Volume 2, No. 3. February 8, 2002
Super-land
That annual American sportsfest, last Sunday's Super Bowl football championship
game, is always preceded by a week-long slate of celebrity-packed parties, and
this year's host city, New Orleans, was bound to inspire more big-name good
timing than usual. However, one of the highest profile parties on Super Bowl
eve landed not on Bourbon Street but in the faux French Quarter of Jazzland
Theme Park.
Hailed by Sports Illustrated magazine as the "power party of Super Bowl
Weekend," the 16th annual shindig thrown by agents Leigh Steinberg and Jeff
Moorad attracted about 3,000 guests to Jazzland, including sports and entertainment
stars Deion Sanders, Warren Moon and Warrick Dunn. U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Tom Daschle also attended, five-time Grammy nominee and hip hop fave Outkast
provided the music, and the pop troupe N'Sync was on the guest list and reportedly
in attendance.
The party started at 2 p.m. (14,00) and was only supposed to run for three hours,
but guests, lingered until 6 p.m. (18,00). "What we hear from Steinberg's people
and the guests is that it came off flawlessly," said David Wright, Jazzland's
marketing director. In addition to festive decorations and food, Jazzland was
able to offer the replica French Quarter street and a spacious plaza overlooking
the rest of the theme park surrounding its centerpiece lagoons.
"This definitely shows the variety that our park can offer," Wright said of
the party. "We're not just a theme park experience; we can deliver on the upscale
magnitude of this event, or even bigger."
Jazzland has aggressively pursued the group events market for its off-season
months. This past winter the park has hosted fund-raisers for local charities,
corporate and association banquets, community festivals and Christmas parties,
ranging from a few hundred people to 20,000-plus. "We're like the Sanger Theater
or House of Blues: we try to market the fact that we are an additional venue
to have events," said Patrick Evans, the park's public relations manager. Hosting
community festivals and charity events also serve as good community outreach.
Though Jazzland's rides do not run during these events, the park can offer its
themed environs plus ample parking and security. Wright also pointed to the
park's proximity to downtown, just eight miles from the Superdome where the
Super Bowl was played. "The French Quarter is right off Interstate 10, and we're
off Interstate 10," Wright said. "Sometimes its quicker to get here than navigate
a couple miles in the Quarter." Especially for last Saturday's super party guests.
"They came in limos, taxis and shuttle buses."
A park with class
Teachers have a number of interactive tools at hand when imparting history curriculums
to their students. They have text books, audio-visual aides and, for many classrooms,
the internet. Ideal would be taking the whole classroom to the land of the lesson;
to study ancient Egypt, take them to Egypt. To study dinosaurs, take them to
a Triassic-era island.
Barring that, take them to the nearest theme park.
That presumption has generated significant mid-week shoulder season traffic
for Gardaland in Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy. The theme park, which prides
itself on accurately themed environments, rides and shows, has set up a series
of classroom programs using its attractions to illustrate lessons in history
and biology for schools in northern Italy. The initiative, in turn, has led
to new meeting facilities that have helped build corporate group sales for the
park.
Because of a 1991 national law restricting out-of-school trips for classrooms,
"Teachers had to justify excursions," said Roberta Brentarolli, sales manager
at Gardaland. "It's difficult justifying a trip to an amusement park. Since
we had the possibility to give them something more, a biology lesson or history
lesson, why not offer that in combination with a day in the amusement park?
It was a good solution." One of Gardaland's attractions, the Dolphinarium, provided
a natural fit. School groups could attend lectures by biologists in a 100-seat
classroom then attend one of the daily Dolphinarium shows. With a half-dozen
lessons a day, the program has generated about 12,000 visits a year.
