Volume 3, No. 9. May 9, 2003
It’s
420 feet!
Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, announces the arrival of Top Thrill Dragster,
May 4, 2003. Measurements: 420 feet high (128 meters), 2,800 feet (853.5 meters)
of track, 90 degree angle of ascent and descent, 121 mph (195 km/h), six 16-passenger
trains, 20 second ride. Delivered by Intamin.
Many of the comments were unprintable. It’s nigh near impossible for even
the best writers to translate into English or any other language the exhalations
of pent-up fervor emitting from the mouths of the many coaster enthusiasts disembarking
from what is now the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster.
The general gist of impressions among enthusiasts is that Cedar Point’s
new record-setter didn’t just surpass expectations, it off-the-chart surpassed
expectations. Said Justin Garvanovic, editor of First Drop Magazine:
“I’d have to say this is the best thrill ride anywhere.” That
quote came after a couple of rides and the unprintable type of commentary he
had been offering.
So, the $25 million ride the whole industry has been eyeing this year with a
mixture of awe and trepidation was a huge hit upon its debut, pun intended.
But it’s debut was not nearly as smooth as Top Thrill Dragster itself.
Four hundred and twenty feet may be impressive, but it’s also vulnerable.
Building to that height is hard to do along Lake Erie’s windy coastline.
On top of that, Dragster was constructed during one of Ohio’s harshest
winters ever. “We’re in the shape we’re in today because we planned
on having a bad winter, but the winter lowered the boom, really hammered us,”
said Monty Jasper, the park’s vice president of maintenance and construction.
“We started testing on March 1, and we needed every moment all the way
up to yesterday.”
Cedar Point personnel didn’t get their first rides on Dragster until
just a couple of days before the scheduled media preview. That was a little
close for comfort, but that ride at least bolstered confidence in Top Thrill
Dragster’s potential impact. “When we rode it the other day, the
management team was just screaming,” said Bill Spehn, vice president of
operations. “We were excited about the experience, and we’re a pretty
hard group sometimes to say that.”
The
weather continued hounding Dragster right up to its debut. The night
before that Thursday’s media preview a lightning strike knocked out one
of the computer control components. The morning of the media event thunderstorms
in the area shut Dragster down, canceling live morning show broadcasts.
Then, what Spehn called “Cedar Point pixie dust” came into play just
before the scheduled opening ceremony; the sun pierced the cloud cover. By mid
morning the sky was clear blue, despite radar showing a band of thunderstorms
marching through much of the region. The skies above Cedar Point stayed brilliant
until the media day concluded at 7 p.m. (19,00) when stormy weather quickly
reasserted itself.
Given the delay in live TV and radio rides among the 800 media members in attendance,
and given the temperament typical of a just-completed high-tech ride, Top
Thrill Dragster’s operations were far from smooth on media day. Many
reporters and guests waited up to four hours to get on. One train rolled back
into the launch area after failing to make the ascent, a roll back cheered heartily
by the enthusiasts on board at the time (who were regarded with envied by those
watching). The park ran only five of the trains, and those were missing one
car each, carrying only 10 passengers per trip. “We never start at full
capacity,” Jasper said. “We’re a conservative company. We don’t
want to dance headlong into some problem.”
That conservative tendency continued when the ride opened to the general public
for the first time on Sunday still using the four-car, five-train operation.
From the moment the park’s gates opened and the first guests had sprinted
down the midway to Dragster’s entrance, the queue extended to a
four-hour wait, said Robin Innes, Cedar Point’s director of public relations.
That was in part due to the first several trains carrying the 96 winners of
Cedar Point’s traditional first-ride auction to raise money for the local
chapter of the Red Cross. The auction tallied a total of $35,000 with top bidders—and
first-train front seat riders—13-year-old David Lutz and his father Charles
Lutz of Orchard Park, New York, bidding, respectively, $1,504 and $1,503 to
ride together.
Spehn likes to call Top Thrill Dragster the culmination of a “two-three-four”
punch: Magnum XL the first full-circuit coaster to surpass 200 feet in
1989, Millennium Force the first to surpass 300 feet in 2000, and now
Dragster the first to surpass 400 feet. “It’s not an ego thing,
it’s a business decision,” said Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel of Cedar
Point’s ongoing drive to remain head-and-shoulders above the competition.
“It’s fun, it’s great for the ego, but you can’t put ego
over what’s good for business.” But, he admitted, 420 feet is mostly
about ego. “I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t tell you
we could have made this at 360 or something,” he said. “But certainly
there was magic in going four, and then we knew that a park in California had
something a little over four, so, obviously, we designed it to go at least over
whatever the competition was.”
Nevertheless, what happens way up there is not nearly as important as what happens
on the ground. The most magical moment of media day came at the end when Spehn
told Dragster’s operators they could ride the coaster. When the
train filled with young Cedar Point employees moved into the launch area along
the midway and in front of a grandstand, the remaining enthusiasts and reporters
strolled alongside, shouting encouragement to the riders and trying to get them
to raise their arms (they did not). The train suddenly sped off, reaching 121
mph in four seconds. The enthusiasts all cheered—for the ride and the people
who run it.
Back from
the brink
She misspoke. But
the words of Betty Tolbart, a member of Conneaut Lake Park Preservation Society,
aptly reflected her resolve: “We’re not going to go down fighting,
we’re going to go up fighting.”
It is a resolve that runs through the community surrounding the tiny amusement
park in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, that has battled closures, lawsuits, outdated
sewage systems, back taxes and mounting debt to try to stay alive—rather,
this year, to come back to life. Just a week ago, the park did not have the
cash to open as scheduled on Memorial Day weekend.
But last week local car dealer Jim Miller stepped forward with a $150,000 loan.
“It gives us the money to open up, pay the back bills, get the gate open,
get us the parts we needed and cover the insurance,” said Gene Rumsey,
Conneaut Lake Park’s general manager. The park’s lack of insurance
coverage meant volunteers could not help ready the park the past few weekends,
leaving the park scrambling to get ready in time and get the word out of its
revival. “We’ll be open,” Rumsey insisted. “We’ll have
maybe three rides that won’t be running, but unless something disastrous
happens, we’ll open.”
