Do you have a comment
or question?
Contact Eric
Minton here.
©2001, Minton
Enterprises LLC
All rights reserved
Volume 1, No. 11. June 29, 2001
For
a printer-friendly version of this newsletter
CLICK HERE
A
down-scale group
It's
a grand scope for a group that operates on a small scale, but with a June
14 meeting at Madurodam in The Hague, The Netherlands, a world-wide Mini
Land Association was born. Representatives from 12 mini-land attractions
agreed to the merits of having their own trade association and have begun
the administrative procedures of formally creating the organization, with
bylaws, officers and membership criteria.
That matter of criteria—classification of miniature parks—already
is a sticky point. "It's complicated," said Eiran Gazit, CEO of Mini Israel
in Latrun, Israel, one of the driving forces of the association. "For
instance, Legoland has a Mini USA in their park. Do you count that as
a miniature park?" Gazit invited Legoland to the meeting just in case,
but the corporation didn't show. "It made my life easier because I didn't
have to deal with it. Should they come later, we'll have to deal with
it."
Dealing with issues specific to this niche of attraction prompted the
formation of a Mini Land Association, though the group hopes to work within
the scope of IAAPA. "It requires totally different skills than any other
attraction," said Giedie Bierens, CEO of Madurodam. "Everything is minute,
most in a scale of 1 to 25. We have a lot to learn from each other which
we cannot learn from the bigger theme parks because the scale is different.
Literally."
Seeking of knowledge while developing Mini Israel spurred Gazit to visit
Madurodam. The Dutch park in turn grew interested in the miniature animatronics
Mini Israel plans to use (Mini Israel is still under construction between
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the project stalled by the current unrest in the
region). Gazit also visited with Italia in Miniatura in Rimini, Italy,
for ideas and then served as catalyst for an alliance of all three parks.
"We introduced those two," Gazit said. "They'd never spoken to each other,
let alone visited each other." Rimini officials attended the opening of
Mini Israel's special exhibit at Madurodam last fall, then they met again
at last November's IAAPA. After those meetings, Gazit sent 40 invitations
to this month's wider-scale meeting, and both he and Bierens expect at
least 20 parks to attend the next meeting September 6 in Rimini.
Aside from sharing technical expertise, the association could share marketing
campaigns and either models or copies of models. "A lot of these parks
are miniature worlds," Gazit said. "They all have an Eiffel Tower, and
everybody built their own. With an association, instead of spending all
the money necessary to send people to Israel to get photos and details
of the Wailing Wall, there's a park in Israel that, for a third of the
price, can copy it for you." The association also aims to raise quality
standards at miniature parks around the world. "If we are able to help
one another, I think the total image of miniature parks could, should
go up," Bierens said.
Ascertaining the market for miniature parks is as problematic as defining
what is and isn't a miniature park. The 12 parks who attended the Madurodam
meeting reported a total of more than 3 million visitors last year and
an average investment of US$15 million. Many more mini parks are on the
way. "I can tell you that right now there are approximately 20 parks on
paper," Gazit said, listing projects in eastern Germany, Turkey, India,
Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Malta and Greece. "They're sprouting like mushrooms.
And slowly it will become something tourists to most destinations will
expect to be part of their itinerary."
The following parks attended the June 14 meeting: Bekonskot in the United
Kingdom; Catalunya en Miniatura in Barcelona, Spain; France Miniature
in Versailles, France; Italia in Miniatura; Klein-Erzgebirge in Germany;
Madurodam; Miniatuurpark Appelscha in The Netherlands; Mini Europe in
Brussels, Belgium; Mini Israel; Mini Mundus in Austria; Parc de Mini Chateaux
in France; Pueblochico in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
To print this article, click here
Keeping
it in the dark
It's pronounced "daffy" as
in the Duck, and because the acronym really should have an "R" and maybe
even an "H" in it, that pronunciation is intentional. "It's tongue-in-cheek,"
said Rick Davis, co-founder of the Dark Ride and Funhouse Enthusiasts,
DAFE. "If you can't have fun, there's no point in doing it."
