Volume 3, No. 15. August 8,2003
You
gotta Believe
On Saturday, just a little more than one month after opening its 26th museum
in Key West, Florida (see New Arrival), Ripley Entertainment
will cut the ribbon for its 27th Ripley’s Believe It Or Not odditorium,
this one in New Orleans, Louisiana. Another museum in Kuwait City, Kuwait, is
slated for a January 2004 opening.
In the face of slumping economies and a struggling travel industry, Ripley Entertainment
properties are holding their own, President Bob Masterson said, and the company
is looking to expand. Most notably into waterparks.
Already Ripley is planning to build a waterpark in Florida, Masterson said,
declining to give the location until the company finalizes the deal. The building
of such a waterpark would bring a long-held desire to fruition. “We like
the waterpark business because it’s something we can do well,” Masterson
said. “We’ve been trying to acquire waterpark companies for some time
and haven’t been successful.”
The building of such a waterpark also would be the launch of a long-term strategy
which would result in a chain of waterparks, he said. “We’d go into
markets we understand better. We’d give them a unique theme. And we’re
going to spend the money required to make them special.”
One of Ripley Entertainment’s strengths has been building in markets the
company understands, whether it was their Believe It Or Not Museums or their
aquariums in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the latter
the nation’s most successful aquarium last year in terms of attendance.
Ripley also knows how to specifically appeal to the markets they are in. The
Key West Believe It Or Not is a typical Ripley museum, albeit with exhibits
unique to the location, as is true of all Believe It Or Nots.
The New Orleans version “is definitely different,” Masterson said,
in that it will feature much larger and more valuable pieces, ranging from a
12-foot-long (3.5-meter) London Tower Bridge made of matchsticks to a full-size
crucifix featuring a skeleton that has the life of Christ scrimshawed onto the
bones, created by a Sioux artist. “It’s a beautiful piece,” Masterson
said. The 11,500-square-foot (1,068-square-meter) gallery occupies an old Planet
Hollywood right on New Orleans’ Jackson Square, continuing Ripley’s
penchant for locating its museums at ground zero of any tourism destination.
Right now, such destinations are seeing dismal times; yet Masterson said he
has reason to be bullish. “Ripley’s has done very well despite the
fact that markets all over the world are down,” he said. “We are doing
better than the markets we’re in. People may say the market is down 40
percent, like at Niagara Falls; the Ripley’s there is down, but nowhere
near that. In the Orlando market the Ripley’s is actually up. In other
markets Ripley’s is down a couple percentage points, is up in many markets,
and overall doing great.”
He attributes this ongoing attendance success to the Ripley’s Believe It
Or Not publications and television show, now in its fifth season with first-season
shows being rerun in syndication and the old Jack Palance version showing up
on some cable outlets. All told, Ripley’s is seen in about 100 countries.
Meanwhile, the museums and aquariums carry the Ripley’s brand, which is
trusted by tourists with tighter spending capability.
As for the Kuwait City property—a Believe It Or Not which was supposed
to open this summer in the Al Sha’ab Leisure Park—construction stalled
when the whole area was closed down prior to the coalition invasion of Iraq.
However, the whole Middle East market remains viable, and Kuwait in particular
is a loaded with potential, Masterson said; especially for Ripley. “It’s
not intended for international tourists, it’s a product for Kuwaitis, and
it’s a good diversion at a time diversions are really needed.”
Successful formula
When he was a student
at England’s University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology,
Alex Payne hoped to become an engineer in the Formula One racing world. Instead,
he stayed close to home and became senior engineer for Blackpool Pleasure Beach—where,
10 years later, he became an engineer in the Formula One racing world.
Sort of.
To celebrate the new fleet of Mercedes cars at the amusement park’s 1960-built
Grand Prix ride—and those new cars’ sponsorship by Formula
One racing team Jordan—Blackpool Pleasure Beach Managing Director Geoffrey
Thompson promoted this year’s craziest publicity stunt in the industry:
running a real Jordan Formula One race car on the Pepsi Max Big One roller
coaster. Grand Prix Rookie driver Ralph Firman, a longtime veteran of British
kart racing and the Japanese circuit, was to “drive” the car over
the 235-foot-high (71-meter), 5,497-foot-long (1,675.5-meter) Arrow hyper coaster
track.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Right, OK, that could be fun,’”
said Payne, tasked with pulling off the stunt. “My initial technical reaction
was concern about drag.” Countering conventional contention among Pleasure
Beach staff that he was overreacting to the potential problem of drag since
this was, after all, an aerodynamic race car, Payne knew from his own final
year studies of race cars in college that Formula One cars use drag as down
force to stabilize a car. “A racing car is aerodynamic when it has 900
horsepower behind them shooting them along.”
