Volume 1, No. 23. December 14, 2001
Relief fun
Humans
have two basic needs: food and shelter. The species had advanced enough by the
20th century that sociologists added a third: love.
Alain Baldacci contends 21st century humans have another basic need: fun. "Most
of the visitors to our parks are children," said the president of Interplay
Parks in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "We make them happier and make families happier,
and we profit from them. But poor children cannot access our parks."
In an interview for Amusement Today, Baldacci, IAAPA's new Chairman of the Board
of Directors, laid out his goals for his coming one-year term, which began when
he took the gavel from Billy Sims at November's IAAPA Convention and Trade Show.
The overall tenor of these goals is to increase IAAPA's influence on legislation
and in the tourism industry, plus better utilizing the members' general expertise.
His most ambitious goal, and most profound, is to spread fun to the world's
poor and displaced.
"I come from a country where, unfortunately, we have a large portion of our
children that can't come to our parks, and we don't do anything for them," Baldacci
said. "We should be able to raise this as a social responsibility." In other
words, while other organizations raise funds to send food and shelter to impoverished
populations, IAAPA could lead the effort to somehow send those populations fun.
Baldacci is still grappling with how, except to say that IAAPA should link up
with a worldwide organization that already has a distribution network in place.
But he plans to unabashedly champion the notion that laughter is as great a
comforter to children as food, clothing and housing. "This will be one thing
I will fight for," he said. Even if IAAPA can't send rides and games to impoverished
nations, the association could at least support existing life-saving efforts.
Furthermore,
the association already has a model of providing fun to children in need through
its support of Give Kids The World. "We can reach out to not only terminally
ill children but others who will die if they don't get help," he said. "They
say that 25 cents of a (U.S.) dollar can save a child in Brazil and India. Can
you imagine how many lives IAAPA can try to save that hopefully one day can
cross our gates as guests? We are an association in 102 countries with 5,700
members. We have enormous potential."
To achieve this goal Baldacci said IAAPA will have to become more socially conscious.
"The association has never spoken to our social responsibility. We help our
members to perform their business, financially and operationally, but the social
responsibility aspect has never been inserted in the program." This is a change
necessitated not by the moral conscience of a new chairman but by the nature
of consumer businesses in this new century.
"IBM,
Volvo, all of the big corporations have implemented social programs on the idea
that where you get your money from, you give a little back, not only in taxes
but social involvement," Baldacci said. IAAPA members get their money from people,
namely families and kids, having fun. "If we were able to bring attention to
our members that we should be socially responsible, that would be a great thing
for our industry. IAAPA would gain a human dimension. That's the way businesses
will be run in the 21st century."
Photo
of Baldacci and his fellow countryman, football great Pele, who attended the
gavel-passing ceremony. Photo
courtesy of Alain Baldacci
For the complete profile of Alain Baldacci and his goals for IAAPA in 2002,
see the January issue of Amusement Today. To subscribe to Amusement Today, click
here.
Photo of Marjan the lion, which boosted the fortunes of the Kabul Zoo. Photo by the Associated Press
Afghan's Aslan
The lion proved a compelling poster
child. The 45-year-old Marjan's face and eyesight had been maimed by a grenade
that an Afghan soldier launched at him in retaliation for the lion killing a
fellow soldier (who, the day before, had tried to pose for a photograph in the
lion's pen). The photograph of Marjan ran on the internet and in newspapers
around the world, accompanying stories about the sorry state of the Kabul Zoo.
The images and reports coming out of the zoo in Afghanistan's capital city struck
a chord in Europe and the United States. British tabloid newspapers battled
for the title of animal rights champions, and a fund in America raised $100,000
in less than a week. Meanwhile, zoo associations around the world—namely
the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the World Association of
Zoos and Aquaria (WAZA) and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)—were
also stirred to action for the sake of their colleagues, Kabul Zoo director
Sheragha Omar and his dedicated staff, who withstood an uncaring government,
abusive visitors, persecution, and no pay for months to look after the ever-diminishing
number of animals in their care.