A more creative program arose from one of the park's popular dark rides, the
Valley of the Kings housed in a thematic 1:2-scale replica of the temple
of Abu Simbel in Egypt. With input from an archaeology society in Milan and
a local history museum, Gardaland put together sample curricula, complete with
accompanying workbooks and in-house lecturers. "Each year we concentrate on
a separate subject," Brentarolli said. "One year it was on Tutankhamen and the
discovery of his tomb, another year on pharaohs, another on interpreting hieroglyphics,"
of which the Valley of the Kings offers plenty of hands-on samples. As
for the notion of using a theme ride in place of the real thing, Brentarolli
said, "That's the role of the teacher, to explain the difference between fake
and real."
Offered the past five years, the Egyptian program has brought some 20,000 students
to the park each year, proving so popular that Gardaland has built a 600-seat
meeting room for the program. With that room, the park in 1999 began offering
meeting space to local companies who rent the park for product launches and
anniversaries, Brentarolli said. "Software companies want to be as strange as
possible," she said, and Revlon Cosmetics likes using Gardaland for special
events. "An amusement park is normally cheaper than any big restaurant, and
you engage people all day."
Gardaland also tried to build a history lesson about knights based on its medieval
tournament show. "That was nice, but it didn't have the same impact; Egyptians
are much more fashionable," Brentarolli said. But this year, the ancients have
been supplanted by an even earlier but more fashionable population: dinosaurs,
a lesson triggered by the park's booking the Iwerks 3D film Dino Island
at its motion theater. "We'll have a paleontologist lecture on dinosaurs and
make reference to the film, which has many dinosaurs from different periods
acting at the same time: the paleontologist will point that out," Brentarolli
said. Based on a test run of the program in September for 900 teachers, the
park knows it has another winner. "Teachers are extremely skeptical," Brentarolli
said. "You have to be so careful not to disappoint them. We had many, many teachers
write us to say it was 'Great,' 'Fantastic,' 'Well done.'"
The children shall set
us free
In settling on an appropriate celebration
for its 50th anniversary, Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, decided
to let children lead the way. Every Monday this year through November 18, any
child 5-years-old and under may bring up to five guests into the Gardens for
free. Because children 5 and under get in free anyway, whole carloads of guests
can now experience the Gardens at no charge.
Chairman of the Board Bo Callaway and his brother, Cason Callaway Jr., came
up with the idea as a way to honor their father, the Gardens' founder Cason
Callaway. The elder Callaway said he built the Gardens "so that more children
will have a chance to see something beautiful by the time they are 6 years old."
Though children could get in free anyway, the Callaway brothers decided that
making children the key for adults to get in free would be even more enticing.
"Our hope is that people will spend quality time with children, bring children
to see something beautiful and meaningful that they will remember, and introduce
more people to Callaway Gardens," said Rachel Crumbley, corporate relations
manager. The park chose Mondays not only because it typically is the slowest
day of the week, but also is a more likely day for parents to get off work.
It also entails the federal holidays, and the program will be in force for President's
Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day.
Crumbley said the park is not expecting to make up the loss of admission receipts
(up to $12 per adult) with per caps at the park's restaurants and shops, but
the "Marvelous Mondays" program could drive purchases of annual memberships.
Primarily, though, the promotion is intended to carry out the founder's mission
and instill good will. "The benefits for us are a big 'thank you' for our loyal
guests over the many years," Crumbley said. "And we hope to increase exposure
to people who have never been here before."
Show me plumes, luv!
The picture is something you might
see on the cover of National Geographic Magazine: a tight shot of an
American flamingo digging its beak into bright orange plumage. The photo adorns
the cover of the Oklahoma Zoological Society's 2002 calendar and was shot by
David Sims for the price of a free zoo membership. All of the 39 photos used
in the calendar, shot by 22 different amateur sphotographers, came at the same
low cost to the zoo.
The calendar is a product
of the Oklahoma City Zoo's annual "Capture the Wild" photography program. It
starts with a two-day seminar in June when a couple of local professional photographers
take up to 30 guests, who must reserve a spot in the program, around the zoo,
offering tips on shooting wildlife.
