THE LOOP 1.2.

The
LOOP
Volume 1, No.2 February 23, 2001

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In this issue:

Caribbean Gardens gets funnies money and Disneyland gets Grammy recognition.

A SpeedPark copes with the loss of a legend, and a soap star walks a theme park career path.

Crealy Adventure Park shares its pairs for Valentine’s, a Kentucky Kingdom pair gets high on love,
and THE LOOP lays a laurel wreath upon Cedar Point.

Singing a park’s praises

The amusement industry got its toe in the door with Wednesday night’s Grammy Awards. Two show songs from Disneyland were included on the album that won in the category Best Musical Album for Children, making them the first original songs from a theme park to receive the music industry’s highest honor.

The winning album, Woody’s Roundup Featuring Riders in the Sky, is a Walt Disney Records production of the veteran cowboy trio, Riders in the Sky, playing songs featured in and inspired by the fictional TV show in the movie Toy Story 2.

Two of the tracks on the album, however, came from the live stage show, "Woody’s Roundup," at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. "Hey Howdy Hey" and "Cowboy Crunchies" were written by park composer Bruce Healy and lyricist Michael Kostroff. Because the stage show was already using a song slated for the Riders in the Sky album, the show producers sent their two compositions to Disney Studios, and the band ended up recording them for the album, as well.

The Recording Academy is forever expanding the number of categories for the Grammy Awards—with 100 this year. Now it may have to add a 101st, and honor the "best amusement facility soundtrack."

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The Legend’s long shadow

The shocking death of Dale Earnhardt in last Sunday’s Daytona 500 cast an immediate pall over NASCAR-related activities in the amusement industry and may have a long-term impact, especially on go-kart facilities.

At the NASCAR SpeedPark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the No. 3 black stock car-style go-kart has been pulled from the oval speed track, a track ironically called "The Intimidator," Earnhardt’s nickname. The park is awaiting instructions from NASCAR on the future use of the kart, the track’s name, and other Earnhardt-associated issues, said Tom Jones, senior vice president of amusements and attractions at Burroughs & Chapin Company, the park’s owners.

The SpeedPark placed a wreath on its reproduction of the black, No. 3 Goodwrench car displayed at the front entrance, and fans have been streaming by to pay their respects. Those fans have also been purchasing Earnhardt memorabilia at the park’s store.

But such instant income may belie a long-term bottom-line deficit, Jones said. "Once all (Earnhardt’s merchandise) is gone, there’s going to be a hole in our merchandising plan because he is one of our spokespeople, and our spokespeople’s merchandise sells faster."

Because he was a spokesman, Earnhardt’s death created a greater crater in the staff's hearts. "We were devastated," Jones said. "Having had much contact with him over the last couple of years, the folks who were running the park feel a great sense of loss." Monday, he said, "was pretty solemn. And it continues to be that way, and probably will be for a while because we lost a living legend and a hero to people in the racing industry. People are attracted to working in our theme park because they are race fans."

At SeaWorld Orlando, the first-ever "Bud and BBQ Fest" this weekend features such stock car-related attractions as the Budweiser Brew Crew Challenge simulated pit stop competition and the Daytona USA show car, in addition to performances by country music stars Diamond Rio, Collin Raye, and Andy Griggs. Without time to alter the program to include a formal tribute, SeaWorld officials are asking only that the music acts say a few words before starting their performances.

But in the spirit of the sport of racing and its fans, the park never considered canceling or toning down the festivities. "We want folks to have a really good time, whether for the music, the pit crew simulation, or the food," said park spokesman Greg Smith.

Just as NASCAR itself, Earnhardt’s team, and his son are moving on with this week’s race.

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Comic-al advertising

Every other week if you pick up the Naples (Florida) Daily News’ Sunday comics, there on the front page are the color renditions of good ol’ Charlie Brown, Cathy, Blondie, Zits and the Zoo.

That last one, covering the bottom 3 inches of the page, is an ad for Caribbean Gardens: The Zoo in Naples. And Tim Tetzlaff, vice president of education for the family–owned zoo, thinks the deal he happened upon is something colleagues can emulate around the country.