"These people amazingly, through thick and thin, stuck to the job," said David
Jones, director of the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, who headed
the AZA's fund-raising campaign. "We've got to make sure that if the animals
are comfortable, the keepers are comfortable, too."
He's got the money to do that. When the AZA started fielding calls from member
zoos and the public about helping the Kabul institution, Jones volunteered to
lead the effort. The former director of the London Zoo is the longtime chairman
for the Brooke Hospital, whose animal welfare work in Pakistan has allowed him
to build an extensive network of contacts in the region. By his estimates and
reports coming out of Kabul, he set a goal of $30,000, which would get the zoo
through the next six months, a workable timeframe for the unstable country.
The fund was established using eight North Carolina Zoo staff on November 27.
By the end of the week it had already raised $46,000 and last Tuesday reached
the cut-off level of $100,000, which officials say is much more than the zoo
needs. The money still trickling in (now up to $130,000 today) will be used
for other welfare animal issues in the war-ravished country, where it is believed
thousands of horses, donkeys and other domestic animals are in distress. "What
you are seeing at the zoo epitomized by this poor old lion is really the tip
of the iceberg of problems," Jones said.
Outside the animal-loving community runs criticism that the money being raised
to stabilize the Kabul Zoo would be more appropriately spent on the war's refugees.
To that, and to those who argue that Kabul's animals should be evacuated instead
of salvaging the zoo, Jones pointed to the zoo's role in Afghan society. Built
in 1967 as an extension of Kabul University with German aid and expertise, Kabul
Zoo under the helm of Gunther Nogge, now director of Cologne Zoo and former
president of the World Zoo Organization, was, by 1972, one of the world's most
modern zoos and a Middle East showpiece, with 417 animals representing 121 mostly
native species. Because of a theological interpretation of the role of animals
in Islam, the Taliban did not shutter the zoo, and during that strict ruling
regime the Kabul Zoo was the one public facility women and children could visit
for entertainment outside the home.
"(Zoos) are very, very popular over there," Jones said. "What I keep saying
to the World Zoo Association, 'The one thing you can do is improve the standards
in many of these third world zoos, because they are very important family destination
sites.' Apart from that, they could be important science and education centers
for the rest of us."
To contribute to the Afghan animal relief fund, send a check or U.S. money order
made out to the North Carolina Zoological Society, 4403 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro,
NC 27203-9416. In the United States you can also make contributions by a toll-free
number, 1-888-244-3736. Updates on the fund and the Kabul Zoo will be posted
at the AZA web site, www.AZA.org.
Plans for the new thrill ride at Stratosphere Tower. Art courtesy of the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower
Broken Arrow
Arrow Dynamics, Inc., the venerable
thrill ride manufacturer in Clearfield, Utah, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
on December 3, seeking protection from creditors as it reorganizes. Details
on the cause of the action and the efforts to reorganize were sketchy as we
posted, and Arrow would not return repeated phone calls.
However, the demise of the 55-year-old compan—responsible for many of the
innovations that spawned the roller coaster explosion of the past 30 years—is
not unexpected as it had struggled to market new products in recent years. This
year proved particularly frustrating for the company. Its highly anticipated
X coaster, with passengers riding parallel to the track and flipping
360 degrees on separate axis during the ride, still sits unopened at Six Flags
Magic Mountain, who had hoped to debut it last spring. And, such was Arrow's
luck that it couldn't even get a project off the ground in Las Vegas, stymied
by political infighting and a fear of "undesirables."
The "undesirables" in question are coaster enthusiasts, just one aspect of a
weird battle over expansion at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower, a controversy
that makes the capital of glitz look downright sheltered. The victim of all
the bickering was the world's tallest and fastest thrill ride by Arrow, a project
worth between $15 million and $20 million. Twelve-seat cars would be lifted
in an elevator to a height of 740 feet (225 meters) and drop down at 122 mph
(195 km/h) across The Strip, rising up another 416-foot tower (126 meters).
