Do you have a comment
or question?
Contact Eric
Minton here.
or call toll-free 888-902-5667
(outside North America call
1-937-296-9796)
©2001, Minton
Enterprises LLC
All rights reserved
Volume 1, No. 15. August 24, 2001
For
a printer-friendly version of this newsletter
CLICK HERE
Magic's
mystery
One
thing appears certain about the "gas leak" at Magic Waters Waterpark that
sent 36 guests and four employees to hospitals on August 10: it was not
a gas leak. Though not entirely sure of the incident's cause, the Rockford,
Illinois, park has instituted mechanical fixes that the rest of the industry
should pay close attention to.
Five minutes before noon that Friday with 3,300 guests playing in the
park, noxious fumes began emanating from the park's 16-year-old wave pool.
The pool and surrounding attractions were evacuated and the park immediately
enacted its crisis-management plan, calling in local emergency response
crews. The 40 people sent to hospitals were treated for minor respiratory
illnesses and released that afternoon. Meanwhile, hazardous material response
teams went into the wave pool chambers and emerged with the verdict that
there had been no chlorine leak. Furthermore, the chemical balance in
the pool's water was perfect, said Steve Delorme, Magic Waters' maintenance
foreman.
After the hazmat team's investigation, Delorme and his staff, the regional
engineer for the Illinois Department of Public Health and representatives
of an independent engineering firm started investigating. They concluded
that the water level in the wave pool's surge pit fell too low, allowing
air into at least one of three pumps. Hypochlorous acid accumulated in
the air pocket, and when the surge pit water rose again, it pushed the
pocket of air and gas through the system and belching into the wave pool.
The odor of that acid caused the illness among guests and employees. Public
health officials said such fumes are not life-threatening.
Kim Adams-Bakke, Magic Waters' general manager, stressed that the water-level
scenario is just a theory. The three teams of engineers could not find
anything wayward in the wave pool mechanisms or structure that would cause
a concentration of hypochlorous acid. Why the water level slipped was
not entirely clear, either, though Delorme said he cleaned out debris
from the three intake pipes and theorized that those "scrunchies," as
he called them, may have blocked the float valves on those pipes. Yet,
while the water-level theory is the most plausible, the engineering teams
could not replicate the incident, Adams-Bakke said.
Nevertheless, the park is taking preventive measures. Delorme installed
a PVC pipe the width of the tank behind the intake pipes' float valves.
"I installed it in such a way that the valves would never go completely
straight up and down, no matter how much water was in the tank," he said.
The valves would then remain open, and scrunchies couldn't get behind
the valves to block them. Delorme also purchased a low-water warning system,
and he plans to install two more rotary flow switches so that all three
pumps will be monitored. "That way if one of the pumps cavitates or shuts
down, all the pumps would shut down so there's no chemicals of any sort
passing through there," he said.
The engineers tested Delorme's pipe installation and the wave pool opened
to the public the next day. The park validated all admission tickets on
the day of the incident for free return visits later this season or next
year, or outright refunded patrons.
Wally James, president of Con-Serv Associates and chair of the Safety
Committee for the World Waterpark Association, said that no matter what
caused the incident, Magic Waters' experience should serve as "a wake-up
call" to other waterpark operators. "The message is, where possible, be
redundant, verify that there's flow going to the pool at all times," he
said, not just in wave pools but lazy rivers and splash pools, too. "Equipment
is getting older, some of it is rusting. Time is taking its toll."
To print this article, click here
Superman
sequel
Another park incident investigation came to a conclusion Saturday as the
Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster at Six Flags New England
in Agawam, Massachusetts, reopened almost two weeks after a train ran
through the brake run and rear-ended another train in the loading station
injuring 21 people.
Engineers determined that a ruptured air supply line cut airflow, lowering
the air pressure in the primary brakes. The rupture also prevented full
engagement of the backup brakes, which did not stop the arriving train
but did slow it to 20 mph (32 kph) as it approached the station.
Engineers made four modifications to the ride:
— Replaced the PVC air supply lines with steel reinforced lines;
— Installed quick-release-valves to allow the backup brakes to engage
faster;
— Added a remote air pressure monitoring system to more rapidly detect
fluctuations and engage the backup brakes sooner;
— Installed a separate control valve system for each pair of brakes,
adding more redundancy.
Superman's ridership reportedly was at normal levels upon reopening.
To print this article, click here
Old car, new photograph:
Barutha's daughter and father-in-law feature in his Kennywood exhibit.
