Volume 2, No. 7.   April 12, 2002

Room with a view
The property has everything a manufacturer could want: warm weather year round, plenty of space, a good labor pool and its very own amusement park.

Hopkins Rides Inc., the former O.D. Hopkins manufacturers and now a division of Reverchon, recently moved its manufacturing and maintenance plant from Penacook, New Hampshire, to Panama City Beach, Florida. The 10-year-old, 40,000-square-foot building (12,120 square meters) sits on 8.3 acres of land in an industrial park on the north side of the city. "It's exactly what we were looking for," said Vincent Pic-Paris, president and CEO of Hopkins Rides. "It is high enough, large enough, and it will allow us to work all round the year outside to erect rides."

Welcoming its new neighbor is Miracle Strip Amusement Park, which is hoping to become a show park for both Hopkins and Reverchon products. "We really would like to have a partnership with Miracle Strip as a showcase of what we manufacture," Pic-Paris said. "We already have very close relations with Buddy (Wilkes, Miracle Strip and Shipwreck Island's general manager), and we hope Miracle Strip will work closely with us. That would allow Miracle Strip to have all our new rides."

Wilkes is all for that. "We could provide top-quality daily maintenance," he said. "We
could use our contacts on the beach to have nice accommodations available for clients coming in to view the products, and we as an amusement company would roll out the red carpet."

Already the two entities have helped each other out. Reverchon put up one of its Crazy Mouse rides at Miracle Strip until May when its owner, Amusements of America, will be able to take delivery. Wilkes put the Mouse next to his new S&S Power tower, operating it on weekends during the spring. "It gives us a strong presence along Front Beach Road," he said of the beach-paralleling main drag through the city.

Wilkes has already walked Hopkins officials through his park, picking out potential sites for rides. Pic-Paris said Hopkins is interested in running rides at Miracle Strip as a concessionaire, a relationship the company already has with some amusement parks. But, he said, "The relation we will have with Miracle Strip will be unique."

Hospital care
In our interview with Alain Baldacci in December (THE LOOP, December 14, 2001 ), the president of Interplay Parks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said that during his term as IAAPA Chairman of the Board he hoped to put the industry on a path toward providing aid to the world's impoverished children. An example of a theme park expressly fulfilling that role works in Baldacci's own hemisphere.

Parque de Diversiones in San Jose, Costa Rica, was founded in 1981 to earn money for the city's National Childrens Hospital. In 2001 on a gate of 800,000 visitors, the park raised 351 Million Colones (US$1 million) for the hospital. Additionally, while admission to the grounds is free, the park waived the 2,800 Colon (US$8) ride ticket to countless groups of poor school children.

"This is our mission, to work in a social way, helping the hospital and helping the society not only by giving help for the sick kids but also for the healthy kids who are not able to afford entertainment at the park," said Mario Catarinella, Parque de Diversiones' general manager.

Not that the not-for-profit status of the park allows it to skimp on its offerings. Fifty eight of the property's 110 acres are built out and divided into two major areas. One is a mechanical park with 42 amusement rides, including two steel roller coasters, bumper cars, waters slides, electric train, antique cars, carousel, several flat rides and an arcade with video and redemption games plus a simulator. The other side of the park is a themed area called Old Town, which comprises three sections representing Costa Rican history. One section replicates a turn of-the-20th century town with restaurants and group meeting venues. Another section displays the country's rural elements, with sugar cane fields and a coffeehouse serving fresh-picked coffee, a petting zoo and authentic old houses brought in from other parts of the country. The third section represents the Atlantic coast where Christopher Columbus first set foot and gave the country it's name, "Rich Coast." The park also has its own walk-about characters: Uncle Pig, Uncle Rabbit, Uncle Tiger, Uncle Coyote, Uncle Alligator and Aunt Hen.

Last year Parques de Diversiones received ISO 9000 certification. "We're very proud of that," Catarinella said. He also has the advantage of employing a staff—ranging from 400 to 600 employees depending on the season—with a sense of mission. "Our park is the only amusement park in the world that works for a hospital. Employees here have that in their mind and in their heart, and they work happily to reach the target. If you want to work for this park, you have to be a very special person, very idealistic, very philanthropic."

But he admits that attaining and keeping such high standards is difficult in a poor country of just 4 million people, even if it is for a good cause. "It is also a very rough business in Costa Rica. If the ride costs $1 million, for instance, you have to pay almost $2 million for taxes and transportation." For that reason he is seeking assistance from his international colleagues. "We
need help from other parks and other countries because it's very hard for us to make the money for the hospital," he said. Still, he agrees with Baldacci that the amusement industry is the perfect enterprise to provide succor and sustenance to the world's children in need. "I think this kind of business is very compatible with the mission of the hospital," Catarinella said. You can contact him at mcatarinella@parquediversiones.com.

Carousel horses at ’bay
What do you get when you cross an old circus performer with an antiques dealer? These days, you get a custom-made carousel on eBay, the Internet auction house.