The new association, formed last October through the www.ridezone.com
site run by the club's other co-founder, Joel Styer, conducted its first
national meeting June 9 at Kennywood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Membership
numbers about 200, including corporate members Kennywood, Erieview Park
in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, and Sally Corporation, one of the industry's
leading dark ride manufacturers. The president and CEO of that company,
John Wood, had been an active participant in web site discussions that
led up to the association's formation, Davis said. "Any time we had a
question, he's been quick to respond, and he makes sure his people were
helpful," Davis said.
Notable, too, is the membership of tiny Erieview. DAFE has been getting
much excited feedback from smaller parks, Styer said. "They miss out on
all the coaster publicity."
DAFE's intent is to bring public attention to the history and role of
dark rides and funhouses in American culture. "We thought there was a
need to do something about dark rides because nobody was saving them,"
said Styer. "We lost a lot of dark rides in the early '80s, which is a
shame." Davis compares DAFE with NAPHA, the National Amusement Park Historical
Association. DAFE plans to organize tours of the country visiting dark
rides and scheduling exclusive ride time on those attractions. "Our primary
mission is to preserve and to enjoy dark rides," Styer said. "There's
no need to preserve them if you can't enjoy them."
The Kennywood meeting drew 62 members, who were treated to a walk-through
of the Exterminator indoor Wild Mouse coaster, meetings with maintenance
staff, and a meal. After a commemorative ride on the 1901 Old Mill
boat ride, the group presented a plaque to Kennywood, then "we turned
everybody loose," Davis said. "Though everybody was there for dark rides,
everybody wanted to ride Phantom's Revenge," the park's renovated
steel hypercoaster.
Already the club has run into a classification controversy: what is a
dark ride? Though the group primarily embraces the dark and pretzel rides
of yore, "we cover all dark rides, whether traditional or new," Davis
said. Exterminator, he noted, "is pushing it because it really
is a coaster. But it's got theming and animation and a couple of little
thrills and things that pop up at you." The early days of amusement parks
similarly combined elements of coasters with dark rides on the scenic
railways, he said..
To check into DAFE, see their web site by clicking here.
To print this article, click here
Chef Gipe lifted canteen
cuisine at Hershey. Photo
by Eric Minton
Iron park chef
The special of the day: stuffed
chicken breast, mashed potatoes, vegetable and dinner roll, all for $1.88.
The food is freshly made, too, the product of an executive chef who is
a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York and has worked
almost 33 years in food service. Of course, there is a catch: you have
to work at HersheyPark to partake of these culinary delights.
Well known for its diverse and quality menus in the park, HersheyPark
in Hershey, Pennsylvania, also pays special attention to the fare in the
employee cafeteria. That was one of the directives from Rick Stemmel,
assistant general manager of operations, when he hired Charlie Gipe as
executive chef three years ago. Gipe, who had been consulting for the
park eight years prior to his full-time employment there, has been an
executive chef more than 15 years and previously worked at the Embers
Hotel in nearby Carlisle.
"These employees are on the front line, working hard," Stemmel said. "We
want them to have a place to really relax and unwind for 45 minutes."
To that end HersheyPark is planning $400,000 worth of capital improvements
to the employee cafeteria, expanding the seating area and improving the
ambience to resemble more of a restaurant than a canteen. Currently the
facility can seat 120 inside and on the patio.
With 3,200 total employees in the park, the cafeteria serves 3,000 meals
a day. "It's the same here as for patrons: you have to have that healthy
choice," Chef Gipe said. "Us diabetics and young ladies watching their
figures require it." Chef Gipe doesn't skimp on preparation of menus,
either. "At other parks I've visited, you're lucky if you get a piece
of chicken in their employee cafeteria," he said. "Here you get it 12
different ways."
HersheyPark employees also get some new concoctions from the creative
chef who has become a staple on local television home shows (generating
great publicity for the park). "This becomes our guinea pig area," Gipe
said of food items and recipes he wants to introduce to food stands in
the park or for the catering operation. "There's nothing better than our
maintenance staff telling me whether they like something or not. If they
like it, it will sell in the park. If they don't, it won't. They haven't
been wrong yet."