The ad placement began last summer when the newspaper was prompted by a new advertising representative to open up the space. "He offered us a heck of a deal on it because it was untested space," Tetzlaff said. "It was too good to turn down." For the cost of black–and–white advertising elsewhere in the paper, Caribbean Gardens gets a biweekly color ad that hits the Sunday comics’ key demographics: everybody. "Four out of five adult readers pick up the comics," Tetzlaff said. "And if you have a child reading it at 9 o’clock in the morning, he shows it to his parents."

Since the ads started running in August, Caribbean Gardens has seen a spike in membership, and Sunday attendance, traditionally a slow day, is up. For this past weekend’s annual President’s Day promotion— a child admission free with each adult admission—the comic ad’s mention of the deal prompted a doubling of the zoo’s "good days’ attendance," Tetzlaff said.

The zoo signed a year–long contract for the space, which alternates between Caribbean Gardens and a local children’s furniture store. That type of advertising, Tetzlaff says, is perfect for other zoos. "Because it was unproven space they offered it at a very good rate and wanted somebody who would fit well with the image of the comics," he said. "They don’t want a tobacco shop advertising there."

Caribbean Gardens’ relationship with the local paper has had global impact via the naplesnews.com Web cam featuring the zoo’s Alligator Bay. With an image that refreshes every 30 seconds, the cam shows Florida flora and the state’s most popular residents, especially around the zoo’s daily 1:30 p.m. gator feeding program. The Web cam is the third–most visited page on a site that gets 2 million viewers a year. The paper’s site is also the third–most popular Internet avenue to Caribbean Gardens’ own site.

Best of all, the alliance drives area tourism, Tetzlaff said. "When the Gator Cam has had technical problems–a lightning strike or server problems–I get e-mails from people all around the world complaining, especially up North, saying, ‘We live somewhere where it’s not so pretty and not so warm. Get the Gator Cam back up.’"

You can see the Gator Cam yourself through the Caribbean Gardens links on our Connections page.

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A pair of bears inspired a celebration of pairings at Crealy. (Photo by Crealy Adventure Park)

A true love connection

While St. Valentine’s Day is growing in popularity in Great Britain, Crealy Adventure Park near Exeter, Devon, sees the holiday as a harbinger of spring and has built a promotion around the natural cycle of romance.

For the entire month of February, the family park has put the focus on two of its six themed areas, Animal Realm and Farming Realm, by offering "Animals’ Partners," a contest that invites guests to play matchmaker with the various ponies, pigs, cows, fowl, rabbits, cats, giant hissing cockroaches, and other creatures in the park.

Guests receive quiz cards and look for posted big red hearts to find the "lovey dovey pairs of animals around the park," said Angela Wright, general manager and partner. Those who find all the partners receive a Valentine–themed soft toy from the gift shop.

Who loves Strongboy, the British spotted miniature horse? Find the heart at Strongboy’s pen and you’ll discover that it is Rainbow, the spotted miniature mare. "She very much loves Strongboy, because she’s pregnant from Strongboy," Wright said.

On the other hand, Strongboy loves many mares and should have quite a few offspring this spring. "I’m afraid he’s not monogamous," Wright said. "But we don’t highlight that. We’re a family park and we don’t want to give that message. We stress one to one."

However, the results of such natural pairings are very much a part of spring, which was part of the point of Crealy’s Valentine’s month promotion. "Chicks are hatching by the minute, we’re going to have heaps of guinea piglets soon, and the ponies are due to start popping any day," Wright said.

Plus, the park takes any opportunity to get a little more press attention and entice more and longer visits from the locals, the bulk of Crealy’s patronage this time of year. "We try to give guests new reasons to come and experience something a little bit different," Wright said.

With its mascots, Crealy and Honey, being the only married bears in the world, and February 11 being the anniversary of their first date, the park found that St. Valentine’s Day was a natural promotional period, in more ways than one.

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That sinking feeling

Here’s a romance story befitting this month of love.

Todd Teitel and Debbie Vonderhite first met as high school students in Louisville, Kentucky. Though Todd was smitten with Debbie, she wouldn’t go out with him because her best friend laid first claim to him (protocol is thick with 15-year-old girls, you know).

A few years later, after Todd had become a human resources manager in Ohio, his father told him about a television news report featuring a still unmarried Debbie, who had become director of marketing for Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The two reconnected and dated long-distance for several months. Then Todd moved to Louisville.