Jordan’s car not only wouldn’t have that horsepower, it didn’t
even have an engine, which was removed so Payne’s team could bolt the car
to a Big One train chassis. That was only after doing computer profiling
and template measurements to make certain the car, longer than the chassis and
wider than the coaster’s train, would fit through the whole course of the
Big One, which passes through two tunnels, three other rides and itself
twice. The tightest fit was in the station itself, where the tires squealed
as they rubbed along the loading platforms, Payne said.
Meanwhile, the Jordan team stressed that Pleasure Beach’s engineers maintain
the integrity of the car. The wheels, stuck out to the side, proved the biggest
challenge because on a race track they support the car. On the Big One,
the car bolted to the chassis supported the wheels. “All the loads were
reversed,” Payne said, requiring special heavy duty plates bracketing the
wheels to the chassis. Furthermore, because the engine had been removed from
the back of the car—an engine which is integral to the integrity of the
car's construction—Payne had to stiffen the car body to make sure the back
end didn’t fall off on the Big One’s first drop.
“Now we’ve got the car on our chassis, we’re happy that it physically
will move around the whole circuit and won’t disintegrate while doing so,”
Payne said. Two days before the July 24 event, Jordan’s car took its first
plunge on the Big One, a track that, when the wind is strong, will stall
a sandbag-filled coaster train weighing 7 1/2 metric tons (16,535 pounds). Jordan’s
car, weighing 400 kilograms (882 pounds), stopped just beyond the first hill,
which it surmounted going “inches per hour,” Payne said. “It
was very gloomy seeing how bad the drag would be. That’s when everybody
knew how right I’d be.” Not that Payne took an “I-told-you so”
attitude because the drag was worse than even he expected.
Back at the shop, the Pleasure Beach engineers removed the car’s brake
cooling ducts and radiator, which “You need on a race track, but you don’t
need on a stunt like this,” Payne said. He blocked off the air intake valves
to the engines and polished the car with a better surface finish. “It was
a small advantage, but every little bit helps.” He then added airflow panels
and increased weight on the chassis. Twenty-four hours later, test two ended
with the car stalling two-thirds through the track—right behind the park’s
new Big Blue Hotel (THE LOOP,
July 25, 2003).
“It was 8:30 in the morning, and people in the hotel woke up to see a Formula
One car stalled on the roller coaster track and a bunch of guys working on it
as if it were a perfectly normal thing,” Payne said. “They were waving
to us and asking us to pose for photographs.” Test three an hour later
ended with the car stalling at the same location, allowing the hotel’s
late risers their own photo opportunity. After a consolation breakfast during
which Payne did some figuring on a napkin, he added another 150 kilograms (330
1/2 pounds) to the chassis before the next try.
That next try, though, was the actual stunt itself with Firman sitting in the
cockpit. “I shook his hand, wished him a pleasant ride and said, ‘See
you when you get back’ with a serious face,” Payne said. Exacerbating
the situation was a strong wind. “I wasn’t confident,” Payne
said. “I was hopeful, but I wasn’t confident.”
Firman rode the car all the way through. “He came back, stopped in the
brakes at the end of the station and stood up to wave to the crowd,” Payne
said. “I went away and sat on my own for five minutes to recover.”
Like Payne, the Jordan crew did not tell Firman ahead of time the car had never
made it through the Big One during testing. “The moment he got back,
they went to him and said, 'We’ve got a confession to make,'” Payne
said. “We all conspired against him.”
Thompson claimed a new world record for a race car riding on a roller coaster
track, and while so much work went into the short-lasting stunt, Payne felt
it was all worth it, for the park—“It was all over the media, and
there was a big, big crowd at the ride”—and for himself. “Blackpool
Pleasure Beach is all about innovation, Geoffrey Thompson is all about innovation.
He’s really up for the dramatic statements and things nobody’s done
before. He has a knack for seeing things where you initially hold your head
in your hands saying ‘What a crazy idea,’ and then it turns out to
be the proudest moment of your professional life. He’s uncanny in that
way.”
Hot dog
Ron Gustafson went surfing this winter, got hooked on Frisbee and consequently
his park went to the dogs. And it was all good.
The director of public relations for Quassy Amusement Park was looking for special
events he could stage at the small Middlebury, Connecticut, family park and
surfed the Internet for ideas. He came across a dog Frisbee demonstration team
based in New York City. Of course, the demonstration team would charge the park
to make an appearance, but through further surfing Gustafson discovered the
Unified Frisbeedog Operations, a national competition sponsored by Royal Canine
Dog Food.