To
print this article, click here
A
75th 4th
The man who founded
Knoebels Grove Amusement Park 75 years ago next week did one thing wrong,
according to his grandson. "I wish he picked a different date," Dick Knoebel
said of Henry Knoebel opening his new park on July 4, 1926. That being
a traditionally soft day for the amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania,
the 75th Anniversary Celebration is not likely to draw appropriately large
crowds.
However, this whole 75th birthday is really a season-long event. "There's
a 75th anniversary atmosphere going on," Marketing Director Joe Muscato
said of the buzz hovering through the park and among the patrons. Feeding
that atmosphere are commemorative clothing, ornaments and sets of coins
in the gift shops, plus a just-published book recounting Knoebels' history.
The park also erected 17 black granite historical markers around the property,
pointing out such attractions as the original 1926 swimming pool, the
1913 grand carousel, the stone-stacked lighthouse Knoebels built in the
mid-1930s, and the 1933 Stony Gables summer cottage, now a fudge shop,
where Dick contends he was conceived.
Knoebels is also opening a museum of itself at the back of its Mining
Museum. Displays in the museum, scheduled to open with a July 4 anniversary
dedication, include sections of an Eli ferris wheel, a Flying Cage, the
facade of the first cottage, the juke box from the 1950s dance floor,
and a timeline that starts at 500 million BC when Knoebels' location was
geologically formed.
The anniversary
celebration itself will include a parade of a 75-piece marching band and
the whole Knoebels family riding in the park's Gasoline Alley antique
cars and a 1925 truck that Buddy Knoebels found. "He couldn't find a 1926
truck," Muscato said, "but the joke was that Knoebels wouldn't have had
anything new, anyway."
Part of the celebration's purpose is not only to honor past and present
generations of the Knoebels family, but to introduce generation number
four: Trevor, Rick and Brian Knoebel, Stacey Knoebel McDonald, and Lauren
Muscato. Amid persistent rumors that Knoebels has or is about to sell
out to a corporate chain, this part of the program will stress that the
family plans to keep the amusement park at least until the 100th anniversary.
To print this article, click here
Frills
over thrills
Year two and Jazzland in New
Orleans, Louisiana, was looking to make a big statement by building a
Vekoma double-looping roller coaster. But after reflecting on the park's
rookie season, Jazzland officials realized that while some customers wanted
more thrills at the park, many more wanted comfort and fundamental guest
services, something sorely lacking last year.
"The thinking was if someone is uncomfortable or they're not satisfied
with our cast members, it doesn't matter what ride we get, they're not
going to come back," said Patrick Evans, Jazzland's public relations manager.
So, the park instead invested in 400 new shade trees, additional awnings,
eight cooling-off zones, a new set of lockers inside the park (previously
the park only had lockers outside the front gate) and the season pass
processing center moved from a trailer in the parking lot to a new building
inside the front plaza. Jazzland also added more benches and put its staff
through an additional 150,000 total hours of training.
Though officials can't yet gauge whether the improvements have translated
into increased attendance—the park endured early closings and rain-outs
for almost a week during Tropical Storm Allison's trek through the region
earlier this month—Evans did say guest comments reflect happier attendance,
at least. "We've had a lot of people thank us for the shade and for the
chairs. I've had people tell me personally that they had noticed an improvement
in the customer relations."
Another factor in the decision was the rising cost of the coaster's installation.
Jazzland sits on a swamp, and all structures require extensive support
pilings. When the projected cost of construction began exceeding the cost
of the ride itself, management decided to build up revenues this year
via customer service and then put in an even more significant ride for
2002.
"You have diehards who want the big thrill rides, and we want that also,"
Evans said. "But on the other hand, they also understand what we're doing.
Most people in the region understand we just turned 1 year old in May
and don't plan to go anywhere. We are here for the long haul. And we have
tons of time to expand."
