Volume 3, No. 14. July 25, 2003
Tell
it on the Mountain
It might be easy to say Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, Georgia—and, more
specifically, the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation—got a bailout
this week thanks to a restructuring of the company’s lease with the Stone
Mountain Memorial Association Board. In a meeting Monday the SMMA Board voted
unanimously to reduce Herschend’s annual rent from $11 million to $8 million
while increasing the board’s take of the park’s gross revenue from
3 percent to 5 percent. That restructuring translates into a projected savings
of about $2.6 million a year for the Stone Mountain Park managers.
For
Herschend, however, the SMMA’s action was a vote of confidence—a unanimous
vote of confidence, at that—in the face of hard times for the park. It
also served as evidence that both Herschend and SMMA are committed to the remaining
45 years of the lease’s 50-year life span.
Prompting
the need for the lease restructuring was Stone Mountain Park’s performance
over the past year. In November 2001 the park opened The Great Barn interactive
play center (THE LOOP,
November 22, 2001), and in May 2002 it opened Crossroads, a Silver Dollar
City-like historical community with traditional craftspeople and a 4-D theater
(THE LOOP, June 14, 2002).
These capital improvements were supposed to boost attendance 33 percent. Instead,
attendance at Stone Mountain Park rose only 14 percent, said Christine Parker,
the park’s public relations manager.
That
is actually good news, comparatively speaking. Most other attractions in the
Atlanta market have been flat to down since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, from
the Major League Braves baseball team's inability to sell out despite fielding
its most exciting team ever to Zoo Atlanta experiencing double-digit declines.
The trend is not turning around, either; in the first five months of this year,
Atlanta's hotel room revenue is down $122 million compared to 2001. Crossroads,
in particular, was aimed at boosting the park’s tourism appeal, but no
tourists were around to appeal to. At least the addition enticed locals back
for repeat visits to Stone Mountain, which accounted for the bulk of the park's
14 percent increase. Both Crossroads and The Great Barn have been certified
big hits in customer surveys.
The
bad news, of course, is that 14 percent was still a shortfall, and Herschend
was operating Stone Mountain Park at a loss. This was after the company had
already invested $80 million in both capital improvements and infrastructure
on top of $50 million paid in rent. The SMMA commissioned a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers,
which came up with the proposal for the lease restructuring that the SMMA Board
ultimately approved. “They realize there’s business issues that have
affected our business and tourism is down,” said Ned Stancliff, Stone Mountain
Park’s general manager.
Never
in question—despite the Herschend financial outlay at Stone Mountain and
the often loud opposition from local residents to the park’s privatization
and Herschend’s subsequent development plans—was whether Herschend
would continue managing Stone Mountain Park. “They like this partnership,”
Stancliff said of the SMMA. “Privatization was the right thing to do, and
we’re five years into this thing and I think it’s a vibrant partnership.
Even though they are our landlord, they view it as a partnership, and I think
it’s helped. In this case, one partner is needing help.”
Meanwhile,
Stone Mountain remains an important asset in the Herschend portfolio. Whatever
struggles Atlanta is currently suffering, its potential cannot be understated.
“It’s an opportunity to be in a great market,” Stancliff said.
The experiences at Stone Mountain—similar in style and approach to the
company’s Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, and Dollywood in Pigeon
Forge, Tennessee, but different in subject matter—also enhance the corporation’s
core competency.
Another
value Stone Mountain holds for Herschend is the very fact that it, a privately
owned company, is managing a public property. This was Herschend’s first
foray into the realm of privatization, and it may not be the last. “Privatization
may be a sign of the times,” Stancliff said. “If there were other
opportunities to privatize, we would entertain those possibilities, as long
as the product fit our core competency.”
Rather than Stone Mountain’s struggles making Herschend skittish about entering such relationships in the future, SMMA’s endorsement of the relationship, as indicated in this week’s lease vote, gives Herschend fortitude when looking at such future endeavors.
Pandaring
to the public
Amusement parks using queue reservation systems for popular rides have had to
grapple with the eventuality that the ride may not be operating when guests
show up at their appointed times. Amazingly, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, which
introduced a timed ticket system for guests to view the zoo’s new pair
of pandas, has encountered that eventuality, too.
Tuesday Memphis
endured a killer storm, with straight-line winds ranging between 80 mph and
100 mph (129 km/h and 161 km/h). The cause of four fatalities in the city, the
winds toppled trees and power lines, cutting power to 310,000 utility company
customers, including the Memphis Zoo. Through Thursday, the zoo was still without
electricity and, like many businesses in town, closed. Because the zoo was well
prepared with generators and food stocks, the animals were never in any danger,
said Elizabeth Boggan, the zoo’s vice president of marketing and development.