After Gustafson engaged in a few E-mail conversations with this group, Ed Jakuboswki,
a member located in Salem, Connecticut, visited Quassy and determined the 3-acre
(1.2-hectare) grass field the park uses for large picnics, laser shows and gospel
festivals would be perfect for a UFO-sanctioned tournament. Suddenly, Quassy
was the site July 26 for one of UFO’s six national tournaments in which
competitors earn points toward the national championship held annually at the
Rose Bowl in California.
About 50 frisbeedog competitors from as far away as Dallas, Texas, descended
on Quassy for the Irv Lander Memorial Canine Frisbee Championship, a continuous
day-long competition. “I’d never seen anything like it in the 20 years
I’ve been involved in fairs, festivals and amusement parks,” Gustafson
said. And he doesn’t just mean the athletic dogs doing choreographed routines
with their disk-throwing owners, like reigning two-time national champion Bob
Evans. The UFO organized the whole event for Gustafson, from marking and roping
off the field to handling registration, from bringing in its own sound system
to providing a portable pool for the dogs to splash around in after their routines
on the hot, muggy day. The competitors also cleaned up after their dogs.
“Being a first-year event, you never know what to expect,” Gustafson
said. “This was a first-class operation. It’s one of those groups
you’re just glad to have an association with when they come in and do it
all and do it right.”
The only cost to Quassy, financially and in terms of personpower, was marketing,
and for that Gustafson merely inserted photos of disc-catching dogs in his advertisements
and sent out press releases with photos. The park got strong coverage before
and after the event, he said. The tournament also generated traffic to Quassy
in the form of local novices—kids with their dogs allowed to use the tournament
field before the pros came on, all part of the UFO program—and fans of
the sport who traveled to Quassy for the event. Guests already in the park frequently
crowded under the shade trees around the competition field to watch the action.
Both parties were happy with the day's outcome, giving Gustafson hope that this
will become an annual event. “We didn’t have to invest thousands and
thousands of dollars in a first-time event to see what the potential may be,”
he said. “I think this is one of those things that will be a huge event
in a short while. And UFO is thinking this could be a site they could settle
into for an annual event.”
Soaking up stardom
He’s bigger
than Elvis ever was.
“That may be going too far,” said Ken Cormier, president and CEO of
Funtown/Splashtown in Saco, Maine. However, his advertising agent, David Despres
of CBC Creative Broadcast Concepts, thinks the Elvis comparison is apt. “He’s
just an enormous draw, bigger than life.” Scott Anderson, public relations
assistant manager at Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina,
said he “is just hot. He’s gone further than the Rugrats.” Anderson
may be too young to understand the Elvis comparison.
More to the point, Anderson is not too old to understand the SpongeBob SquarePants
phenomenon. This Nickelodeon cartoon character has become, as Despres said,
bigger than life. His appeal reaches a demographic that Elvis Presley never
marshaled, even after his initial fans grew old with him. When SpongeBob SquarePants
appears on the scene, little children stand in awe, pre-adolescents scamper
up to greet him like a best friend, hoodlum-looking teens shout “we love
you SpongeBob” and mean it, college-age adults rush to join the meet-and-greet
lines since, in campus dormitories the urbane sponge has a cult following, and
parents shove all the above out of the way to get their own pictures with Mr.
SquarePants.
“Tim Fisher said he loves to watch the (TV) show with his daughter,”
Nicole Koebrich, public relations operations manager for Paramount’s Great
America in Santa Clara, California, said of her park’s vice president and
general manager. “He said it’s the only show you can find that a 40-year-old
man and 8-year-old girl both like.”
Paramount’s Great America, like the other Paramount Parks in North America,
debuted a SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D move in its motion theater. Great America
also added a SpongeBob-themed ride to its new Nick Central children’s area,
and all the Paramount Parks include the character in its meet-and-greet stations.
“When he comes out, the line doubles,” Carowinds’ Anderson said.
“Everybody is waiting to see SpongeBob, and the times he appears are posted
so they come back to see him no matter where they are in the park,” Koebrich
said.
Despres coordinated a SpongeBob SquarePants character appearance at one of his
client parks, Santa’s Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire, on July 26.
“He was mobbed, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “The traffic
was unbelievable on Route 2, the main highway from Maine to New Hampshire. Three
parking lots (at Santa’s Village) were full by 9 o’clock in the morning.
Some people I’m aware of drove three hours just to get their picture taken
with SpongeBob.” Despres said basic advertising placed 10 days in advance
of SpongeBob’s appearance was “adequate to draw several thousand people
paying full price.” The character is scheduled to make a return appearance
at the park August 17.
