Volume 3, No. 7. April 11, 2003
New
Arrivals
It’s
a flat ride!
Legoland California announces the arrival of Bionicle Blaster,
April 10, 2003. Measurements: 1-acre (1/2-hectare) footprint, 500-foot (152-meter)
turntable with four 120-foot (36-meter) turntables, 12 cars carrying up to five
passengers. Delivered by Mack.
If Legoland is trying to balance out its market appeal to cover the whole spectrum
of its 2-to-12 demographic, the park could have found no better spokesfamily
than the Southerbys. With their husband/dad currently serving in Iraq, the Southerbys
were one of the nine families from the U.S. Marine Corps’ nearby Camp Pendleton,
along with 20 YMCA Camp Kids, invited to serve as the Bionicle Blaster’s
first official riders. Television cameras focused on this particularly handsome
family squealing, cheering and high-fiving through the duration of the first
two rides.
What did they think of the ride? “It was great,” said Kyle, 14. “It
was really fun,” said Rebecca, 12. “I like how fast it goes,”
said Wyatt, 6. “It was great,” said their friend, Marc Purdiman, 8.
Do they like Lego’s Bionicle toy line? “Oh, yeah!” responded
the complete chorus of kids. “They’re not quite as small as Lego bricks
that you step on or vacuum up,” said Georgine, mom. Then, she sheepishly
admitted, “They’re cool to play with, too.”
Opening its fifth new attraction in its four-year history, Legoland has fully
filled out its offerings for the upper ages in its 2-to-12 market focus. As
evidence: Kyle kept glancing over at the Technic Test Track (a Mack mouse)
next to the Bionicle Blaster while Wyatt eyed the Imagination Zone with
its Lego laboratories. The Blaster itself has wide appeal among kids
over 42 inches in height, a teacup-type ride on which passengers can control
the amount of spin by manipulating the central wheel.
What
makes this ride so cool, though, is the theming. Lego’s first line of action
toys, Bionicles last year were named the “Most Innovative Toy of the Year”
and “Best Boy Toy of the Year” by the American Toy Industry Association.
The Toa statues keeping guard around the ride received as much attention from
children and parents as did the ride itself.
“One of the important elements to any new ride at Legoland is that it synergistically
ties back to a very popular toy,” said Courtney Simmons, manager of media
relations and government affairs at the park. “Like with any popular toy
kids can’t satisfy themselves enough. Bionicle kids will consume and want
to be exposed to anything that relates back to the story line that they have
immersed themselves in.”
So, the cheering among the children was sufficiently vocal when the ride made
its public debut Thursday morning under clear blue skies and temperatures in
the mid 70s. In the pep rally atmosphere, two athletes from the park’s
summer show “Wheels of Freestyle” spun their BMX bikes for the crowd,
and two narrators from the park’s Bionicle Jam Show inserted the ceremonial
key to the ride—a Bionicle “Mask of Light”—that created
smoky special effects as it allegedly started the Blaster on its debut
turn.
Most of the media missed the smoky moment, instead filming families on the ride,
among them Rebecca Southerby. “It’s easy to go on and have your mind
off of everything that’s happening in the world, giving you some time to
relax,” she said.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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