The loan still must be approved by Crawford County Judge Gordon R. Miller, who
is overseeing the park while its ownership remains in litigation. The hearing
is Tuesday. “Anything could go wrong,” Rumsey said of the hearing,
“but nobody expects anything to go wrong.”
That would virtually be a first for this 111-year-old park sitting on Pennsylvania’s
largest natural lake. Yet, even with the ongoing court battles and court-appointed
custodian Herbert Brill meeting dead end after dead end as he worked all winter
to raise cash to get the park open, the community seems to be rallying around
Conneaut Lake Park. And why not? Rumsey estimated the park is worth $20 million
to the local economy.
“The community is really, really interested, really getting involved this
year,” said Gloria Shea, a member of the local historical society and the
Friends of Conneaut Lake Park, a volunteer organization. “Last year we
had a ton of volunteers to run the rides because college kids had to go back
to school before Labor Day. It was amazing how many people we did get. It was
encouraging.”
She is hoping that momentum swings into this season, too. Several volunteers
have committed to working at the park the next two weeks prepping it for a season
opener Memorial Day weekend. The Friends will run a garage sale that weekend
in the park's convention center with all proceeds going toward the debt payoff.
Shea is counting on the typical Memorial Day weekend crowd giving the garage
sale a boost, and the garage sale itself enticing more people to visit the park
that first weekend. “We haven’t really advertised it yet, but we’re
already getting a lot of donations,” she said; so many donations of clothing,
furniture and other wares that she hopes to run monthly garage sales throughout
the season.
Other fundraising events are planned, such as concerts on the lawn, plant donations
for a memory garden, and large lollipops lining the kiddie land walkways that,
for a donation, will bear children’s names.
This winter the park gave up ownership of its sewer system to the Conneaut Lake
Area Joint Municipal Authority, which not only will renovate the system but
erased a $400,000 debt the park owed on past repairs. The new arrangement should
save the park about $60,000 a year, Brill estimated. And now that the park has
cash to open, Rumsey believes Conneaut Lake Park’s revenues will cover
operating costs for the season.
However, things looked rosy this time last year, too. Conneaut Lake Park and
its adjoining hotel still need significant capital upgrades, is handcuffed by
debt and still working through legal challenges. “It’s a finger in
the dike,” Shea said of the $150,000 loan. “We do have to move forward
and we have to get some grants and we have to stay open longer than we stay
open. I think (the park) has a wonderful future, but it’s going to take
a lot of people’s time to do it.”
Labor pool
Like most waterparks, The Beach in Mason, Ohio, likes to visit local high schools
to recruit its seasonal employees. But Beach recruiters spend as much time in
the teacher lounges and bus garages talking to prospective employees as they
do among students.
“Years ago they would say, ‘That’s a place for kids,’ they
couldn’t envision what they might do here,” Pamela Strickfaden, the
waterpark’s vice president and general manager, said of the adult seasonal
staff. “Now as you change that and more older people start to work with
us, they say, ‘Yeah, I can work there.’”
That they would want to work at The Beach became crucial for the park three
years ago when Strickfaden decided she would no longer hire anybody under the
age of 16. “Honestly, we did that because the rules and regulations governing
the (employment) of 14-year-olds and 15 year-olds are so restrictive, and you
are absolutely fighting the kids” who wanted to work longer hours, she
said. “We were auditing and going through the paperwork and we’d go,
‘Uh oh, this person clocked out 15 minutes late,’ and finally I said,
‘This is it. We’re not doing it anymore.’”
The decision especially threatened the park’s retail division, where the
bulk of younger employees gravitated, and a few weeks out from that season several
jobs had yet to be filled. But they were filled in time, and the problem never
occurred again, Strickfaden said. This year, the waterpark already has received
about 800 applications to fill its seasonal staff of 500; in recent years the
park would get about 480 applications prior to the season opener.
Many of the adults end up working in positions requiring strong communications
skills, like guest relations, season pass processing and receptionists. Retail,
too, is getting older workers. All that has allowed the fields traditionally
filled by older workers—such as security, first aid and landscaping—to
blend more easily with the rest of the park’s workforce.
“I think a number of years ago, when you came in to work as an older person
and you’re kind of a fish out of water, we tended to handle you with kid
gloves,” Strickfaden said. No more. “They are working as part of this
company. They have to be able to assimilate.”
A job at The Beach could appeal to older adults for the same reason it appeals
to teens: it is a fun place to work and they get several perks, including season
passes. The Beach, in turn, gets employees who arrive with many established,
valuable skills.
One of the advantages of hiring sub-16 teens—they tend to be the most eager
workers—has not been lost by hiring adults, either, said Tara Nahrup, The
Beach’s manager of media and public relations. “To come in and work
at The Beach part time when you’re a teacher, you’re going to be earning
a lot less than you do normally. They really have to build their hours in order
to make the kind of money that they’re looking for, so they want more hours
just as much as the young ones.”
Unlike the young ones, though, they legally can get more hours.
The Rye time
Timing couldn’t be worse. When you are a government-funded park, as is
Playland Park in Rye, New York, which is part of the Westchester County Department
of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, these days of constricted government
coffers can restrict your ability to run your operation, let alone make improvements.
Timing couldn’t be better. When you are turning 75 years old, as is Rye
Playland, you have a perfect fundraising medium available to you.
Rye Playland is taking advantage of its 75th season, which opens tomorrow, to
raise money that will supplement entertainment activities in the park, said
Peter Tartaglia, the Playland’s director of marketing. “We have a
new stage this season that will be ready in June, and we plan on doing more
concerts and more concerts of higher caliber,” he said. As part of its
yearlong anniversary celebration, the park also will hire actors to dress in
1920s costumes and work as greeters at the park’s most historic rides,
the Dragon Coaster, Carousel, Derby Racer, Old Mill and the Whip.