Meanwhile, the Time-Warner cable company wanted to send SpongeBob SquarePants
to Funtown two weekends ago, but because of that park’s proximity to Santa’s
Village, Despres got the cable provider to send SpongeBob’s best friend,
Patrick Starfish. The devotion was no less. The park started getting calls a
week ahead of the Saturday appearance, and the day Patrick arrived, his fans
poured in from as far as 150 miles away. “We had a line 100 to 200 people
deep,” Despres said. “I’m glad we had two or three handlers because
we couldn’t keep the crowd off him. I personally took three wireless telephone
photos of teen-agers, 17-years old, and they were talking to this guy like he
was one of their peers.”
Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Zoo in California brought out not the character
of SpongeBob, but his voice, Tom Kenny. One of the zoo’s docents is a friend
of the voice talent and knew he loved reading to children, so the zoo invited
him to take part in one of its regular storyreading sessions. Not advertised
in advance, Kenny’s appearance was announced only to patrons in the zoo
at the time, and “We had one of our larger turnouts,” said the zoo’s
Promotions Coordinator Gina Dartt. Kenny introduced himself with his SpongeBob
voice, then read several books using a variety of voices. Then he stuck around
to sign autographs, leading to something of a mob scene. “I had to pull
him away because one group of children tried to mob him,” Dartt said. “Some
people that worked here wanted autographs, too.”
What accounts for SpongeBob SquarePants phenomenal popularity? Koebrich said
the cartoon itself is not at all offensive so its safe for young children to
watch but with a clever sense of humor parents can appreciate. “Nickelodeon
did the right thing putting these characters on the road,” Despres said.
“They represent wholesome entertainment, but not on a big purple dinosaur
level. It was on an intellectual level.” One of his new clients, the Maine
Lobster Council, was trying to get Despres to work out a commercial featuring
SpongeBob SquarePants, but Despres pointed out that SpongeBob works at the Crusty
Crab diner selling crab burgers, not lobster fingers.
Cormier thinks its good marketing, likening the phenomenon to the Cabbage Patch
Dolls craze of the mid 1980s. “That’s power. That shows you what good
marketing can do,” he said. Cormier said he had no familiarity with Patrick
Starfish when his Funtown appearance was first announced, but “once I looked
into it I began to understand (SpongeBob) was popular with kids.” Does
he thoroughly understand the SpongeBob SquarePants appeal? “Not really.
But who am I to question success?”
Well-trained
Gary Baker, the
events director of American Coaster Enthusiasts, while organizing last weekend’s
Preservation Conference at Lakeside Amusement Park and Six Flags Elitch Gardens
in Denver, Colorado, heard rumors that Elitch Gardens might be getting new Philadelphia
Toboggan Coaster trains for its Twister Two. That would mean the wood
coaster’s original PTC trains that had run on the legendary 1964-built
Mr. Twister at the original Elitch Gardens were being mothballed
Baker asked Jim Bouy, the vice president and general manager of Six Flags Elitch
Gardens, if the park would be willing to donate one of the cars to ACE’s
National Roller Coaster Museum and Archive. “Let me check; I’ll get
back to you,” Bouy replied. A few days later the GM called Baker. “Would
you like the whole train?” Baker relayed this question to the museum board
and ACE’s archivist, who responded, “You have to ask?”
Sunday, as part of Elitch Gardens’ hosting of the ACE Preservation Conference,
the park officially donated an original Mr. Twister train to the National
Roller Coaster Museum and Archive. The train, with a new blue-painted finish
and festooned with balloons, stood at the entrance to Twister Two, looking
as if had just rolled off the assembly line—or the track. In fact, several
park guests thought the display was part of an announcement for a new ride.
The Mr. Twister train represents the Archive’s largest acquisition.
PTC, whose president Tom Rebbie is chairman of the Museum Board, will transport
the train to its warehouse for storage until the museum is built.
Rebirths
It’s
a whip!
Lakeside Amusement
Park in Denver, Colorado, announces the rebirth of the Whip, August 1,
2003. Measurements: 12 cars. Delivered by Mangles and Knoebels Grove Amusement
Resort.
After
lying dormant for six years, the Whip whipped around its bebop-architecture
pavilion once again with Lakeside General Manager Rhoda Krasner among the first
riders. For the woman who inherited Lakeside from her father, the moment recalled
a childhood spent, in large part, riding that very same Whip. However,
the thrill of riding the Whip this time did not compare with those times
riding it as a little girl, Krasner said. “It was always fun, but this
time the thrill was just having it going. Being on it was great. I’m thinking,
‘It really is going. It’s OK!’”
Originally
built in 1931, the ride shut down in the mid-90s, but Krasner never considered
removing it. “It was exceedingly important that we rehabilitate this ride,”
she said. “We appreciate what we have. It’s not only a bit of history
but a viably fun ride.”
