Volume 3, No. 10. May 23, 2003
Coaster Con XXVI Preview
Olympian
effort
Paramount’s Kings Dominion is doing more than merely hosting the American
Coaster Enthusiasts June 18-20. This park is lighting a torch for its special
guests.
In this case, it will be Scooby-Doo lighting an Olympic-type torch at the opening
ceremonies of the PKD Midway Olympics featuring classic midway games. Mark Riddell,
the park’s public relations manager, has invited ACE members to assemble
teams of six players to compete in Whack-A-Mole, Quarter Toss, Skee Ball, Ring
Toss, Basketball Free Throw and other games on the Kings Dominion midway. Riddell
wants the teams to come up with names and matching uniforms. He also plans to
invite local media to compete against the amusement park pros.
“It’s so exciting and visual, it makes a great media event,”
said Riddell, who first formulated the concept a few years ago as a special
charity event that never materialized. He decided to resurrect the idea as part
of the Coaster Con XXVI program. “ACE people have been to more amusement
parks than anybody else, so we figure they are the experts in these midway games.
We’ll put the challenge out to the media to try to beat the experts.”
Scheduled for Wednesday morning between an ERT session and lunch, the PKD Midway
Olympics will start with an opening ceremony featuring a torch lighting. Medals
will be awarded at a special show for Coaster Con participants Thursday evening
at the Paramount Theater.
That show also will feature what is sure to be one of the week’s highlights:
a pop-up video version of the thriller movie Roller Coaster. Riddell
and ACE video guru Ric Turner are compiling the facts (e.g. “George Segal
is an accomplished banjo player,” “The Kings Dominion general manager’s
office you see in the movie is the actual general manager’s office at the
park and still is today”) and placing them within the film, a la MTV’s
“Pop-Up Video” series. The movie also will be broken up into television-movie
length segments and the breaks filled with vintage Paramount Parks commercials.
In addition to the standard ERT and receptions, Riddell is planning to stage
other special events for the Coaster Con-ers, including an all-day scavenger
hunt for Thursday. “We have several surprises up our sleeve,” he said.
“I’m not sure if they’re surprises as opposed to things I’m
not sure I can pull off yet.”
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.
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