Working through the Friends of Parks, Recreation and Conservation in Westchester,
Inc., Rye Playland is engaging in a number of fundraising activities throughout
the season. The most elaborate took place Wednesday evening, a dinner gala at
the Westchester County Center. With prices ranging from $4,000 to $10,000 per
table (seating 10 each) or $350 per individual reservation, the gala attracted
170 people Tartaglia said. The evening included a silent auction and the opportunity
for patrons to purchase ads in the gala journal. Tartaglia did not yet know
the final tally.
The park also is offering The Walk of Fame for which corporations, families
and individuals can purchase a 6-by-8-inch (15-by-20 centimeter) brick etched
with their name or logo. “The Walk of Fame is something we’re going
to keep open to the public for the entire season; when we have enough bricks
we’ll install one section,” Tartaglia said. “We think that will
be very successful once the crowds start coming.”
This is the first time in memory the venerable park has engaged in any fund
raising efforts for itself, Tartaglia said, but the occasion of the 75th anniversary
presented an ideal opportunity. “Our budgets come from Westchester County,
and we are receiving similar funding this year to what we received last year,”
but that makes for shortfalls due to rising energy and insurance costs. “We
needed more to supplement our offerings. And (the fund raising campaign) is
a good way to bring attention to the 75th anniversary.”
What timing.
Figments
of imagination
Many of the world’s most popular celebrities are not real. The nice thing
for budget restricted parks and zoos is that many of those celebrities reside
in your very neighborhood, down at the local cable station.
“Last year we had Spider-man,” said David Dean, president of Joyland
Amusement Park in Lubbock, Texas. “We’re trying to do it this year
with Hulk.”
Dean works with his local cable provider to bring costumed characters out to
his park, which the cable company can do if it broadcasts the cartoons featuring
the characters and has access to their licenses. Among the characters available
are Marvel heroes, Nickelodeon toons or Scooby-Doo’s gang. Joyland has
had actors who play the character come in from Dallas, and the park has had
costumes arrive in Federal Express packages for someone at the park to wear
for the day. “A friend of my wife’s got to dress up as Dexter,”
Dean said.
“Sometimes the cable rep pays part of the fee for them coming, sometimes
we pay part of the fee,” Dean said. “A lot of times the cable company
can work with the park’s budget. They can bring in whatever you can afford.”
Nickelodeon characters, for example, tend to cost more than Marvel characters,
said Dean, who backed off of SpongeBob SquarePants when he saw the appearance
fee. But Hulk would cost him about $3,000, a fee which other sponsors could
subsidize.
The character generally greets guests at the park, works an autograph stand
and poses for pictures. The park advertises the appearance which, Dean said,
could prompt people to show up merely to see the character. “They could
come here and go, ‘Hey, while we’re here, let’s go ride something,’”
said Dean, whose Joyland is a pay-as-you-go park. He tries to schedule the appearances
early in the season and on days when they are more apt to bolster attendance,
like a holiday weekend.
Naturally, the character has to have some drawing power. Dean wants Hulk this
year because the Hollywood film based on the character is scheduled to be released
this summer. In doing so he hopes to catch lightning in a bottle twice, after
his experience with Spider-man’s appearance last year.
“Sometimes you hit these things and all the pieces fall into place, and
sometimes it’s more difficult,” he said. “Spider-man made a great
BIG difference. A lot of people came out to see Spider-man. I’m just guessing
he did 500 autographs.”
Playfulness
The day before Holiday
World & Splashin’ Safari begins its daily operations for the season,
the park’s employees experience one of their more important and enjoyable
orientation sessions. On that day, the Santa Claus, Indiana, theme park opens
its gates to 2,000 children with disabilities who can enjoy any attraction in
the amusement park they wish.
The annual Play Day, now in its 11th year and scheduled for May 14 this year,
is run in coordination with the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center in Evansville,
Indiana. The center, which serves about 30 counties in southern Indiana, southern
Illinois and western Kentucky, sends invitations to that region’s schools.
All the children with disabilities—whether mobility, mental, visual, aural
or other disability—arrive in school groups for the day which lasts from
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (14,00). Admission is $7 per child, the entire fee going toward
the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center.
“For us it’s a wonderful way to start off the season in that there’s
so much joy that day,” said Paula Werne, Holiday World’s director
of public relations. “Kids are bouncing with excitement. Santa says he
has to get ready for the day because he gets so many bone crushing hugs. He’s
bruised in the ribs afterward.” Pam Kirk, the Rehabilitation Center’s
public relations director, also described watching the children as they enter
the park’s gates. “You can just tell from the excitement that they
have looked forward to this all year. It’s a big day for a lot of those
kids.”
Play Day is not, however, solely a feel-good day. It allows Holiday World employees
an opportunity to work with guests who have a variety of disabilities. Not only
can the hosts and hostesses practice ride loading and service situations, but
the experience helps allay many of their fears and encourages them to treat
such customers with the same respect and dignity afforded guests without disabilities.
“Everyone who works that day has this new comfort level,” Werne said.
“It’s like, ‘That was OK, I’m OK now.’”
Play Day, in fact, grew out of the park’s efforts to improve its accessibility
for people with disabilities. While developing its training manual and auditing
its facilities, the park approached the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center for
advice. “That led to the idea of doing something special for kids with
disabilities who might not be able to enjoy a quality amusement park, because
it was too difficult to do so, or maybe the families couldn’t afford it,”
Kirk said. With Play Day, “People could come and enjoy themselves at a
leisurely pace, and the staff could concentrate on making it accessible. This
particular day provides them an opportunity to take a fresh look every year
at accessibility.”
Though a training opportunity for Holiday World’s staff, the days usually
run smoothly, Kirk said. “I’ve been attending Play Day eight years,
and I can’t think of a time when I’ve seen a need to step in because
they do such a great job. The park is, I believe, one of the most accessible
in the country. The whole staff makes it a priority, and they welcome people
with disabilities every day they are open.”
The Rehabilitation Center also benefits from the occasion. The funds gathered
on that date go toward purchasing therapy equipment the center otherwise would
not be able to afford in its operational budget. “That one day of the year
gives back (to people with disabilities) for years and years,” Kirk said.