"We want to build an attraction that would draw people downtown, utilize the
tower and take advantage of what we have here," said Stratosphere's public relations
manager, Michael Gilmartin, who described the ride as "a giant fish hook." "The
city of Las Vegas is in desperate need of attractions to compete with the south
end of The Strip and to bring people back downtown again." The 1,149-foot Stratosphere
tower (350 meters) already has the High Roller coaster and S&S Big
Shot on its roof.
So, Stratosphere officials were taken back when city officials nixed the plan
(the south end of The Strip, where most of the recent expansion has occurred,
lies outside the city limits and is governed by the county). "The Planning Department
gave us a couple dozen stipulations; we met all those and they recommended the
Planning Commission approve it," Gilmartin said of Stratosphere's thrill ride.
The Planning Commission, citing everything from potential noise levels to aesthetic
damage of the Las Vegas skyline, turned the project down twice, and the City
Council refused to overturn the commission decision. "It's become a political
issue," Gilmartin said. "It has nothing to do with logic." Those arguing the
ride would be too loud, for example, didn't account for the fact that the ride
would be built next to a hotel. "We would not build a thrill ride that's going
to drive people out of here saying 'Give me my money back, that damn ride kept
me up all night.' We're not stupid," Gilmartin said
.
Using economic and scientific studies, the Stratosphere staff adequately answered
the concerns, Gilmartin said, but the most confounding argument was the one
put forward by a planning commissioner who said, "If you guys build this, it's
going to bring tattooed, pierced teen-agers and undesirables to the area." "I
enjoy thrill rides," said Gilmartin, who sky dives and bunjee jumps and also
has a resume that prominently features his role as a political lobbyist. "I
laughed because I thought, 'Wait a minute, does that make me an undesirable?'
I've been dealing with this thing for the last three months, and this whole
thing is all about misconceptions of amusement ride crowds." Members of coaster
enthusiast organizations also took exception to being labeled an unsavory lot
and mounted an e-mail and letter-writing campaign supporting the project.
All to no avail. The hotel has currently shelved the giant fish hook pending
a redesign of the ride or a shift in political alignments.
Return visits
Because of the anthrax scare
in the U.S. mail, the U.S. military had put a halt to programs that would
send mail to overseas troops, including a postcard-writing campaign mounted
by Michael Fleming, managing general partner of Mountasia Fun Center in Santa
Clarita, California, and the Northridge, California, Skateland (THE
LOOP, November 2, 2001).
The U.S. Department of the Navy has since established a Web site that allows the general public to send greetings to sea, ground and air service members in the Middle East and Balkans. The site, www.LIFELines2000.org takes users through steps to deliver messages to "any servicemember." On the other end, service members will log onto the site and choose messages for their branch and from their home states. Those sending a message who wish to receive a response may include a return e-mail address. Because the messages are viewed on the web, the program will not bog down the military e-mail system.
Holiday Special
Photo of lights hooping over walkways at the Bronx Zoo. Photo courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society
Light hearted
Their Holiday Lights festival had been a tradition going back five years, yet
officials at the Bronx Zoo in New York City engaged in heart-wrenching debate
about the appropriateness of staging it this year. Would it be too festive,
given the community's tragic autumn?
Linda Corcoran, assistant director of communications for the Wildlife Conservation
Society, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo, was in those discussions. Though she
understood the trepidation, she sided with the prevailing proponents of stringing
the lights. "Many of us who have children felt this is a venue we would want
to take our children to and not have them glued to the TV, newspapers and magazines.
Children shouldn't lose this tradition."
Much of New York apparently is like-minded. On Holiday Lights' opening night
November 23, which the zoo offered for free in honor of the World Trade Center
victims, 13,043 people showed up. Then, at a ticket price of $9 for adults and
$5 for seniors and children (free for WCS members), the numbers for the Thursday-through-Sunday
evening festival grew, topping 16,000 the following Saturday. Through this weekend
attendance totalled almost 54,000.