To print this article, click here
Franklin found Island's backstage a-maze-ing. Photo by Eric Minton
Island desserts
The Louisville Zoo in Kentucky
pushed the animal care and exhibit envelope when it opened Islands four
years ago, the first zoo habitat to feature daily rotations of four species:
four babirusas, four orangutans, two tapirs and a Sumatran tiger. The
animals spend a few hours in one of three habitats or their day room before
being transferred to another space. This frequent transferring is intended
to be a form of enrichment for the animals, who get new environs and scents
throughout the day, and for zoo patrons, who get a sense of entering a
wilderness where they never know which animals will appear where.
Sharing exhibit space among
animals, including prey and preyer, is becoming more common in zoos: the
lions and hyenas switch paddocks at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, on
a weekly basis, and the Arctic Encounter at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio gives
its polar bears a cross-over area with seals. No zoo has taken the practice
to the extent that Louisville has, though, and a tour of the backstage
area may explain why. The transfer tunnels and gates of the $11.5 million
facility are more extensive than the habitats themselves.
The complex includes 76 shift doors and about 140 locks in a labrynth
of caged pens, passageways and flyovers. Each transfer requires two handlers,
one to open the doors, one to hold the animal's attention. The variety
of animals involved further complicates procedures. The zoo's supervisor
of animal training, Jane Anne Franklin, said the tiger responds to 10
commands, the orangatans to 40, and one of the orangatans arrived at the
zoo with transfer papers describing him as an "electrician, carpenter
and engineer, all in one." Getting either unwilling or too-willful residents
through the cage maze can interrupt timed procedures.
Despite the facility's complexity and the staff-intensive nature of the exhibit, Franklin, an 11-year veteran of the Louisville Zoo who has worked in almost every husbandry department there, is certain Islands is fullfilling its mission of animal enrichment—for all five species involved. "I've got the happiest staff in the zoo," she said. "It's enriching for us. And the benefits in veterinary care far outweighs the amount of work involved."
To print this article, click here
Return
visits
To get the Phantom's Revenge open to the public, Kennywood in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, had to delay re-opening Thunderbolt because the revised
steel Phantom passed through a trench under the wood Thunderbolt
(LOOP, June 1). Before safely operating
Thunderbolt, more extensive work had to be done to its supports.
Said Mary Lou Rosemeyer, the park's public relations manager: "While rebuilding
the track is something our terrific carpenters do with seeming ease, the
engineering challenge of this particular coaster was unique for a couple
reasons. First, the coaster and its support stucture had to be rebuilt
above ground that no longer existed! Plus, the carpenters could only work
early in the morning as the Phantom's Revenge operates directly
below the construction." They succeeded, and Thunderbolt re-opened
last Saturday.
In
this issue
(click on a blue
keyword below to go directly to a story, or scroll down the page):
Miniature parks band together;
Enthusiasts are bound for dark rides;
HersheyPark's chef blends canteen and cuisine;Knoebels bundles up memories for a big bash;
Jazzland bandages its customer service;
Louisville Zoo brands it's ever-changing Islands a success;
Kennywood binds up the 'Bolt;
And we bid welcome a wave pool at Camelbeach, Bonfante's new theme park, roller coasters at Holiday Park and Wild Adventures, and a barn at SeaWorld Orlando.
Camelbeach got over the hump with its new wave pool. Photo by Eric Minton
It's a wave pool!
Camelbeach Waterpark in Tannersville, Pennsylvania,
announces the arrival of Kahuna Lagoon, June 22, 2001. Measurements:
31,000 square feet (9,394 meters), four 200 hp blowers making five types
of waves up to 6 feet high (2 meters). Delivered by Aquatic Development
Group.
It may have been a low-key opening—made even more so by dreary weather
and afternoon thunderstorms—but this was a significant installation
for the mountainside waterpark. By building a wave pool, the largest in
Pennsylvania with the highest waves in the Northeast United States, Camelbeach
graduated from being merely Camelback Ski Resort moonlighting in the summer
as a waterpark into a bona fide attraction in its own right.
"A waterpark without a wave pool is incomplete, we believe," said Sam
Newman, president and CEO of Camelback Ski Corporation. "It's like a ski
area without a lift to the top of the mountain." Founded in 1998, Camelbeach
may have come to the wave pool installation late in its maturation, but
that was part of strategic planning, Newman said. "We are a small company.