Arlene Albrecht, owner of Albrechts Antiques in Blakely, Minnesota, has a 1930 C.W. Parker 32-foot (10-meter) carousel mechanism with new horses and rounding boards created by her late husband, Dave. After Dave Albrecht passed away in June 1999, Arlene has occasionally put the unfinished carousel on ebay—where she is listed as a power seller, thanks to her own antiques business—with a starting bid of $45,000.

“It needs a lot of work,” Albrecht said of the carousel. “The big gear is worn, it needs new platforms. To be a real, functional carousel, it just needs a lot of tender loving care.” The price tag doesn’t include shipping. “It’s as is, where it is. You have to come get it.”

The one-of-a-kind carousel does come with a legitimate pedigree. Both Arlene and Dave were born and raised in circus families, Arlene the daughter of Yo Yo the Clown (Bill Alcott) and Dave the son of a dog-and-pony show operator and acrobat, who also built circus parade wagons. Arlene still has one of his Albrecht Circus Wagons with the dates 1918 to 1968. That’s when the couple retired from circus life, she to sell antiques, he to open a body shop.

Dave began carving carousel horses, miniatures and full-size. In 1969 he purchased an original Herschel carousel, restored it with a gas engine and 20 new horses and sold it for $3,800 in 1972. “He always regretted selling it, and said he would start all over again.” That led to his purchase of the Parker, for which he carved 54-inch (137-centimeter), Parker-style basswood horses. Of the 19 remaining horses (Arlene sold one, but is now trying to keep the rest of the carousel together), 17 are hand-painted in oils, two are partially painted. All have glass eyes, some have jewels, and one has a name, “Patriot,” a Star-Spangled-Banner bearing horse the Albrechts’ daughter, Lynn, painted during the Persian Gulf War. One of the two chariots is painted, and all 12 exterior rounding boards have individual hand-painted scenes. Eight of the inside panels also are individually painted.

Dave’s reputation with carousel carving landed him in reference books and magazines, and his body shop became a shrine for bus tours. “It was just like in the circus, it’s all show biz,” Arlene said. “It’s just a different way of performing, and I didn’t have to wear a short wardrobe.”

After Dave’s death, Arlene knew the carousel would never be completed and wanted to find a suitable home. Every time she posts it on ebay, she gets interest, but no takers. Once a town in northern Minnesota tried to purchase the piece, but the attempt fell through. “It’s just not something everybody has to have,” she said. “I keep hoping somebody will have to have it.”

To contact Arlene Albrecht directly, e-mail rsantiques@aol.com.

The Garden of Ed
Yet another “retired” industry legend has returned to the fold. First, Six Flags veteran Larry Cochran came out of retirement to helm the management company running Jazzland Theme Park in New Orleans, Louisiana (THE LOOP, March 8, 2002). Now, longtime small park operator Ed Hutton takes the general manager reins of Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, California.

Hutton’s daunting task is to re-float a huge, partially sunken ship. Bonfante opened to much critical acclaim but a depressed market last June (THE LOOP, June 29, 2001), and did so without all of its rides operating nor all of its financing in place. Though owner Michael Bonfante planned to run the park’s season past Christmas, cash flow problems forced him to end the inaugural season in September (THE LOOP, September 21, 2001).

Hutton’s résumé indicates he is ideally suited to the task. He began his career working in 1961 as a night watchman for Frontier Village, an amusement park then being built in San Jose, California. The next year when he graduated from San Jose State, Hutton went to work full-time for the park. Though he spent most of his career at parks in the San Francisco Bay area, including Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and most recently the Winchester Mystery House, Hutton has sometimes gone far afield geographically, but never strayed from the industry.

In 1967 he took over the 2-year-old Playland Amusement Park in Ocean City, Maryland, rescuing it from a premature demise. He stayed there only a couple years, preferring the West Coast life. In 1973 he was called to the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, another faltering 2 year-old park. “That one was truly a challenge,” Hutton said. “It was a 600-acre park, we were using 200 acres, and its location didn’t support the demographics.” Again, he stopped the bleeding and left in 1975. That park is still operating.

Both of those properties he described as “misbuilt and mismanaged,” and he applies the same adjectives to his current property, but he emphasizes that by “misbuilt” he means Bonfante Gardens did too many good things to soon. “This place has got everything. Way more,” he said. “It has wonderful back-of-the-house facilities and beautiful, labor-intensive gardens. This park was built correctly, (Bonfante) just put too much money into it.” And did not have enough left over to operate it correctly, leading to the “mismanaged” element of the park’s rookie season.

Because of what the park has to offer, and with more time to execute operations and marketing campaigns, Hutton is confident Bonfante, now scheduled to re-open May 11, will succeed. “It’s a major challenge, but do-able,” he said.

For more details on the park’s second-season strategies, see the May issue of Amusement Today.

Habitat for habitats
This was a job for the United States Air Force. A unit at Patrick Air Force Base near Melbourne, Florida, deployed to the nearby Brevard Zoo, set up an encampment for a weekend and went to work building the zoo’s free flight aviary. “They did a deployment exercise, brought in the big equipment and trained on how to put up a structure,” said Gayla Schaefer, Brevard Zoo’s public relations and marketing director. “And we just loved it.”