The program's centerpiece is the annual photo contest. In conjunction with the
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, a neighbor to the Oklahoma
City Zoo, the Society accepts entries from mid-July to mid-August. Photographers
can enter as often as they want at no charge. The only restrictions are that
the photos must be 8-inch by 10-inch or 12-inch mounted prints, and they must
be shot at the zoo. "Preference in judging will be given to animals currently
in the collection," said Betsy Allie, associate director of the Oklahoma Zoological
Society, also known as Zoo Friends.
While some of the photos clearly show the Oklahoma City Zoo landscape, others,
like Sims' cover photo, could be taken anywhere. But, said Allie, they wouldn't
past muster in the competition. "The keepers look at all the photos, and they
know their animals," she said. "We're also assuming these folks are sincere
zoo friends." Besides, photographers have little reason to cheat; even at the
deadline of the entries, the Zoo Friends don't know what the prizes will be,
except memberships in the Society and the International Photography Hall of
Fame and Museum. By the time of the judging in September, local sponsors have
donated awards, ranging from restaurant gift certificates to airline tickets.
Last year the Society received more than 400 entries by 200 photographers from
23 communities around the state, Texas and Indiana. The entries were divided
into seven categories: mammals, birds, landscape, aquatic-reptiles-amphibians,
youth through age 8, youth 9-12 and youth 13-18. Sims won Best of Show. Meanwhile,
10-year-old Kyle Abbot's work was entered in the adult division and his puffer
fish won first place in the aquatic, reptiles and amphibians category. The youngest
entrant was a 3-year-old. "The camera was too heavy for him to hold up, and
he took a picture that was mostly ground," Allie said. "I give his mother a
lot of credit; he wanted to be in the competition, so she blew it up and entered
it."
Aas with every other entry, that photo hung in a month-long exhibit at the Photography
Hall of Fame. "That's been one of the nicest things that comes out of this collaboration,"
Allie said. "Kids get a huge charge out of seeing their things displayed in
an adult setting." The Society then culls through the pictures to use in its
annual calendar.
The Society views the whole program—from the photography seminars through
the competition to the calendar—as an educational tool, Allie said, exposing
participants to different animals and their habits. The calendar also serves
as a Zoo Friends membership benefit and a marketing tool for any of the members'
friends who see the calendar or attend the photo exhibit.
The Society gets a bonus benefit from the program, too. All the photographs
in the competition become the property of the Oklahoma Zoological Society to
use in publications and promotions. "We have a wonderful library of photos to
use in our publicity material," Allie said. Professional quality at amateur
prices.
Naming rights
Among the capital improvements the
Rowlett, Texas, City Council approved for the second season of its Wet Zone
Waterpark, which will give the park North Texas' first bowl slide, was funds
for a mascot. Waterpark Manager Heath Olinger had already chosen a hippopotamus
for the character—Wet Zone's kiddie pool has a Superior Foam floatable
hippo, and the animal adorned one of the park's signs, "So we just ran with
it," Olinger said—and with the money budgeted he immediately ordered a
custom costume from International Mascot.
Though he had a design for his character, he didn't have a name. "How do you
come up with a good name for a mascot?" he asked. He found answers in a number
of places. He surfed the Internet, finding the site www.babynames.com
helpful. He also consulted on-line translator programs. "You can type in a name
and it will translate into African or Hawaiian or whatever," he said. These
methods helped him build a list that included Haru and Heaka. He also came up
with Happy the Hippo, but crossed it off because the name was already used for
a Beanie Baby.
Obviously, alliteration was a key factor in his choices: the name needed to
start with an H. "It just sounded better, and would be easier for the kids to
say," Olinger said. "I was going to go with Heath, but I didn't think they would
like that." The "they" in question were other Rowlett City staff who voted on
Heath the Manager's list of names. The final choice: Haley the Hippo. How did
Olinger come up with Haley? "I was sitting at home one day and Haley popped
into my mind," he said. Nothing against the Internet, of course, but Haley was
obviously a natural choice.