We built the waterpark ourselves." The ski resort, which already had a
swimming pool and two body slides, first bolstered its summer clientele
and revenues with a lazy river, interactive play center, a four tube-slide
structure, and a family raft ride.
Now, Kahuna Lagoon is a big attendance
driver, said Dave Johnson, public relations director. Though the wave
pool's rain-hampered debut saw a small crowd (about 10 percent of capacity,
Johnson said, "pretty embarrassing"), Camelbeach has seen a 50 percent
increase in season pass sales spurred by the promise of Kahuna Lagoon's
opening.
Camelbeach now has something most other waterparks already had, but Kahuna
Lagoon has something few other wave pools have: a mountain view. From
a deck created by a former three-story building torn down to its ground
floor and basement, loungers can look across the breaking waves to Camelback
Mountain and the Delaware Water Gap valley beyond. Placing the wave pool,
in fact, became more problematic than financing it. "We did a lot of moving
it around on paper before siting it," Newman said. The pool had to be
located so that it didn't interfere with any ski runs, and Newman also
wanted the pool to bathe in the afternoon sun while both providing and
being part of the view. "We managed to pay attention to all those factors,"
he said.
To print this article, click here
An elevator lift expedited guests to the top of GeForce. Photo courtesy of Holiday Park
It's a roller coaster!
Holiday Park in Hassloch, Germany, announces
the arrival of Expedition GeForce, June 18, 2001. Measurements:
1.3 kilometers long (4,290 feet), 62 meters high (205 feet), 59-meter
first drop (195 feet) at 82 degrees with a simultaneous 74-degree turn,
120 kph (75 mph). Delivered by Intamin and Werner Stengel.
The biggest coaster on the continent drew a
really big media contingent to its christening. More than 100 print media
and "a lot of" radio and television crews came out to watch Hans-Artur
Bauckhage, deputy prime minister of Rheinland-Pfalz, launch the new megacoaster
by smashing a bottle of the Pfalz region's sparkling wine on the track.
Milling with the media for the big opening day party were other local
politicians and VIP guests.
Then came the biggest test: the first public rides. Park guests converged
"with high speed of 30 kilometers per hour" on the coaster, joked Niels
Christian Pagels, Holiday Park's operations manager. But he wasn't joking
about the resulting accolades, which came in suitably big hyperbole, including
praise from the toughest audience: Americans. "They said to me, 'It's
the greatest coaster I've ever ridden, and I ride a lot of coasters,'"
Pagels said of American guests. "One mother came up to me and said it's
the best she has been on, and she's been to Cedar Point."
That this small family park in southern Germany is now mentioned in the
same breath as the Sandusky, Ohio, benchmark park is fitting since Intamin's
only other installation of this class of coaster is Cedar Point's Millennium
Force. While that one is, at 310 feet (94 meters), taller than Expedition
GeForce, this one combines the high-speed drop of the first hill with
a twisting turn. "Our marketing words are, 'it's the highest, fastest
and spectacularist ride on the continent," Pagels said. "And it's true."
Holiday Park surrounded the DM20 million (US$8.8 million) GeForce
with a whole new area containing a shop, bakery, casino and theater all
themed as a hip wilderness expedition. "Its not an Indiana Jones type
expedition but an expedition of modern times," Pagels said. "And you take
an expedition on this great, fabulous, new, spectacular coaster ride."
To print this article, click here
It's a roller coaster!
Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia, announces the arrival
of Cheetah, June 16, 2001. Measurements: 2,818 feet long (854 meters),
86 foot lift hill (26 meters), 90 foot first drop (27 meters), 61 mph
(98 kph). Delivered by Customer Coasters International.
The "Survivor" phenomenon goes only so far. On his second coaster opening
in a week (he had earlier attended the Batwing debut at Six Flags
America in Largo, Maryland), "Survivor II" runner-up Colby Donaldson duly
took the inaugural rides on southern Georgia's new woodie, fielded interviews
with media members ranging from Savannah, Georgia, to the Florida Panhandle
and Dothan, Alabama, and met with park guests. Popular as he was, though,
the opening day line for Cheetah was longer than the line of people
waiting for an autograph and pose with Colby.