Photo from
www.mitchellb.com
Feeling framed
It seemed like a
great idea. Mitchell Barutha had been photographing Kennywood amusement
park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania for two years and this work had been
booked for a gallery exhibit. With the park's Thunderbolt roller
coaster undergoing reconstruction during the winter, why not use some
of the leftover wood to frame his colorized black-and-white prints for
the show?
However, the park's maintenance crew balked. This being Kennywood, where
nothing gets tossed, they claimed they would reuse that wood someday somewhere
in the park. But Kennywood's publicity director, Mary Lou Rosemeyer, intervened
and Barutha got enough Thunderbolt pieces to frame nine of his
photographs. "The character of that wood really tells you it's part of
that roller coaster," said Barutha, who has also worked in carpentry.
"When you cut into this wood you know it's old wood, the growth rings
were really tight. And it just has a smell." Though he brushed off loose
paint flecks and applied a single polyurethane seal, he didn't alter the
wood's look, so the frames "look kind of beat up, dirty white and chipped."
His show "Bits and Pieces of Kennywood: Hand-Colored Photographs by Mitchell
Barutha" runs August 30 through September 27 at John Stobart's Three Rivers
Gallery in Pittsburgh. Barutha, with support of the Kennywood staff, traipsed
through the park in all seasons the past two years recording images with
black-and-white film. He then colorizes the photographs with oil pastels
and color pencils. "They look more painterly than painted," he said.
The show will feature more than 30 photographs along with Kennywood memorabilia
loaned by the park. The downtown gallery is located in the Union Trust
Building which also has a shopping arcade, where the famous yellow "Kennywood"
arrows will be placed in windows directing pedestrians to the gallery.
The memorabilia that's already causing a buzz, though, are the coaster-wood
picture frames. One of the frames will contain this photo Barutha
took
at the top of the Thunderbolt's drop into the ravine. After the
exhibit Barutha plans to replace the photos in the other eight coaster
frames with this photo to sell to the public. They'll likely go fast.
Barutha took the original Thunderbolt-framed Thunderbolt
photograph, along with other samples, to show gallery owner Frank Russen
what the exhibit would entail. Another client happened to see the Thunderbolt
photo leaning against the wall and immediately purchased it. "They sold
one already before the show started. That's very encouraging," Barutha
said. "I wish I could get more of the wood because there seems to be an
interest in this."
For more samples of "Bits and Pieces of Kennywood" on Barutha's web site,
click
here.
To print this article, click here
The
Root cause
When Rick Root left his position
as general manager of White Water in Atlanta last fall, he decided to
take a year off before looking for a new job. In that time he traveled.
"My son just turned 16 months old and he's been to 30 states," Root said.
"I thought I would get in 50 by the time he was 2."
The Roots' travels have been put on hold for awhile after he took the
reins of the World Waterpark Association as president and CEO August 13.
He accepted the job forged over 20 years by the late Al Turner, but Root
doesn't have any pretensions of filling the WWA founder's shoes. "He was
the man who created something out of nothing," Root said. "I shied away
purposely from comparisons to Al, but I realize people will naturally
make those comparisons. We have an association of 1,200 members in 52
countries. My role is to facilitate the members' involvement in their
association and assure we bring all the resources that exist to those
members."
To accomplish such a task the board of directors pondered recruiting an
association professional, but decided the better route would be a waterpark
industry veteran. "The majority of the board wanted to stay inside the
industry," said Terry Turner, WWA chairman and vice president of construction,
maintenance and engineering at Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, North
Carolina. "With his long-term experience as an operator, he has working
knowledge of all the suppliers. We don't need to bring in somebody new
and train him in all the players. (Root) knows all the players."
Root, who has served on the WWA board since 1997, counted 15 years of
experience as a waterpark operator, starting at Summer Waves on Jekyll
Island, Georgia. He joined Silver Dollar City's White Water in Branson,
Missouri, in 1990 and rose through the ranks to become general manager
of the company's Atlanta property before Six Flags bought it in 1999.
Root also has been attending WWA's annual conventions since 1986 and has
been a favorite speaker at the conventions' symposiums for 13 years. "I
see the difficulties our park members have faced first hand and a lot
of issues important to suppliers, too," he said. "That said, there's a
huge amount of stuff I'm going to need to learn, because the role of park
operator is certainly different from that of an association."