Brevard Zoo calls itself “The Handmade Zoo” with good reason. The zoo, which opened in 1994, largely has been built on donated labor and skills from the community. This month Brevard Zoo broke ground on its fourth major expansion, a 10-acre African exhibit that will feature reticulated giraffe and white rhinos and include kayak rides. The zoo received a $2.5 million grant from the Space Coast Tourism Development Council and figures to cover the whole cost of the project with that grant.

That is an easily attainable budget for this 78-acre zoo: the original facility was built on $3.5 million thanks to the labors of more than 16,000 volunteers. Native Florida and Australasia exhibits were subsequently added, giving the zoo 415 animals representing 130 species and attracting 220,000 visitors last year. Designers already have worked a year on Expedition Africa without the zoo spending a dime, Schaefer said. That’s thanks to BRPH Companies, Inc. of Melbourne, which, as it did with the zoo’s Flying Fox Forest bat exhibit, has donated design and engineering services for the planning of Expedition Africa. The zoo’s executive director played a major role in the new exhibit’s design, too; Margo McKnight came to Brevard from Busch Gardens Tampa where she designed the Edge of Africa section.

The most unique aspect of the new exhibit, scheduled to open April 2003, will be the kayak rides. Already the zoo offers kayak tours through a 22-acre restored wetlands on the property. In July 1999 McKnight oversaw the opening of the Wetlands Outpost featuring an overlook of the area, but instead of building boardwalks into the wetlands, she launched the kayak tours. At $3 per person, the guided tours take 20 minutes. The tours proved so popular Brevard Zoo began hosting four-hour eco-tours of the adjacent Indian River Lagoon, a $40-per person program that includes a kayak lesson and picnic lunch during the tour.

For Expedition Africa, the kayaks will offer an alternative vantage point for guests to view the animal exhibits. The kayakers will be restricted, however, though planners have not decided whether to use fencing, channeling or a guideline along the bottom of the river. “People will be paddling their own kayak, but they’ll be constrained so they can’t go into the rhino habitat,” Schaefer said.

Guests also will be able to see the exhibits by the zoo’s train, which will be doubled and rerouted to encompass Expedition Africa. That retracking will take place over two weekends in May, courtesy of a community day out.

Big charge, no cost
Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, is once again flexing its mighty marketing muscle with radio commercials airing all across the state. Except that the park doesn’t get a single mention in the spot. In fact, Cedar Point didn’t pay for the spot and had nothing to do with its production.

The radio commercial is one of many promoting Ohio Electric Choice, a campaign jointly mounted by the Public Utilities Commission and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel to educate Ohioans on the state’s electric restructuring program. Launched in January 2001, the campaign features several slice-of-life scenarios in television, radio and print ads to inform audiences that they have a choice from whom they may buy their electricity.

The coaster commercial begins with a male narrator, “Dan,” asking: “Which is more exciting? Riding on the world’s tallest, fastest roller coaster, or choosing your electric supplier?” The commercial cuts to the sounds of a scream-filled coaster run and a woman describing her ride. “I’m strapped in the seat,” she says, then she starts yelling: “I’m dropping 300 feet at 92 miles an hour. Whoooooo Hooooo! Here comes a 130-degree turn. YEOW! The adrenaline is pumping in my veins, it’s an out-of-body experience, but I think choosing my electric supplier is more exciting, Dan.”

For Ohio coaster fans, the woman obviously is describing Millennium Force at Cedar Point, with its 310-foot first drop leading into 122-degree banked turn at 92 mph.
The commercial, like all of other ads in the campaign, was created by Fitzgerald + CO in Atlanta. The ad firm presented a list of potential scenarios, easily identifiable activities people could easily relate to that could creatively segue into the topic of electric choice. Other selections included skydiving, a monster truck race and a football game. “When Fitzgerald came forward with the coaster idea as one of the radio spots, the Ohioans reacted immediately and enthusiastically: ‘Yeah, we’ve got roller coasters!’” said Nancy Manecke of Pierce Communications, the campaign’s contracted PR firm.

“It was a cherry on top for us to be able to talk about roller coasters in a state known for roller coasters,” said Richard Evelyn, vice president and account supervisor at Fitzgerald. He said his creative team was not looking to write a spot about Millennium Force, but did want “something people could relate to locally in Ohio.” The coaster concept also works well on radio, “the theater of the mind,” he said.

Meanwhile, at Cedar Point, “We don’t have a problem with companies using something like that in generic terms; if it mentioned Cedar Point or Millennium Force specifically, we would need to be involved with it,” said Janice Witherow, the park’s public relations manager. “Anytime somebody can give subliminal messages about Cedar Point and our star roller coaster, we’re not going to make any objection about that.” As long as the coaster is presented in a positive light. And the worst the current radio spot can say about Millennium Force is that choosing an electric supplier is a bigger rush. Whooo hoooooo!

