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©2002, Minton
Enterprises LLC
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Volume 2, No. 4. February 22, 2002
By Eric Minton
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a printer-friendly version of THE LOOP
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In this issue
(To go directly to a story, click on a blue keyword
below):
Disney shareholders
make waves about accountability in finances and safety;
Singapore's
Sentosa embarks on a multi-billion-dollar future with a new CEO;
GameWorks takes a roll down memory lane for it future
ventures;
A political change helps Cliff's
Amusement Park bring a roller coaster to New Mexico;
Australia's Adventure
World challanges corporations to go for its Cup;
A little heart brings a lot of charity to MOSI in Tampa;
We welcome Gaylord Palms Resort to Central Florida;
And we preview the haunt
industry's trade show in Chicago next month, offer you a ghastly
cruise to the Bahamas and recount a strange birth
at a haunted house.
Shared reaction
Amid the forecasts,
promises and sometimes contentious grumblings typical of The Walt Disney
Company's annual shareholders meeting, this week's session in Hartford,
Connecticut, saw stockholders put forth two proposals that could have
far-reaching impact for the whole amusement industry.
This was the first shareholder meeting of any sort to witness a fallout of the Enron Corp. bankruptcy scandal. A shareholder proposal to ban Disney's independent auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, from also serving as a consultant to the company won 40 percent of the votes cast. Though the proposal failed to pass, analysts say the number of yea votes was extraordinarily high for a first-time proposal.
The vote, however, was effectively moot. Though Disney's board had opposed the proposed audit policy last September, the company adopted the measure anyway in January in light of public, political and commercial consternation over the growing Enron scandal. "We've been very prudent in this area over the years, with close and active oversight by the audit committee," news reports quoted Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner. "But, in the current world, it's become more important than ever to make sure our shareholders, and the market as a whole, have full confidence in our financial reports, including the integrity of the auditing process." Wall Street watchers expect shareholders across the United States' commercial landscape to take up the issue throughout the year.
The other proposal set its sights squarely on the amusement industry itself: that Disney report to its shareholders the company's amusement park safety measures and medical response policies, identify all injuries on all Disney amusement park rides since 2000 and disclose the costs associated with those injuries, "including legal and out-of-court settlement costs incurred by the company." Prompted by a spate of highly publicized accidents at Disneyland in 2001, the proposal also referred to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission July 2000 report on ride-related injuries.
The Disney board also opposed this proposal, citing the company's and the industry's overall safety record the past 50 years, Imagineers' adherence to ASTM standards, rigorous inspection practices and oversight by both insurance companies and state regulators. "We therefore believe that The Walt Disney Company is already an industry leader in promoting theme park safety and that a special report on the subject would not meaningfully benefit the Company or its shareholders," the company's proxy statement said.
The proposal won only a 4 percent approval, but needed only 3 percent to return to the table at next year's meeting. Consequently, the assault on the industry's safety standards has engaged another front.
A
song in his heart
To Darrell Metzger, his newest
Pacific Rim challenge is "kind of a dream job." One week into his role
as CEO of Sentosa Development Corporation overseeing the operations and
improvements of Singapore's island resort, Metzger was sifting through
all the ways he could spend a total of SGD$3 billion (US$1.6 billion)
projected financing of a 10-year expansion plan for the resort.
"This is a great one," he said of his new work. "We've got all the resources to do a good job here. Even though the economy is bad now, I look at that as a positive. You don't want to come in at the top of things, you want to come in at the bottom because even your mistakes look good."
Calling his Sentosa helm "a great one" says a lot for the man who was part of the management team that brought Tokyo's Disneyland on line in 1983, who helped organize the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 World Fair in Vancouver, and who served as CEO of Ocean Park in Hong Kong from 1991 to 1996. There he implemented a five-year plan there that boosted annual attendance from 2.4 million to 4 million.