That
rehabilitation was accomplished all in-house by the park’s Director of
Maintenance Tom Verdue. He, too, grew up visiting Lakeside, but when he arrived
as an employee four years ago, the Whip was silent. He and his crew gutted
and rebuilt much of the cars, the floor and the pavilion, too. He estimated
75 percent of the cars’ structures and 80 percent of the ride are new.
He received a lot of technical support from Carl Dill at AIMS seminars, and
Dick Knoebel provided advice and parts. “People think it’s a simple
ride. No, it’s not,” Verdue said. “We had to use special tools
on this thing. The springs are something else.”
With
almost four years of work renovating the Whip, Verdue felt it should
be treated like a new ride and re-opened appropriately. Krasner chose for that
occasion the evening Lakeside was hosting the American Coaster Enthusiasts’
Preservation Conference, and members of ACE joined her for that first ride.
For Verdue, that meant one more challenge: a full day painting the cars and
then 10 hours of welding overnight the day before the re-opening ceremony.
Krasner took two rides on her new old Whip that first evening, soaking in the thrill of having a longtime favorite operating again. “You can not go back,” she said, “but you should never grow up.”
New Arrivals
It’s
a waterpark!
Wild
Adventures Super Park in Valdosta, Georgia, announces the arrival of Splash
Island, July 31, 2003. Measurements: one 20,000-gallon (76,000-liter) wave pool,
a 1,000 foot-long (305-meter) river, 40-foot-tall (12-meter) slide tower with
two tube slides, one 42-foot-tall (13-meter) interactive play area with seven
slides and 8-foot-tall (2.5-meter) tipping bucket. Delivered by Murphys Waves,
North Beach Engineering and Whitewater West Industries.
So
Wild Adventures was late opening its new waterpark (scheduled to debut Memorial
Day weekend at the end of May, but 11 inches of rain in February and March delayed
construction). This year, it didn’t really matter.
“It
would have been better for us if it had opened earlier,” said the park’s
Public Relations Director Sara Sumner, “but with the weather playing such
a factor as it has with our season this summer, that’s hard to say. If
you’re going to have a late opening on a waterpark, it might as well be
at a time when people don’t want to get in the water anyway.”
Wild
Adventures did get its Paradise River and Rain Fortress interactive
play structure open June 14, and followed with the Double Dip Zip slide
tower. The last bit of the Splash Island first phase, the Catchawave Bay
and beach area, finally opened to the public July 31, meriting the big grand
opening celebration.
For
the occasion, the park invited local dignitaries, media and the waterpark’s
construction crews out for a Luau Celebration. Of course, it stormed, but once
the rain let up after an hour, the 122 special guests showed up for the evening
gala. The local chamber of commerce, as Valdosta custom dictates, sent its ambassadors
to help with the ribbon cutting. They wore their traditional green jackets,
but supplemented with bathing suits, Hawaiian shirts, innertubes and waterwings.
Valdosta Mayor Jimmy Rainwater, wearing an inflatable elephant around his waist,
held the ribbon for giant-scissors bearing park owner Kent Buescher and Kent’s
wife Dawn.
Though the waterpark's opening was late, its gala debut provided a publicity boost at the summer season’s midpoint. “We had an awesome weekend that Saturday and Sunday,” Sumner said. “For a weekend not having a concert at the park, we managed to create traffic flow problems. We like to do that.”
It’s
a camp campus!
SeaWorld
San Diego in California announces the arrival of SeaWorld Adventure Camps, July
20, 2003. Measurements: two acres, a 3,795-square-foot (352.5-square-meter)
single-story building containing three classrooms and a multi-use auditorium,
a 16,630 square-foot (1,545-square-meter), two story dormitory with eight rooms
containing beds for 128 campers and 12 counselors, a 690-square-foot (64-square-meter)
food service area, a 250-square-foot (23-square-meter) wet suit storage room
2,000-square-foot (186-square meter) grassy recreation area, 400-square-foot
(37-square-meter) picnic area, and 700 cubic yards (535 cubic meters) of concrete.
Delivered by Jeff Katz Architecture.
For
Joy Wolf, a 25-year veteran of SeaWorld San Diego and now the park’s director
of education, the opening of the new Adventure Camps facility near Shamu Stadium
is the realization of a dream dating back more than 10 years. Yet, it’s
not the dormitory, the dedicated classroom space or even the multi-use auditorium
that thrills her most. It’s the grass.
“Having
your own grass is great," she said. "When you’re in camp, that’s
a critical element to have free time where you can run and play and have camp
games. Grass areas, as we’ve grown as a park, have gotten smaller. Now
we have our own grass, and park operations can’t run us off to host a picnic
or something.”