Corcoran credits the summer-like weather as a primary contributor, but she also
sees New York families doing their utmost to grasp hold of the holiday spirit.
The city decorated as usual, and other annual Yuletide season events went forward
as scheduled. "There are a lot of major campaigns to encourage people to get
out," Corcoran said. "It's like we've lost a loved one, and certainly we have,
lost over 3,000 people. I don't think there is a person in this area who didn't
know some people killed in World Trade (including family of Bronx Zoo staff),
and there will always be that feeling of sorrow. New Yorkers want desperately
to get through this."
Proving valuable salves for the New Yorkers' souls are hoops of lights arching
over the walkway to the zoo's new Dancing Crane Cafe, an enlarged Holiday Express
train ride for children, 10 miles of tree lighting, Alice Farley Dance Theater
stilt walkers, Paul Magnaldi ice carving, nightly sea lion feedings, the camels
and reindeer on special exhibit and many of the indoor animal exhibits remaining
open for the evening.
This weekend Holiday Lights goes to a nightly schedule through Janauary 1, except
December 24 when the reindeer must be pulled off exhibit for another job, Corcoran
said.
Up
after the fall
When it decided to stay open past Halloween and on through the New Year, Europa-Park
was risking more than contrary weather and tiring staff. The Rust, Germany,
theme park was taking on a continental mind-set that summer is summer, and winter
is winter.
"Europeans have different
leisuretime attitudes in winter and in summer," said Martina Evers, public relations
representative for Europa-Park. "In winter you go skiing and have a hot drink
in a bar, or you stay home and do Christmas. Leisureparks are a summer activity."
However, Efteling in The Netherlands has operated a successful winter season
for two years, prompting Europa-Park to give the idea more study. Of guests
surveyed during the summer, more than half said they could imagine coming to
the park during the winter. Figuring that if just 5 percent of summer season
traffic showed up in December—and the park topped 3 million visitors this
year—the 150,000 guests would merit keeping part of the park open through
the New Year.
Becoming the first amusement park in Germany to mount a winter season, Europa-Park
may have started a trend for the country while continuing the successful European
precedent set by Efteling. Weekend visitation for "Christmas at Europa-Park"
already is surpassing 20,000, making staff optimistic that the whole winter
season (running daily through January 6, except December 24 and 25) will far
surpass projections. By most measures the venture is paying off. Though the
park is getting many guests from a two-hour-drive radius, many also are coming
from further distances, Evers said. The park's hotels are sold out for the weekends
and reaching 70 percent occupancy on weekdays. Area hotels also are enjoying
boosted numbers for this time of year.
Europa-Park hedged its risks in many ways. Only half of the park—which
has 14 sections themed on different countries and cultures in Europe—is
open, and building on its existing theme Europa-Park is showcasing Christmas
celebrations of the various nations. The park also incorporated a popular seasonal
tradition of Germany, the Christmas Fair, into the program, with more than 30
vendor stalls selling local crafts, food and decorations. Then there is the
fresh snow blanketing the Russian section courtesy of snow-making machines.
"People are going, 'Wow! I've been in the snow this winter!'" Evers said. "It
heightens the atmosphere. Even in the (nearby) Black Forest we don't get much
snow."
Other seasonal touches include turning the lake in France into a natural ice
skating venue, a daily Christmas parade with reindeer pulling Santa in a sleigh
and a dogsled that children can ride, and a shop in Chocoland that lets children
bake their own cookies. "Parents are quite enthusiastic because they can go
do something else and come back to fresh cookies," Evers said. This weekend
the park will host a teen dance party—sold out more than a week in advance—thrown
by the popular magazine BRAVO.
In addition to generating income during what has always been a negative cash-flow
month, park officials saw the lengthened run as a retention tool for employees.