Other than causing
the gates to be shut, the wind storm’s only impact on the zoo was canceling
visits by those customers who had reserved tickets to see pandas Ya Ya and Le
Le, tickets which can be obtained up to three months in advance in the zoo,
by phone or through the zoo’s web site. The zoo had contact information
for some ticket holders, and those were contacted to have their visits rescheduled.
Many local customers knew from watching the news the zoo was closed. Zoo officials
also staffed the gates to intercept visitors.
However, the pandas and the year old China exhibit they reside in (THE
LOOP, July 26, 2002) are drawing visitors from all across North America.
When those tourists showed up at the front gates, the zoo let them in for private
tours of the China exhibit. Because those visitors could not watch an eight-minute
film—the fable of May May telling the story of panda conservation issues
through the eyes of a panda—they received their own copies of the film
to take home. “We’re trying to give them almost the same experience
they would otherwise get,” Boggan said.
Other than this
week’s freak-of-nature interruption, the timed ticket system has worked
exceptionally well, Boggan said. Gateway Ticketing Systems installed a new system
for the zoo in early 2002 which has the capability of providing reserved times.
The zoo didn’t use that capability until Ya Ya and Le Le actually arrived
April 7 and went on display April 25. Up to 225 guests are admitted at 15-minute
intervals, allowing leisurely time to enjoy the China exhibit's stunning architecture,
view the film, then meander the path that takes in several Asian species, including
the giant pandas.
“People are
averaging 30 to 45 minutes in the 3-acre (1.2-hectare) exhibit,” Boggan
said. “And it’s very comfortable. The exhibit itself is wide and not
deep, so there is a lot of horizontal viewing area. So far, people seem to move
through at their leisure and see all of the pandas they want to see without
being rushed by the next group.”
While Tuesday’s storm was particularly freakish, this has been, like most
of eastern America has experienced, a wet year for the Memphis Zoo. However,
since the panda's arrival, attendance is up 48 percent, and of 343,000 visitors
to the zoo in that period, 246,000 have bought the $3 timed tickets to see the
pandas, money that goes directly to a fund for panda conservation in China.
“We’ve had a few days that we’ve had times that sold out, but
not had any days where we’ve not been able to accommodate guests,”
Boggan said.
Ya Ya and Le Le,
in fact, are outdrawing Elvis. While the Memphis Zoo, on the strength of local
repeat visits, has long outranked Graceland in number of visitors, this year
the pandas have become the Memphis market’s primary tourism draw, Boggan
said. “We’re actually working together with Graceland putting together
packages to do co-marketing to help each other,” she said.
Graceland is famous for its overwhelmingly hospitable customer service. Based on this week’s experience, Graceland will have a suitably hospitable partner in the Memphis Zoo.
X-rated Dolly
At first when they emerged on stage to perform their BMX bike, in-line skate
and skateboard routines at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, this summer,
the athletes of Extreme Sports Show opened their demonstrations with rad beach
music or the heavy metal strains of Ozzie Osborne. Now, they open with “Islands
in the Stream,” “9 to 5” and other Dolly Parton staples. They
weren’t forced to conform; it's their way of showing their appreciation
for their surroundings.
“They’re
hanging out here, they’ve got a bunch of souvenirs of the park,” Pete
Owens, the park’s public relations manager, said of the group whose Extreme
Sports Show is part of the park’s first KidsFest which began June 20 and
runs through August 10. “You’re doing four shows a day without a day
off since the 20th of June, you’d think they’d be burned out by now.
But they’re more energized now than they ever have been.”
The unlikely marriage of extreme sports stars and wholesome family theme park set in the Southern hills makes sense when you see the mutual respect that has evolved between the two camps; not so much evolved, actually, as impressed upon from the very start.
Dollywood,
which as part of KidsFest also is hosting the Purina Dog Chow Incredible Dog
Team and staging live shows VeggieTales and Garfield’s Happy Birthday To
Me, put the ASA Events-produced Extreme Sports Show in its 600-seat amphitheater.
“When they got here the guys thought they’d be performing to a couple
hundred seats,” Owens said. “We said 600. They said, ‘You’re
kidding me!’ We’ve had standing-room-only for all of their shows.
They’re really jazzed about it.”
ASA
Events brought some of the best to Dollywood, too. The in-line skaters include
Shane Yost and Sam Fogerty, both of whom are featured in Playstation video games.
Richie Lopez is one of only two skateboarders—the legendary Tony Hawk being
the other—to do a 900 on a skateboard (two 360-degree and one 180-degree
turns while airborne). BMX biker Jimmy Walker is headed for this year’s
X-Games, and the show’s emcee, Jimmy Coleman, will be one of the two broadcasters
for ABC’s live coverage of the X-Games.