Sentosa, who
hired Metzger after an international search, wants him to replicate his
Ocean Park success—only moreso. The 10-year master plan, which is
expected to gain government approval in the next few weeks, aims to boost
annual visitation from 3.8 million last year to 8 million. "Quite simply
we're playing with a lot more money here," he said. There's
a lot more risk, the goals are more challenging, but we have the resources
to do it."
The strategy, however, is virtually the same. With attendance stalled
the past few years—"A polite word for it is that attendance on the
island has stabilized," Metzger said—Sentosa will look to increase
local traffic to the island while building its resort offerings for international
visitors. For the long term Sentosa will develop its two beach areas as
restaurant, retail and entertainment centers. "There isn't much waterfront
activity in Singapore, and this is a great opportunity to create a local
destination," Metzger said. The island also will get a theme park, "something
in the range of SGD$200 million (US$110 million)," he said. "If we can't
find anybody to do it for us, we'll do it ourselves."
Small attractions on the island that are not doing well now will be "fixed or shut down." Already Sentosa has closed its waterpark. "The problem we had with that and other smaller attractions was that operators were new to the business and didn't understand that you had to continuously invest and add new activities." To engender such devotion to reinvestment, Sentosa will require long-term leases of up to 30 years rather than the 10-year leases of the past. Those attractions that have performed well will get significant investment. The dolphin show in the lagoon, for example, may become a Discovery Cove-type immersive program. Sentosa will also get its own rapid transit system linked to Singapore's subway.
To build buzz for the short term Metzger is looking to special events: a fireworks festival, a music festival and upgrades to its Sandsation sand-sculpting festival with live shows based on the upcoming Scorpion King movie. A musical fountain show also will get an overhaul. "We want to start building momentum so that, first of all, residents start expecting to see new things every few months and the tourism bureau starts talking about us," he said. Then, in the coming years when the hotels, golf courses and other resort attractions come on line, Sentosa will be poised to attract tourists from North America and, particularly, Europe. "Instead of being a three-day stop-over in Singapore, our lure will be to stretch that out for a week." And keep them coming back for more.
Ron Lam and his show-starting bartenders, Tara, Kenny and Holly, gear up for GameWorks' Newport debut. Photo by Eric Minton
Pinning hopes
on the future
Once positioning itself as
the fun and games venue of the future, GameWorks is about to take a page
out of America's past to further its coolness factor. Bowling—the
real 60-foot-long lane, 10-crashing-pins kind—will be joining the
video games and virtual sports typical of the hybrid arcade/nightclub
when Minneapolis, Minnesota, opens its GameWorks in the fall.
"Bowling is the ultimate party game," said Ron Lam, CEO of GameWorks.
Almost a third of Minneapolis GameWorks's 35,000 square feet (10,600 square
meters) will be devoted to a 10-lane bowling alley called Hollywood Bowl
with disco lighting and a dance-happy soundtrack. Lam envisions that GameWorks,
located in downtown Minneapolis, will entice groups of workers from surrounding
office buildings to drop in for lunch and a roll or perhaps engage in
happy hour bowling.
Lam was in Newport, Kentucky, yesterday to host a pre-opening party at GameWorks' 13th venue, and he said the company improves with each outing, further distancing itself from its 1997 founding as a cutting-edge, adults-oriented arcade in Seattle. Until Minneapolis' edition is completed, Newport's will serve as the model GameWorks. This 25,000-square-foot (7,500-square-meter) center is set to open March 15 in the Newport on the Levee retail and entertainment complex across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. It contains the Jax Grill restaurant serving a full menu of starters, entrees and deserts, the Hopscotch Lounge serving signature cocktails in an intimate setting, and in between the Arena Bar where bartenders and wait staff occasionally break into a percussion and dance routine. The center will also contain more than 200 games and virtual experiences, including the Big Win Zone filled with redemption games.
These disparate sections are arranged in full view of each other to maximize sight lines to the various entertainment elements, whether that entertainment is chefs flipping pasta with their skillets, bartenders drumming on ice buckets or other patrons playing games. "Everything is open; everywhere you see entertainment," Lam said. Despite its name, GameWorks is trying to position itself more as a fun place to hang out than as a place to play games, he said. "It's all about socializing."
Cliff's
hanger resolved
After eight years of wrangling
among themselves, and then months of bureaucratic foot dragging, Cliff's
Amusement Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is finally getting its very
own wood roller coaster, the state's first and a first of its kind for
the American West. It was a new mayor, just two weeks into his administration,
who finally put the project on the fast track, and Wednesday Mayor Martin
Chavez joined park owners Linda and Gary Hays in formally announcing the
$2 million project.
The wood track on steel frame coaster by Custom Coasters International is scheduled to open June 21, 2002, just shy of the mid-point of Cliff's season. "Because of all the delays, we thought, 'Well, do we wait another year?'" said Gary Hays. But with Cliff's operating on a weekends-only schedule through the first week of June, the Hayses decided the new coaster would only miss three full weeks of the high season.
Part of the
coaster's delays came at the hands of the city's Planning Department.
"The zoning was fine, but the Planning Department felt like we needed
to go through a series of public hearings," Hays said. Then Mayor Chavez
took office December 3, and Hays managed to get a meeting with him and
Planning Department officials December 14. "He looked at the project and
looked at them and said, 'What's the problem?'" Hays recalled. "They said,
'We need to go through public hearings.' He said, 'Is the zoning OK?'
They said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'This is an amusement park, this is an amusement
ride. Get it done.'"
Though the ride
is not the state's first coaster—Cliff's already has a steel Galaxy
coaster installed in 1977—it is the first custom-built, large-scale
ride on record in New Mexico. This also will be CCI's first installation
west of the Mississippi River of the wood track on steel frame type coaster.
Yet to be named, the coaster will wind through the park's Kiddie Land
and pass over a couple of buildings and walkways. A unique pretzel design
near the end of the ride will have the train passing into a 100-foot-long
(30 meters) underground tunnel. "One of the neat things about CCI is they
have the ability to build over and around and above things with wood coasters,"
Hays said.
The new coaster
signals the Hays' decision to stay put on their current 15-acre site.
Over the past few years they had been in discussions with the city fairgrounds
and nearby Native American reservations about relocating the park. "We
kept putting off and putting off making a decision on the coaster thinking
something was going to happen," Gary Hays said. "We decided we couldn't
wait anymore." On the other hand, Hays expects the coaster to spark renewed
interest in landowners who may re-initiate relocation talks.
"From that standpoint, this type of coaster is moveable," Hays said. "That would be one heck of a job, but when you consider it in the cost of building a new park, it's doable."
World's
Cup
Even as the Winter Olympics
are fading into fond memories, the next big athletic gathering will be
getting under way Down Under. Resuming after a one-year hiatus, the Challenge
Cup competition among West Australia corporations will heat up at Adventure
World Fun Park in Bibra Lake near Perth.
Admittedly, this will not be Olympic-calibre competition. Events include
the "Slip and Slide Obstacle Course," "Balls Up" (maneuvering a ball with
mechanical hands) and the "Ski and Track Relay." For that contest, five
members of each team must, in tandem, race on one giant ski to the end
of the course, then five teammates race back in a rolled-up carpet.
"Bigger corporate
groups look to put teams in the Challenge Cup not only as a great team-building
event, but a big event for spectators who cheer their companies on," said
Kirrily Spencer, sales and promotions manager for Adventure World. The
park is hoping to sign up 48 teams comprising five females and five males
each, plus two alternates. Teams will be divided into three heats, competing
March 9 and 10 and March 16, and the top finishers from each heat play
in the final on March 17. First place earns AUD$1,500 (US$770) and an
exclusive breakfast function at Adventure World. Second place wins $750
(US$385), and the third-place team gets $250 (US$128). Prizes also will
be awarded to the best cheer squad and for the best team uniforms.
Corporations
pay $1,089 (US$559) to enter a team, or for $1,750 (US$899) the company
will also get 100 Adventure World admission tickets, a $29.50 (US$15)
value each, that it can sell or give away. Spectator tickets cost $8.50
(US$4) for blocks of 20. The competition takes place in the evening after
the park has closed to the general public, but Adventure World's new ride,
Rampage, will continue operating for the Challenge Cup participants
and spectators.
For the park,
the Challenge Cup attracts media attention just as Adventure World is
entering its post-summer shoulder season. The program also boosts the
park's group events marketing efforts. Having run the competition for
10 years, Adventure World decided to drop the Challenge Cup last year
while it pursued other special shoulder-season events, like the adults
only swim parties. The off-year also allowed organizers to "revamp and
put a new face on Challenge Cup," Spencer said, and this year's event
focuses more on the competition's team-building aspects, making it even
more attractive to corporations.
"Our corporate market is a big one," Spencer said. "We need to look after them; they are a big part of our group bookings throughout the season. Apart from the monetary benefit, Challenge Cup is an added value for groups taking part. It is exposure for us, something different for them, a very unique event, and a bit of fun."
Zealand exchanged $300 for a high-five from MOSI's Wit before the two played in the museum's exhibits. Photo courtesy of MOSI
Z + 6 = $300
Zealand Shannon learned the
value of community giving at an early age. It was part of his family culture.
So it seemed a natural thing for him, following the example of a Hollywood
couple, to celebrate a milestone birthday by asking his friends to give
him donations to a charity in lieu of presents. His charity of choice
was his favorite place in the whole world: the Museum of Science and Industry
in Tampa, Florida.
That total donation
of $300 Zealand gathered at his sixth birthday party made him the youngest
donor in MOSI history. "Zealand is an example of a true philanthropist,
which to me is someone who gives from the heart because they want to,"
said Kathryn McManus, MOSI's vice president of development. "Also, for
a kindergartner, this is what I would call a major gift, a sacrificial,
unselfish act of giving. It is more meaningful in some ways than a $10,000
gift from a businessman, in relation to his net worth."
Jeff and Gina
Shannon, Zealand's parents, had discussed the concept of charity with
Zealand since he was 4. "We had no idea whether he would latch onto it,"
said Jeff. But the story of actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
requesting charity donations instead of gifts for their wedding two years
ago prompted the Shannons to adopt that same tradition in their family
celebrations. Zealand, Jeff said, "liked the concept."
But he wanted
to pick his own charity: MOSI. He especially liked its new "O is for Oranges,"
hands-on exhibit aimed at smaller children. Drawing from what he knew
of the Make-a Wish program, Zealand wanted the money he collected for
his birthday to go toward giving other less fortunate children the chance
to visit MOSI, too. Zealand's wishes dovetailed perfectly with the museum's
own K+I+D=S program, a fund-raising campaign aimed at making MOSI affordable
for underprivileged children.
Gina Shannon
called the museum asking where she could send the money, but MOSI's management,
upon learning Zealand's stature, "wanted him to come over so we could
fuss over him and make a presentation," McManus said. In the glare of
television cameras last week, MOSI's President Wit Ostrenko stood with
Zealand in front of "O is for Oranges." "Zealand dug down in his pocket
and pulled out a wad of cash," McManus said. "Wit gave him a MOSI pen
and a lapel pin, then Zealand and Wit went off and played in the exhibit
together for a half hour. The president wanted to take him on a backstage
tour, and Zealand said, 'No, I'm having fun here.'"
MOSI contacted
Michael Douglas to relay the inspirational tale, and the actor wrote a
later to Zealand congratulating him for his act. "We commend your parents
for teaching you about the pleasure of giving at such an early age, something
we will try and instill in our young son Dylan as soon as he is old enough
to understand," Douglas wrote, and he promised to match Zealand's gift
to MOSI.
But there was one thing Zealand himself wasn't old enough to understand. Said Jeff: "When we got the letter and read it to Zealand he said, 'Who is Michael Douglas?'"
Special Haunt Show Issue
Scared
kidless
As a primer
for the upcoming Transworld National Halloween Costume and Party Show
at the Rosemont Convention Center in suburban Chicago, Illinois, March
8-12, we want to relate this story from Drew Hunter. He is currently Design
Director at Sally Corp and one of the leading veteran haunt designers
in the country who originated the Dr. Blood character and show back in
the 1970s.
Around 1986 Hunter was producing a special Halloween show for the Wax
Museum of the Southwest in Grand Prairie, Texas (now The Palace of Wax).
One night a pregnant woman got so scared she went into labor. "We rushed
her to a back-stage storage area where we were certain she was about to
deliver right then and there," Hunter said. An ambulance arrived in time
to take her to a hospital before she gave birth.
Standing by
was her husband. Hunter asked him why he brought his pregnant wife to
a haunted house. "He calmly told us that she was a bit overdue, and he
thought maybe a good scare might help," Hunter said. "It was nice to know
that we came through for him."
Hunter said neither he nor the museum heard from the couple again. "But
if you ever are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and meet a 15-or-so-year-old
girl named 'Waxina' or some such, she just may be the result of having
the kid scared right out of somebody at our show!"
Tracy Brown smokes o ut one of Morris Costumes' animatronic characters at last years Transworld Show. Photo by Eric Minton
Frightening
prospects
It is a place
where people proudly proclaim themselves "evil," "crazy," "mad" and "bloody"
as they engage in business. The annual Transworld National Halloween Costume
and Party Show at the Rosemont Convention Center in suburban Chicago,
Illinois, March 8-12 will once again play host to the haunt industry with
seminars, exhibits and macabre parties.
Activities for the International Association of Haunted Attractions begin
on March 6, two days before the trade show, with the Wednesday evening
Crazy Bob's Annual Talk Back Session and Social at the Chicago O'Hare
Hyatt Regency. Robert "Crazy Bob" Turner, owner of the Haunted Hydro Dark
Attraction Park in Fremont, Ohio, began hosting these free-wheeling, idea-sharing
sessions in 1998, spending $2,000 of his own money to rent a room and
host 20 of his colleagues at the first meeting. Now TransWorld foots the
bill and last year 300 people attended. For honest discussion on current
issues and problems facing hauntrepreneurs, this session is invaluable,
and it serves as a great place for newcomers in the industry to meet and
mingle with this collegial group. The eating and drinking begins at 7
p.m. (19,00) and is free for anybody who has signed up for Transworld's
Haunted Attractions Owner/Operator Seminars. All IAHA members not attending
the seminars will be admitted after 9 p.m. (21,00) in time to join Crazy
Bob's open forum.
The bulk of the seminars sponsored by the IAHA take place at the convention
center on Thursday, March 7. Topics cover most aspects of the haunt business,
including insurance, marketing, sponsorships, theming, throughput and
working with actors. With titles ranging from "Rigging and Flying" and
"Junk Wars" to "How To Make A Zombie" and "Guts and Gore: How to make
those scenes real and real gross," the presenters include make-up artists,
illusionists and a stuntwoman, as well as veterann haunt producers. The
whole program costs $295. To register, call 800-323-5462 or visit the
web site, www.imsevents.com/transworld.html.
IAHA uses Transworld to hold its Annual Membership Meeting and fund-raiser,
Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m. (19,00), at the convention center. In addition
to the election of board members and officers, the event will include
the annual "casket basket raffle" with baskets containing everything from
gruesome props to prize-winning wine donated by haunt attractions. The
money raised finances IAHA operations.
Part of those operations include two publications which will be available
to members this year: an update of the association's Safety Manual, and
a new publication called Haunter's Handbook, containing tips on prop building,
make-up, managing actors and staff, operations and marketing. "We're pretty
excited about that because it is a tangible deliverable for folks," said
IAHA President D'Ann Dagen. As the association gathers more material,
individual topics will spin off into their own manuals, she said. Another
new IAHA initiative to be launched at Transworld will be a legislative
survey. "We want to find out the hot topics and goals for our membership
on a federal level and state-by-state," Dagen said. Already pro-active
in sharing safety and business tips, IAHA is seeking more ways to make
sure the only scary things haunters need to deal with are those they spring
on their customers.
Sea
dead people
The woman who created all those bodies floating in the North Atlantic
near the end of James Cameron's movie Titanic will be taking her
talents aboard a real cruise next January, part of a vacation package
specifically aimed at haunt attraction operators. Make-up artist Bobbie
Weiner, AKA: Bloody Mary, and Robert "Crazy Bob" Turner are hosting the
Moonlight Fantasy cruise on Carnival Cruise Line's ship Fascination on
a trip from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas, January 17-20, 2003.
Though Weiner was responsible for one of the most gruesome sunken-ship
scenes in cinema history, Carnival approached her last year to be a featured
star on one of its cruises. Originally the program was slated for last
November, but the terrorist attacks of September 11 canceled the trip.
When Weiner rescheduled for next January, she brought on board Crazy Bob.
"I needed a Regis Philbin," Weiner said. "He's such a crackup. He's such
a hoot. He's such fun." As such he's the ideal moderator for seminars
on building haunts and creating scares and, based on his experience running
the IAHA annual fund-raising raffle and auction at the Transworld show,
Turner will be the perfect emcee for a "Who Wants to be a Monsteraire"
horror trivia game, said Weiner. She will do makeup workshops during the
cruise. The program also will include an evening cocktail hour and masquerade
ball. Carnival is giving Weiner conference rooms and space for the parties.
The programs will be open to other passengers, but Carnival is offering
a 10 percent discount to IAHA members. Because of the educational nature
of the workshops, haunt operators can count the cruise as a business expense,
IAHA President D'Ann Dagen said. Weiner also sees the cruise as an opportunity
for anybody in the Halloween business to actually celebrate the holiday,
albeit three months late. "We're trying to get all the people who do Halloween,
whether it's the party store, haunted attractions or makeup artists,"
she said. "They don't get to enjoy Halloween, so this will be their Halloween."
Prices start at $379 for inside berths and include all meals, taxes, gratuities,
a bottle of champagne, box of chocolates and souvenir T-shirt. People
attending the Transworld show can sign up either at Bloody Mary's booth
No. 3424 or the IAHA booth No. 3436. The IAHA will also be raffling off
two tickets for the cruise.
New Arrivals
The Palms rose to the occasion right on cue at 2:02, 02/02/02. Photo courtesy of Gaylord Entertainment
It's
a resort!
Gaylord Entertainment announces the arrival of the Gaylord Palms Resort
and Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida, February 2, 2002. Measurements:
64 acres, 1,406 rooms, 115 suites, 400,000 square feet ( 121,212 square
meters) of meeting space, 178,000-square-foot (53,939-square-meter) exhibition
hall, three themed entertainment areas, one business center, two swimming
pools, one spa and fitness center, three restaurants, three bars, 14 shops,
and a 4,000-square-foot (1,212-square-meter) child care center. Delivered
by Cosentini Associates (lighting), EDSA (landscape), Hnedak Bobo Group
(architecture), ITEC Entertainment Corporation (entertainment), Lorenc
Yoo Design (signage), P.B.S.& J. (civil engineering), Pelton Marsh Kinsella
(acoustics and audio visual theatrics), Thornton-Tomasettie Engineers
and Uzun & Case (structural engineering).
When Gaylord Entertainment officials broke ground on their ambitious, $450 million resort and convention center —the most expensive hotel built outside of Las Vegas—in June 1999, they promised the hotel would open on February 2, 2002. They liked the symmetry of the date: 02/02/02. Even the resort's public relations manager admits that announcing so specific an opening date that early is "crazy."
But at 2:02 p.m. that afternoon, a ceremony in the Palms' grand atrium featuring Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Gaylord Entertainment CEO Colin Reed concluded with a pyrotechnic display and 100-foot (30-meter) banners unfurling from the ceiling. That's 14,02 on the international clock, of course. "We thought about doing it at 2:02 a.m.," Salwoski said, "but it's hard to get the governor to come to your event at 2 in the morning, and the pyro going off would disturb the guests."
Guests began staying at the Palms on January 10 as the resort first hosted small groups, gradually ramping up to larger groups. Even as the official opening event was progressing in the atrium, guests attending the Palms' first convention, the American Bus Association, were checking in.
The resort is
expressly designed with the meeting clientele in mind. "We built it around
an experience," Salwoski said. "The top two reasons people attend conventions
is for the education and to network. What happens in most places is that
once the meetings are over, there's nothing to do. We built this so there's
something else to do here. We give groups a reason to stay together."
Most of that strategy plays out in the three themed entertainment areas.
The Everglades features a storyteller's shack, with live actors. Key West
hosts a sunset celebration every evening with street performers. St. Augustine
is centered on the Fountain of Youth, a fountain show with narration of
Ponce de Leon.
"In Orlando, the second largest hotel market behind Vegas, nobody has really built a resort or hotel focused on meetings and conventions," Salwoski said. Is Orlando the right kind of market for such an enterprise? Gaylord Entertainment already has its answer. The resort booked more than one million room nights, all pre-sold to groups through 2011, before the hotel even opened. And it opened right on time.
Eric’s Turn
Street cred
According to a recent special aired by the Travel Channel featuring Cedar
Point in Sandusky, Ohio, "Eric Minton has probably ridden more (roller
coasters) than anyone else alive."
This was news to me. And though my interview with them, pictured above,
is featured heavily in the show, I'm sure their source for this assertion
was not me. I know many people who have ridden more roller coasters than
I have, and my friend Lisa Scheinin, the associate editor of ACE's Roller
Coaster! magazine, has been on two or three times more coasters than I.
The Travel Channel show's gaffe on this and other facts and images in
its portrayal of Cedar Point illustrates the duality of credibility gaps.
My credibility has been impinged by a show that, despite its documentary
style, frequently strayed from credibility. The end result, in this case,
is a wronged public in addition to a wronged subject.
Among true journalists, including most of my colleagues covering the amusement
industry, credibility is held dear. We at THE LOOP are so intent on keeping
our credibility standards high that we run corrections and clarifications
even though we correct our mistakes or misreadings on the original source,
a luxury our publishing via a live web site gives us that our print brethren
do not have. We also once deleted a report on a successful New Arrival
when we learned that the park's public relations representative gave us
incorrect information.
Most of you have suffered fallout from misinformation broadcast, published
or gossiped about you or your park or company. And what park hasn't suffered
at the hands of a careless journalist, ranging from filming the wrong
ride or animal for their report to making spurious comparisons or juxtapositions?
But beware, too, of your own culpability.
Especially now. The lead story in this week's LOOP touches on the many
facets of credibility involving our industry and the general public in
the current U.S. climate, a climate where the general public is clamoring
for higher standards of credibility.
On the one hand our industry's
overall stellar safety record continues to be assaulted by misinformation
and misrepresentative data. Meanwhile, we as an industry continue to shunt
the issue aside, hoping it will go away, consequently compromising our
own credibility. Is the shareholders' demand on the Walt Disney Co. just
a handful of unhappy stockholders finding an issue to make waves with
or is it a legitimate quest for accountability? It's easier to believe
the former, but would that risk doing too little to address the latter.
Additionally, do not underestimate the public's growing interest in the
fallout of the Enron scandal. No company can afford to mislead the public
on anything from stock reports to marketing images. Just the appearance
of giving false or withholding information can raise a ruckus.
Amusements and entertainment is an unusual industry in that illusion is a key product. The demand and need for that will not change. Just keep those illusions in the safe haven of your park or show.
If you have
a comment or question
contact Eric Minton
eric@gettheloop.com 888-902-5667
(outside North America call
1-937-296-9796).
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