New Arrivals

It’s a dark thrill ride!
Paramount’s Kings Island in Kings Island, Ohio, announces the arrival of Tomb Raider: The Ride, April 3, 2002. Measurements: Four chambers, 77-seat platform rises to a height of 70 feet (21 meters). Delivered by Technifex and Weber Group.

It turns out the shroud of secrecy Paramount Parks staunchly maintained leading up to the opening of its highest-profile ride in years was all part of the ride’s theme. Tomb Raider, whether its The Game, The Movie or The Ride, is all about surprises: not knowing what will happen next.

For the first public audience, who earned the right to a sneak preview by winning radio contests, theories on the ride abounded. As they streamed through the queue themed as an archaeologists’ excavation tunnel toward the anteroom of a long-lost Cambodian temple, people suspected they were ultimately heading for an indoor roller coaster, a motion simulator, a 4-D theater or “just a movie.” What it turned out to be was a ride platform that spins them frightfully close to razor sharp ice stalactites then suspends them upside down and ever closer to a boiling pit of hot, spewing lava. And what they said after riding it was “awesome,” “cool,” “way too short” and “best ride here.” Even the journalists and enthusiasts on hand for the official unveiling earlier in the day—many of whom knew what the ride would be—were surprised by the literal turn of events in that last chamber.

Despite the ride’s brand, its multimillion dollar price tag and its extensive theming and high-tech special effects, Kings Island officials didn’t position Tomb Raiders’ installation as an attempt to place the park in any elite status, said David Mandt, the park’s manager of marketing communications. “That was not our motivation,” he said. “We wanted to create a unique and outstanding attraction.” But his public relations team played the theme to the hilt, choreographing the media event around the whole Tomb Raider brand. Guests checking in at the front gate were transported through the park in stretch limousines. Mandt and Jeffrey Siebert, his fellow PR representative, wore classic tuxedos. A buffet lunch of crab claws and pork tenderloin was served in an English garden tent. Before the opening ceremony at the tomb itself an archaeological field team tried to open the sealed cave. The actors did their best to pretend they were toiling in the jungle heat despite the day’s near-freezing temperatures.

But, of course, only one person was equipped to open this tomb, and when the wall blew out in a flash of light and smoke, Lara Croft emerged to beckon the press to follow her into the chambers. That’s the real Lara Croft, by the way, Jill de Jong, a model from the Netherlands and the new face of the computer game making her first U.S. appearance. Of her own experience on the ride, she only said, “If you want to really get into Lara’s adventures, you have to check it out.”

And be ready for a few surprises.

Congratulations

www.technifex.com

for a successful opening!

For more photos and information on Tomb Raider: The Ride,
Click Here

It’s a theme park!
Six Flags Inc. and Comunidad de Madrid announces the arrival of Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid, Spain, April 5, 2002. Measurements: 625 acres of which 370 are developed, five themed areas, 25 attractions, 14 retail outlets, 17 restaurants, 19 carts, 30,000-person capacity, 7,000-car parking lot and 1,600 employees. Delivered by Bolliger & Mabillard, Cunningham Group Architecture, HUSS Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Roller Coaster Corporation of America, S&S Power, Showorks Entertainment Group, Sim Tex, Wyatt Design Group, Zamperla, Zierer, Intamin and Vekoma.

The train trundled off on its maiden voyage from Madrid to St. Martin de la Vega 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Spain’s capital city, making a scheduled stop at the car park for Warner Bros. Movie World. There, its special passengers disembarked: the president and vice president and other officials of Communidad de Madrid, the state government. They were greeted at the park by Six Flags Chairman and CEO Kieran Burke, Six Flags President and COO Gary Story, and park Vice President and General Manager Tom Mehrmann, along with hundreds of local press.

The significance of this entourage cannot be understated. This is Comunidad de Madrid’s park, both fiscally (a 40 percent stake in the project) and symbolically, a project that brings an internationally respected venue to Madrid and highways and new train line to its underdeveloped southeastern sector. On the afternoon before the public got to see the park for the first time, Mehrmann led the dignitaries and their entourages on a tour of the park, which resembled a buffalo stampede of scampering paparazzi and journalists. That night at the press and VIP preview, Bo Derek and Christopher Lambert were the special guests, arriving with an arguably bigger star, Bugs Bunny, and police escort. In front of a curtain of silver star balloons and under a driving rain, the two actors along with Mehrmann and Sandy Reisenbach of Warner Brothers holding umbrellas greeted the crescent of press for a soggy photo-op. The balloons parted, a song and dance revue performed a tune of welcome, then the day’s second papparazzi stampede began down Sunset Boulevard.

Alas, rain and unseasonably cold temperatures played the largest role on this studio’s debut. On opening day, oppressively cloudy skies kept an expected crowd of 25,000 down to around 4,000. The ride mix looks like it will have a strong allure. B&M’s floorless coaster Superman: Ride of Steel scores with its speed and air time, the wood Wild Wild West Coaster runs fast and smooth, and the S&S Combo Drop The Riddler’s Revenge is Europe’s tallest freefall ride at 100 meters (328 feet).
However, several of the big attractions were not ready for opening day, leaving many teens disappointed. Parents, however, lauded the Cartoon Village and its array of themed family rides, and danced with their children to bluegrass music on the streets of The Wild West.