“Walker
has been using Dollywood as a training facility for the X-Games,” Owens
said. “He’s treated almost every one of the exhibitions as a competition.”
Meanwhile, Lopez “has been trying to throw a 900 on the ramp. These guys
are professionals. There’s no concern at all getting them here on time
and that sort of thing.”
That
didn’t waylay the park’s own concern that it wouldn’t measure
up to whatever standards these extreme athletes might hold high. “There’s
always a degree of uncertainty, a lot of unknowns,” Owens said. “They
also had some unknowns. Dollywood is a family theme park, these guys look like
typical skater boys. How are we going to be received?”
Well,
as it turns out. Between shows the athletes hang out in the park, participate
in the other KidsFest activities and greet park guests. “We were doing
a commercial production with them which lasted all day yesterday, and they did
40 minutes of autographing for guests,” Owens said.
Thus,
as a tribute to their summer home-cum-training camp, the athletes of Extreme
Sports Show now open their demonstrations with a Dolly tune. They still crank
up the metal when actually doing their stunts, but, really, you wouldn’t
expect them to play “Wildflowers” while throwing a 900, would you?
Venue
vidi vici
This may be the most astonishing stunt the theater at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
in Louisville, Kentucky, has ever witnessed. After three years of entertaining
guests with the Batman Stunt Spectacular, this year the park canceled the stunt
show and transformed the 2,400 theater into a 5,400-seat special events and
concert venue.
Named the Paramarx
Arena, the theater—minus the pyrotechnic bunkers and the fence keeping
audience from Batman and his foes, but plus a stage and floor seating—has
hosted concerts from Kirk Franklin to Willie Nelson. Every Friday night, the
World Wrestling Entertainment holds matches there. The wrestling and the concerts
are all free with admission to the park.
“Tens of thousands
loved the stunt show,” the park’s Public Relations Manager Carolyn
McLean said. “Three years later, guests were ready for something new. (Park
General Manager) Lee Graham wanted to shift focus and add more special events
and a venue where we could hold them.” Of course, one could argue that
WWE matches are a continuation of the venue’s stunt show tradition. And
the Friday night matches have formed their own cult following among families
visiting the park.
Paramarx’s
greatest value, though, is in giving Kentucky Kingdom a concert stage. That
value will be proven again this weekend with the second annual Mom’s Music
Festival. Launched last year as a tribute to Marvin Maxwell, founder of the
Mom’s Music store in Louisville and the patron saint of local musicians
struggling to make a living at their avocations, the festival drew 123 bands
from around the nation. They played on 10 stages set up throughout Six Flags
Kentucky Kingdom, and the two-day event drew big.
“We had pouring
rains, and still had a great crowd,” McLean said. “Because of the
success, we decided immediately to do it this year and pray for good weather.
We called up (the organizers) and said we want to do it again, and we want it
to be bigger and better, and we don’t want to pay for it.”
Enter Marvin’s
son and successor, Mark Maxwell, and Mark Craycraft, former director of entertainment
for Dick Clark Productions. The two old friends are partners in a promotions
company called, fittingly, Paramarx. Taking up the mantle of Mom’s Music
Festival sponsor, Paramarx was given naming rights to Kentucky Kingdom’s
new concert venue for two years. This weekend, Paramarx Arena will be one of
the 10 stages hosting 216 bands over two days.
One thing Paramarx Arena won’t be is active during the annual Kentucky State Fair. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, located on the fairgrounds, serves as the fair’s midway, becoming a pay-per-ride venue. With the fair having its own arena and big-name acts coming in, the park doesn’t plan to book anything at Paramarx for that time, though it will serve as the venue for the state cheerleading competition. “They have tons of concerts and events at their arena. We let them take the spotlight,” McLean said of the fair. The rest of the summer, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom is getting plenty of its own spotlight, thanks to Paramarx Arena.
Towel up
Silverwood may have
been entering a new realm of experience when the Athol, Idaho, theme park opened
its Boulder Beach waterpark this month (see New Arrival in
this issue). But they did so with certain savvy.
One of the customer
service amenities the new waterpark offers is towel rentals. For $2 a day, guests
can get a simple, white oversize bath towel and return it at the end of the
day. The park opted for bath towels instead of beach towels because the linen
is intended for drying, not lounging. “It’s white so they know it’s
theirs,” said Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood’s director of marketing,
sales and public relations. “You see them carrying the towels and wrapping
them around their waists, and at the end of the day they drop them off and we
launder them for the next day.”
Park management
opted to rent towels almost as a why-not lark, but “It turned out to be
a great idea because we’re a tourism destination for the outer market,”
DiGiammarco said. Silverwood, as the largest theme park in the U.S. Northwest,
draws from as far away as Vancouver, Canada, and Puget Sound, Washington. “People
came to the park and weren’t aware we had the waterpark. And once they’ve
been here and seen it, they can’t resist.”