It looks like it will continue to do so for years to come, too. “Holiday
World came up with this idea themselves and they perpetuate it,” Kirk said.
“We don’t go back to them and say, ‘Would you please do that
one more time?’ They always come to us and say, ‘This is the date.’”
A keeper
One of the major
elements of Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah, is Pioneer Village, a
reconstruction of a typical frontier community set in the late 1800s. The village
comprises 42 buildings, most of those authentic originals and all but one of
those moved to the site from all around Utah. Many are museum pieces, furnished
as they would have appeared 150 years ago, while others house special exhibits
and retail outlets.
The one building remaining on its original site is a jail. The three-cell stone
building stood at the entrance to the Lagoon amusement park back at the turn
of the 20th century when it was still a trolley park. Troublemakers would be
thrown into the jail, where they would have to spend the night before taking
the morning train back to the city.
Such a structure many a park would consider an asset, but, obviously from its
appearance, Lagoon hasn’t used the jail for 84 years. During that interim,
the park’s Director of Marketing Dick Andrews said, “It’s tempting,
isn’t it?"
New Arrivals
It’s
an interactive river!
Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia, announces the arrival of Hubba
Hubba Highway, May 3, 2003. Measurements: 1,500 feet long (457 meters),
15 feet wide (4.5 meters), three-feet, three-inches deep (one meter), six-feet-per-second
(two meters) current, six geysers, two “gas pumps,” four water cannons,
two rapids, two “sonic showers,” four misting ballards, four squirting
squigglers, five trees each with six water dumping coconuts, a 4,000-square-foot
(371.5-square-meter) lagoon and one snack bar. Delivered by Suzanne Sessions,
Inc. and Water Technology.
Hard to say whether a waterpark river with the current of Niagara Falls would
have inspired guests to visit Water Country USA last weekend. Saturday when
one of the park’s most ambitious capital investments ever opened to the
public, rain in the morning and a high of just 60 Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius)
dampened attendance, and though Sunday was dry the air was still cold. On both
days the park closed early.
What few people did experience Hubba Hubba Highway gave it a thumbs up,
said Tim Cuddihy, vice president of Water Country USA, part of the Busch Gardens
Williamsburg complex. “I think they were really surprised by how fast they
moved through the river,” he said. The river gets the last part of its
name from that speed, but Hubba Hubba’s uniqueness is the amount and variety
of interactive water elements along its route. Guests maneuver through geysers
and bubbles and sprays and squirts and shots of water from cannons, the last
manned by other guests. Then there are the dumping coconuts, some 30 in a forest
of five trees.
Rather than provide innertubes for the Highway, Water Country USA is
encouraging guests to wade or swim the river wearing life vests. “We always
have the ability to come back and introduce tubes if we need to, but we think
this is the best way to experience the attraction,” Cuddihy said. “Life
vests give buoyancy, but still allows you to get immersed in the water.”
Hubba Hubba’s installation adds about 3.5 acres (14,164 square meters)
to Water Country’s offerings and gives the park much needed capacity, with
an estimated throughput of 2,000 guests per hour compared to the park’s
large wave pool which does about 1,150 per hour, Cuddihy said. “We are
going to be able to spread the guests out on those busy hot, humid summer days
and shorten the lines at the other attractions, greatly increasing guest comfort.”
Comfort certainly was the order of the day last weekend, and Hubba Hubba
Highway provided that even in the cold. Water temperature throughout the
park is kept at 82 degrees. “Folks were completely immersed in our water,”
Cuddihy said.
It’s
a flat ride & kiddie area!
Paramount Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, announces the arrival
of Sledge Hammer and Nickelodeon Central, May 4, 2003. Measurements for
Sledge Hammer: 80 feet high (24 meters), 6,738-square-foot (626-square-meter)
footprint, six eight-seat gondolas. Measurements for Nickelodeon Central, 39,127
square feet (3,635 square meters), four new rides. Delivered by Barbeieri, Huss
and SBF.
Big is the over-used descriptor for Paramount Canada’s Wonderland this
year: a big debut, a really big ride, and a bigger-than-Elvis star—the
latter would be, of course, SpongeBob SquarePants.
His character is one of the Nickelodeon cartoon cast members who have been enjoying
popular runs on Canada’s YTV and Treehouse broadcasts, but Wonderland’s
Nickelodeon Central is the first to introduce the brand live to Canadian guests.
The new Nickelodeon Central area, similar in tone and style to those at Paramount’s
other North American parks, includes an SBF Wild Thornberrys Treetop Lookout
and Barbeieri Dora’s Dune Buggy like those at Paramount’s Great
America in California (THE
LOOP, April 11, 2003), a Jimmy Neutron’s Brainwasher also by
SBF, and kiddie bumper cars totally made over as a Rugrats Toonpike.
In addition to the rides, the area features four characters for meet-and-greet:
Dora the Explorer, Hey Arnold, Jimmy Neutron and SpongeBob. “You’d
think they were pop stars,” said Kris Williams, the park’s manager
of public relations and special events. “They just got mobbed.” Especially
the guy in SquarePants, whose 3-D movie also opened at the park’s motion
theater on Sunday.
When it came to making a big impression, though, the Sledge Hammer carried
the day. Looking like a giant claw opening and closing with spinning gondolas
affixed to its fingers, the Huss Jump2 simply awed anybody who came within its
view, whether they rode it or not. “People are just mesmerized, it is a
fabulous, incredible machine to watch,” Williams said. “Pound for
pound it’s easily one of the most powerful rides on the planet. And it
has the most sophisticated computer system in the entire park. You can’t
help but be captivated by it. I spent the entire day with media crews out there
and talking with guests, so I know that to be true.”
On a day that reached 16 Celsius (61 degrees Fahrenheit) with sunny skies, the
park saw a typical opening day attendance, what Williams described as “an
amazing crowd.” “We’ve always had good turnouts on opening day,”
she said. That this year’s opening turnout was no different from the past
is testimony that the SARS epidemic in nearby Toronto is playing no role in
the park’s performance. For 2003, it appears to be business as usual—only
bigger.