For Mehrmann, hearing such response from a particularly savvy market is encouraging. “You’ve obviously got high quality parks in this country, you’ve got high tourism and you’ve got a specific market here of about 9 million people in a two-hour drive time who are very prone to visiting parks if it’s what they want,” he said. “I think this is exactly what they want.”

Overshadowed in the European press by another studio park opening three weeks earlier across the Pyrenees, Madrid could still boast of its own new gem in the genre.

Complete coverage of Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid will appear in Amusement Today.

It’s two flat rides!
Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, California, announces the arrival of Delirium and Flying Eagles, March 29, 2002. Delirium measurements: 37.8 feet high (11 meters) with pendulum swinging to 65.3 feet (20 meters), eight sets of four seats. Flying Eagles measurements: 27 feet high (8 meters), 86-foot (26-meter) diameter when in motion, eight two-passenger vehicles. Delirium delivered by Chance Morgan Rides, Flying Eagles delivered by Larson International.

For the first time in memory, Paramount’s Great America slated its VIP day for a regular operating day, and the 1,400 invited guests could visit any time after the park’s regular 10 a.m. (10,00) opening. “We had a line at 9,” said Timothy Chanaud, the park’s manager of communications.

With temperatures in the 70s and not a cloud in the sky, the official opening event began at 6 p.m., with a stage full of characters representing all that was new at the park this year: Nickelodeon characters Dora the Explorer and Jimmy Neutron, Angelica Pickles representing the new Nick Slime Time: The Live Show, Mr. Mysterious from another new show, It’s Magic: The Art and Illusion of Nicholas Night featuring Kinga, and Ernie the Eagle representing the Flying Eagles. Delirium served as the stage’s backdrop. After speeches from park and local officials and a rain of confetti, Delirium started up on its first official ride with eight sets of twins.

For the background story on the installation of these two rides, see the May issue of Amusement Today.

It’s a geodesic dome!
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, announces the arrival of the Desert Dome, March 26, 2002. Measurements: 137 feet high (42 meters), 230 feet in diameter (70 meters), total of 84,000 square feet of space (25,455 square meters), three deserts, 10 exhibits and 21 species of animals. Delivered by Larson Company (man-made rocks and trees), Temcor Co. (crystogon dome), Stan Howe and Associates (architects) and Kiewit Construction.

The Henry Doorly Zoo got a rainforest in 1992 (the Lied Jungle) and an ocean in 1995 (the Scott Aquarium). A desert seemed the natural progression, but to do so in Nebraska required construction of a man-made wonder. At a cost of $31.5 million, the Desert Dome now gives Omaha arguably the strangest claim of all: “the world’s largest indoor desert.”

The hype is well-grounded, though. First for the donors, VIPs and local officials attending the ribbon cutting at a Tuesday evening gala, and then for the public streaming in the next day, the Desert Dome was dropping jaws. About 6,800 people showed up on the Dome’s first public day, and in the first week the zoo drew 57,000 people. Spring break helped, and Good Friday saw 15,000 people, but the Dome is obviously the draw.

Its size is wowing enough, but what’s inside comes as a surprise for the average Nebraskan, like the 30-foot-high (9 meters) Namibian sand dune (which uses a conveyor belt to return fallen sand back to the top), the 55-foot-tall (17 meters) Central Mountain, the expanse of Sonoran desert and the replica of the Uluru, the world’s largest monolithic rock from Australia’s Red Center. Representing deserts on three continents, the exhibits have fauna to match, from bobcats to caracal cats to meerkats.

Next year the world’s largest indoor desert will open the world’s largest nocturnal exhibit, Kingdoms of the Night.

It’s a Madhouse and ice show!
Gardaland in Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy, announces the arrival of Prezzemolo’s House March 23, 2002, and Cinderella, March 26, 2002. Prezzemolo’s House measurements: 27-meter-high tree (90n feet), 11 meters (36 feet) in diameter with three rooms in the tree and one 72-seat Madhouse under the roots. Cinderella measurements: 450-square-meter rink (1,485 square feet), 2000 seats and 15 skaters. Madhouse delivered by Vekoma.

What if you celebrated an opening and nobody from the media showed up? Gardaland expected as much; when the park opens a new venue or ride upon its season opener Easter week, it figures much of the media is on vacation, too. So, rather than stage a major gala opening event, the park will bring the media out this weekend. “Easter time is a peak time for us, so we don’t need the advertising,” said Roberta Brentarolli, sales manager at Gardaland. “After it slows down a bit, it’s not so crowded and is a much nicer park for the journalists to see.”

What they will see is the final elements of Fantasy Kingdom, a cartoon-like themed family area opened last year. The area’s centerpiece is a giant tree where Prezzemolo the Dragon, Gardaland’s mascot, makes his home. Guests will walk through his kitchen, playroom and bedroom and stand out on a veranda overlooking the Fantasy Kingdom. Thirty feet below ground is yet another room under the spell of a power magician who still lives there and will spin the room around when guests come to visit.