Boulder Beach didn’t take the next step and rent swimsuits (they are sold in the new waterpark’s gift shop), but that could be a lucrative option. In Boulder Beach’s first month of operation, it has rented an average of 200 towels a day, DiGiammarco said.
New Arrivals
It’s
a kiddie pool!
Knoebels Groves Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, announces the
arrival of a kiddie play pool, July 19, 2003. Measurements: 2,000 square feet
(186 square meters), six tipping toucans, four bungee seats, three squirting
animals, two water canons, a frog slide, a teeter-totter, a giant mushroom,
a misting archway, all in a 1-foot-deep (30.5 centimeters) wading pool. Delivered
by Watertoys.
At last, Knoebels has concluded its capital improvements program for the 2003
season. President and Co-Manager Dick Knoebels came home from last Novembers'
IAAPA Trade Show with a Zamperla Rockin Tug. He then purchased a Hrubetz Super
Roundup and a Borvig sky ride, and prepared to move forward on long-standing
plans to add two Whitewater West tube slides to the existing slide tower.
The
crowning piece of the equation, though, was the kiddie pool. At last, Knoebels
had some exciting waterplay for its youngest guests. “We had a little bit
of a hole in our setup over there,” said Joe Muscato, the park’s marketing
director. “We had slides for the 48 inches and above, and we had the big
swimming pool. We didn’t have anything for the little ones. We had a kiddie
wading pool, but that’s boring in this day and age.”
Located
behind the swimming pool adjacent to the bathhouse—and in the shadows of
the Twister roller coaster—the new pool is loaded with color and
myriad ways to get wet and get friends—and parents—wet. Special guests
called on to cut the ribbon at Saturday’s grand opening were the 3-year-old
grandchildren of park co-managers Dick and Ron Knoebels.
Then the public played. “The reaction has been, ‘This is great. Finally something for little ones,’” Muscato said. “We’ve always prided ourselves in being a family destination, and that means everyone of all ages.”
It’s
a motion theater!
PassPort Voyages of Discovery announces the arrival of Baltimore Passport
in Baltimore, Maryland, July 16, 2003. Measurements: 10,000 square feet (929
square meters), two theaters, each with four motion platforms of ten seats each
plus ten static seats in one theater and 15 in the other, 15-minute pre-show
and 30-minute motion theater ride. Delivered by International Tourist Attractions.
The
Time Elevator technology already transporting people back in time in Israel,
Rome (THE LOOP, July 27, 2001)
and Cyprus landed on America’s shores with a wholly U.S. slant. One of
the two theaters in the expanded Power Plant Entertainment Complex next to the
National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor shows a custom-produced film,
Time Elevator America, recounting key moments in U.S. history. The other
theater shows Oceanarium 2, an existing ITA film with an altered beginning
so that the audience sails out to the world’s seven seas from Baltimore’s
harbor. However, with ITA’s developing technology, Baltimore Passport can
alter the theaters at a moment’s notice to present either film or any other
film—i.e. from Rome or the Holy Land—in the Time Elevator canon.
To
open Baltimore’s $8.5 million installation, Passport Voyages of Discovery—the
firm representing ITA in North America—called on one of the Time Elevator
America’s stars: Abraham Lincoln. An Abe impersonator boarded a train
in Philadelphia with members of the Boys and Girls Clubs—a media event
in itself—and replicated the real Abe’s inaugural trip to Baltimore.
There, joined by children from the local Police Action League and Maryland’s
First Lady Kendal S. Ehrlich, Mr. Lincoln announced Passport’s opening
before Ehrlich encouraged him to get inside and into the film so that all the
invited guests—including local dignitaries—could enjoy the experience.
Testimony
of the dignitaries and children emerging from Passport indicate they did, in
fact, enjoy the experience, said Peter Comiskey, managing director of Passport
Voyages of Discovery. “(Ehrlich) didn’t really know what to expect,”
he said. “When she came out of it she said it was a wonderful experience.
She was surrounded by kids, and I think the excitement the kids were experiencing
washed off on her.” The children lauded the motion and the special effects
that accompany certain key moments in the film.
The
goal here is equal parts education and entertainment. The motion is subtly programmed
to the film, Comiskey said. “We’re not trying to jar and just move
people around,” he said. His favorite moment in the film is a relatively
sedate one: Lincoln’s train ride that, with the sound effects of clicking
wheels on track, the film showing the passing landscape and the seats gently
swaying along the rails, “for me makes it immersive. That’s magic
to me.”
