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Volume 1, No. 21. November 16, 2001
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Here we are
Charlton
Heston said it best. In a video message to the annual gathering of the
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Orlando,
Florida, the actor encouraged the audience of the What's New Theater to
rededicate themselves to the spirit behind their brand of commerce, "the
commodity of fun." He inventoried the often wearying tasks and challenges
of building and maintaining amusement parks, waterparks, zoos and attractions,
and compared these day-to-day hassles of the job to their day-to-day impact
on the lives of families around the world. "No place on earth provides
more smiles per square foot than your amusement parks," Heston said. And,
he noted, "This is a world that needs you more than ever."
The message was an inspiring moment as IAAPA opened under unusually cloudy
skies, both literally as cold drizzling weather displaced days of sunshine
Tuesday, and figuratively as the industry struggles through an economic
malaise and works out the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks,
the latter uncertainty further compounded by Monday's American Airlines
crash in New York City. If a predominate theme is emerging from this week's
convention, it's the international language of laughter, from the trio
of clowns who performed at Give Kids The World's village on Sunday evening
(see story below) to the What's New Theater's comedy
heavy program with Martin Short as emcee and Mr. Doubletalk giving the
keynote speech. "When I asked Jane Cooper (Paramount Parks CEO and newly
elected third vice chairwoman of the IAAPA Board of Directors) about her
strategic vision, she said, 'Wherever we go, there we are,'" Mr. Doubletalk
said.
That is a truism that seems to be governing the industry right now. The
most anticipated element of this particular show among the people attending
was learning just how many people would be attending. The number of exhibitors
declined, but preregistration for overall attendance was at record levels,
and by Wednesday the association was anticipating a total turnout of 31,000.
The seminars were seeing good crowds, with the sessions for zoo and aquarium
members overflowing their rooms. In a most encouraging note the participation
of non-U.S. attendees was strong, reaching almost half of audiences in
some sessions and escalating the International Reception Wednesday night
into a multilingual babble of collegial partying.
As we post this issue, it is too early to tell how strong the trade show
will be for vendors or whether the activity here bodes an industry recovery
sooner than later. If nothing else the convention is proving just how
resilient this industry is, summed up in another inspirational message
from the What's New Theater; before presenting a series of hilarious interviews
he taped with industry leaders the night before, Mr. Doubletalk said of
his audience, "You all can solve problems that don't even exist."
The Graff family, along with Martin Short, backed John's induction into the Hall of Fame. Photo by Eric Minton
Top secret
When outgoing IAAPA Chairman
Bill Sims thanked John Graff for his 22 years serving as the association's
CEO and president, the What's New Theater audience joined in with a spontaneous
standing ovation. If only they knew what was still to come.
Graff certainly didn't. After the inductions of Bill Koch (Holiday World
and Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana), Wilbert Morey (Morey's
Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey) and J. Henk Bemboom (Pony Park Slagharen
in The Netherlands), the Hall of Fame Committee announced John Graff as
the newest recipient of IAAPA's most exalted honor. "I counted the ballots,
so you may think I rigged this," Graff told the audience, who once again
were on their feet and remained standing throughout the presentation.
"But I had no idea."
The secret was kept from him so well—despite all the IAAPA staff
and committee members who knew—that John questioned the wisdom of
his children, Andrea and Chris, coming to the show's opening day. They,
along with his wife, Kay, joined him on stage as he received the honor.
"I don't usually cry, but I teared up," Chris said of the video chronicling
his father's life and career, culminating in a series of photographs of
John fellowshipping with industry players from a wide range of nations.
"This whole thing meant so much to him, we're so proud," Chris said.
"It's a job someone should pay a fortune to have," John said of his tenure.
"I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity."
For a list of all the award winners of the week, click here.
A
case of ideas
Bridget Donato arrived at her
first IAAPA Tuesday morning as Andretti Thrill Park's director of sales
and marketing in Melbourne, Florida. By noon, she headed "the largest
marketing firm in the country," the tag Mark Nichols of ITEC laid on her
after Donato volunteered to serve as a case study in the "Successful Shoulder
Season Marketing" seminar. With Donato and her go-kart park in the spotlight,
moderator Nichols guided the audience of about 150 people through a spirited
half hour of brainstormed marketing ideas and far-flung experiences.
"I saw it as an opportunity to get people's opinion and advice," Donato
said of sticking her hand up immediately when Nichols asked for a volunteer.