Return visits
His attempts to stage a Broadway-spectacle
musical for Silver
Dollar City paid big dividends for Brad Schroeder, the Branson, Missouri, park's
director of entertainment and events. For the Glory, a U.S. Civil War-era
production Schroeder wrote and staged in the tradition of Les Miserables
(THE LOOP, September
7, 2001) proved so popular during its eight-week run last autumn that
the show is being revived for this year. Opening April 12 For the Glory
will occupy the park's Opera House Theater through October 26, when it will
give way to Christmas in the Ozarks during the Silver Dollar City's Christmas
festival. Many of Glory's cast members are returning, too.
Marjan, the lion whose maimed face moved a world to assist the rebuilding of the Kabul Zoo in Afghanistan (THE LOOP, December 14, 2002) died January 26 of kidney and liver failure connected with old age. Photos of Marjan, wounded in a grenade attack, touched a nerve among animal lovers everywhere and helped drive a fund-raising effort to assist the Kabul Zoo, spearheaded by zoo associations in Europe and North America. Kabul Zoo Director Sheraga Omar, who himself has endured years of strife to keep the zoo and its residents alive, reiterated his own dedication to the cause when in mourning the loss of Marjan he commented that he hopes the celebrity lion can be replaced, preferably by a breeding pair.
Almost a year after the first case was detected leading to the destruction of six million animals and causing a dire impact on tourism (THE LOOP, March 9, 2001 and April 9, 2001), foot and mouth disease has been officially declared eradicated in Great Britain. No cases have been detected since September, and on January 15 Northumberland became the last county in the country declared free of any sign of the virus. The disease forced the closing of several zoos and animal parks throughout the nation and depressed visitation to all amusement parks last spring. Many facilities rebounded with good gates through the summer, and this year the industry expects potentially record numbers as British residents elect to spend their holidays closer to home.
New Arrivals
It's a warehouse!
The Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, announces
the arrival of its new warehouse, February 6, 2002. Measurements: 13,200 square
feet (4,000 square meters), five saltwater tanks, two freshwater tanks, three
turtle tanks, one live rock tank, three snake cages, 30 10-gallon frog aquarium
tanks, three tadpole trays, 50,000 total gallons of water (190,000 liters),
one mile of pipes (1.6 kilometers).
Alicia Pradas-Monne, an aquatic biologist and veterinary assistant with the
Newport Aquarium, shuddered as she recalled the 2 a.m. phone call on October
2, 1999, informing her that the aquarium's warehouse, where 200 animals were
living out their quarantines, was on fire. The second aquarium staff member
on the scene as the blaze still raged, Pradas-Monne was also the first one to
enter the building, wearing full firefighting gear, to assess the damage to
livestock and tanks and determine how to evacuate the animals, which firefighters
had saved by covering their tanks with tarp (only three fish and a moray eel
died in the disaster). A caravan of aquarium staff and vans got the surviving
animals to holding tanks at the aquarium itself, and less than a week later
staff began searching for another warehouse.
Wednesday, Pradas-Monne was giving tours of that new warehouse, which, like
its predecessor, is in a leased space. The Newport Aquarium spent almost $1
million outfitting the warehouse for use as a quarantine center. "This place
is just phenomenal," Pradas-Monne said. "This place is gorgeous compared to
the other one." That is something only an aquatic biologist would say of a room
as utilitarian and expansive as an old aircraft hanger with walls lined by pipes,
valves and tanks of gunky-looking water.
Those pipes, valves and tanks are part of what makes this new warehouse so special.