True, because Cheetah was operating only one of its two trains
this day, throughput for the Colby interaction may have been higher than
that of the coaster; however, where typically the park's lines lengthen
to no more than 15 minutes for any given ride on any given day, Cheetah
had people waiting up to an hour on its debut day. Such was both its anticipation
and immediate popularity.
The woodie, an out-and-back with a figure-eight ending, is the latest
gem at this small regional park that seems to install one or two new gems
every year. After enduring a week of heavy Tropical Storm Allison rainfall,
which threatened to stall the last construction push to get Cheetah
finished, the park opened the ride on schedule on a Dixie-hot summer day.
Donaldson rode six circuits on the ride along with local dignitaries,
media members and winners of radio and television contests. He then moved
over to the park's new boardwalk overlooking its giraffe and elephant
exhibits for interviews and the public meet-and-greet.
He left in mid-afternoon, en route, no doubt, to yet another engagement.
Cheetah stayed behind, engaging park patrons well after dark.
To print this article, click here
It's a theme park!
Michael Bonfante announces the arrival of Bonfante Gardens Theme Park
in Gilroy, California, June 15, 2001. Measurements: 75 acres, 31 rides
and attractions, 11 retail outlets, 11 eateries, five themed gardens,
three entertainment venues, a half million plants, and 10,000 trees including
25 "circus trees." Delivered by Chance Rides, Crown Metal Products, Eyerly
Aircraft, Fantastic Shows, Ibole Aps, M.C. Illions, Mangel Carousel Works,
D.H. Morgan, and Zierer.
Throughout the 23-year fruition of his dream to build a theme park, supermarket
magnate Michael Bonfante had always focused on families with pre-teen
children. He wanted a theme park that not only would feature natural beauty
as its primary thrill, but would provide kid-friendly rides and shows.
Finally, standing on the podium on a pleasant, clear day after a week
of previewing Bonfante Gardens to park employees, builders, local dignitaries
and media, Bonfante unveiled his dream by calling up to the stage his
own four grandchildren. With their help, he used giant green gardening
sheers to cut a purple ribbon as cannons rained purple and green confetti
on the crowd.
Bonfante's gift to the community—the park is established as a not-for-profit
community charity that will raise money for beautification projects in
local communities—then turned into a gift to himself. A caravan of
classic convertibles carrying the park's costumed "Critters" and dancers
arrived to lead the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to the park's founder,
who turned 60 on this day.
While park officials wouldn't talk numbers for the opening day, Pamela
Rogers, manager of promotions and public relations, did say Bonfante staff
were pleased with attendance, both in size and makeup. "It's what we expected,
families with pre-teen children," she said. With elements ranging from
carousels and garden-themed kiddie rides to the gardens themselves, no
one attraction seemed to stand out among the opening day patrons, who
flowed evenly throughout the whole property. However, one measure of the
project's future emerged in the flow of season passes: the park sold more
than 700 in its first week of operation.
And if industry buzz is an accurate gauge, Bonfante Gardens is fertile
ground for sustained growth.
To print this article, click here
SeaWorld's caterer's
took the cake for creativity.
Photo courtesy of SeaWorld Orlando.
It's a barn!
SeaWorld Orlando in Florida announces the arrival of a Clydesdale hitching
barn, June 10, 2001. Measurements: 3,654 square feet (1,107 square meters),
11 stalls, tack room and hitching area.
The famous Budweiser beerwagon-pulling Clydesdale horses hosted staff
and the public to an open barn party five days after the 16 geldings moved
into their new residence. Here, instead of preparing the horses back stage
for their daily parades around the park, handlers conduct the hour-long
process of hitching the eight horses to the wagon in full public view,
allowing park guests to watch everything from the polishing of the brass
to the braiding of the manes.