It worked. "I got more marketing ideas than I can use. There's enough
meat in the sandwich to make a sub." She has been at Andretti Thrill Park
for just over a year, but she has a long experience of public speaking,
all the way back to her student council days in grade school. "I always
stood up there speaking to the other kids while they threw stuff at me."
The only thing thrown at her Tuesday were suggestions and, afterward,
business cards. "Thank you for letting us have an idea fest," said Todd
Hansen, director of sales and marketing at Ripley's Believe It or Not
Odditorium in Orlando. "Hey, you can lay an idea on me anytime," Donato
replied.
The impromptu case study resurrected a session that seemed snakebit before
it started. One of the scheduled presenters, Robert Owen of Blackpool
Pleasure Beach in England, had to remain home when his son was hospitalized
with a sudden illness. "He phoned yesterday morning and said, 'I'm not
in America,'" seminar organizer Joanne Taminiau-Cook, marketing director
of Het Land van Ooit in Drunen, The Netherlands, said Tuesday. She and
her husband, Tobias Taminiau, director of the park's licensing and publishing
company, recruited Sarah Dornford-May, Blackpool Pleasure Beach's head
of public relations, to fill in. Then they counted on the case study segment
to fill out the program.
"The interactive type of workshops are most effective," Tobias said. "The
problem is not so much the important thing. The process of solving the
problem is what it's all about. That's what we saw here."
Called
to order
Rudi Rasschaert and five of
his staff from Mini Europe in Brussels, Belgium, were driving to the airport
Monday when they heard about the American Airlines crash in New York City.
By consensus, the group decided to cancel their trip to IAAPA. Rasschaert
as president of the newly formed International Association of Miniature
Parks was expected to formally present to IAAPA the organization, formed
in September (LOOP, October 5, 2001).
He also had scheduled a meeting of his fellow miniature park operators
for Wednesday at 8 p.m. (20,00).
So, the group had gathered in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel and were
talking business when they decided to call on their president for a little
direction. With impish encouragement from the others, E.M. Bierens of
Madurodam in The Hague, The Netherlands, called his colleague back in
Brussels, where the time was 2:45 in the morning (0245). "Hrrmphpmrhm,"
Bierens quoted Rasschaert who then hung up. "I don't think he appreciated
that," Bierens said. But he should appreciate being titular head of a
fledgling association that so gleefully teams up to accomplish a goal
of delivering fun.
Bones and Max (aka Jones and Getlen) gave Tan a job nose to complete his transition into Ouch. Photo by Eric Minton
Clownish behavior
For Michael Getlan of Amusement
Consultants, this was old hat: a really tall, funny looking, red top hat.
In his guise as Max the Clown he set out for Give Kids The World Sunday
evening with two new-to-clowning accomplices in tow: Ben Jones of Recreation,
Inc. in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and Kelven Tan, deputy director of
events at Sentosa Development Corporation in Singapore. Jones had been
a juggler in his younger days and had plenty of experience clowning around—just
never before an audience gathered expressly to see a clown performance.
For Tan, this was his first-ever experience as a clown. "This was my first
time feeling the nose," Tan said. "I never knew it was so prosthetic."
The trio performed for about 40 kids and adults at the village where families
of children with terminal illnesses stay during trips to the Orlando attractions.
The seeds for the show were planted a year ago when Getlen and Pam Landwirth,
president of Give Kids the World, were comparing notes on their side careers
as clowns. She suggested he perform at her village during this year's
IAAPA, Getlen had a ready partner with Jones, and they pulled in Tan.
They scheduled the show for Sunday because, said Jones, "We decided to
do it early before all our friends showed up to see us."
Along with "bad magic, bad juggling, and singing a capella like you've
never heard before," as Getlan himself described their act, the show started
with he and Jones, as Bones the Clown, turning a business suit-wearing
Tan into a clown, with help from the audience. The outer transition from
Tan to Ouch the Clown (a stage name that came about when the last audience
volunteer shoved Tan's hat down too far and smashed his prosthetic nose
onto his real nose) brought out the inner personality of the IAAPA International
Representative for the Southeast Asia region. Tan, a true clown, worked
the audience to gales of laughter and hero worship at the end, among both
the kids and Tan's colleagues. "He's on a roll," Getlan said admiringly,
watching Tan interact with children from across the room. "Kelven is a
natural. That's why I asked him."
Tan was not thinking so much a career change as he was caught up in an
epiphanic moment making the children at Give Kids the World laugh and
shout "Ouch!" "It's rewarding. I mean, wow! I got it right here," he said
patting his chest. "If there is an international language, clowning is
it. Kids are kids, magic is magic, clowns are clowns. This was great.
