 10 feet outside the door so it wasn't inconvenient- After they closed we continued on the road trip and couldn't stop talking about that water and the amazing Mermaids.
Save Weeki Wachee. Visit.
It's an unusual piece of Americana--or at least Floridana? You must see the mermaid show. Be prepared. It's bizarre and incredibly cheesy, but you need to see this before it disappears. With that said, I'd go back for the cold, limestone springs. When you're used to bathwater FL beaches, nothing is as refreshing as the icy, natural clear springs of Weeki Wachee. Jump in again and again and again...
I am from NJ and just moved into Brooksville a couple of miles from Weeki Wachee. I had heard of it before and about the mermaids. Maybe I saw it in a movie too. My friend Toni and I went there and we had a blast. We saw all the wildlife and little bird shows. The kids showing the animals and birds were great. Little kids would love this place!!!!!! Then we went on a boat ride and saw the Manatee. They look like big underwater cows!!! On the boat we saw all different types of birds and fish. Afterwards was the Mermaid show to top it off. They were awesome and beautiful. Weeki Wachee has deep underwater caves...some of the deepest in the country. They have even been in the news recently for more cave discovery taking place. This is a real roadside family place. They even have private canoe and kayak rental at a reasonable price. I did not go into the water park but it looked like fun!!!!!!!!!!
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I've been going here since I moved to Florida in 1998. It has gone WAY downhill. There are 2 sides, the waterpark and the "wildlife" part. The last 4 or so times I've been to the wildlife side only the mermaid show has been open. The show is ok...the theater smells funky. For the waterpark...the only good thing is the swimming. The spring water is so clear and sometimes you'll see manatees. The slides have actually cut my legs. There's disgusting fungus on them as well. All in all you're better off just going to roger's park or somewhere else on the river.
My mom grew up in FL and whenever we would visit her parents Weeki Wachee Springs was a must!! Forget Sea World. Its small but packs some punch. The last time I was there was in 2000, so I don't know if its changed a lot. (although it didn't change that much from 1992 when I first went there, to 2000) I was a MAJOR Little Mermaid fan so I fell absolutely in LOVE with the underwater shows. Its a nice little tourist stop that kids will like.