Volume 3, No. 15. August 8,2003
New Arrivals
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.
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