Long before it became a quiet nature retreat, Rainbow Springs State Park, just north of Dunnellon, was a bustling Florida theme park with waterfalls, boat rides and a ZOO. Today, much of its story and its animals, remain shrouded in mystery.

Decades before it became a state park, Rainbow Springs, a short 88 miles northwest of Orlando, was a vibrant mid-century roadside attraction. From jungle cruises and wildlife exhibits to garden trails and artificial waterfalls, the park drew tourists with its blend of natural spectacle and entertainment.

“Rainbow Springs wasn’t just a swimming spot. It was a full theme park,” said a local park employee. “It had boat tours, landscaped paths, even a small zoo. A lot of people don’t realize what used to be here.”

Originally opened in the 1930s, Rainbow Springs competed with other Florida destinations like Silver Springs by offering a full-fledged theme park experience. Attractions included manmade waterfalls, submarine-style boat tours and a zoo with exotic animals. The park eventually closed in the 1970s due to declining tourism and was later reopened as a state park in 1990, according to Florida State Parks historical records.

“You know, I’d seen the cages that were left many years ago, but no one told me where they went,” Gerry Brown, a lifelong local who visited the park as a child and later helped clean up the area before it reopened, said. “I always wondered what happened to the animals.”

Photographer Jason Collin visited the site in 2010 and documented many of the zoo’s crumbling remains, including overgrown pens, broken enclosures and rusted infrastructure. His photo series, published on his blog, captured what was left of the old animal habitats decades after the theme park closed. The images serve as one of the few visual records of the zoo exhibit of the park’s forgotten era.

Despite visible remnants of the zoo, such as rusted cages and empty concrete pads, there are no official records detailing what happened to the animals after the park shut down. A 2023 visitor survey found that most guests were unaware Rainbow Springs had ever been a theme park at all, much less one that housed exotic wildlife.

“I’m a history guy, so I’d love anything to read,” Matthew, a history major at Valencia College, said. “It’s part of Florida’s weird and wonderful past, and I think more people should know about it.”

As Rainbow Springs State Park continues to attract visitors with its crystal-clear waters and quiet trails, many are unaware they are walking through the remains of a lost theme park. For locals and historians alike, uncovering and preserving its past, including the fate of its animals, may be the key to connecting future generations to a unique chapter of Florida’s tourism legacy.