It’s
a tower & swing!
Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, announces
the arrival of HallowSwings and Liberty Launch, May 3, 2003. Measurements
for HallowSwings: 45 feet tall (14 meters); Measurements for Liberty Launch:
80 feet tall (24 meters), 12 riders. Delivered by S&S Power and Zamperla.
Holiday World AND Splashin’ Safari are getting new capital improvements
this year, the first time both parks have received new rides in the same season.
The prototype Proslide Zinga going into the waterpark earned top billing
for Holiday World’s marketing efforts, so the park will wait until Splashin’
Safari opens May 17 to stage a ribbon-cutting ceremony and media event. Consequently,
the two new rides that debuted with Holiday World’s season opener Saturday
received little hoopla.
They did receive much notice, however, said Paula Werne, the park’s director
of public relations. On a sunny, mid-70s (20s Celsius) opening day, Liberty
Launch, the S&S Double Shot located in the park’s Fourth of July
themed section, stood high on an elevation of the park in full view of the surrounding
community and visible from the front gate, serving as an orienteering landmark
for the people who sprinted into the park when the gates opened. “Some
of these people have been counting the days to its opening,” Werne said.
“I know because I get the mail off the web site and get a lot of E-mails
about it.”
The Zamperla HallowSwings in the Halloween area got its share of attention
on opening day, too. “Every time I walked by it was full,” Werne said.
Zamperla applied the haunt theming to the flying carousel per the park’s
instructions. “We didn’t want a scary, terrifying Halloween, we wanted
it more trick-or-treat kind of fun,” Werne said. “So the skulls are
smiling.”
It’s
a carousel!
The Toledo Zoo in Toledo, Ohio, announces the arrival of African Animal Carousel,
May 2, 2003. Measurements: 4,952-square- foot (460 square meters) building containing
one 46-foot-diameter (14-meter-diameter) carousel with two chariots and 42 animals
representing 24 species, two 378-square-foot (35-square-meter) birthday party
rooms and a 1,380-square-foot (128-square-meter) kitchen. Delivered by Carousel
Works and Lathrop.
The blend of serious conservation message and irreverent attitudes made for
something of a surreal birth day for this one-of-a-kind carousel. Custom-built
for the zoo as part of its Africa exhibit—the bulk of which will open next
year—Toledo’s newest and second carousel features only African species,
including eight new designs Carousel Works carved especially for the zoo: a
cape hunting dog, a pygmy hippo, a warthog, a large zebra, a lion cub, a rhinoceros,
a hyena and a honey badger.
It was the honey badger Toledo Zoo Executive Director Bill Dennler chose for
his first ride on his new toy. “It’s one of the most elusive animals
for me to see in Africa,” he said. “I took seven or eight trips to
Africa before I saw my first one. And it’s one I’ve always had an
affection for because they are incredible creatures; real survivalists.”
As he spoke, the carousel was starting up for the third spin in its short history,
this time carrying a dozen or so hard hat-wearing construction workers who had
been invited over from the other side of the high fence where the rest of Africa
is being built. “OK! Look at this, this is cool,” Dennler shouted.
The zoo opened the carousel a year early, Dennler said, “because we could.
This was the easiest piece to do, and rather than make people wait an entire
year for all of it we thought we could open up this end of it first.” The
carousel, in fact, is not wholly complete. It currently bears panels of African
scenes that will eventually be replaced by 16 custom paintings by wildlife artist
Harold Roe.
The carousel will earn $1.50 per ride, but the real revenue producer in this
complex are the adjoining themed birthday rooms. The “Giraffe Room”
has a wall mural of a giraffe heading toward a tree branch hanging from the
ceiling, and the “Cheetah Room” has spotted walls and a big cat hiding
in a ceiling panel (that cat’s identity is in dispute: Dennler points out
that it should be a leopard because cheetah’s don’t climb, but that
would necessitate renaming the room). With the new rooms dedicated to birthdays,
the zoo anticipates increasing its annual take of $17,000 in party bookings
to $38,000 this year and $98,000 after next year when a new train opens as part
of the Africa exhibit. Already, bookings are head of projections, said Dave
DiCola, director of visitor services and marketing.
The exposure to Africa’s varied fauna continues in the complex's bathrooms
where dung beetles sit on piles of dung and photos of animals hang inside the
stall walls, “so when you’re sitting you’re looking at something,
not just a blank wall or graffiti,” Dennler said. Party boys will no doubt
giggle at the herd of zebra rear ends on their door. “We had a lot of fun
with this,” the executive director said.
Opening day didn’t so much dawn as it drizzled into being, cold and damp.
But the mood was upbeat among the dignitaries at the 9:30 ribbon cutting as
Dennler announced the zoo’s elephant birth (see story in Extra!
Extra!) and contest winners took the first ride on the African carousel
inside its glass pavilion where the air was warm, dry and happy. The merry-go-round
started up to cheers as half-a-dozen children, the rest adults and four television
news camera crews took the three-minute circuit. By noon a queue had formed
among the general public, many of whom also stopped to peer through peepholes
in the construction fence at the rest of the Africa exhibit progressing toward
completion. It was anticipation and gratification all in one.
It’s
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, announces the arrival of Superman—Ultimate
Flight, April 29, 2003. Measurements: 115 feet high (35 meters), 109-foot
(33-meter) first drop, 2,798 feet long (853 meters), two 32-passenger trains.
Delivered by Bolliger & Mabillard.
Metropolis is one super city. We’re not talking the fictional home of Clark
Kent aka Superman but the real 6,734-population Illinois town near the Kentucky
border at the opposite end of the state from Six Flags Great America north of
Chicago. The town cashes in on its name every June when it hosts a Superman
Celebration that attracts 20,000 people annually, and as part of the festival
the town honors community heroes with a Superman of Metropolis Award.