Will the Time Elevator technology be magic to his pocketbook? Early returns say probably. In the first week, several shows—scheduled at 15-minute intervals—were selling out. And while the venue is primarily aimed at the family market, Baltimore Passport decided to stay open into the evening and is getting the young adult and dining-out crowd, with shows running as late as 11 p.m. (23,00) Comiskey said. “We have been thrilled with the visitation in our opening week,” he said. Already, groups are starting to book week day slots, and Baltimore Passport is fielding calls from neighboring states.
It’s
a waterpark!
Silverwood in Athol, Idaho, announces the arrival of Boulder Beach, July
4, 2003. Measurements: 12 acres (5 hectares), 24,000-square-foot (2,230-square-meter)
wave pool, 1,056-foot-long (322 meters) lazy river, four slides, interactive
water play structure with six slides, one snack bar plus food carts. Delivered
by Whitewater West.
Silverwood
owner Gary Norton had been considering adding a waterpark to his popular theme
park for a couple of years. “Gary is the kind of man who really wants to
be hands-on, really wants to know it’s going to work and how it’s
going to work,” said Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood’s director of marketing,
sales and public relations. “He did a lot of study. He visited a lot of
waterparks so he could take from the very best.” She cited Holiday World
& Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, and Roaring Springs in
downstate Idaho as two parks in particular that helped bring Norton’s visions
to fruition.
That
vision, however, was to be totally unique. “We kept asking, ‘Should
it have a South Pacific theme?’” DiGiammarco said. “(Norton)
kept coming back to the Northwest. ‘I’m going to create a theme park
that mirrors what you see around you.’” That included leaving as many
aspens, cedars, pines and huge boulders in the new waterpark and painting a
forest vista mural as a backdrop to the wave pool.
That
wave pool, Big Moose Bay, has turned out to be the park’s primary draw.
“Idaho is a landlocked state,” DiGiammarco said. “We have a lot
of lakes, but no waves. This was the first opportunity for many of our guests
to play in the waves.”
After
a soft opening for employee families, media, local dignitaries and a small crowd
used for an all-day photo shoot, Boulder Beach opened on Independence Day in
conjunction with a classic car show celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ford
Motor Company. Two years ago Silverwood began hosting special events as a marketing
boost when the park didn’t add any new rides, and for this year the Inland
Empire Mustang Club approached DiGiammarco about hosting a centenary Ford celebration.
The event dovetailed nicely with Boulder Beach’s opening, if for no other
reason than to spread out the crowd of 8,000 that showed up that day.
Even before Boulder Beach opened, Silverwood was off to a strong season, following up on last year’s record 353,000 total guests. “For weekends in May and going daily in June, we held our numbers,” DiGiammarco said. “We felt pretty good going into July 4, and we were hoping for a 10 percent increase by the end of the year. Now, we will far exceed that.” In fact, with day-to-day attendance increasing as much as 50 percent over last year’s the 2002 record already has been toppled, she said.
It’s
a hotel!
Blackpool Pleasure
Beach in Blackpool, England, announces the arrival of The Big Blue Hotel, June
13, 2003. Measurements: 72 family suites, 22 executive rooms, 20 standard rooms,
two luxury suites, with a business center, conference facilities, gym, 140-seat
restaurant and a dedicated children’s check-in desk.
Chic and tradition. For the grand opening of the first new hotel built on Blackpool’s
promenade in almost 25 years, Britain’s “it girl” of the moment,
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson a Royal-connected celebrity famous for being famous, provided
the official proclamation and ribbon-cutting moment. “She’s renowned
for being hip, chic, stylish but approachable—just like The Big Blue Hotel,”
said Sarah Dornford-May, the park’s public relations manager.
The
press attending the Big Blue opening, however, knew the real it girl of the
day was Blackpool Pleasure Beach Chairwoman Doris Thompson. The day before at
a tea with Queen Elizabeth II, the 100-year-old Mrs. Thompson learned she was
receiving an Order of the British Empire. Decorum dictated she couldn’t
acknowledge the OBE until the Queen made it public on June 14. The media also
knew of the honor, but while reporters were embargoed from publishing the news
they tried to get advance interviews with Mrs. Thompson. She, however, never
wavered in her secrecy, telling them, entirely honestly, that the only member
of her family with an OBE was her son, Geoffrey Thompson, Blackpool Pleasure
Beach’s managing director.
Nevertheless,
her OBE gave Mrs. Thompson the long-awaited pleasure of trumping her son. In
the hierarchy of Queen’s honors, the OBE is higher than the Member of the
British Empire, and Mrs. Thompson already had an MBE. Now, not only has Mrs.
Thompson matched Geoffrey's OBE, she carries two titles to his one.
The Big Blue Hotel concludes 6 million Sterling Pounds (US$9.6 million) worth of investments at Blackpool Pleasure Beach for the 2003 season that included the Fruit Shoot mini space shot by Moser, new steam locomotive trains on the 1932 Magic Mountain, a new fleet of cars for the park’s Grand Prix, and a revived Eclipse circus musical show.