Leading seasonal staff can now work longer at the park, and now with only a
couple months downtime they are less likely to skip to other jobs. For the full-time
staff, on the other hand, who are looking at a March grand re-opening with the
introduction of a new giga-coaster, traditional slow period has become as hectic
as any time of the year. "We get no free time this winter," Evers said. "But
when you see all the marketing work we did pay off with lots of visitors, and
they like it when they get here, we are quite happy."
Photo of Todd Nahrup with Hank the camel. Photo by Eric Minton
One hot
waterpark
Hank the camel whiled away his time in a manger, twinkle-size Christmas lights
criss-crossed the landscape, people skated under the winter sky while others
rollicked on a horse-drawn wagon through woods full of animated, light silhouettes,
and almost everybody imbibed in the hot chocolate or specialty coffees. It's
like many holiday-themed venues you've seen.
But it's not like any waterpark you've seen in December. The Beach in Mason,
Ohio, however, is now in its third year operating "Holiday Fest at The
Beach." This year The Beach's winter transformation not only has matured
as an annual event, it's accomplishing the park's intent of extending its profitable
calendar.
"Our goal is to create a fourth month out of the year," said Pamela Strickfaden,
The Beach's vice president and general manager. Added Todd Nahrup, assistant
general manager of operations, "If we want to have the kind of rides I want
to have in the summer, we need more than three months of operating." With Paramount's
Kings Island across the highway mounting a successful Halloween festival, The
Beach looked beyond the shoulder season all the way to the heart of winter,
an incongruous time frame for a waterpark, to be sure.
Yet, one that makes perfect sense when you consider that most people do not
have waterparks on their mind during the winter, but that is the time The Beach
is pushing its season tickets. "We never had any interest in season passes this
time of year," said Nahrup, despite concerted season-passes-as-gifts campaigns
and partnerships with area malls. "Now we do. People are talking about The Beach,
coming out to The Beach, and once they're here, we can sell them a season pass
for next summer." To further the connection, The Beach sells its season passes
half-price during the Holiday Fest.
The December operation is no mere marketing stunt. What started as a Christmas
scene in the parking lot in 1998 is now a wholesale makeover of a portion of
the park, using a staff of about 30 seasonal workers plus the dozen full-time
staff. The slides and their towers are outlined in lights; a sequence of lights
on The Cliff represent two elves riding a toboggan down the speed slide.
A 5,000-square-foot (1,515-square-meter) ice rink sits atop the wave pool deck,
and a portion of the wave pool itself holds the Festhaus Pavilion, a tent with
food service, karaoke and face painting. The sand volleyball court has a toy-train
display, the tube rental maze has been transformed into the Candy Cane Maze
for kids and the carriage rides, with wagons pulled by Percheron horses, rambles
through the woods on the park's perimeter, passing under slides and over tube
runs. The gift shops sell Beach-brand sweaters and Christmas decorations, the
fishnets strung along the walls holding snowmen and holly instead of swimsuits
and shells.
For a park known in the region for its thrill slides, the only ride-related
thrill at Holiday Fest is when the big horses break into a trot on stretches
of the carriage rides. Nahrup said he plans to design this upcoming summer's
new ride so that it could double as a faux toboggan run next winter; he would
not reveal the ride, however.
Holiday Fest at The Beach has captured the community's fancy to the point that
two sponsors, Bunnell Hill and Henkle Schueler and Associates, are covering
the cost of the gate, allowing free admission to the grounds (The Beach earns
per caps on parking, food, retail and activities). The Beach extensively broadened
the event's scope last year, but extreme cold temperatures depressed attendance.
Undaunted, the park went full-bore again this year, and aided by typical waterpark-like
weather, attendance was up 300 percent over the first two weekends, and 200
percent ahead of projections, Strickfaden said.
"The way we're feeling right now in our fourth year, it's given us the enthusiasm
to push this thing further," she said.
Eric’s
Turn
All
we are saying
is give fun a chance
Most of you skim through each issue of THE LOOP, looking for stories pertinent
to your field, operation or interest. THE LOOP is set up to accommodate such
quick access and reading to fit in your too-busy schedules.