The town’s name also attracted Susie Storey, Six Flags Great America’s
public relations manager, as she was planning the media event for the opening
of her park’s new B&M flying coaster. At the time she was looking for
any Superman-related hook. She already was conducting a “Search for Heroes”
essay contest in conjunction with the ride’s opening, and she had invited
anybody named Clark or Kent to share in Superman’s official inaugural ride.
Doing something with a real Illinois town named Metropolis would be a cute touch,
she thought; but the Metropolis connection proved particularly special.
“We wanted to do some kind of partnership with them,” Storey said.
“They said they were interested in coming to be part of media day, and
we’ll try to do some partnership with their celebration in June.”
The park’s contributions will include the comic books Storey had used as
promotional gifts for the new ride (THE
LOOP March 28, 2003), a coupon in the celebration’s official program
and a basket of Superman merchandise to be auctioned in a fund raiser.
The Metropolis mayor had intended to attend Six Flags’ media day, but she
had to send the town’s public relations specialist, Neal Pankey, and the
chairwoman of the Superman Celebration, Karla Ogle, in her stead. In a twist
of irony, one of the “Search for Heroes” essay winners had written
about her grandmother, who happened to reside in Metropolis. That prompted the
Metropolis officials to bring their own Superman of Metropolis Awards and, in
a surprise for the Six Flags staff, bestowing them upon the essay winners as
well as park General Manager Jim Wintrode, his heroic achievement cited as bringing
Superman to the park.
With the honors handed out, Wintrode, Pankey, Ogle and Walter Bolliger occupied
Superman’s first row, and the rest of the train filled up with 25
Clarks and Kents for the inaugural run.
The real test of Superman’s strength came on Saturday when the ride
opened to the public. Under sunny skies but chilly temperatures the park’s
gates opened to an almost total rush to the new ride, which replaced the venerable
Shockwave at the front of the park. “Everyone went straight to Superman,”
Storey said, and reaction was wholeheartedly positive, she said. “It is
definitely going to become a park favorite, if not the park favorite.”
It’s
a swatter & water!
Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, Texas, announces the arrival of Diablo Falls,
April 26, 2003, and Swat, April 11, 2003. Measurements for Diablo
Falls: 60 feet high (18 meters), 469-foot-long (143-meter-long) flume, six-passenger
rafts. Measurements for Swat: 65-foot tower (20 meters) with the ride
platform rising to 105 feet (32 meters), 30 feet wide (nine meters), 30 mph
(48 km/h). Delivered by S&S Power and WhiteWater West Industries.
Thank goodness both rides are hits because the media preview were misses. With
a media day originally scheduled for April 3 when both rides were supposed to
be ready, the park’s marketing team first learned that the WhiteWater raft
ride was still a few weeks from completion. Then, on the eve of the media day,
the park postponed opening S&S’s prototype Sky Swatter. The media day
was rescheduled for April 24, but Swat was ready to go the following
week, so Daryl Freedman, the park’s public relations manager, mounted a
quick media outing for that ride. “It is a world debut, so we didn’t
want to lose the impact,” she said.
Diablo Falls opened as re-planned April 26, but its media preview was
undermined by Swat already stealing the thunder, and by actual thunder.
“On the 24th the forecast was for a tornado watch, hail and thunderstorms,”
Freedman said. “A lot of people assumed we had canceled it again, and TV
news were covering the weather.” The media day went ahead as scheduled
under light sprinkles, but several news crews rescheduled live shots for the
following week.
Meantime, the rides—situated side by side in the park’s Mexicana Section—were
wowing crowds. Swat’s public debut coincided with AstroWorld’s
annual high school physics day, a perfect ride, with its thrust air technology
and forward and backward rotations, for a physics lesson. “(The students)
just came off going ‘Whoa’,” Freedman said. Diablo Falls’
opening coincided with the American Coaster Enthusiasts spring conference, whose
members immediately started generating buzz for that ride’s surprisingly
high thrill quotient.
It’s
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, California, announces the arrival of Zonga,
April 25, 2003. Measurements: 112 feet high (34 meters), 3,250 feet long (990.6
meters), 53 mph (85 km/h), one 20-passenger train. Delivered by Schwarzkopf.
Weather wherewithal. Even if a ride doesn’t have the flexibility to operate
in any weather condition that does not mean the public relations effort can’t
do so.
So, there was Jeff Jouett, public relations manager at Six Flags Marine World,
facing a crisis the day before his Thursday media day celebrating the park’s
new coaster. Zonga, now in its third incarnation after serving as a fair
unit in Europe and then as Texas Tornado at Six Flags AstroWorld, has
a curving lift hill using rubber tires, and when the tires get wet, the ride
can’t run. “We had 70 percent forecast of rain for the next day,”
Jouett said, “and it rained 70 percent of the day.”
Combining the forecast with the fact northern California already was enduring
one of its wettest springs on record and the new knowledge that, Jouett set
about canceling his big event. It was to feature 40 members of the Youth West
African Music and Dance Ensemble (“I envisioned these kids in native African
costumes going around on the ride, thinking it’s going to be colorful and
the ride’s really colorful and what a nice combination,” Jouett said),
80 coaster enthusiasts, and a large contingent of press, including 16 committed
hits on morning television shows.
It was those morning TV hits that prompted the most concern. By the time Jouett
called in the event’s cancellation late in the afternoon, those shows’
producers had long-ago left their newsrooms, so it was too late for them to
reschedule their coverage.
Jouett therefore turned to the park’s other new offering for the 2003 season:
Sea Lion Celebration, an interaction program run twice a day in which up to
six people for $99.99 each can go behind the scenes with Marine World’s
sea lion trainers. The program had been running since the park opened for the
2003 season on March 15, but, Jouett figured, “At least the sea lions run
in the rain.” He tracked down the head sea lion trainer to call in her
crew for the first 5 a.m. live shot the next day. Not only did all the TV morning
shows accept the switch in topic, “One station liked the sea lions so much
they added a segment,” Jouett said. “We ended up getting 47 minutes
on Sea Lion Celebration, and everybody mentioned Zonga and mentioned
it in a nice way.”