He is getting that on-the-job training at a crucial time. The association
is moving toward its 21st annual symposium and trade show in Orlando,
Florida, October 9-13, six months after Al Turner's death. Root said the
staff has kept the course through these trying months, and the association
is on track for meeting its goals for attendance among both members and
suppliers. Though it's a daunting time, he's glad he took the position
when he did. "I think it would not have done anybody any good, myself
included, to start the day after the convention."
"We talked about whether to wait after the convention, but we wanted to
make a statement," Terry Turner said. "We wanted everybody to know we're
stable, we're taking care of business, and everything is carrying forward."
For more information on Root and the WWA, visit their web site at www.waterparks.com.
To print this article, click here
Invitation
to TEA
In an attempt to boost its exposure
and widen its accessibility, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA)
has revamped its annual awards ceremony to make it more inviting for industry
employees and the public to participate. Though still a black-tie event
fetching $125 per ticket, the September 22 "Thea Awards" gala will abandon
the sit-down dinner format of the past and use the Alex Theatre in Glendale,
California, as a venue to honor themers' achievements. The association
also is selling tickets on its web site (www.themeit.com)
and through amusementpark.com.
"It's more conducive to having a broader spectrum of audience in attendance,"
said Jim Presnal, the association's executive director. "If' you've got
people seated at round tables, you're inherently stuck with matching strangers
with strangers. That would have been even more challenging for us had
we had civilians coming in. This year, it's easier with reserved seats
in a theater setting: you still get a chance to mingle, but it will be
more casual."
The mingling element is an important aspect of the gala and a primary
reason TEA teamed up with amusementpark.com to widen availability of tickets.
"They could reach young people in the industry trying to promote themselves,"
Presnal said of the web site's role. "(Amusementpark.com) has been very
proactive in contacting us to find out what we're up to and make (that
news) available to the people who visit their site." For amusementpark.com,
which has been selling amusement park tickets and posting industry news
since its debut in May, this is the first time the site has sold tickets
to a particular event, said Joie Pitre, the site's vice president of marketing.
The neon-brimming, art deco Alex Theatre seats 1,500 people; TEA is currently
only selling the 740 floor seats to its 8th Annual Thea Awards gala. The
awards are based on nominations turned in last November and honor achievements
in theming at "attractions across a broad spectrum," Presnal said, from
theme parks to museums, retail stores to workout facilities. This year
Theas are going to the following winners, (TEA's web site has links to
descriptions of the facilities and their creative teams):
Lifetime Achievement: Tony Baxter
Thea Classic: Silver Dollar City
Attraction: Millennium Village Event
Attraction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Buccaneer Gold
Attraction: Nickelodeon Flying Super Saturator
Attraction: Men in Black Alien Attack
Event Spectacular: Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony
Visitor Center: The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument
Visitor Center: HollandRama
Marine Park: Discovery Cove
Interactive Sound and Light Show: Lights of Liberty Show
Theme Park: Kid's City / La Ciudad de los Niños
Themed Retail: Desert Passage
Corporate Land: Volkswagen Autostadt
Achievement on a Limited Budget: Exploration in the New Millennium
Achievement on a Limited Budget: L'Oxygenarium
Breakthrough Innovation: Stealth World's First Flying Coaster
Breakthrough Innovation: Disney's FASTPASS
To print this article, click here
In
this issue
(To
go directly to a story, click on a blue keyword or phrase below):
Magic Waters rebounds from noxious fumes at the wave pool, and Six Flags New England fixes Superman roller coaster.
Kennywood wood could make a difference in Pittsburgh photo exhibit.
The World Waterpark Association looks within its ranks for a new leader.
The Themed Entertainment Association widens its net for THEA attendance.
We celebrate the arrivals of two prototypes, a Boomerango waterslide at Waterworld Waterpark in Cyprus, and a VertiGo at Cedar Point.
We invite you to a cyber art show by a special school of artists, and we pay a return visit to the recovered Pat Koch of Holiday World.
by Eric Minton
Suzanne
Melas finally got to see Icarus take flight. Photo
courtesy of Waterworld Waterpark
It's
a water slide!
Waterworld Waterpark in Ayia
Napa, Cyprus, announces the arrival of The Fall of Icarus, August
11, 2001. Measurements: 9.6 meters high (32 feet), 21.9-meter-long bullet
flume launch (73 feet), 51.4-meter-long boomerang ramp (170 feet). Delivered
by Whitewater West.