Rest
rooms, too; campers have their own instead of using the park’s public rest
rooms. Plus, park guests now don’t have to put up with camp songs. “We
sing a lot, and the purpose is to keep (campers) together,” Wolf said.
“We always thought of the park as our whole camp.”
Having
a facility dedicated to campers—complete with grass and sidewalk—makes
SeaWorld San Diego’s setup unique among zoos and aquariums. Busch Gardens
in Tampa, Florida, and SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas have modified buildings
for campers, but San Diego’s is a veritable campus. The park began offering
day camps in 1980 and sleepovers in the early 1990s. At that time, the park
began visioning a weeklong camp program. “We had to make it profitable,
we had to build the business,” Wolf said. That not only meant building
camp credibility (SeaWorld is a member of the American Camping Association),
but also designing a facility that would return handsomely on its investment.
The Adventure Camp, once camp season is over at the end of the season, will
then become available as corporate meeting space, and the park is negotiating
with Asian schools to use the facilities for residency programs.
For
now, though, Wolf’s new complex is a “dedicated area where education
and camp come first—they have to ask US to move.” The park hosts two
adventure camps, Ocean Adventures for fourth and fifth graders, and Ocean Animals
for sixth through eighth grade. The two-story dormitory allows the program to
separate ages or genders, as necessary.
The first 102 campers arrived that first Sunday with wide eyes and jealous parents. “The first thing parents said was, ‘Can I go, too?’” The park did not stage any formal opening—the official dedication is set for September 26 after the camp season concludes—but the facility’s inauguration generated much attention. “We prayed a lot,” Wolf said. “We had all hands on deck, all the managers were out there to make sure it went smoothly.” This on a week when the park was also hosting 300 day campers at the complex, as well. Aside from a few typical hiccups, the first week of residency camp proved successful for both the campers and the park. “I had goosebumps the whole time,” Wolf said. “We’re exhausted to a certain extent, but after two weeks of good operations, I’ve been sleeping well this week.”
In
the nursery
Other recent New Arrivals.
It’s
a museum!
It fits the market in more ways than one: a popular tourist attraction in a
popular tourism destination, an odditorium in a place known for oddity. Ripley’s
Believe It Or Not opened its latest museum, its 26th worldwide, in Key
West, Florida, July 6, 2003. The 10,000-square foot/929-square-meter
museum occupies an old Planet Hollywood restaurant on the 100 block of Duval
Street, “Ground Zero,” said Bob Masterson, president of Ripley Entertainment.
This Ripley is a little more themed than most, he said, in keeping with the
singular Key West market. “Key West is a great market, typical of the markets
we go into,” he said.
It’s
a water slide!
Hyland Hills’ Water World in Federal Heights, Colorado, has
the most economical theming for its new dark ride, Storm: tin
fixtures scavenged from a nearby abandoned farm, a weather vane purchased new
and bent out of shape, a bicycle—hanging from the side of the building—that
was thrown away by Hyland Hills Executive Director Greg Mastriona’s daughter.
The park did get some professionally themed structures from SceneWorks
and National Rock & Sculpture. The interior of the 700-foot/212-meter-long,
10-foot/3-meter-diameter ProSlide Technology family tube ride has a bit
more high-tech effects by Brad Russo, like the constant sound of howling
wind through four speakers, roiling mist from one fog machine,
flashes of lightning courtesy of six strobes and a scarily authentic
accompanying boom of thunder. Though Storm does not have the sculptured
and animatronic theming of the park’s other famous dark tube chutes, it
met the guests demands when it opened July 5, 2003. “We have a history
of theming and creativity that the community comes to expect of us,” said
Hyland Hills Communications Director Joann Saitta. “And we like to deliver.”
One of Storm’s purposes was to relieve the queues at Voyage to
the Center of the Earth and Lost River of the Pharaohs. Those rides
still require 45- to 90-minute waits, even as Storm’s line stretches
to an hour. It seems that Water World is continuing another tradition: increasing
guest demand by meeting guest demand.
It’s
a flat ride!
Needing height and a little more thrill, Palace Playland in Old Orchard
Beach, Maine, followed its installation of a Zamperla Power Surge
with a Moby Dick from Wisdom, July 3, 2003. The Moby
Dick (1,008-square-foot/94-square-meter footprint, 29 feet/9 meters tall)
is the park’s third Wisdom ride, adding to an Orient Express and
a Tornado. “They both gave me height that I wanted,” Joel Golder,
Palace Playland owner, said of the Moby Dick and Power Surge,
“and they gave me a great, general family appeal and thrill appeal.”