Intermittent showers continued on that Friday, too, when the park, open to the
public, hosted seven live radio remotes and their listeners who had won tickets
to ride Zonga. Marine World also hosted its high school media day that
day. “We gave them press kits and showed them Zonga and told them
Zonga doesn’t run in the rain,” Jouett said. He also learned
for the first time that Zonga required a full hour between last raindrop
and first run.
Finally,
at 7 p.m. (19,00), one hour before the park’s scheduled closing, “Zonga
went up the lift hill with a load of guests, including the diehard high school
journalists,” Jouett said. The park kept the ride running until 10 p.m.
(22,00).
Once opened, Zonga has proven a popular ride, Jouett said. “It’s
an intense enough ride that it scares people just looking at it, but once they
ride it they have a lot of fun. It’s one of those ‘I-dare-you’
kind of rides.”
Meantime, Marine World has seen a spike in interest in Sea Lion Celebration.
It’s
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky, announces the arrival of
Greezed Lightnin’, April 19, 2003. Measurements: 722-foot-long track
(220 meters), 142-foot-high (43-meter-high) and 100-foot-high (30.5-meter-high)
inclines, 60 mph (96.5 km/h), one 28 passenger train. Delivered by Schwarzkopf.
One thing about the Schwarzkopf shuttle-loop coasters: they may not look like
much, but they are addictive. And never mind that Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s
“new” Schwarzkopf is a journeyman coaster, most recently residing
as Viper at Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta. In its new home it has
merited travel section cover photo status for newspapers as far away as Cincinnati
and Indianapolis.
This at the beginning of Kentucky Derby week, no less.
Located between the park’s Tin Lizzies and the public highway that
slices through Kentucky Kingdom, Greezed Lightnin’, the park’s
eighth roller coaster, brings a much-needed thrill structure to the front gate
side of the park. “We needed another steel coaster, we needed something
on the original side of the road,” said Jim Kunau, the park’s director
of marketing. “It’s going to contribute to distributing people throughout
the park and will be a nice anchor for this side of the park.”
For media day the Thursday before the public opening Kunau and company had to
contend with a bleak forecast of thundershowers. “It looked ominous at
times, but no raindrops,” he said. The park invited children from the Make-A-Wish
Foundation to cut the ribbon and take the official inaugural ride, and opened
four other rides in the area for the kids, too. Once Greezed Lightnin’
made its first official pass, invited coaster enthusiasts took over the train
and didn’t relinquish it for the rest of the day, only moving from car
to car between rides.
Typical park guests apparently would do the same thing if they could. Since
Greezed Lightnin’s public debut Kunau often witnesses guests running
from exit to the entrance. “The idea that people immediately want to jump
right back on is the best feedback you can get,” he said.
It’s
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, announces the arrival of Superman—Ultimate
Flight, April 17, 2003. Measurements: 109 feet high (33 meters), 2,798 feet
long (853 meters), two 32-passenger trains, 50 mph (80.5 km/h). Delivered by
Bolliger & Mabillard.
Since 9/11, “hero” has probably become the most overworked noun in
the United States. But it’s saying something when at a theme park in New
York City’s backyard, a New York City firefighter and a U.S. Army sergeant
show up to hand out awards to hero worshipers.
The official opening of the park’s new B&M flying coaster served as
the culmination of the “Search for Heroes” essay contest, a solicitation
of 500-word compositions about personal heroes. If the program started as a
way to promote the superhero-named coaster, it evolved into much more, judging
from the number of tears the park’s Public Relations Manager Kristin Siebeneicher
shed while going through some 700 entries.
“We had all sorts of great stories from a woman whose husband helped save
people in the first World Trade Center attack, and a teacher who wrote about
a teacher who inspired him, and a woman who wrote about herself,” she said.
The winning entry by high school student Carly Coulter focused on her brother,
who has autism. The youngest of the 25 finalists was an 8-year old who wrote
about his father who had died before he was born. Another finalist was a 39-year
veteran of the New York City Police Department who wrote about his two sons
who inspired him to come home alive every night. Three finalists emerged from
the same high school creative writing class, prompted to submit an essay as
part of a class assignment. Because all three students resided in different
towns, the Six Flags staff did not know of their connection until after the
finalists were chosen and a parent commented on the coincidence. “So, we
invited the teacher out to give their awards,” Siebeneicher said.
Great Adventure’s marketing staff selected the 25 finalists, then culled
10 to send to a panel of celebrity judges who chose the grand prize winner:
former National Football League all pro running back Otis Anderson, former professional
wrestler Mick Foley, actress Holly Robinson Peete, National Basketball Association
all star Wally Szczerbiak, pop vocal group LMNT, and two local television news
personalities. Foley and Anderson attended the opening ceremony, while Peete,
Szczerbiak and LMNT all sent autographed pictures to the 25 winners. “We
received nice notes from them on how moving the essays were and how they appreciated
being a part of it,” Siebeneicher said.
The morning ceremony took place on a “bitter, bitter” cold day, the
skies threatening rain but never delivering. Once the essay winners were recognized,
Coulter, Foley, Anderson and park General Manager Tim Black flipped a lever
symbolically starting Superman and setting off a pyrotechnics show. Then,
all but Anderson headed for the front row of the first train; he may have been
willing to run up against 3,000 pounds of padded opponents during his NFL career,
but he wasn’t about to fly like the Man of Steel. His teen-age daughter
went in his stead while he served as bag holder.
The media and invited guests enjoyed exclusive ride time for about 90 minutes
before the ride went public at noon. By then, a long line had formed. “People
saw it running and said, ‘I should be on that,’” Siebeneicher
said. “The park wasn’t exceptionally crowded that day, but the line
was lengthy,” in excess of two hours, she estimated.
It’s
a ghost train!
Parc Asterix in Plailly, France, announces the arrival of Transdemonium,
April 5, 2003. Measurements: 270 meters long (886 feet), 12 meters high (39
feet), 2,000 square-meter footprint (21,528 square feet), 13 trains with two,
four-seat cars traveling from 11 km/h to 18 km/h (7 mph to 11 mph). Delivered
by Farmer Studios and WGH.
