Volume 1, No. 11.   June 29, 2001

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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."

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.

New Arrivals

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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