In
the nursery
Other recent New
Arrivals.
It’s
an eagle exhibit!
Nothing could be
more suitable than opening a new bald eagle exhibit on the Fourth of July. That
was the plan, but two weeks out the deadline seemed impossible to meet for Elmwood
Park Zoo in Norristown, Pennsylvania, as construction lagged due
to incessant rain. However, this was a confluence of time and subject that would
not be denied, and with a final push from the contractors, R.C. Legnini,
Elmwood Park Zoo opened Eagle Canyon on July 4, 2003, with local
politicians on hand for the opening ceremony. The 3,500-square-foot/325 square-meter
exhibit currently contains six bald eagles, all rehabbed from the wild
but unable to fly. They have a wild-like home designed by landscape architect
McCloskey& Faber, P.C. featuring a fish pond, two deadfall trees,
rock ledges and a waterfall by Ambition Waterfalls. Meanwhile, children
have an eagle-like vantage point from which to enjoy the birds, a huge fabricated
tree by The Exhibit Center with a large nest that puts children within
a few feet of the real eagles. “The kids love it,” said Rafael Suarez,
the zoo’s director of operations. “They are playing in it and sliding
down the slide. And they’re watching the eagles.”
It’s
a 3-D theater!
This is something of a premature birth. The company that brought the Time Elevator
to the United States, Passport Voyages of Discovery, and installed a
full operation in Baltimore (see New Arrival above) has opened
a scaled-down version in Niagara Falls, New York, with plans for growth
as soon as next year. Theater in the Mist opened July 4, 2003,
containing two theaters of 50 seats each. Guests start with a 20-minute
pre-show featuring a trivia challenge and prerecorded material about Niagara
Falls. They then enter the theater for a custom made 10-minute 3-D film,
the first half focusing on the mist and mystery of Niagara Falls that segues
into the company’s 3-D film “Amazing World.” “The second
part puts Niagara Falls in the bigger context in the world and the importance
of water,” said Peter Comiskey, managing director of Passport Voyages of
Discovery. Because the company is retrofitting an existing 10,000-square-foot/929-square-meter
building, Comiskey wanted to be sure all the technical aspects of the theater
were “in top working order.” At the end of this season, the venue
will close down for the winter and open next spring under the Passport Voyage
brand with motion platforms and the full compliment of Passport Voyage products.
It’s
a Skycoaster!
After the on-site technician took a swing, Mike Gutknecht, director of operations
for Thrilltime Entertainment International, was the second person to
ride his company’s latest installation, a 100-foot-tall/20.5-meter-tall
Skycoaster on the edge of an 1,100-foot/335-meter canyon at Royal
Gorge Bridge and Park in Cañon City, Colorado. “It was
a cool, cloudy day, not too many people in the park,” he said. “When
I got off the ride there must have been 250 people at the bottom, oohing and
ahhing and taking pictures and most saying ‘Not a chance in hell.’”
The park allowed public rides beginning at noon that June 25, 2003, and
the queue“didn’t let up the rest of the day,” said the park’s
Vice President and General Manger Mike Bandera. On July 2 the park hosted about
100 media and local dignitaries who, along with lunch and tour of the park,
were given free Skycoaster rides. About half took up the offer for a free ride,
Bandera said. “Hardy people.” For more information on this special
installation, see the August issue of Amusement
Today.
It’s
a restaurant!
There’s something fishy about the new eatery at Paramount’s Kings
Island in Mason, Ohio. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Shack opened
to the public on June 13, 2003, an 11,666 square-foot (devilish
measurements if ever there was any, though it translates as 1,084-square
meter) complex containing a 5,068-square-foot/471-square-meter serving
area and 6,598 square feet/613 square meters of patio dining area capable
of seating 300. With designs by Jack Rouse Associates, this Bubba
Gump Shrimp Shack also contains Lt. Dan’s Bar which serves such drinks
as frozen margaritas and Alabama boilermakers. For the media preview the day
before the Friday the 13th opening, Forrest Gump himself, in the person of Steven
James Weber, the restaurant chain’s official Tom Hanks impersonator, entertained
media members and dignitaries. After that, the Shack’s seafood menu and
movie prop ambiance sufficiently entertained Kings Island’s hungry and
thirsty guests. “Research shows guests love the feel of it, the atmosphere
and food quality,” the park’s Public Relations Manager Jeffrey Siebert
said. Hungry is as hungry does.
It’s
a water play complex!