While the tree and Madhouse puts the cap on one expansion at Gardaland, the Cinderella ice show represents a new direction for the Italian theme park industry. The park learned that guests wanted some respite between rides and looked for a 30-minute show to give them. Management settled on an ice show because Italy so rarely sees such presentations. “The big companies like Holiday On Ice and Disney On Ice never stop in Italy, probably because we don’t have enough big venues,” Brentarolli said. “For many of our visitors, this is the first time they’ve seen an ice skating show.”

Gardaland built its own new ice rink and decided that rather than produce a show of merely acrobatic skating, it would do so with a storyline, settling on the fairy tale of Cinderella, complete with magical coach. “That’s very much in the Gardaland style, to tell stories with our rides,” Brentarolli said. And the combination of athleticism, costuming and romance makes for a 30-minute show that’s “enough to give you big emotions,” she said.

It’s a wild mouse!
Paramount’s Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, announces the arrival of Ricochet, March 23, 2002. Measurements: 52 feet high (16 meters), 13,40 feet long (406 meters), 10 four-passenger cars. Delivered by Heinrich Mack GMBH & Company.

Having staged a large media event for 2001’s Hypersonic XL opening, Mark Riddell, Kings Dominion’s public relations manager, did not want to overdo the opening of this season’s rmuch smaller and significantly less historic new ride, albeit one that deliveres a breath-taking 50-foot drop. However, while the ride’s public opening was uneventful, Riddell chanced into an effective pre-opening publicity stunt.

Over the years Riddell has developed a friendship with some of the clowns in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus who are “huge coaster fans,” he said. When the Greatest Show On Earth came to the eastern Virginia area the first week of March, the clowns called up asking if they could visit the park. Because the park was not yet open, Riddell offered his friends a deal: get into makeup and costumes and be the first public riders on Ricochet for a photo-op. “Some of the clowns in the pictures are not really clowns. They are wives of clowns who wanted to ride but figured they had to get in clown makeup in order to ride,” Riddell said.

It was a happenstance that just fit: a wild mouse makes a perfect clown car.

It’s a wild mouse and themed area!
Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, North and South Carolina, announces the arrival of Ricochet and the Carolina Boardwalk section, March 23, 2002. Measurements: 49 feet high (15 meters), 1,214 feet long (368 meters), six 180-degree curves and 11 90 degree curves, 31 mph (50 km/h). Delivered by Heinrich Mack GMBH.

Taking a lead from the ride itself, Carowind’s public relations team secured suitable local celebrities to inaugurate its new wild mouse in a press event on the morning of the ride’s public opening. On hand to test out the new ride were Charlotte Smith, a forward with the Charlotte Sting Women’s National Basketball Association team, Steve Smith (no relation), a wide receiver and kick returner for the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers, and Mike Cohn, a member of the U.S. bronze medal-winning bobsled team. What do all these athletes have in common with Richochet?

“What they do requires quick twists and turns and agility,” said Jodie Roberts-Smith, public relations manager at Paramount’s Carowinds. Testing the skills of Ricochet, the athletes returned to the station impressed, she said. “When everybody was looking at the ride, it looks tamer than people anticipate, so they were quite surprised when they rode it.” One other local dignitary was too surprised. Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, who was on hand to cut the ribbon for Carolina Boardwalk, is “hesitant to ride coasters,” Roberts-Smith said. Of his inaugural run on Ricochet, “He said that was probably his one-time ride.”

The mouse is the centerpiece to the newly themed Boardwalk section of the park, using Bomenite as wood-looking boardwalk crammed with nostalgic signage and strung with lights. “We’re bringing a little piece of the beach to the inland,” Roberts-Smith said.

For the complete story of the Carolina Boardwalk area, see the April issue of Amusement Today.

It’s a roller coaster!
Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, announces the arrival of Silver Star, March 23, 2002. Measurements: 73 meters high (241 feet), 1,620 meters long (5,346 feet), 130 km/h (81 mph), 36-passenger trains. Delivered by Bolliger & Mabillard.

For a ride sponsored by car-maker Mercedes Benz, themed after auto racing, with a queue line going through a motorsport exhibition hall, you would expect that the first official riders on Silver Star would be race car drivers. Fittingly, three members of the DTM circuit (German touring car masters) were on hand for the steel coaster’s grand opening: Jean Alesi, a former Formula 1 driver now racing for Mercedes DTM team, German champion Bernd Schneider and his Swiss opponent Marcel Fässler (a tip of the hat to Swiss coaster manufacturer B&M).

So, what was German boxing legend Henry Maske doing on the bill? “He was spending a private weekend in the park with his family, and Roland Mack got him to go on the coaster,” said the park’s public relations representative Martina Evers of her general manager’s power of persuasion. He was persuasive enough to get Maske, who “was a little afraid,” onto the ride. His verdict: “He said he would rather start boxing again than ride Silver Star,” Evers said.