The 2,016-square foot/187-square-meter, 60-foot/18-meter-tall Power
Surge opened in early June. Golder removed a waterslide on the midway to
make room for the two new rides, but other than typical advertising he did not
hype the additions. Nevertheless, the park has seen an attendance increase this
year over last year, including through rain-soaked June. “I don’t
know the reason,” Golder said, “but our numbers are up.”
It’s
a jaguar exhibit!
Eleven years ago, Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, built
its 2.5-acre/1 hectare award-winning Tropical Rain Forest exhibit. One element,
however, was not completed. “When we designed it, we left space for a new
exhibit for our jaguar, but we didn’t have adequate funding to build the
jaguar portion,” said Gigi Allianic, the zoo’s media relations manager.
Ten years of soliciting private sources raised $4.3 million for Jaguar Cove,
which opened to the public June 28, 2003, one day after a member’s
preview. The 3,850-square-foot/357.5-square meter exhibit designed by
Portico Group quadruples the size of the jaguar’s previous 1950s-era
exhibit and features more than 1,500 plants representing 104 species
inside and outside the enclosure, 10 pieces of natural deadfall plus
two artificial trees, an outdoor cave, a waterfall, stream and 4 1/2-feet/1.3-meter-deep
pool allowing underwater viewing for the public. Woodland Park Zoo officials
claim this is the largest and most naturalistic jaguar exhibit among zoos, but
it also has a number of husbandry amenities, like two outdoor off-view dens
and three interior dens with a kitchen service area. This will help the
zoo bring a pair of jaguars from Bolivia to join its one 9-year-old male for
breeding purposes. “That will be at least a couple of years,” Allianic
said. Well, the jaguar has waited this long to get a new home; what’s a
couple of years for a mate?
It’s
water slides!
Pre-dawn live broadcasts are common for parks opening new rides, including Six
Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora, Ohio. This ride, however, was
a water slide. At 5 a.m. (05,00), the Cleveland NBC affiliate was on hand June
5, 2003, to film invited guests enjoying the park’s two new slide towers,
Hurricane Mountain and Shark Attack, both by Whitewater
West Industries. “It was very chilly,” said Shannon Pak, the park’s
public relations manager. “But they rode anyway.” The 100-foot/30-meter-tall
Hurricane Mountain supports four tube slides and three body slides
with lengths ranging from 288 feet/87 meters to 510 feet/155 meters.
The 46-foot/14-meter-tall Shark Attack holds three body slides
of 399 feet/121 meters, 355 feet/108 meters and 345 feet/105 meters.
The park claims Hurricane Mountain is the largest water slide complex in a North
American theme park, and it at least makes for an impressive landscape in the
heart of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. “It looks awesome inside the park,
it’s so tall,” Pak said. With its seven slides of yellow, blue, orange,
green, pink, purple and turquoise, it looks like a giant psychedelic octopus,
or Medusa in a punk mood.
Eric's Turn
A
new charter
We won’t pussyfoot around: THE LOOP is going to paid subscriptions. The
cost is only $22 per year, less than $1 per issue. Plus, subscribers will get
exclusive access to our Reading Room, which will feature every month a new selection
of guides and checklists for operating and marketing amusement parks, zoos and
waterparks.
From the beginning, we have intended THE LOOP to be a free service for the amusement
industry. Advertising was to pay its way. Despite THE LOOP’s rising popularity—each
issue now averages 8,000 visits (16,000 per month), the May 23 issue drew 12,000
visitors, and the number of visits has more than doubled in the past year—we
have not been able to secure adequate advertising dollars.
The move to paid subscriptions also comes at the behest of some of our readers.
They want to see THE LOOP continue, and with 61 issues now under our belt, we
think it has established a reputation, authority and following to keep continuing.
By switching to a subscriber-only database we will also be able to offer other
benefits to our readers. Many people have asked if they can receive THE LOOP
in some form other than the Internet. Now we can offer THE LOOP by mail or fax,
with additional fees to handle printing, postage and phone costs. We’ll
also be better able to notify our subscribers of special events and important
news bulletins.
Extra! Extra!, our page of news updates we post jointly with Amusement Today,
will continue to be a free service available through our home page, and our
Connections page will remain accessible to the general public.
We will be transitioning THE LOOP to its subscription site over the next two
months. Already the Reading Room is password protected. By September 30, THE
LOOP itself will become a subscriber-only service. Anybody who subscribes before
that time will have their annual subscription run through December 2004; that
means you get five free issues of THE LOOP.
Right now we’re looking for our charter subscribers. The first 500 subscribers
to THE LOOP not only will get the additional five free issues, their annual
subscription rate of $22 will be locked in for life.
You can subscribe on line and pay through an on-line payment program, or you
can subscribe by postal mail or fax using a credit card or check. To subscribe,
click here, or call Lynne Mosman
toll-free at 866-902-5667 (outside North America, call 1-937-294-3406, or fax
520-514-2255).