To what heights would this man go to keep his true love now re-found? To the top of the amusement park’s 157–foot Hellavator drop tower. Last April 15, wearing a tuxedo and carrying two dozen roses, Todd perched up there for some five minutes while General Manager Melinda Ashcraft summoned Debbie on the pretext of going to lunch. Todd dropped down and proposed.

"He’s afraid of heights," Debbie said, making his proposal braver than most. "I couldn’t tell if he was shaking so much because he was nervous about asking me to marry him or because of the time he had spent up there."

His efforts didn’t go unrewarded. She said yes and, as of December, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s marketing director is now Debbie Teitel.

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The once and future employee

Before there was Bo, there was a college student earning spending money at Disneyland in Anaheim, California—and before that a kid visiting the park the day it opened.

Robert Woods’ personal and professional life has been intertwined with that of the Walt Disney Company since he was a child. The man who plays Bo Buchanan on the daytime drama One Life to Live was a "first-day family" when Disneyland opened in 1955. "Dumbo wasn’t even assembled yet," he said. "The pieces were lying on the ground. You could see the Pirate Ship and the castle from the freeway."

Working through college, Woods ran all the watercraft on the Big River, operated the Mule Ride in the Mine Town, and managed the Shooting Gallery. He also worked in the Haunted Mansion, and remembered most vividly drawing that assignment the day after seeing the film The Exorcist. "I heard things in there that day that I’d never heard before," he said, his hearing and imagination particularly attuned at that moment.

But dramatics ultimately would be his forté, and as one of daytime television’s most recognized stars he was on hand for the dedication of the ABC Soap Opera Bistro at the opening of Disney’s newest Anaheim park, California Adventure. Sitting in the Bistro’s Llanview Stable dining area—a replication of a One Life To Live studio set—Woods reminisced on his own history with the Disney company.

"It’s funny how it’s all gone full circle," he said. "Disney bought ABC, and now here I am back with Disney."

For more scenes from the Disney’s California Adventure opening, see the Reading Room article "Snapshots at a Premiére."

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Nathan rides herd on our e-zine.

Coming of age

Meet Nathan Arndts. On March 3 you can wish him a happy birthday (nathan@gettheloop.com) as he celebrates his 21st. You can also wish him much success. Please. He’s our operations manager and the man responsible for getting THE LOOP Web site on line and this newsletter delivered, and we want him to continue with his good success as this Web site grows.

Already, he and all of us here at THE LOOP have much to celebrate as we today unveil the full first phase of our Web site. In addition to visiting the library of LOOPs and a Reading Room containing an ever-expanding archive of original feature-length articles, check out our Connections page with links to industry associations and facilities (if you want to link your facility, let Nathan know at nathan@gettheloop.com ).

Our most important new feature, coming soon, will be the Bulletin Board, the first message board of its kind for the amusement and attractions industry. Here you will be able to read news and announcements, and, most importantly, post your own observations, questions, needs and news. This is a great opportunity for operators and suppliers around the world to connect and share information daily in a forum dedicated solely to this industry. If you are still a little Internet-shy, you can send your postings to me and I'll tack them up for you.

We want everybody to be in THE LOOP, for in our collective strength does the whole industry grow.

Have a happy and safe 21st, Nathan, and to all of you, good luck as you gear up for the '01 season.

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To Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio

It was Opening Day 2000. Millennium Force, the park’s 310-foot "giga-coaster" by Intamin, was making its public debut, and the crowds came.

An old favorite, however, didn’t open: Raptor, the B&M inverted coaster, stood dormant because of strong winds coming off Lake Erie. The coaster remained closed well after dinner time, after the tide of traffic had finally turned toward exiting.

Then, around 9 p.m., only an hour before the park’s posted closing time, Cedar Point opened Raptor. Not only did management mobilize a full staff to operate the ride well beyond closing time, the queue-keeper maintained a steady barking at the crowds on the midway heading toward the exits: "Raptor is open! If you want to ride it, you still have time!"

THE LOOP bestows this, its first commendation medal, on Cedar Point for this exemplary customer service. It is one thing to build roller coasters above and beyond anyone else’s; going above and beyond the call of bottom-line duty to ensure guest satisfaction leaves the greater impression.

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