2008 Woodie Awards
UCF Grad shares his Gatorland journey at History Center's Brown Bag Lunch and Learn
Jonathan Hohensee
Issue date: 7/21/08 Section: News
"It's never fun catching alligators," Gatorland's show coordinator Kenny Danberry said, referring to the difficulty of capturing the 3-year-old alligator he was presenting to group of grade school children inside the lobby of the Orange County Regional History Center on July 15. Inside of Danberry's shirt was a 10-month-old baby alligator.
For the July 15 installment of the History Center's Brown Bag Lunch and Learn program, Mark McHugh, the president and CEO of the Orlando amusement park Gatorland and UCF graduate, was invited to the History Center to discuss both the history and future of the 59-year-old tourist destination.
McHugh spoke inside of the History Center's second-story ballroom, where, with the help of a slide show, he discussed the humble origins of Gatorland.
Owen Godwin Sr. founded Gatorland in 1949 and originally named the park the Florida Wildlife Institute.
"We are an integral part of the community, we're deeply involved with the community, we've been here for about 60 years and a lot of people that grew up here, in Orlando grew up going to Gatorland," McHugh said.
Through its history, Gatorland acted as a destination for those who were not only interested in alligators and crocodiles, but other exotic animals such as snakes and tapers. Gatorland also acted as a gator farm up until 1998, when the park decided to become more of a conservation-oriented organization.
Two years ago, the historic Central Florida landmark nearly closed down forever. In 2006, a fire, which was started by a heating element that was used for pythons, had an electronic malfunction. The fire was responsible for destroying the majority of Gatorland's buildings.
Although the only animal fatalities from the fire where the two pythons in the area where the fire started and a gator, the financial and emotional damage of the fire was extensive.
During the lecture, McHugh attempted to choke back tears as he described seeing "Jesus" being written by sky writers while a demolition crew tore down the fire-damaged remains of the wing of the park that McHugh's wife's grew up in.
For the July 15 installment of the History Center's Brown Bag Lunch and Learn program, Mark McHugh, the president and CEO of the Orlando amusement park Gatorland and UCF graduate, was invited to the History Center to discuss both the history and future of the 59-year-old tourist destination.
McHugh spoke inside of the History Center's second-story ballroom, where, with the help of a slide show, he discussed the humble origins of Gatorland.
Owen Godwin Sr. founded Gatorland in 1949 and originally named the park the Florida Wildlife Institute.
"We are an integral part of the community, we're deeply involved with the community, we've been here for about 60 years and a lot of people that grew up here, in Orlando grew up going to Gatorland," McHugh said.
Through its history, Gatorland acted as a destination for those who were not only interested in alligators and crocodiles, but other exotic animals such as snakes and tapers. Gatorland also acted as a gator farm up until 1998, when the park decided to become more of a conservation-oriented organization.
Two years ago, the historic Central Florida landmark nearly closed down forever. In 2006, a fire, which was started by a heating element that was used for pythons, had an electronic malfunction. The fire was responsible for destroying the majority of Gatorland's buildings.
Although the only animal fatalities from the fire where the two pythons in the area where the fire started and a gator, the financial and emotional damage of the fire was extensive.
During the lecture, McHugh attempted to choke back tears as he described seeing "Jesus" being written by sky writers while a demolition crew tore down the fire-damaged remains of the wing of the park that McHugh's wife's grew up in.