In addition to celebrating the horses' new home, the June 15 party honored
the park's newest additions to its Clydesdale family, mare Michela and
her 4-month-old, 350-pound, 13 hand-high filly, Megan. For the occasion,
SeaWorld's food service staff prepared a carrot cake for the duo comprising
real carrots and apples bound up in a plain gelatin base. The park guests,
meanwhile, were treated to a more human-palatable chocolate and raspberry
cake.
Eric’s Turn
A model son
If there's a rumor sweeping through Pennsylvania
about various waterparks getting a new family raft ride, blame my son,
Ian (above). Only one-third into our two-week excursion through the state—which
started with the American Coaster Enthusiasts annual convention at HersheyPark
and Dorney Park—we attended ACE's banquet and fund-raising auction,
where Ian successfully bid on the architectural model of Dorney's Pepsi
Aquablast donated by the Allentown park.
It was his per diem money, he could buy whatever he wanted; he just never
judged the size of the model vis-a-vis the size of my Suburu Outback,
which already was packed for three (older son Jon being the other) doing
a two-week trip. As Keith Koepke, assistant director of marketing at Dorney,
helped me load the model into the car, I thought I would have to decide
between shipping home the Aquablast or Ian. With just enough space
for his head, Ian agreed to withstand the cramped conditions for the remainder
of the trip. We visited Camelbeach, Knoebels, Lakemont, DelGrosso's, and
Idlewild with the model in full view of those parks' guests, some of whom
gawked and pointed at the structure, perhaps wondering if it would be
next year's new attraction.
While one of the posters auctioned off would
have been easier to pack, bidding for them far outstripped Ian's budget.
And though he incurred on us the chore of lugging this model around, at
least the ACE Museum fund is $40 richer thanks to Ian and Dorney, and
Ian's fellow ACErs enjoyed watching the 12-year-old bask in the thrill
of making a winning bid. However, I would like to offer a special thank
you to another person hugely responsible for getting the model back to
our Dayton home: Jon, who had to help me carry the thing into and out
of successive motel rooms.
If your park truly has a new attraction opening soon, give us a holler
here at THE LOOP by emailing eric@gettheloop.com
or calling me. In North America, it's a toll-free call, 888-902 LOOP,
outside North America call 1-937-296-9796.
To print this article, click here
Paging
parks
We have a special
announcement from Buddy Wilkes, general manager at Miracle Strip and Shipwreck
Island in Panama City Beach, Florida, and the IAAPA marketing committee.
Wilkes is putting together a panel for a session on Do-It-Yourself Marketing
at the IAAPA convention and trade show in Orlando November 12-17, and
he is looking for parks, preferably mid-size and small, who shoot their
own photos, write their own commercials, or otherwise do all their marketing
in-house to participate on the panel. "Anybody who expedites the process
or saves marketing costs by doing it themselves we'd like to have join
our discussion," Wilkes said. You can reach him at 850-234-3333,
ext. 204, or email him mspswi@aol.com.
To print this article, click here
Thank
yous
I have been traveling
for 18 straight days, now. That means I have been out of my office the
whole period that this edition of THE LOOP has been compiled, written
and posted. That fact is a testimony to two things:
1). the immediately accessible nature of THE LOOP as an electronic media, allowing us to keep connected to you no matter where we are or what we're doing; and,
2). the hospitality of all the Pennsylvania parks that have hosted me and my two apprentices/sons on this current trip.
I want to thank the park operators for their warm welcomes, their generosity and their ongoing good customer service and well-run properties.
A particular thank you goes to Jerome Gibas at Idlewild in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, for allowing me to use his air conditioned meeting room while my two apprentices conducted field research out in his park. It is from here that I am wrapping up issue Number 11 and posting it for you.
A special thank you, too, to my partner in THE LOOP and my wife in life, Sarah, who has anchored the home office this whole time. Happy ninth anniversary! And as we head for home at last tomorrow, I've got something important to tell you, Sarah. Um, Ian bought a water slide.
To print this article, click here
You still have time to get a free copy of Lynton V. Harris' Freakshow movie for Halloween. The successful haunter is waiving the license fee of the movie, which features Alice Cooper, exclusively for THE LOOP's readers.