The water, flowing through mechanical and natural filtration, is constantly
aerated as it circulates through the whole building, a circulation system the
staff calls "the Loop." Pradas-Monne and Erika Schissler, the aquarium's Aquatic
Programs Manager, helped design the facility to make it as user-friendly as
possible. "I was able to voice certain problems I had with the old facility,"
Pradas-Monne said: "valves that were in the wrong place, things that were difficult
to do. And the guys who designed this place took every little problem and made
this place unreal. It's very easy to work. It's very easy to explain to someone
else how to take care of this building."
Each of the tanks has hookups for saltwater, freshwater, air and a vacuum line.
Water and electrical outlets are placed to minimize hoses and extension cords
snaking over the floor. All valves and gauges are located within reach of the
5-foot, 11-inch Pradas-Monne and the 5-foot, 2-inch Schissler. "I had to test
every valve to make sure I can reach it," Schissler said. "If I can reach it,
anybody can reach it."
Newport Aquarium first began using the warehouse for quarantine last spring,
starting with the turtle tanks. "We've been slowly adding animals as each system
came on line," said Schissler. "It's taken us about 10 months to get this thing
fully up and running." Added Pradas Monne: "We wanted to make sure everything
was absolutely perfect, so there was no rushing to get everything running the
way it should."
Though now decreed fully operational, the warehouse has plenty of space for
more tanks and an electrical and water circulation system that can handle that
growth with hassle-free hookups. "As the aquarium grows, this place will grow
as well," said Pradas-Monne. It's part of what makes her workspace so gorgeous.
It's
a special effects show!
Futuroscope Park in Poitiers, France, announces the arrival of Miroir
d'Uranie February 2, 2002. Measurements: 7,000-square-meter lake for a stage
(23,000-square feet), three water screens, 60 cannons jetting water 20 meters
high (66 feet) and one cannon shooting water 40 meters high (132 feet), nine
exploding geysers, nine arches of water, 16 fire valves shooting flames 8 meters
high (27 feet) and two shooting flames 20 meters high (66 feet), five balloons,
seven 3D CGI characters and one human cast member. Delivered by ECA2.
As the future-minded theme park geared up for a season focusing on the universe
and space travel, it asked the producer of its multimedia show on its Lake Theatre
to come up with a new show fitting this year's focus. ECA2 spent a year developing
and engineering the story of a fisherman who travels with a flying fish through
the universe to meet and name a young star.
Whereas ECA2's first show on Lake Theatre, The Lake of Images, was primarily
intended to show off dazzling multimedia effects, Miroir d'Uranie (which
translates as "Uranie's Mirror") has a storyline. "There are a lot of strong
effects, and at the same time there are very poetic moments," said Yves Pépin,
ECA2's president and artistic director.
The only human in the show is an elderly country fisherman, arriving at the
fishless lake to cast his line during the preshow. The show seems to begin with
a dance of colorful fountains, but the fisherman's shouting stops the show.
Claiming to have caught something, he points to a face that magically appears
in the mist over the lake. Mesmerized, he pines to find a way to meet the being,
and suddenly Billy la Bulle (Billy the Bubble) a cartoon flying fish appears
on a water screen and invites the fisherman to join him as they travel through
space in search of the mystery face. Transforming the fisherman into a cartoon
fish himself, they visit several ancient mythological societies from around
the world until discovering the young star, who must be named in order to turn
into a real star. The fisherman names the star Uranie, and in a flash of light,
the real fisherman appears walking across the lake toward the audience.
Miroir d'Uranie made its debut last Saturday for a select audience of
community friends and family members of park staff. Though Pépin hesitated
to claim the show a universal hit, he was pleased with the feedback he heard.
"I must confess, it was really, really a very big success," he said. "Sincerely,
I think everybody was very, very happy." The show will get an official opening
night gala for the national press in April.
It's
a parking garage!
The Denver Zoo announces the arrival of a parking garage, January 31, 2002.
Measurements: One acre, four floors, 764 car spaces. Delivered by Haselden Construction,
RNL Design, Jirsa Hedrick and Associates (structural engineering), Carl Walker
(parking design), Concrete Frame Associates, ECOS Communications (graphics and
signage), S.A. Miro (civil engineering), and Shalkey and Team (urban design).