The drivers, on the other hand, claimed to be in their element. “They compared it a lot to Formula 1 driving,” Evers said. “Alesi said it was quite similar to driving a race car.” They, of course, got front row seats. And despite the trickiness of many Grand Prix racecourses, few drivers have powered their cars down a 73-meter first drop at a 70-degree angle. Nevertheless, more guests than not sided with the drivers over the boxer, Evers said.

It’s a theme park!
Concord Group announces the arrival of Fantasy Kingdom in Ashulia, Bangladesh, March 23, 2002. Measurements: 35,000 square meters (115,500 square feet), 20 attractions and one cafe. Delivered by Concept International Design, MEGA Parcs, Visa International and Zierer.

Before officially opening Bangladesh’s first major theme park by switching on the front gate’s lights, SM Kamaluddin, chairman of the Concord Group, said in an address that the country’s lack of adequate entertainment facilities contributed to its social problems.
“Entertainment is a basic demand of the human soul which is often neglected in our society,” he said. guided by such a philosophy, he gave his land of Bangladesh a representation of a lost land of lore where a legendary prince and priness passed their days in happiness.

The park uses statues to carry out its theme, starting with the kingdom’s legendary couple, Prince Ashu and Princess Lia, welcoming guests at the gate. Zierer provided a family coaster and a flying carpet ride, Visa International did a log flume, train and other flat rides. The park also has a carousel, bumper cars, two ferris wheels and an arcade with video and redemption games.

It’s a roller coaster!
Thorpe Park in Chertsey, England, announces the arrival of Colossus, March 21, 2002. Measurements: 100 feet high (30 meters), 2,805 feet long (850 meters), 10 loops. Delivered by Intamin.

Thorpe could have scored a “most in Europe” trump card simply by putting 10 inversions of any type on its new steel roller coaster. However, the park was aiming for a slightly higher label—something along the lines of “best in Europe”—by melding its double-digit loops into a series of only-in-Thorpe gotchas.

For example, early in the ride, after the initial 360-degree vertical loop, riders descend into a succession of two camel humps, the second taking the train perilously close to, and under, a retail shop window. After a cobra roll and a couple more vertical loops, Colossus enters a series of four in-line inversions. “It looks visually like you are going down the barrel of a gun,” said the park’s PR manager, Emma Hart. This is not the “surprise ending” that is already gaining legendary stature among British enthusiasts. That would be an anti-clockwise inversion occurring just as the train is approaching the station.

Even for such a landmark ride, Thorpe did not tempt fate with a grand opening ceremony. The ride made its debut for an invitation-only gathering of annual pass holders, media and VIP from 3 to 8 p.m. (15,00 to 20,00) in pleasant weather. The park bathed Colossus in various lighting effects, including follow spots and colored beams. The next morning when the park opened to the public for the season, 200 members of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain were first in line. “They were just over the moon, they really were,” said Hart. “They didn’t stop praising the ride and the fact it was on their doorstep.”

Thorpe Park is also offering an early rider session. For 9 Sterling Pounds (US$13) over the 21 Pound (US$30) park admission price, guests get a half hour of exclusive ride time on Colossus, a special deal for an on-ride photo and a full English breakfast with a big cappucino. Note to operators thinking of copying this idea: the breakfast comes after the ride.

It’s a carousel!
Pier 39 in San Francisco, California, announces the arrival of a carousel March 20, 2002. Measurements: 23 feet high (7 meters), 34-foot diameter ( 10 meters), two levels, 24 horses (16 rising and falling, 8 rocking), two spinning tubs (contolled by passengers), two rocking chariots, two swings, six benches, 1,800 twinkling lights. Delivered by Bertazzan Company.

Pier 39 opened in 1978 with a two-tiered Venetian carousel as its centerpiece, and this year the retail and entertainment center on the San Francisco Bay waterfront near Fisherman’s Wharf decided to replace it with a newer model. Owned and operated by Richard Ramagosa and Edson Hutchinson of Indoor Entertainment, the custom-made carousel features paintings of famous Bay Area landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown and Pier 39’s own wild sea lions.

The Pier’s vice president of public relations and advertising, Alicia Vargas, targeted the carousel’s opening with the first day of spring and linked it to a local radio station’s Care-athon for leukemia and lymphoma research. She packaged a Pier 39 party for 20 people to auction off during the fund-raiser, which included dinner at a restaurant, a Bay cruise, street performance, and a ride on the carousel. “What the carousel would receive was hourly mention in a 24-hour broadcast along with goodwill,” Vargas said.

It’s a theme park!
The Walt Disney Company announces the arrival of Walt Disney Studios Park, Paris, France, March 16, 2002. Measurements: 25 hectares, four sections, nine attractions, six eateries and five retail outlets. Delivered by Vekoma and Zamperla.

Walt Disney Company officials made sure they had something to celebrate: the 10th anniversary of Disneyland Park’s opening in Paris (they even kicked off the birthday a month early), inducting filmmakers, actors and musicians into the Disney Legends program and, by the way, opening a new theme park. They had logistical reasons to combine the celebrations: easier to get dignitaries and celebrities into town for a multi-purpose two days. It also made marketing sense: reservations are up 40 percent at Disneyland Resort Paris since the new park opened.

