Volume 3, No. 7. April 11, 2003
New
Arrivals
It’s
a kiddie area!
Paramount’s
Great America in Santa Clara, California, announces the arrival Nickelodeon
Central and SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D, March 29, 2003. Measurements:
100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters), three new rides, two remodeled attractions,
two shows, one remodeled cafe and a motion theater film. Delivered by Barbeieri,
Huss and SBF.
For the uninitiated—if any exist—SpongeBob SquarePants is today’s
Elvis. Except that he has much greater demographic appeal. Toddlers are in awe
of the urbane sponge; just seeing a model of SpongeBob atop his Boatmobiles
ride was enough to inspire whines of “Iwantaride” among little boys
and girls walking past. Adults turn childlike in SpongeBob’s presence;
at the daily Nicktoons LIVE at 5 where guests can pose with all the most popular
Nickelodeon characters, SpongeBob and his best friend Patrick Starfish attracted
the largest crowd, mostly parents who shot an obligatory child-with-characters
picture, then hopped in for their own photograph. Then there are the too-cool-for-school
teens who “love” SpongeBob; seeing him in the Nick Central meet-and-greet
shed or being interviewed by Spanish TV crews, these kids yelled out “We
love you SpongeBob,” and they weren’t kidding.
Obviously, anything SpongeBob would have made Paramount's Great America the
hip place to be this summer, but the park did more than make SpongeBob the celebrity
du jour of the season; it did him up just right. The new 3-D film, already debuted
at Paramount’s Kings Dominion and Carowinds (THE
LOOP, March 28, 2003), is now the industry benchmark in motion theater presentation,
where both the seat movements and 3-D effects subtly serve the cartoon’s
established sense of humor while adding effective gotcha’s within the film's
plot and the cartoon's traditions. Theming a Huss Breakdance ride as SpongeBob’s
Boatmobiles adds visual delight to the traditional ride, but pouring bubbles
out over the space gives both riders and pedestrians a supplementary attraction.
Paramount Parks' Design and Entertainment team have themed each of the attractions
after specific cartoons on the kiddie network. Dora’s Dune Buggies
is a Barbeieri Eureka classic roundride that children can raise and lower by
manipulating a hydraulic pump. The Wild Thornberry’s Treetop Lookout
is an SBF Samba Tower rising 30 feet (9 meters) above the ground, and sits beside
the former Splat City Green Slime Refinery complex which has been totally re-themed
and re-tracked as the Wild Thornberry's Rain Maze. The former Green Slime
Mine Train has been given a new look as a Rugrats Runaway Reptar coaster
(not the Vekoma suspended junior coaster in the other Nick Centrals). And Wings
restaurant has given way to Nicktoons Cafe! with more kid-friendly fare.
Nickelodeon Central and the new 3-D film debuted with the park’s season
opener on a balmy 80-degree Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) Saturday. Traffic
on that day, plus the responses at private parties, indicate Great America is
achieving its primary aim for the 2003 season to tip the demographic balance
decidedly toward families. “It has been a huge, HUGE difference in families,”
said Nicole Koebrich, operations manager for public relations. Her measure:
“More strollers. We can tell that this product speaks to a family, exactly
what we were hoping it would do.” Season pass sales are tracking high as
well, she said.
Koebrich scheduled the media day and VIP party for April 5 a breezy but sunny
day as the park hosted some 2,300 media and invited guests and their families,
each receiving a coupon for a family photo with SpongeBob and a SpongeBob backpack
filled with seashore goodies. Nick Central was open for Exclusive Ride Time,
then the gathering streamed into the County Fair Picnic Grove for a park-prepared
3-star-caliber buffet lunch. Koebrich billed the event as the “Best Day
Ever,” a catchphrase that adorned invitations, directional signs and giveaways
and became the standard greeting among adult VIP’s: “Hey! How are
you?” “Great, this is the best day ever!” It fit right in with
the prevailing SpongeBob SquarePants attitude of the day.
But later in the afternoon, out in the park, one preschool kid was loudly proclaiming
to his parents “This is the best day ever!” and you you Great America
did better than strike gold this year; it struck Sponge.
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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