Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

About Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

Weeki Wachee Springs Mermaids have been delighting visitors since 1947, and even today visitors can take riverboat trips, canoe, kayak and fish at Weeke Wachese and experience the magic of mermaids. The 538 hectare park has an underwater theatre with 400 seats to watch a live Mermings show. Buccaneer Bay offers a fun filled flume ride, kayak and boat rides, and rafting.

Weeki Wachee's animal show offers the public a variety of animals from wild animals to domesticated birds and reptiles. A covered picnic pavilion with picnic table, picnic tables and picnic chairs provides a relaxing day for the whole family.

If you have never found your source, there is a spring for you in Weeki Wachee Springs State Park south of Lake Okeechobee.

The basin of the spring is 100 feet wide on the limestone side, and the underground cave bubbles every day. The current is so strong that it can knock off a diver's mask, but deep in the springs the current ebbs and flows to where the mermaids swim. It is quite an achievement for them to stay in one place against this current for so long, in such a small space with so little water.

In 1946, a former U.S. Marine who had trained seals in underwater swimming during World War II discovered Weeki Wachee as a good location for a new business.

At the time, US Highway 19 was a small two-lane road, and there was no gas station, grocery store or movie theater. Other streets were covered in dirt, but there were gas stations and grocery stores and a movie theater in the area. There were many abandoned cars in the area, many from the 1950s and 1960s.

Perry experimented with underwater breathing tubes and invented the air hose, a free-flowing air tube that delivered oxygen to a tank strapped to the back. The air tubes allowed people without breathing apparatus to thrive up to 20 metres under water. Garbage was removed from the parking lot of the gas station on the corner of US Highway 19 and Wachee Springs Road.

Perry looked for pretty girls and for the first time in her life put them in her windpipes with a smile on their face.

The mermaids breathe through windpipes hidden in the landscape and perform synchronous ballet movements. They teach you to drink carbon - a free drink that no longer consists of carbon dioxide, eat bananas underwater and dance water ballet.

Then they jump into the spring to perform, and when they hear cars coming, the girls run out to lure the drivers out of the parking lot, much like the sirens of an ancient tradition that lured sailors to the side. There were only a few cars back then, so when a girl hears a car coming, she runs out and lures the driver out of the parking lot.

In the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state of Florida and an attraction that attracted worldwide attention.

Attractions included shows, and the film "Mr. Peabody's Mermaid" was shot in the spring. The mermaids took etiquette and ballet classes as well as swimming, dancing and other activities at the Weeki Wachee.

The heyday of Weeki Wachee began in 1959 when the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) bought the source and promoted it heavily. ABC built the current theater, which seats 500 and is embedded in the side of the pen with 16.

ABC also developed the show "Mermaids of Weeki Wachee," the first of its kind in the United States. The mermaids performed in the park for a few years before the new theater opened in 1959.

In the 1960s, girls from near and far came to try out the mermaids, and up to a million people came to see them every year. Weeki Wachee Springs employs 35 girls who take turns captivating the masses with soccer and underwater picnics. The glamorous mermaids perform eight shows a day to a sold-out house and live in a "mermaid cabin" near the attraction. During swimming - in the show, the show floats through the water of the waterfalls of the park, with water slides, a swimming pool and a pool house.

All over Florida, mermaids are treated like kings and all sorts of people drop by to see them, even Elvis. Wearing a one-piece, they also visit Weeki Wachee and swim in the cool waters of Weeki Wachese Springs. Enjoy the white sandy beach, swim, snorkel, paddle, paddle or even - in the cool water - swim at the waterfalls and swimmers of the week.

The riverboat trip offers a quiet tour on the Weeki Wachee River and the captain points out the various attractions along the way. The entrance fee includes a 1-hour boat ride on the Riverboat Cruise from the parking lot at the park entrance.