But I urge you to give a full read of this week's column. You'll see a prevailing
theme in many of the individual stories not only suitable for the holiday spirit
of this time of year but for the future path of your industry, whether you help
run a big theme park, a little family entertainment center, a zoo or a waterpark.
At the top of this week's column is new IAAPA Chairman Alain Baldacci's campaign
to use the association as a vehicle for bringing fun to the impoverished children
of the world. His words, comparing IAAPA's potential with the campaigns that
provide food and shelter to populations displaced by natural or manmade catastrophes,
conjure what, at first, seem absurdist images: putting up carnival rides at
refugee camps. But, truly, how absurd would that be, once you worked out the
logistical challenges? Imagine how children and their parents, barely nourished,
suffering medical maladies, working through the shock of physical upheaval,
would at least have something that makes them smile, a little enjoyment to spark
interest in surviving another day.
Proverbs abound about the role of education, economic parity and skills in the
creation of stable societies. I firmly believe fun is a vital part of those
equations, too, going so far as to claim that to improve the prospects of world
peace, we should build amusement parks in troubled nations. That, actually,
is the foundation of the zoo industry's efforts to shore up the Kabul Zoo, our
second story in this LOOP. A revitalized zoo would give the Afghan capital city
an entertainment outlet and help its population return to a sense of normalcy.
That phrase, "return to a sense of normalcy," gets a poignant echo in our article
about the Bronx Zoo's decision to go ahead with its Holiday Lights festival
for New Yorkers.
Retiring IAAPA CEO John Graff expanded on the industry's role in universal understanding
in his brilliant speech at the General Managers Luncheon during the IAAPA Convention
and Trade Show in Orlando last month. He took a news account of two young boys,
one in New York, one in Cairo, Egypt, communicating by e-mail, trying to understand
each other's cultures, thinking and goals. Wrote one to the other, "I don't
want to be your enemy." Graff challenged his audience to regard those two boys
as the industry's great motivator, pointing out that because the bulk of our
parks' and zoos' visitors are children, we have a huge influence in shaping
the belief systems of the coming generation of leaders. The quality of our product,
the customer service we provide and the ambiance we achieve—safe, friendly
fun—which we often purposely promote as "escapes from reality" could go
a long way toward someday creating a like reality, Graff said.
Baldacci picks up from there: "Our industry shows the world how to get together,
how to enjoy, how to have fun. By spreading our industry we are spreading harmony."
Correction
Reporting the New Arrival of Stone Mountain's Great Barn in Atlanta, Georgia,
in the previous issue of THE LOOP (November
30, 2001), we failed to list Creative Kingdoms as one of the companies
responsible for a successful delivery. It has been changed in the story. Setpoint
also participated in the Barn's development.
See you next year
This is the last publication of THE LOOP for 2001. Volume 2, our second year,
will launch on January 11, 2002, and we will continue with twice-monthly postings
of the newsletter the second and fourth Friday of every month. Minton Enterprises
offices will be closed until January 8, but feel free to send e-mails to eric@gettheloop.com
or call us at 888-902-LOOP with your news and opinions.
Sarah and I would like to take this moment to thank some special people for
making THE LOOP such a success in its first year of publication: our current
staff, Lynne Mosman and Stacey Johnson; Allen F. Weitzel for his Reading
Room contributions and encouragement; my first operations manager Nathan
Arndts; Deano Minton for the logos (including the drawing above); my summertime
assistants and full-time sons Jon and Ian; Jennifer Collins for her legal advice;
Frank Hinrichs for our initial design; Gary Slade at Amusement
Today for his support, marketing assistance and understanding; Marilyn
Turner at Splash
Magazine for her support; Tiffany Ayers for her editorial guidance;
Michael Moran for his wisdom; our advertising sponsors, who are featured on
our Connections page;
and all of you readers whose enthusiastic response to THE LOOP has made the
travels and travails of the first year all worthwhile. May all of you all around
the world have safe and happy times, until we meet again and beyond.