The state of Maine is drifting more and more into the tropics each year, it
seems. Funtown/Splashtown’s latest addition puts a definite island
oasis stamp on the town of Saco, Maine. Pirates Paradise is a
23,250-square-foot/2,160-square-meter themed area with “gorgeous
palm trees, flowers beds encircling the palm trees and a Tiki bar that’s
gorgeous,” said Ken Cormier, the park’s president and CEO. The six-sided
Tiki hut has both a retail store selling waterpark attire and sunscreen, and
a bar selling “gorgeous Hawaiian, exotic drinks, but no liquor,” Cormier
said. We’re picking up a descriptive thread here: “I don’t mean
to sound like I’m bragging but the place really is gorgeous”—including
the faux palm trees by Tropical Experience. “From a distance you
can’t tell if they’re real or not.” Pirates Paradise’s centerpiece
is the Whitewater West Aquaplay unit, 18 feet/5.5 meters high, 1,650-square-foot/148.5
square-meter footprint with four slides, tipping bucket and countless interactive
elements. “You ought to see the adults go through this thing and act like
they’re 10 years old,” Cormier said. “We didn’t know how
it would be received by the adults; we knew the kids would like it. But the
adults are really just as crazy as the kids. It’s really entertaining to
watch.” Pirates Paradise opened June 7, 2003, when Splashtown opened
for the season. For the occasion the park handed out eye patches and pirates
hats to guests.
It’s
a penguin exhibit!
The St. Louis Zoo in Missouri has found a perfect way to move
people through an exhibit: crank the temperature down. The Penguin and Puffin
Coast’s indoor exhibit hall is kept at 45 degree Fahrenheit/7 Celsius.
That has proved a double blessing since the $8.3 million exhibit opened May
23, 2003. “Forty-five degrees, it’s great in the summer,”
said Janet Powell, the zoo's director of public relations. Then again, when
you put crowd favorite penguins (80) and puffins (30) in an immersively
themed environment replicating rugged Antarctic and Arctic coastline, you can
count on the crowds. The St. Louis Zoo’s attendance, despite rainy weather,
has stayed even with last year’s record numbers and the penguins are a
big part of that, Powell said. But guests have had short waits to get into Penguin
and Puffin Coast. “The lines have not been terribly long because you would
get cold if you stayed in there too long,” Powell said. Architects Peckham,
Guyton, Albers & Viets have produced a 14,650-square-foot/1,361 square-meter
complex featuring a two-story support area, a 2,500-square-foot/1,161-square
meter outdoor exhibit containing a 5,000-gallon/18,927-liter pool
for Humboldt penguins, and a 5,076-square-foot/471.5-square-meter indoor
exhibit with a 22,000-gallon/83,279-liter pool for gentoo, rockhopper
and king penguins and an 11,000-gallon/41,639-liter pool for puffins.
Only a 40-inch-high/101.5-centimeter-high glass barrier separates the
swimming penguins from the gawking guests. “It feels very interactive because
you’re so close,” Powell said.
It’s
a roller coaster!
Let’s start with the name, Vild-Svinet, which opened May
19, 2003, at Bonbon-Land in Holme-Olstrup, Denmark. It translates
in English as The Wild Boar. “It is like a wild boar,” said
the park’s press officer Marianne Larsen. “It’s not very big,
but there’s nothing like it. The Wild Boar is powerful, one-of-a-kind,
seldom seen and very proud.” That suitably describes the prototype Gerstlauer
roller coaster, a 22-meter-high/72-foot-high, 430-meter-long/1,411 foot-long
steel track with a 97-degree first drop, 115-degree overbanked turns, vertical
loop, helix and 90-degree top hat.Four cars seating eight riders in two rows
travel the course at 70 kmh/43 mph. The manufacturer’s name for
its new ride is EuroFighter, and yes it is a cutting edge contraption. But Bonbon-Land
got it right; to catch a ride on a wild boar is a rare event.
It’s
a 4-D theater!
Other Busch Entertainment parks just got the film. SeaWorld San Antonio in
Texas got a whole new theater to show the film, R.L. Stine’s
Haunted Lighthouse. The 4-D movie and the all-new Sea Star Theater
(10,000 square feet/929 square meters, 750 seats) opened May 16, 2003,
marking the first 4-D attraction in Texas. It also is San Antonio SeaWorld’s
first totally indoor attraction. In that sense, the new theater and film are
doubly pleasing. One appeal is the movie itself: “The appeal of R.L Stine
is timeless,” said Fran Stephenson, the park’s director of public
relations. “The demographic is perfect for our families. Children 8 to
12—and even older, because he’s been writing for so long—know
who R.L. Stine is.” The other appeal is the great indoors. “Having
a fully air-conditioned attraction in Texas in July and August is really desirable,”
Stephenson said. “We joke that it’s our fifth dimension.”
It’s
an Asian exhibit & boat ride!
