Did you know that Tampa was once home to a pirate theme park, or that the city also had a gas station with carnival rides and a caged bear? It’s true.

Sure, we all know about Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, but since the early 1900s the Tampa Bay area has been home to quite a few notable attractions and parks.

In fact, some of these tourist traps existed long before Walt Disney World, which would ultimately contribute to their decline. In later years, some attractions closed due to controversy, financial hardships, gas shortages, the pandemic, greedy developers, and a variety of other reasons.

But without a doubt, they all left their mark on their region.

So, let’s take a look back at a few of the more memorable amusement parks and attractions that no longer exist in Tampa Bay.

Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Super-Test Amusement Park As the name suggests, Tampa’s former Super-Test Amusement Park (located at 2924 N Dale Mabry Hwy., just south of what’s now Raymond James Stadium) was an amusement park and a gas station rolled into one. Every gallon of gas purchased was good for a free ticket to ride on one of the many attractions. At its peak in the 1950s, Super-Test had a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, and even a caged bear. Credit: Photo via USF Digital Collection
Tiki Gardens In 1964, Tiki Gardens made its debut in Indian Shores. The Polynesian-themed attraction was a popular stop for pre-Disney era tourists, and reportedly attracted more than 500,000 visitors annually. The park featured large stucco Tiki sculptures and a “Polynesian Adventure Trail.” The park closed in the ’80s and is now the Tiki Gardens/Indian Shores beach public access park. Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Aquatarium Also known as Shark World, Aquatarium opened in 1964 in St. Pete Beach and centered around live shows with dolphins, sea lions, and pilot whales. The star of the park was a dolphin named “Floppy,” who performed within the 160-foot, golden geodesic dome. The park closed in 1977 due to The Mouse in Orlando, as well as the impact on tourism from the nationwide gas shortages of the mid-to-late-’70s. Credit: Photo via Pinellas Memory
Aerial view of Safety Village, USA, publish date unknown. Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Tussaud’s London Wax Museum From 1960-1989, St. Pete Beach was home to Tussaud’s London Wax Museum, which featured over 120 life-like wax figurines spanning everything from Adolf Hitler to Jose Gaspar and Freddy Kruger. The attraction even had a “chamber of horrors.” Credit: Photo via Pinellas Memory
George K. End’s Rattlesnake Farm It’s called Rattlesnake Point now, but back in the ’30s, the neighborhood on the eastern side of the Gandy Bridge was originally just called Rattlesnake, Fl, because, well, the area had an abundance of the highly-venomous snakes. George K. End’s Rattlesnake Farm and general store at the corner of Bridge Street and Gandy Boulevard (now basically housing) was the big attraction, where guests could visit the snake pit or purchase a can of the world famous “Rattlesnake in Supreme Sauce.” Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
HMS Bounty Though it looked like a 1787 Royal Navy tall ship, the HMS Bounty was actually built in 1960 for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” starring Marlon Brando. After MGM was finished with it, the ship found its home at the pier in St. Petersburg and lived out its days as a popular tourist attraction, that is until it tragically sunk off the coast of North Carolina in 2012. Credit: Photo via St. Petersburg Museum of History
Credit: Photo via Pinelles Memory
Treasureland Busch Gardens once had some competition across the street, in the form of a 10-acre Pirate-themed park called Treasureland. Opening in 1968, the park was essentially a massive Spanish galleon-style building that featured a dark ride centered around pirate mannequins. The park also had a pirate museum and a gift shop, as well as a Jose Gaspar actor that roamed the grounds. Lawsuits and financial trouble ultimately doomed the local pirate park, and it closed in the early-’70s. Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Dinosaur Wildlife All that’s left of Dinosaur Wildlife is a big Pepto Bismol pink dino off U.S. Route 19 in Spring Hill. But from 1962-1998, the once popular roadside attraction was a haven for exotic taxidermy, including a two-headed calf, a four-legged chick, and a number of albino animals. In 1988, founder Jacob Foxbower died, and the business was kept alive for another decade by his son and wife. Credit: Photo via Richard Elzey/Flickr
Seville Peacock Farm The Seville Peacock Farm was one of Pinellas County’s original attractions, as well the presumed source for quite a few of its current “wild” peacock populations. Located at the intersection of Haines Road (U.S. Hwy-19) & Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, the farm included “more than 500 peafowl, including every specie and color,” and even had a few deer. The original Clearwater Mall was built on the site, and even used a peacock for the logo. Credit: Advertisement in the St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 31, 1940
Kapok Tree Inn Clearwater’s Kapok Tree Inn was widely known as one of Florida’s most extravagant restaurants as a result of its Renaissance-inspired architecture, garden, waterfalls, chandeliers and themed dining rooms. Despite generating $10 million in sales in 1988, the inn closed in 1991, but the property still remains as an event venue and includes a Sam Ash Music Store. Credit: Photo via Florida State Archives
Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Credit: Photo via Florida Memory
Fun-Lan Drive-in Theater Drive-in movie theaters are already rare in Tampa Bay, so when Fun-Lan’s 650-car theater closed down during the pandemic after over 70 years of service, the city took a major loss. The property has been purchased and the owners who say they plan to construct an affordable housing complex. However the former Fun Lan location has been a vacant lot since 2021. Credit: Photo by Justin Garcia
Grand Prix Tampa Sending shockwaves throughout the community, Tampa’s old-school all-in-one mini golf, go-karting and tomfoolery spot, Grand Prix, announced its permanent back in August of 2022. Opening in 1978, Grand Prix Tampa was a relic of its time and maintained its classic charm until the very end. Credit: Photo via Grand Prix Tampa
Q-Zar In the summer of 2020, iconic Tampa laser tag hot spot Q-Zar closed for good after 25 years in business at 7807 N Dale Mabry Hwy. Founded in 1995, QZar was a regular weekend stop for Tampa birthday parties. All the lazer guns were for sale, and if you bought them, we want to come over. Credit: Photo via QZarTampa/Facebook
Big Cat Rescue For 30 years, Citrus Park’s infamous Big Cat Rescue was home to an array of tigers and also controversy. The animal sanctuary was the subject of the 2021 Netflix documentary Tiger King, and also made headlines when co-founder Don Lewis mysteriously disappeared in 1997. In March of 2023, owner Carole Baskin announced that the park would close, and the remaining cats would be relocated to a sanctuary in Arkansas. Credit: Photo via Big Cat Rescue/Facebook

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...