Let's do it again."
No
inFamous women
In light of our coverage of
a womens' movement in the World Waterpark Association (LOOP,
October 19, 2001), a story which mentioned that the WWA's Hall of
Fame had inducted only one woman in its first two years, we decided to
count the number of women in IAAPA's Hall of Fame. Since it's inception
in 1990, IAAPA has inducted a total of 62 historic figures: 0 are women.
Rising
to the challenge
Amusement parks have long been
a breeding ground for performers on their way to celebrity status, from
Backstreeters at Disney World to N'Syncers at Universal Studios, and of
course a couple of celebrities turned their fame into amusement park attractions,
like Bobbejaan Schoepen in Belgium and Dolly Parton in Tennessee.
Move over Dolly. A new star has emerged from Dollywood and currently is
rising well above all other celebrities. His name is Challenger, a 13-year-old
bald eagle who soars on cue from some seemingly ethereal existence into
stadiums and arenas during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem. As
the only bald eagle in the United States trained to free-fly into arenas
during the national anthem, he has performed at outdoor stadiums since
the 1997 opening of Ted Turner (baseball) Field in Atlanta, Georgia, and
is a longtime favorite for special occasions with the New York Yankees
baseball team. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Challenger
has been in greater demand than ever.
"We've had calls from all over the United States, from NASCAR, hockey
teams, basketball, football, soccer, corporate-type conventions and a
whole host of other events," said Al Cecere, founder and president of
the American Eagle Foundation, a non-profit protection group headquartered
at Dollywood, who is the foundation's primary corporate sponsor. "Right
now I'm his agent and personal manager, but sometimes I wish he had his
own agent."
Challenger came to the Foundation as a 1-year-old eaglet, blown from his
nest and hand raised by his human rescuers. With too much human imprinting,
Challenger could not survive in the wild, so Cecere, noting the eagle's
good temperament with people, trained it for anthemic free-flight. A performer
he is not. "Challenger is not there to entertain, he's there to educate,"
said Cecere, who keeps this and all his other rehabilitating eagles by
permit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Administration. At Challenger's appearances
the host is required to say or publish an account of his ambassadorship
for his endangered species, and he usually follows his National Anthem
flights with meet-and-greets.
While carrying out this mission, Cecere makes sure Challenger puts on
a sensational show. The two arrive at a stadium two days before the event
and rehearse with up to 25 flights to get an average time of flight. They
meet with the anthem singer, record the song's ending, then select a word
on which Challenger begins his flight so that he lands on Cecere's outstretched
arm exactly on the last note. That moment, which Cecere rightly describes
as "a spiritual experience for most people," has ensured the bird's celebrity
status. Cecere took Challenger on visits to the New York fire and police
stations, and people knew him by name. "You walk him into a room full
of grim people and faces light up," Cecere said.
He also took Challenger to the star-studded Concert for New York, and
many of the performers seeing him stepped over to meet the eagle. Paul
McCartney, emerging from his limousine, called out "Challenger!" and made
a detour to visit with him. Somebody asked to take a photo of the former
Beatle, and McCartney said, "Sure, but we've got to get Challenger in
this!"
Bigger than Dolly? Right now, Challenger is bigger than The Beatles.
Return
Visit
Whalom Amusement Park in Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, which has been shuttered throughout the 2001 season (LOOP
October 5, 2001), is heading for a December 6 foreclosure auction.
One of the shareholders, Joseph O'Donnell, owner of Boston Concessions
Group that ran the park's food concessions, had extended a loan to Whalom
in return for the mortgage. He's alleging a breach of conditions in the
mortgage and is foreclosing. At stake is the real estate: 30 acres of
land, the buildings and other permanent structures. The fate of the rides
are undecided. The Bowen family, longtime operators of the park who own
41 percent of the Whalom Park Amusement Company, plan to bid for the park
with a group of other investors. If they are successful, they hope to
reopen for the 2002 season, said Allyson Bowen. For more information on
the auction, email allysonbowen@earthlink.net.
In
this issue
(To
go directly to a story, click on a blue keyword or phrase below):
Reporting from IAAPA in Orlando, we recount John Graff's rise to Fame, watch marketers come to the aide of a rookie colleague, join in on a little prank by the Miniature Park Association, and laugh as three IAAPA celebrities go clowning at Give Kids The World.
A Dollywood eagle soars to stardom performing National Anthems, and Whalom heads for auction.