The sun was not up yet, but no matter. The rest of the ride was ready
so Waterworld simply had the ride operating when the park opened that
Saturday morning. Realizing the unusual-looking contraption—the first
Whitewater West Boomerango Ride installed in the world—was finally
open after season-long construction, "people rushed over. It got the longest
queue," said Suzanne Melas, Waterworld's managing director.
By sun we don't mean the real heavenly body; that, in fact, was ever-present
on the cloudless, sweltering day. Rather we mean a Grecian sun that was
supposed to be perched atop the boomerang ramp. In its Ancient Greece
theming apropos the rest of Waterworld's look, The Fall of Icarus
has riders in one-person or two-person rafts descend a single-lane chute
from a Greek temple tower and ascend to the sun—like the ride's namesake—
before sliding back to earth and over a hump where water sprays douse
them as they head into the run-out toward the splash pool. The mythological
sun would not rise to its place until a week later.
However, because Icarus had been generating so much interest during
its building, the park decided to forego putting that shining touch on
the structure for the time being. Park officials also did no opening ceremony,
per se. "The opening ceremony was me going down to test it out," Melas
said. "We're far too busy in the peak season to do anything more." Still,
Icarus' debut day could not have been more opportune. Neutrino
of the British garage band So Solid Crew, whose single "21 Seconds" was
topping the United Kingdom Top 40 charts, happened to be in the park.
Melas herded camera crews to record Neutrino's first ride on Icarus,
and he emerged with the most suitable of sound bites: "That was the best
21 seconds I have had in ages." News crews also watched the mayor of Lavrio
Athens, Greece, Stavros Papastavropoulos, take his first ride and issue
a quick excited comment as he hurried back up the steps for a second go-round.
Mayor
Papastavropoulos took a dousing spin. Photo courtesy
of Waterworld Waterpark
Waterworld has seen immediate returns on Icarus in more ways than
one. Thanks to a large number of local residents visiting the park, Melas
said, attendance has shot above the normal levels of this peak period
when the Cypriot resort is packed with vacationers. "All the locals have
been waiting for the ride to open. Even the return holiday-makers have
been waiting for the new ride," she said. "What attracted me when I purchased
the ride was the shape, the idea, the movement, the drop, the flying feature
and to-and-fro. We've had the same reaction from the visitors."
To print this article, click here
VertiGo
riders experienced nothing but air at Cedar Point. Photo
by Dan Feicht/Cedar Point
It's
a launch ride!
Cedar Point in Sandusky,
Ohio, announces the arrival of VertiGo, August 11, 2001. Measurements:
six seats on a triangular carriage, three 265-foot-tall towers (80 meters),
a flight of almost 300 feet up (91 meters). Delivered by S&S Power.
One minute children are trundling around a kiddie go-kart track, the next
minute adults are somersaulting 300 feet in the air. That's the way it
seemed to Cedar Point's Challenge Park guests as S&S' newest thrill ride
debuted at the end of the summer season in a spot where the kiddie go-kart
track started the season. Construction on the prototype ride broke ground
July 2, and 40 days later at 6:45 p.m. on a Saturday the first park guest
paid $10 to ride the air-launched platform to sub-heaven.
Like other late-season additions around the industry, this one had no
grand opening ceremony. "I said, 'Hey, we're open,' and they started selling
tickets," said Bill Spehn, Cedar Point's director of park operations.
Nevertheless, the crowds came. Though the reservation schedule was padded
to allow operators time to get accustomed to the routine, VertiGo
saw steady business on its first night.
VertiGo also passed its most important test that night as an up-charge
attraction: guests came back. Spehn, watching the opening evening operations,
noticed a well-to-do gentleman ride it, return later to ride with his
teen-age daughter, then the two of them returned later with a younger
daughter "just barely meeting the 52-inch restriction," Spehn said, and
all three rode it together. The ride is designed to inspire return visits
in that it can be configured to take four different attitudes as it ascends
and descends: remain upright throughout the ride (called "Hot Rocket"),
ride upright to the climax, tilt forward 150 degree and nose-dive back
to earth ("Cosmic Flip"), tilt forward immediately after launch and fly
nose down up and back ("Big Bang"), and fly nose down to the climax where
you turn upright "and you're able to see your kingdom, the peninsula,
all of mother earth," Spehn said. That last one is called "Big Bang Plus."
Spehn and Cedar Point GM Dan Keller were the first non S&S riders to take
VertiGo a couple of days before it opened. "You launch up in this
thing, and there's restraint but you're wide open," he said. "And you
are free. It's like you decided to get out of your seat in an airplane
and just hang there for a second. After the ride you get off it, high-five
each other and buy the video."