Our
fall and rise
This one was for Ian. I hadn’t done it for anybody else.
As several amusement park operators and public relations managers and a few
park and ride designers know, I have never taken the plunge on a SkyCoaster.
I contend well enough with my profound fear of heights to enjoy roller coasters
and tolerate towers and tackle everything S&S Power has thrown at me. My
approach to SkyCoasters, though, was simple: no way.
OK, one way: I would do it for a good cause (some publicity stunt, at the least)
and with somebody who would pull the ripcord. Ian, part-time LOOP production
manager and full-time son, throughout the summer has told me he wanted to ride
a SkyCoaster. I told him to find somebody else to do it with.
Then Thrilltime Entertainment International installed a SkyCoaster at Royal
Gorge Bridge and Park near Cañon City, Colorado (THE
LOOP, July 25, 2003). Ian and I already were scheduled to drive to Denver
from Tucson, Arizona, for the American Coaster Enthusiasts Preservation Conference
last weekend, and along the way we were taking in some of America’s National
Parks (I’ve got to expose Ian to something other than amusement and water
parks).
Royal
Gorge was on the way. I couldn’t come up with a valid-sounding excuse to
avoid it, and Ian’s wishful sentiment was sounding more and more like whining.
He’s 14 years old, remember. Besides, why not make my first-ever SkyCoaster
ride one that swings out 1,300-plus feet (394 meters) over the Arkansas River
(pictured above)?
So there we were. Mike Bandera, vice president and general manager of Royal
Gorge Bridge & Park, met us at the front gate and took us on a brief tour
of the park, including traversing the highest suspension bridge in North America,
measuring 1,053 feet (319 meters) from span to gorge bottom. Built in 1929,
the 1,260-foot-long bridge (382 meters) struck more fear in me than the SkyCoaster
looming on the far cliff edge. Bandera, a Six Flags Over Texas 1961 original,
has a nice little operation at Royal Gorge, with 16 rides and attractions, including
the aerial tram suspended 1,178 feet (357 meters) above the river, a 1,550-foot-long
(470 meters) incline railroad sloped at a 45-degree angle, mountain man demonstrations,
a herd of elk and white buffalo. The park’s chief attribute, he admits,
is the gorge itself. “It took us a long time to dig this out,” he
joked. “Couple million years, at least. I don’t know how much it cost.”
Finally, it was time to step into our harnesses and waddle out to the SkyCoaster
platform. The initial discomfort of lying shaky-kneed and prone in a harness
being winched up 100 feet (30 meters) immediately fell away as we fell away
on our flight past the edge. Another bit of heightened heart-thumping came at
the apex of our swing (that is where Bandera measures his claim that the SkyCoaster
goes up 1,300 feet); after peaking—and peeking down—we got a brief
free-fall sensation as if we were no longer attached to the cable. But back
we flew over the platform, and I was expressing my delight both vocally and
with a thumb-up to Bandera (the other hand still was clenched tight around Ian’s
arm).
My thanks to Bandera and his courteous crew, Carol Anderson, Jenny Lozano, Wil
McClung, John O'Dell, Jason Reinholdt, and Trecia Willey.
The point of this story, as Ian this weekend heads from summer-home Tucson back
to Alaska to attend school, is to thank him for his hard, dedicated and skillful
work with us this summer. Thank you, Ian, for taking THE LOOP to new heights.
Letters
Re: “Tell it on the Mountain” (THE LOOP, July 25, 2003), our story on Stone Mountain restructuring its lease in the wake of an attendance shortfall in the troubled Atlanta, Georgia, market.
Regarding
the article about Stone Mountain Park and Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation,
not all metro Atlanta attractions are experiencing a down year. Kangaroo Conservation
Center offers an exclusive experience to a limited number of visitors (www.kangaroocenter.com).
We measure our monthly attendance in the hundreds rather than the thousands,
but despite raising our fees 20 percent this year, our attendance has been up
every month since we opened for the season in March 2003. For June 2003, our
attendance was up 28 percent over June 2002, and income from tour fees and gift
shop sales was up 40 percent over June 2002. We also had the same rainy weather
to contend with as other Atlanta area attractions. Perhaps the key for attractions'
growth is to offer to the public a truly unique experience not available elsewhere.
In June 2001, our facility was named one of the "top 7 don't miss attractions
in Metro Atlanta," by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and to be
sure, our attendance has grown each year.
Sincerely,
Debbie Nelson
Kangaroo Conservation Center www.kangaroocenter.com
Dawsonville, GA
Member AZA, IAAPA
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
All rights reserved