Emulating an archipelago in central Ohio is no easy feat, but the Columbus
Zoo and Aquarium has accomplished that with its 3-acre/12,141-square-meter
Islands of Southeast Asia exhibit, which opened to the public May 15,
2003. The exhibit’s most unique feature is the Reverchon boat
ride that travels an 880-foot-long/268-meter channel through the exhibits
of Komodo dragons, gibbons, orangutans, Asian small-clawed otters, black swans,
Javan whistling ducks and cattle egrets (guests can also walk trails and bridges
to see the exhibits). The 10, eight passenger boats travel at a leisurely
3 feet/1 meter per second. The rides have proven popular; more than 90,000 guests
out of 426,710 visiting the zoo have plopped down $2 to take the boat through
the Islands of Southeast Asia.
Eric's Turn
In
search of great things
In my time I’ve
seen good management and bad. Throughout history, the great leaders are those
who recognize great talent and give their bearers the foundation and breadth
to flourish that talent for the good of the ultimate goal. The stupid managers
are those who handcuff the skilled workers below them by micromanage or, worse,
undermine that talent by assuming superior knowledge.
Now,
I’m not suggesting I’m one of history’s great leaders, but I
know great talent when I see it, and I know when to stay out of its way. Even
if it’s my own son. Even if he’s only 14 years old.
After
paying him last summer to help me produce THE LOOP, I officially made Ian our
production manager earlier this year. With the next issue of THE LOOP some of
Ian’s most important labors this summer will come to fruition as we make
a significant transition with THE LOOP and www.gettheloop.com.
For
this issue he’s already made a huge contribution to us and to you, our
readers, by adding a search engine to our web site. You’ll notice the “LOOP
Search” button added to our navigational buttons on each of the web site’s
flag pages, and it also will be included on every issue of the newsletter. Click
on that or here
to go to the search engine with which you can find any term or phrase we’ve
published in THE LOOP. With our entire cache of 60 newsletters still archived
on this site, that’s a valuable source of amusement industry material on
your computer. And, thanks to Ian, you can get to it as quickly as you please.
You
may remember that Ian also published our amusement industry user survey in conjunction
with our ACE Coaster Con XXVI special issue (THE
LOOP, June 27, 2003). He has further amended that survey by adding respondents’
specific comments (like the person who listed aspirin as a favorite amusement
park food). To go directly to the survey, click here.
I am proud to point out, too, that not only did Ian build this and the previous two LOOPs by himself, he built all the advertisements in this issue. He seemed to particularly enjoy making his father spin, as he accomplished with the ad at the top of this newsletter.
I’m sure going to miss Ian when his time with us this summer ends and he goes back to Anchorage, Alaska, and school. I mean, does he really need any more schooling? But I aim to be a good manager, and that means letting my talented workers free to learn, grow and further prosper. Whether he’s my son or not, I gain by his experience. And so have you.
Clarification
In
a story on the rebirth of the Flying Scooters at Lake Compounce in Bristol,
Connecticut (THE LOOP, July
11, 2003) we provided a misleading history of the ride. It had been at West
View Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was sold to Idora Park in Youngstown,
Ohio, after West View closed in 1977. It moved back to the Pittsburgh area,
to Kennywood in West Miflin, when Idora closed. Kennywood stored it for several
years, then opened it as part of its Lost Kennywood expansion in 1995. Two years
later it moved to Lake Compounce.
Correction,
of sorts
In the last issue of THE LOOP (July
11, 2003), I handed out “Pinkie” awards for the promotional gifts
parks sent us to announce their new attractions and events for the season. One
of the kudos I offered went to Indiana Beach for the I.B. Crow bobblehead doll
(pictured above). But then I wrote that the doll “would have been my top
pick except that I haven’t purchased the watch battery needed to make it
sing.”
I
discovered after publishing that sentiment that I.B. Crow did indeed have a
battery installed. I didn't realize I had to flip the switch in his pedestal
AND bobble his head to make him talk. I would like to extend my apologies to
Tom Spackman Jr. of Indiana Beach and his public relations guru, Bill Robinson
of William H. Robinson, Inc., for my unintended slight.
That said, I still won't make the I.B. Crow bobblehead my top pick. It currently sits atop my file cabinet and its head bobbles every time I open or close a drawer. His cawing and crow-voiced sales pitch are so downright aggravating, I wish it didn't come with batteries.
Letters
Re:
“Painting the industry” (THE
LOOP, July 11, 2003), our story on Fun Expo incorporating a paint ball
tournament this year as part of an IALEI push to promote action sports for family
fun centers.
Yep.
I can't wait to take my family out Saturday night and shoot 'em. Good old family
fun, that's what paint ball and laser tag are.
You
can't fool me, I'm a mom—you know, the person who provides the money for
these little excursions.
Nora
Lee
Altadena, CA 91001
www.NoraLeeEtAl.com
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved