Weeki Wachee- A Dream Realized!
I need to give a little back story to this one....when I was eighteen, I left Bard college and spent the rest of the year at home, just working. David was my only friend that had stayed local. At that point, he had decided to delay going to college and was working a bunch of odd jobs. He has since graduated from Yale Law school. Anyhow, David and I used to hang out several times a week and would often go to bookstores. One evening, we were in the humor section and came across a book called, "The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste." I am not sure why, but the book just struck us as being absolutely hysterical. We sat down in the bookstore and flipped through it for about an hour, laughing so hard that we were crying. The best part of the book was the section on the Weeki Wachee Mermaids! David and I decided right then and there that we needed to see the mermaids! Today, I realized that dream!
Weeki Wachee Springs was a two drive from Winter Haven, but worth every minute! We got a late start and threw in lunch at Cracker Barrel. Yes, my morals can be bought by their chicken dumplings! We finally arrived at shortly before two, with the place closing at four. Luckily it was small.
We saw two shows. The first was with the mermaids of yesteryear. This was a special show, where past mermaids come out once a month to volunteer to perform old routines and such. We just happened to be here on the day that they perform. The oldest mermaid was seventy-seven and the youngest was fifty-three. They ate and drank underwater. They performed routines to "Fly Me To The Moon" and "Thanks For The Memories." As the mermaids perform they breathe using special hoses and it just looks ridiculous! It was delightfully cheesy! This show had kind of a nice tone to it, because obviously the women love performing and have fond memories of their years at Weeki Wachee. They introduced themselves before the performance and imparted the sentiment that you are never too old to be a mermaid again!
The second show was with the current mermaids...Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid." You would think this was an obvious choice, but apparently they have done other stories in the past, including "Alice in Waterland", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Mermaids in Space." The space one is where the "Fly Me To The Moon" routine came from!
"The Little Mermaid" took cheese to a whole new level. It was a musical and it had a section where the mermaids were dancing to disco music. The lyrics were cringe worthy. At one point, the main character consults a Sea Turtle, who is her best friend, to help her find the sea witch. The turtle was scary and just out of place in the story. The costume was faded and torn. It looked like it had not been updated since the park opened. Actually, a general observation about the park...the whole place looked like it had not been updated since it opened. Everything weathered and run down. The curtains in the mermaid theater were torn.
The best part of the show was the sea witch. She was loud and obnoxious. She even jumped out to scare the audience as people were leaving the theater.
I left the park thinking how awesome it would be to be a Weeki Wachee Mermaid. The place was everything that "The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste" promised and a ton more. I have hyped it up for the past twelve years and it well exceeded my every expectation!