Eric’s Turn
Zoo
school of art
Upon discovering that she was
chosen to submit a new painting for an art show to be exhibited by THE
LOOP, Lucille reportedly squealed in excitement. Lucille is a Tamworth
pig at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, and she loves to paint.
Even before her keepers put the canvas on the board, Lucille was rubbing
her snout across the easel in anticipation.
Such has been the enthusiasm we created when we started gathering works
of art for the first-ever Cyber Animal Art Show to be posted with the
next edition of THE LOOP (for your invitation, click
here). We will be posting the show to coincide with the American
Zoo and Aquarium Association's annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri,
Sept. 7-11. Already we have promised submissions from Lucille, a rhinoceros,
several elephants (both Asian and African) and penguins. Zoos and animal
collections contributing to the cyber art gallery will have their web
sites linked through the art, and the accompanying issue of THE LOOP will
highlight some of the pioneer painters and the zoos who use painting for
animal enrichment, research and fund raising.
Our own first encounter with this school of painters came when Sarah and
I visited Colorado last month. We learned of Lucky's elephantine work
at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, then saw the gallery featuring
the paintings of Mshindi Rhinoceros at the Denver Zoo, Also at Denver
visiting elephants Rosie and Amigo put on a painting display, prompting
us to purchase suitable souvenirs (pictured above). Such masterworks of
abstract impressionism should be broadcast to the world, we decided, and
that spawned this special art show.
You still have time to contribute: the deadline for submissions is August
31. You can send jpegs or gifs and a bio of the artist to eric@gettheloop.com.
Not a pig? Not an artist? Don't worry, you can still be involved in this
exciting event. We are seeking sponsors for this exhibit and have a value-filled
package available. Here's a great chance for your company to show support
for our friends (both kinds) in the industry. Click
here for details.
To print this article, click here
Pat Koch had the right attitude to battle her cancer, doctors said. Photo by Sarah-Janette Smith
Return visit
The last we had talked with Pat Koch, owner of Holiday World in Santa
Claus, Indiana, she was upbeat and almost eager to take on her battle
with colon cancer (LOOP
May 18). Since then she has been through chemo sickness, a deadly
bacterial infection, radiation burns, surgery and moments when she wasn't
sure she would live through the next day. When we talked with her Tuesday,
she was cancer free and heading back out to her park to greet guests and
manage the staff.
That attitude of hers going into the summer had more to do with her full
recovery than medical treatment, according to her own doctors. After her
August 3 surgery and subsequent pathology report showed no cancer anywhere
in her system, the oncologist told Mrs. Koch: "I don't know why this happened.
You were very determined, you were in good condition when you went into
this, but I also know you had so much prayer and love and support. We'll
just leave it at that."
In July when she spent 12 days in the hospital suffering the effects of
infection and damage to her intestines from the radiation treatment, Mrs.
Koch, who turned 70 August 14, was, by her own reckoning, totally un-Koch-like.
"I've never felt so completely helpless," she said. "I realize now how
sick I was because I didn't want to get up and do anything. I didn't even
want to read." She finally regained enough strength and stamina to withstand
the long-planned surgery to remove the tumor, and it was scheduled, ironically,
for Holiday World's 55th anniversary. Her family went to lunch while she
headed for what turned out to be a short operation.
She recalled lying in the recovery room and the surgeon walking in, touching
her hand and saying "I couldn't find anything: I think you're cured."
"When I started to come out of it, I wasn't sure where I was or what had
happened. Did I die and go to heaven? Who was that person and what did
he say?" Later the surgeon told Mrs. Koch she was "every surgeon's worse
nightmare. I got in there and thought, 'am I in the wrong place or do
I have the wrong person? There's nothing here.'"
Paula Werne, Holiday World's director of public relations, sent the good
news out on the coaster enthusiast networks, notifying the park's worldwide
base of fans who had constantly pumped Mrs. Koch with encouragement. "I
know this healing is because of all the love and support," Mrs. Koch said.
"It made such a difference in how I felt that so many people cared. I'm
humbled that so many people prayed for me and sent me cards and wrote
me notes. Some enthusiasts sent me church bulletins with my name highlighted
in their prayer lists. I don't want to have cancer again, but it's a wonderful
experience to know that you're loved so much. It's a nice thing to know."
To print this article, click here