Silver Springs, Florida - Silver Springs: Glass Bottom Boats

Silver Springs, Florida - Silver Springs - Sobek the Alligator

Silver Springs is alive and well today. We are residents and buy a year round pass every couple of years. It comes with admission also to Wild Waters, right across the parking lot. We like to go to Silver Springs, watch a few shows and take a couple of boat rides, then walk over to wild waters to cool off. It really is a great deal for those who live in the area, and one of the cheaper attractions for visitors. It is also great for homeschooling parents, because of the wealth of information that can be learned from the different exhibitions, such as the free flying bird show or the reptile shows.

They also have one of the oldest and biggest alligators in captivity, named Sobek. He barely moves and almost looks fake, but we've been there often enough to know that he is indeed, in a different location than the last time. [Amy, 09/13/2008]

Silver Springs, Florida - Lewie the Kodiak Bear mauls Silver Springs worker
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report absolved Silver Springs of any fault in the May 1st mauling of a worker, by Lewie, a Kodiak bear. Lewie, an inhabitant in the park's "World of Bears" attraction since 1997, grabbed keeper Jessica Metz through two barriers and proceeded to gnaw on her arm.... [05/31/2004] Complete News Story

Silver Springs, Florida - Silver Springs

The Gatorman greets children at Silver Springs, home of glass bottom boats and reptile shows. Gatorman is a distant relative of the creatures that yank misbehaving Florida suburbs children down into the swamp and eat them whole. [Gail Archibald, 09/25/1999]

Silver Springs, Florida - Silver Springs - Flashback

It used to be in Ocala, Florida. I haven't been there since the 70's so it's possible it finally closed. In the 60's you would see signs for it all along the main east coast routes to Florida. At the time Ocala was a bigger tourist deal than Orlando.

The main attraction was glass-bottomed boats, which would cruise on the spring-fed, clear lake that give the place its name. The main thing you could see down there were huge 3-4 foot long catfish, which would rush to the surface to eat doughballs thrown by the tour guides.

There was also a tunnel you could walk through and see a fake sunken ship, which was a prop for the old TV show "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges, which was supposedly filmed here. They also had a rattlesnake-milking, alligator-wrassling type of reptile show that had Ross Allen's name on it. [Jim Cody, 07/10/1997]

[RA: Silver Springs is still around, though in recent years it has seemed to cater to snowbirds and senior citizens -- Orlando being an inexorable youth-sucker. Have seen tv spots for a big new wild bear show, though, so they may be on the comeback trail.]