The park’s fact sheet lists construction time on this project at seven
months. Hah! Parc Asterix had a ghost train when the park opened in 1989, but
the ride never opened. Further attempts to get the ghost train concept off the
ground faltered. In 1995 Michel Linet-Frion became director of Grévin
Productions, a division of the park’s parent company, Grévin &
Cie, and two years later he turned his attention toward resurrecting the ride.
Six years of various design scenarios and changing plot lines later, Parc Asterix
finally has the ghost train it always was meant to have.
“It’s always been one of the major ingredients of the park, and now
that we have it, we’ve confirmed that,” Linet-Frion said. “It’s
going to become an icon, like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. It’s
like it’s always been there. And in a way, it has.”
The new ride sits in the same location as the original in the park’s medieval
town section. Transdemonium is themed on the notion that a pre-first
millennium baroness, afraid that spirits would provoke an apocalypse in the
year 1000, hired a sorcerer to somehow fend off the spirits. Linet-Frion picks
up the tale: “What he said is, ‘What they like is frightening people,
they have fun doing that. If we give them a place to have a ball at that, they
will forget to trigger the end of the world.’ It happened, and it worked.”
Using darkness and special effects, including air blasts, water sprays and dangling
cloth, Transdemonium gives guests a train ride through gentle frights
and typically Asterix humor, including a false ending in what looks like the
original station. “When we trigger a fright effect, we do something to
detraumatize,” Linet-Frion said. This is, after all, a family ride in keeping
with the park’s continuing move toward balancing its established thrill
rides with more mid-level attractions.
The park ran plenty of advertisements for Transdemonium, which debuted
with the park’s season opening day, but the ride itself opened with little
fanfare. “We stopped doing (opening events); I don’t know why,”
Linet-Frion said. “You get some press, but it doesn’t get to the masses.”
Instead, the press were given preview rides and lights-on tours of the attraction.
“That’s how we got a lot of press coverage,” Linet-Frion said.
The masses came anyway, especially on an opening day with “great, great
weather” in now drought-stricken France, Linet-Frion said, and the response
confirms for his team that Transdemonium is heading for icon status.
“We stand at the exit and see when the people come out, and we got the
right recipe. The little ones come out and say, ‘I wasn’t frightened,’
but they wouldn’t say that if nothing happened. The parents come out relieved.”
The
real thrill
Let’s talk racin’.
Sarah and I once attended a Winston Cup stock car race in Rockingham, North
Carolina. I was on assignment, doing a story about pit crew chiefs. Sarah’s
uncle, Billy Hagan, was then the owner of the car driven by Sterling Marlin,
so we spent the race weekend in their infield garage and the race in their pit
stop area.
During that weekend I met Marlin and encountered many other NASCAR drivers.
But the moment that sticks out most in my memories came when I was walking along
the garage road, and I felt a presence behind me. What does a presence feel
like? Energy, palpable, measurable, a force field you could enter like passing
from an air conditioned room into the Arizona desert day. I turned around, and
there was Richard Petty, wearing his trademark sunglasses and cowboy hat. Just
then, a couple of fans rushed up asking for his autograph, and with a natural
smile and greeting, he obliged.
I used to be a music critic covering rock and country musicians. I’ve been
a sports writer assigned to covering professional golf and Major League Baseball.
In both of those fields, and in covering the amusement industry which sometimes
engages film stars and government officials, I have met countless celebrities.
Some I have questioned among press conference crowds, some I have interviewed
one on one, and a few have evolved into casual friendships. Some celebrities
I merely passed without communication or I observed from a distance.
Among all of these a few stand out for carrying about them an aura of greatness:
country music legend Roy Acuff, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, Charleston,
South Carolina, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., and, though she’s not a celebrity,
my wife, Sarah. The greatest aura of all was that surrounding Richard Petty.
I didn’t stop to talk to him, probably because I was awestruck. And you
know what? Not only was Rockingham's the first race I’d ever attended in
person, it was the first NASCAR race I’d ever seen, period. I knew little
about the sport, and I only knew Richard Petty had won a lot. But upon seeing
him in person, it brought to mind something Kent tells King Lear in Shakespeare’s
play: “You have that in your countenance which I would fain call master—authority.”
Let’s talk racin’.
Last week I attended the media preview of Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar
Point (see story above). For my first experience on the 420-foot,
121-mph coaster I was fortunate to hitch a ride with Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel
and his daughter (pictured above). Of course, the story of the day was the record-breaking
coaster with a launch, climb and dive that sets your heart to racing.
I’m noticing a trend, though. Every time I visit Cedar Point—to cover
Wicked Twister’s opening a year ago (THE
LOOP May 10, 2002) and to attend last fall's IAAPA Summer Meeting (THE
LOOP September 27, 2002)—I end up writing in my Turn about Dick Kinzel,
either as president of such a high-quality operation with a number of talented
officers, or as gracious host with his wife, Judy.
This time, I’m just writing about the man himself. He is one of a couple
of people I’ve met in the amusement industry who have that aura of greatness
about them. Though our relationship is wholly professional and cordial, I tend
to feel a bit awestruck every time I’m near him. And here I have a corroborator
in Funworld’s Frank Elliot. After we interviewed Kinzel together
at the foot of Dragster last week, Elliot said as we walked away, “You
can tell the quality of this park starts at the top with him.” So true.
But the guy who has the audacity to send paying customers 121 mph up a 90-degree
incline 420 feet; who lets slip a sly twinkle in his eye as he talks about the
“business decision” to run a park with the most, largest, fastest,
and arguably best coasters in the business; who oversees a 11-property company
that has paid out dividends to its stockholders year after year even in tough
times; this guy has something that makes him truly valuable. And, I’ve
come to realize, it’s the one thing he shares with the country fiddler,
the baseball pitcher, the Charleston mayor, the stock car driver and the professional
executive I listed above. All are genuine people sincerely friendly, caring
and giving of their time and attention to anybody no matter the scenario.
Kinzel and the rest have that in their countenance that I would fain call friend—humanity.
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
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