Primate Panorama in 1996 and Dragons of Komodo in 1999 gave the Denver Zoo two
first-class exhibits that drew great numbers. However, for the staff and many
of the public patrons, the zoo's latest capital improvement project was greater
cause for excitement. "This is probably closer to the hearts of the public,"
said Suzanne Balog, the zoo's public relations manager, about the new car park.
"We're thrilled. Parking has been our number one complaint for a long time.
Now everybody's first impression of the Denver Zoo will be a really good one."
The $17.5 million complex, which doubles the zoo's parking capacity, has been
more than 10 years in the making, Balog said, having to get past a number of
city permit and neighbor acceptance hurdles during its planning. When it was
finally erected and ready for use, the zoo staged a first-class grand opening.
In addition to Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, local dignitaries, zoo officials
and many residents of the community came out for the official ribbon cutting,
as did the staff and even construction workers. Balog estimated the crowd at
"several hundred people."
This is no ordinary parking garage, either. With three of the stories underground,
the building is unobtrusive, preserving the green space of the Denver City Park
where the zoo is located. Despite being subterranean, however, two sides—facing
south and west—are open to sunlight. The structure also contains a number
of safety elements: closed-circuit security cameras, emergency call stations
on all levels, in-house security office with regular patrols, and plenty of
artificial lighting in the areas that natural lighting doesn't reach.
The zoo also themed its new garage with animal icons to help guests remember
where they parked. The featured animals are a boa for the first floor, macaw
for the second, tiger for the third and zebra for the fourth.
The garage is the first half step in a $125 million master plan aimed at providing
more room for the animals at the zoo. Next to break ground will be a new main
entrance to compliment the new garage.
Eric’s Turn
Birthday
wishes
One year ago yesterday I was sitting in the media center of Disney's California
Adventure. The theme park had officially opened to the public that morning,
and after I had covered the ceremony and interviewed various guests and dignitaries,
including Art Linkletter above, I was writing the story as the final flourish
of our first edition of THE LOOP. We posted Vol. 1, No. 1 (web site page "loop001.html")
that afternoon and sent our first e-mail notification that evening to, well,
some of you. A technical glitch foiled our first notification efforts, and the
bulk of e-mails didn't get out for a few more days. But we at least accomplished
our first goal: we were officially on-line and publishing a bi-weekly newsletter,
and we did our first on the road in the wake of a major grand opening.
We've come a long way in our first year, in both style (compare that first issue
with this one) and technical expertise. We also know we still have some improving
to do. This is a work in-progress. However, many things about THE LOOP have
not changed, such as our mission to provide connection, good ideas and relevant
but fun reading to the amusement industry and our dedication to accuracy and
timeliness. Furthermore, many of the web site features we had at the beginning
are still available to you.
You can access these features by clicking on one of the gray buttons at the
top-left of this newsletter. All of the LOOP newsletters we have published are
archived and listed in chronological order, complete with a list of each publication's
content, at THE LOOP index.
The Reading Room index lists
all of the longer feature and service stories we have published to help you
run your business. Connections
is our links page, an ever-growing list of industry operators, associations
and suppliers with direct access to their own web sites (if you want to get
listed, e-mail me by clicking here).
The Staff page, formerly
called the Masthead, describes who we are and how to reach us. Advertising
takes you to a page that describes how you can place value-rich ads in THE LOOP
newsletter, take advantage of some of our special programs, like the Enhanced
New Arrivals, or become a long-term sponsor. Our ever-changing Home
page highlights the latest issue of THE LOOP (which happens to be this one you
are reading) and other special features on our web site.
This week we have added another feature page to our web site, called Help.
This is a tutorial with tips on how to navigate our web site and get the most
out of every issue of THE LOOP: past, current, and future.