Still, this park deserved the spotlight to itself upon its debut. For this installment the Disney Company went back to its roots, literally, in its celebration of the company’s founder and the Hollywood he helped create. In doing so, Walt Disney Studios Park pays homage to a man who was as much a cinematique icon in Europe—especially France—as he was in America. Plus the park incorporate’s Walt’s many inspirations from Europe.

This is a thoroughly European park, not at all a copy of MGM Studios in Florida or the Hollywood section of Disney’s California Adventures in Anaheim. Walt Disney Studios Park is European in practical matters, like offering some attractions in six languages. It is European in scope, such as the movies it honors at Cinamagique. It is European in the craftsmanship, particularly in the Animagique, which uses black light theater and puppetry from Prague to celebrate the artistry of Disney’s animations. And it has its own signature attractions, most notably the Moteurs. . .Action stunt show created by automobile stunt wizard Rémy Julienne, and the Armageddon Special Effects attraction which re-creates the movie’s meteor shower on the Russian space station.

The opening day ceremony under perfect spring weather stressed this park’s European foundation. Joining Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, Vice Chairman Roy Disney, Euro Disney Chairman and CEO Jay Rasulo and Mickey Mouse were 135 children from seven countries’ children’s charity associations. They opened the park with a yell of “Lights! Camera! Action!” then seven “first families”—one each from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom—entered the park.

In its first few weeks of play, Walt Disney Studios Park appears to be a box office hit.

For completed coverage of Walt Disney Studios, see Amusement Today.

Rebirths

It’s a ski show!
Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, California, announces the return of Ski Xtreme, March 30, 2002. Measurements: 9 waterskiers divided into two teams, one emcee, three boats, two jet skis, one jump ramp.

One thing Batman and Robin could not defeat was their predecessors on Marine World’s Lake Chabot. Three years after the dynamic duo’s stunt show displaced the ski presentations the park had been staging since 1968, guests were still walking through the gate asking staff to point them to the ski show. “It is extremely popular,” said Jeff Jouett, the park’s public relations manager. “Batman and Robin are still here as characters, doing meet and greet, posing for pictures and keeping the Riddler at bay, but the skiers have taken over the lake.”

Ski Xtreme divides the skiers into two teams who compete through a series of stunts, including barefoot skiing, jet ski racing and stunt jumps. The show ends with a six-person, three level pyramid carrying the American flag. The show’s first weekend saw the 2,500-seat stadium filled, Jouett said, and audiences responded to both the thrills and spills with the fervour that made the show so popular in the first place.

Marine World also entered the season with a new Alligator Isle exhibit featuring three ’gators, Billy, Lisa and Vador (obviously now separated from his brother Darth).

This month the new Lion’s Den will open to the public across from Tiger Island and become the new home for Nikka, the park’s female lion who has spent her whole 10 years living amid the tigers. “She has had an identity crisis all her life,” Jouett joked. But Nikka will soon have company of her ilk with the arrival by the end of this month of three lion cubs.

It’s a sea mammal show!
Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, announces the return of Dolphin Discovery, March 29, 2002. Measurements: two dolphins, two sea lions, one trainer, 25-minute show, 3,000-seat stadium.

After a 10-year hiatus, a dolphin and sea lion show returns to Six Flags Great Adventure, and the public welcomed the return. Though the show had always had an educational bent, the focus on education and conservation is even stronger with the new show, said Kristin Kocher, public relations manager at the park. The first few audiences were even seeing a scaled-back show to allow the dolphins and sea lions time to acclimate themselves to their new surroundings.

Eric's Turn

It’s the new us!
Welcome to our new look.

Now that we have to keep up with the Joneses (actually, the Slade at Amusement Today) in all things web, we decided to use our new alliance with Amusement Today to roll out a new design for www.gettheloop.com.

Part of our intent in this redesign is to create a cleaner layout that is easier for you to read and to navigate. The pages also are configured so that most computers will be able to print them as they appear on the screen. We will, however, continue providing straight text printable versions of the column and individual stories.

We’ve also added the Extra! Extra! box, which links directly to our joint venture with Gary Slade, amusementtoday.com. These headlines will change with each update on Extra! Extra!, so you can bookmark this page and check in with us daily for the latest news in our industry.

More changes are yet to come in the next couple of issues. Meantime, we’d like to hear your comments and criticism (and, maybe, a little praise?) about the new look, the web site and how we can serve you better. E-mail me at eric@gettheloop.com.

Bon voyage
This column is coming your way in the middle of my two-week tour of Spain and France. It’s another milestone for THE LOOP; we’ve posted the newsletter on the road before, but never from overseas. Successfully doing so this time is part of our commitment to be international in scope, content and access, and to maximize the technology of our chosen medium to keep you connected with the industry from the four corners of the world—and, maybe, someday beyond.

A personal thank you goes out to Lamberto Fresnillo, the secretary of the Association of Spanish Parks and Attractions, for his hospitality on this trip.

©2002, Minton Enterprises LLC
All rights reserved