As the opening of the Screamin Gator Zipline draws near, Gatorland President and CEO Mark McHugh discusses some of the new views guests will experience from the towers. Just click the image below to be directed to the video!

 

Gatorland is proudly in our 4th generation of ownership and we don’t think it is appropriate to publicly air our family squabbles.  With that said, there is some interest in how we planned and developed the Screamin’ Gator Zip Line.   This is by far the most exciting addition to the park in our 62-year history.

Gatorland has been committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our guests, employees, and natural resources since 1949. Our success has also been based on the entertaining and educational display of Florida’s animals and natural ecosystems.  We began investigating low impact, eco-friendly zip line rides in October 2009 and quickly found this type of ride to be a perfect fit for the park.  Zip lines are found in some of the world’s most eco-sensitive environments, allowing riders to experience the rare beauty of these sites with virtually no impact to the plants and animals. Riders are carried along cables through the treetops without motorized cars or enclosures, allowing them to marvel at scenery and animals that would otherwise be inaccessible. We quickly realized how wonderful it will be for our guests to zip over some of Gatorland’s incredible exhibits and view our animals from a perspective otherwise reserved for our feathered friends.

New exhibits and attractions are first presented to Gatorland’s Park Planning Committee (PPC) for review and approval prior to going before our board of directors. This committee is chaired by one of our outside board members, and includes second and third generation board members and shareholders as well as members of our management team.  A key member of this committee is Gatorland’s past president, Frank Godwin. Frank’s parents, Owen and Pearl Godwin founded Gatorland in 1949 and started one of central Florida’s landmark family attractions.  Frank has spent his entire life pouring his heart, sweat, and love into Gatorland, establishing the foundation of conservation decades ago that has guided Gatorland’s growth. In fact, it was Frank’s vision in the early ’90s to build the Alligator Breeding Marsh, knowing it would someday provide a safe home to thousands of wild wading birds. Today, his vision has resulted in the formation of an oasis for one of the largest wading bird colonies in Central Florida. If you think for a moment we would do anything that had even a remote chance of negatively impacting the Breeding Marsh, an incredible habitat in which he poured his heart into creating, you don’t know Frank!

In January 2010, each member of the PPC was asked to design a zip line route that he/she thought would maximize the assets of our park. From these “blue sky” meetings, a plan was developed that placed one segment of the zip line over the southern edge of our Alligator Breeding Marsh. The PPC members, however, are not experienced zip line designers, so Gatorland hired Global Highline Adventures (GHA), a professional zip line development company, in February 2010. GHA’s zip line experts and engineer spent two full days in the park, studying our geography and exhibits to determine the best zip line route with the least impact to the environment.  Based on their vast experience and our request to protect the sensitive elements of the Breeding Marsh, a route was chosen where no towers would be built in the rookery area, but placed a zip line approximately 175 feet from the PPC’s original route. GHA’s plan was approved by the PPC and presented to Gatorland’s board of directors.  Our team-based approach to planning and approval makes it impossible for one person to “unilaterally” change the zip line plans.

After reviewing the plan in late February 2010, Gatorland’s board hired GHA to design and engineer the new Screamin’ Gator Zip Line. Their design included specific and detailed plans that would allow us to stop zipping, remove the cable, and bypass the segment crossing the Breeding Marsh during nesting season if it disturbed the birds: a very important element that we purposely built into the design.  Within a matter of weeks after initiating the formal design and engineering process, Mark McHugh, our President & CEO, contacted Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and invited a senior law enforcement officer to visit Gatorland and view the entire project. This initiated a very open review process in chorus with numerous government agencies including US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS).

From April through July 2010, Mr. McHugh worked with biologists from FWC and USFWS to insure this new project would not only receive their support, but more importantly, tap their vast knowledge of wood storks and other wading birds to insure the safety of Gatorland’s inhabitants. As part of these discussions, we added another tower and moved the breeding marsh zip line about 100 feet south, but still across the Breeding Marsh to preserve our “signature” zip.  Another wonderful idea from USFWS was to add “bird diverters” near the zip line to help the birds see the cables.  These diverters are designed for power lines, and the Screamin’ Gator Zip Line will be the first zip line in the world to implement this technology.  It is very important to note that none of our zip line plans; the original PPC route, GHA’s plan, or the final route, ever physically impacted the Alligator Breeding Marsh or bird rookery, and to date not one tree, bush, plant, or bird’s nest in that area have been touched during the construction process. The Breeding Marsh rookery is a place we absolutely love and vow to protect.

The current route, which was studied and approved by both wildlife agencies, and implements the latest safety technology, includes seven towers, a swinging bridge, and five zip lines. But we didn’t stop there.  To insure our ongoing zip line activity remains safe for the birds, we hired an independent biologist to study our wood stork nesting activity and report directly to USFWS every week. His reports consistently show that the wood storks are raising their babies normally, and all the birds are completely undisturbed by the construction and zip line activities. We will continue these studies for many years because we are unequivocally dedicated to preserving our little oasis and protecting the beautiful animals that call Gatorland home.

Gatorland has a long history of conservation, preservation, and protection of the animals, birds, and environments under our care; it is the foundation of our mission.  One look and you’ll see that nothing has changed with the wildlife in our beautiful park and it never will.

Park Planning Committee Original Route:

Global Highline Adventures original route:

Final Route: