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Volume 2, No. 1. January 11, 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 or phrase below):
Fujikyu Highlands breaks a world speed record with its new thrust air roller coaster, and Six Flags Magic Mountain breaks the fourth dimension with its new rotating seat roller coaster;
Monterey Bay Aquarium promotes healthy seafood eating with a consumer guide, and Fun Spot demonstrates DUI driving on its go-kart tracks;
Het Land van Ooit's popular character gets to the root of a young patron's sorrow, and LEGOLAND rushes in the New Year a little early for kids;
Whalom Park's fate remains unresolved, and THE LOOP starts the new year off with a new feature.
Dinner reservations
The dungeness crab is good,
as is the Alaskan halibut. Snow crab and bay scallops? Only if you're
really in the mood. And stay away from the bluefin tuna and monkfish.
These recommendations come to you courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium
in Monterey, California, but they have nothing to do with flavor or freshness.
The aquarium is spearheading a campaign to promote healthy seafood eating:
healthy for the animals still in the seas. Next week an alliance of environmental
organizations will meet in Washington, D.C., for a sustainable seafood
summit, and a prime topic will be the Seafood Watch campaign that Monterey
Bay Aquarium plans to expand to other zoos and aquariums across the country
this spring.
The campaign originated in 1997 when the aquarium put up a "Fishing for
Solutions" exhibit that focused on issues of overfishing, habitat deprivation
and bycatch, such as snaring dolphins in tuna nets. While putting together
the exhibit, Monterey's staff realized their own restaurant, Portola Cafe,
was contributing to the problem with its popular seafood menu. Aquarium
researchers then began looking at which seafood had the least impact on
the environment.
"Before we knew it, we were, internally, coming up with a list of seafood,"
said Jennifer Dianto, the aquarium's Seafood Watch program manager. "Our
members got wind of it and wanted copies of that list. And that evolved
into the Seafood Watch consumer guide."
The guide, which can fit in a pocket or wallet, has three categories:
"Best Choices" in green, "Proceed with Caution" in yellow and "Avoid"
in red. Though some items on the Avoid list, such as shark, are obvious
because of the species' endangered status, others seem odd: farmed salmon
and shrimp are to be avoided, for example, while Best Choices include
wild salmon from the Pacific Northwest. "We try to keep our message positive,"
Dianto said. "On the green list are segments of the aquaculture industry
working hard to do the right thing in operating in environmentally friendly
ways. This (list) is a way to reward those efforts. In time, we hope everything
on the Avoid list shifts to the green list."
Since the card's introduction—and an educational focus centered on
the Seafood Watch program as part of the aquarium's new Vanishing Wildlife
exhibit which opened last spring (THE
LOOP, June 1, 2001)—more than 200,000 have been distributed to
aquarium guests, and 10,000 more downloaded from the aquarium's web site.
Other zoos and aquariums also are distributing the card or posting large
signs replicating the list, and the Portola Cafe's operator, Bon Appétit,
has adopted the guidelines for its other corporate cafeterias and catering
contracts.
Now, Monterey Bay Aquarium is working with a David and Lucile Packard
Foundation grant to expand the aquarium's web site to include more information
on the species listed on the Seafood Watch guide, to create a database
for research behind the guide and other seafood choice programs and to
produce regional Seafood Watch cards for distribution through organizations
across the country. "That way, zoos can give out cards that are more tailored
to their region's tastes," Dianto said. The funding provides for 250,000
cards in each of five regions, tentatively drawn as Southeast, Northeast,
Midwest and Great Lakes, plus a revamped West Coast version.
Dianto said the new web site and nationwide program will roll out in May,
centered on media events like celebrity chefs visiting Monterey Bay for
a three-day program on sustainable seafood. Meanwhile, she is looking
for partners among zoos and aquariums to improve and promote Monterey
Bay's initial efforts. "We are looking forward to helping zoos and aquariums
set up their own programs, and we want to get their advice and inputs."
For more information on Seafood Watch and to download the consumer guide,
visit www.montereybayaquarium.org.
For information on the sustainable seafood alliance, visit www.seafoodchoices.net.
Dianto will be outlining the full program in the March issue of Communique,
the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's magazine. To subscribe, visit
www.aza.org.
Sobering experience
Most go-kart operators shudder
at the thought of a group of teen-agers driving over their courses while
intoxicated. Fun Spot Action Park in Orlando, Florida, not only welcomes
them, it invites them in free.
It is part of a community outreach program Fun Spot conducts for local
schools, coordinating with the Florida Highway Patrol. The program uses
a special pair of goggles that emulate the mental condition of a person
who has just consumed four beers within an hour. Fun Spot sets up signs
and other obstacles on its flat track, and after a state trooper re-enacts
a DUI arrest for the students and discredits old wives' tales about beating
sobriety tests, the teens take the wheel of the karts and navigate the
course while wearing the goggles.
"At the time, all of them think they're doing great," said Fun Spot President
and Owner John Arie. "But when we show them the video, we show them they
didn't do as great as they thought." Arie himself can attest to the goggles'
effectiveness, which he purchased a year ago from Amusement Products in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Comparing them with his "youthful experience,"
he said, "You don't have the buzz, but you have the disorientation. When
I did it I knew I didn't hit anything. I was proud of myself. Then they
showed me the video tape, and I hit many things."
After forming a partnership with the Highway Patrol, Arie approached the
schools, bringing out a group of teachers to try the program. They became
his biggest champions, but "the schools haven't jumped on it as hard as
I expected," he said, citing administration trepidation over field trips
in general. Nevertheless, he averaged three programs a month in the first
year, with some teachers using their own resources to bring groups of
teens to the park.
Arie finds the best audience for the program comprises ages 14 to 18.
"Once they get to 16, they get a drivers license and they get cocky,"
he said. "For maybe 10 percent of kids over 16, it's more of a game
than a true experience. For kids under 16, it's 100 percent effective:
they are very involved, and the program is very impactful."
Because only eight students can take on the course at one time, the rest
of the group often play in Fun Spot's arcade or other attractions until
it's their turn to drive. Some groups also eat lunch at the family entertainment
center. Otherwise, the park makes no profit from the program. "It enlightens
the kids to our presence," Arie said. "They've heard of Fun Spot but never
been out here, didn't know how big it is and all the activities we have,
so it's a great marketing tool from that point of view." His primary motivation,
however, is "give back to the community."
For that reason, his favorite aspect of the program is watching the highway
patrolmen interact with the kids. "They spend 15 to 20 minutes with the
kids and create one to-one relationships. One guy is phenomenal. He works
10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (22,00 to 06,00), gets a couple hours of sleep and comes
down at 10:30 (10,30) to do this, and we can't pay him. We offer him things,
and he won't take it. It makes me appreciative whenever a Highway Patrol
car goes by."
Sap is no wimp with children. Photo courtesy of Het Land van Ooit
Going with the
flow
One of the dangers of being
an improvisational actor interacting with children is that your audience
can hit you with a tough question.
At Het Land van Ooit, a family park in Drunen, Netherlands, one of the
characters mingling among the young patrons is Sap the Juicy Root, who
looks like a tree root and lives underground. She emerges to tell children
stories about trees and plants.
After one such performance, a child asked Sap if she'd seen his grandmother,
who had been buried the week before. The actress, though taken back by
the sad question, didn't miss a beat. "Yes," she replied. "She's now a
beautiful flower."
Ahead of its
time
If yours is a land of make-believe,
you can make up just about anything—even the time of day. LEGOLAND
California in Carlsbad located itself in LEGOLAND Standard Time for New
Year's Eve, a time zone equivalent to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, six hours
ahead of the park's surrounding neighborhoods.
So, midnight struck on the Fun Town Square Clock Tower when it was 6 p.m.
elsewhere in California, allowing LEGOLAND's chief demographic, children
ages 2 to 12, to ring in the New Year with wild celebration rather than
sound sleep. This was the park's third year hosting an "early" Kids' New
Year's Eve party, with attendance this year nearly doubling that of last
year, said Kina Paegert, senior communications specialist at the park,
though she would not reveal the final number. The party also attracted
three local television crews.
For the kids, it was like being in Times Square with Dick Clark. Starting
at 4:30 p.m. (16,30) and centered on the park's Fun Town section, the
party featured LEGOLAND's regular entertainment corps performing on stage
in a continuous show and mingling among the celebrants. A roving video
camera broadcast kids on a big screen television perched atop one of the
buildings. Children could see themselves dancing on the giant video and
telling an interviewer their New Year's resolutions, which ran from "being
nicer to my big sister" to "playing with my LEGOs more." Armed with noise
makers and party hats, the gathering counted down to midnight when a giant
LEGO brick dropped igniting a 15-minute fireworks display choreographed
to a mix of popular and oldies dance music.
With 2002 now arrived, the patrons dispersed, LEGOLAND closed to the public
and readied itself for a private fund-raiser party, featuring dance music,
party favors and yet another brick drop and fireworks show at midnight.
That's midnight, Pacific Standard Time.
Return visit
The saga of Whalom Amusement
Park (THE
LOOP, November 16, 2001) continues as the foreclosure auction
set for this week—itself postponed from December—has been moved
to February 15. Shareholder Joseph O'Donnell is negotiating with developers
to sell the Lunenburg, Massachusetts, park. Meanwhile, the delays are
allowing the Bowen family, minority shareholders and longtime owners/operators,
to come up with their own money for outright purchase. Allyson Bowen said
she has lined up private investors and talked with a financial institution,
but her main thrust is a fund-raising "Buy a Whale" campaign. "We're still
hopeful we can get communities on board, whether it's the local community
or enthusiasts," she said. The campaign's web site is www.savewhalompark.com.
New Arrivals
Volleyballer Obayashi, right, joined other dignitaries in giving white-glove treatment to Dodonpa before getting spiked. Top photo by Quin Checketts, S&S Power; bottom photo by Eric Minton
It's a roller
coaster!
Fujikyu Highlands in Fujiyoshida, Japan, announces the arrival of Dodonpa,
December 21, 2001. Measurements: 1,189 meters long (3,940 feet),
52-meter-high tower (170 feet), three 800-horsepower compressors to air-launch
an eight-passenger train at 172 km/h (107 mph) in 1.8 seconds. Delivered
by S&S Power via Kawasho Corp., with assistance from Intermountain Lift,
Setpoint, JKR & Associates and Deterministic Systems.
Stan Checketts, founder and president of S&S Power, has said he was inspired
to build his thrust air roller coaster when he raced his snowmobile up
cliffs near his Logan, Utah, home. He wanted to share that thrill with
as many people as he could, and he set out to do it with the thrust air
technology he perfected in his turbo drop towers to send trains rocketing
straight up and then down an inverted U.
With Dodonpa, the company's second thrust air coaster installation
after Hypersonic XLC at Paramount's Kings Dominion (LOOP,
March 23, 2001), he came closer to his original vision than he
would have wished. Just 15 minutes after Kouichirou Horiuchi, president
of Fujikyu Highland's parent company, Fujikyuko Co., Japanese sportscaster
Motoko Obayashi and model Kanako Kojima cut the ribbon at 10 a.m. (10,00)
that Friday, the first snowflakes began fluttering down. Within 30 minutes,
Dodonpa had to close for the rest of the day, thanks to a snowfall
that would accumulate 4 inches (10 centimeters) by early afternoon.
Even so, Dodonpa accomplished its two missions: establishing a
new speed record among coasters (if not all forms of land transportation)
and wowing those who did ride it. "I've never felt like this before,"
said Obayashi about her front-seat ride on the first official train. "I
heard that this ride is famous for speed, but when I did it, it was faster
than I thought it would be." As a professional volleyball player and sportscaster,
Obayashi has traveled the world and visited many amusement parks, testifying
to a love of roller coasters and proclaiming this "the best ever."
It is her athletic experience, however, including driving race cars, which gives her opinion authoritative weight. "I've experienced high speeds, but this was the first time to experience so much speed in such little time." Then, pointing out that a volleyball can be struck at 120 km/h, she said, "This was faster than a spiked volleyball."
For
more photos and impressions of Dodonpa,
Click
Here
Holland gave center stage to his park's new ride. Photo by Eric Minton
It's
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, announces the arrival
of X, January 10, 2002. Measurements: 200 feet high (60 meters),
3,600 feet long (1,090 meters), 76 mph (121 km/h) with 28 passenger trains
featuring 360-degree of motion in the seats independent of the track.
Delivered by Arrow Dynamics.
In an industry where hype is endemic, it is sometimes difficult to cull
out the truly revolutionary. X is.
For the first time a manufacturer and a park can legitimately claim to
have the ultimate amusement ride, if only because X is a hybrid
of two ride types: a coaster, with tracks that drop, loop and corkscrew,
and a flat ride, with seats that rotate and spin. This, however, is not
just a coaster with spinning seats. The seats are attached through gear
mechanisms to another set of rails on the track so that each rotation
is calculated to occur at certain points in the ride, making for a balletic
maneuvering through air, and an experience that kicked up the thrill quotient
among even the hardiest coaster enthusiasts Thursday.
And so launches 2002 for the industry, a timing that Six Flags Magic Mountain
arrived at rather inauspiciously. Though never formally announcing a projected
opening date, the park had hoped to get X open by last summer.
But as both Deja Vu and then X experienced technological
problems, the two prototype rides' openings were pushed back to late summer.
Deja Vu finally opened in August (THE
LOOP, September 21, 2001), but X continued to languish through
the fall. When the park deemed the ride ready to debut in December, officials
decided to give season pass holders exclusive ride time and push the public
and media coming out to the New Year.
The result was a buzz-building few rides enjoy, the most Magic Mountain
General Manger Del Holland had ever seen. By Thursday, when, under a cloudless
sky and intense sun, Holland narrated for a live audience and a worldwide
satellite video feed the first official public circuit of X, the
coaster had already attained a legendary status. Now with the media on
hand along with members of the American Coasters Enthusiasts, regard for
X rose even higher.
"Most of the guys, after riding it 10 or 15 times, still cannot tell you
exactly where they are on the track," Holland said. "We wanted a ride
experience to be different, we wanted it to be fun, and above all we wanted
it to be thrilling. And this thing delivers. You're in that seat and it
starts rotating and you go down that drop and there's nothing like it.
Have you ever jumped out of an airplane? It's a feeling like none other
in the world."
It also provided Six Flags Magic Mountain an event to complete its transition
from being an amusement park to an Xtreme Park. Not only was this part
of a new marketing thrust, it dictated X's placement at the highway
entrance to the park. "We wanted to make a statement: We're the extreme
park," Holland said. "And if there's any doubt after pulling into our
toll plaza that we're not, heh-heh, this is the best billboard in the
world, right here." He pointed to X behind him just as another
train of splayed-armed-and-legged riders cascaded straight down the 200-foot
first drop face first. "You just have to try it," Holland said.
For
more photos and impressions of X,
Click
Here
Eric’s Turn
Photo courtesy Heustis/Studio 404 Photography
New, new,
new
Though THE LOOP has been on holiday hiatus the past four weeks, we've
kept busy. In December, I flew to Japan to cover the opening of Dodonpa
at Fujikyu Highlands in Fujiyoshida, working there with Alan Huestis (above,
behind camera) of Studio 404 Photography, Jon Callahan of Popular Science
and Chisa Hasegawa, public relations specialist for the park. This week
I flew to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, to cover the
opening of X, along with dozens of journalists.
THE LOOP covered both of these events as part of our Enhanced New Arrivals
program, a new advertising and editorial package that brings you, the
reader, more information and photos about new installations around the
world, and brings more attention to the manufacturers and parks opening
up these rides. You can see the additional material by clicking the thumbnail
photos just below the New Arrival stories.
We were fortunate to launch the package with two such important installations:
Dodonpa breaking a world speed record, and X doing maneuvers
no roller coaster has ever done before. We thank both S&S Power (Dodonpa)
and Six Flags (X) for the opportunity and privilege of launching
our new program with their new babies. And we sincerely believe these
two successful openings bode a fruitful and fun-filled year for the industry.
To find out how you can announce your attraction's delivery through with an Enhance New Arrival, email either myself (eric@gettheloop.com) or Lynne Mosman, our advertising manager (lynne@gettheloop.com), or call her at 866-902-LOOP (outside North America dial 1-937-296-9796).