We welcome Totter's Otterville, an edutainment center that toys with a new concept.
by Eric Minton
Be sure to visit the following vendors and LOOP supporters at the show, and then click on the logos below to see their virtual showrooms. For a complete list of exhibitors, click here.
Booths 1036 and 9525
Booth 3953
Booth 1817
Booth 3825
Booth 7879
Booth 6466
Booth 2833
Booth 5053
Booth 261
Booth 5953
Booth 4289
New Arrivals
Johnny's Toys opened a new marketing concept at its new store. Photo by Eric Minton
It's an edutainment
center
Johnny's Toys in Covington, Kentucky, announces the arrival of Totter's
Otterville, November 7, 2001. Measurements: 10,000 square feet (3,030
square meters), 15 play rooms, two party rooms, one cafe, 35 full- and
part-time employees. Delivered by White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning
Group.
The amusement industry has penetrated a new dimension with this full-fledged
union of retail and entertainment. Fittingly—and perhaps unavoidably—the
venue is a toy store, Johnny's Toys, a 66-year-old Cincinnati-area chain,
that installed a family entertainment center within its new store in Covington,
Kentucky.
Billing itself as an edutainment center the FEC, taking up one-fifth of
the whole toy store, contains rooms for creative play, including a pretend
grocery store and restaurant, a water-play area, a play-acting area with
costumes, face painting, an arts and crafts studio, reading room and an
infant toddler section with padded floor and age-appropriate toys. Totter's
Otterville also has a cafe with point of sales on both the play center
and retail side, and some 150 seats located throughout the center with
clear views of all the play areas. The center, set off from the retail
area by counters, requires an admission charge for children.
By next spring the center should have it's outdoor area completed, with
a raceway for kid-powered vehicles, dinosaur dig, fishing hole, another
toddler play area and more party spaces. Adjoining the center is the Latonia
Trolley Company, a kids-scale street trolley that courses over a figure-8
track.
Though Totter's Otterville will have some of Johnny's inventory available
to play with, such as the Brio Train table and Thomas the Tank Engine,
the center is not meant as a demonstration forum for the store's products.
Part of that decision is a matter of practicality. "In these types of
environments, you have to have things in industrial strength," said Randy
White, CEO of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, the center's
designer.
A greater part of that decision, however, is philosophical. Johnny's Toys
wants Totter's Otterville to succeed as an FEC in its own right, and so
it focused on providing edutainment in a high quality environment. "If
it wasn't going to be established in this image, it was not going to be
done," said Tim Czirr, the center's manager. The staff includes a child
education specialist doing arts and crafts lessons, and a calendar of
scheduled lessons will be posted. "The center is going to promote the
value of play to children and why it's important for young children's
development," said White. "In some sense that will bring added value to
parents coming to the store. A lot of parents don't understand the value
of play." Boosting retail traffic, though, is the center's stated purpose.
"We capitalize on both ends," Czirr said. "If we have a family come in
and pick up a couple of toys while they are here, we've won on the retail
side. And the fact they participated in the family entertainment center,
we've won there."
Trend in the making? Restaurants and sporting goods stores have in the
past incorporated entertainment elements into their sales space, and a
toy store seems a logical place to test the concept of installing an FEC
in a retail enterprise. Before we start targeting shoe stores, boutiques
or even department stores for similar ventures, keep in mind that even
Johnny's Toys considers Totter's Otterville a risk, albeit one that, should
it fail, the store can fill the space with its regular inventory. "It's
a major undertaking. It's very, very costly," said Czirr, though he wouldn't
reveal the project's price tag. "We scaled it way back to something proportionate
with the rest of the store that we could buy into, something we could
be comfortable with." Johnny's Toys, in fact, already is planning similar
installations at its three other stores.
The official grand opening is still a couple weeks away, but on the first
day Totter's opened to the public, a total of 47 kids played there, including
a mom's club. The initial reaction and party booking has more than stoked
Czirr's optimism. "The receptive nature of the people who have come and
talked to us has made us feel comfortable with the decision we made, that
this is a great concept, a great idea."
Johnny's Toys may have put retailers on a new track toward profits with its stand-alone entertainment center. Photo by Eric Minton
Eric’s Turn
A
good laugh
When we in this industry reminisce about our IAAPA trade show experiences,
the first words out of our mouths usually have something to do with aching
legs or sore feet. We talk of days of excessive eating of park food and
nights of excessive drinking of, well, night drinks. We talk of attendance,
we talk of business, we talk of the neat toys we saw, we talk of the good
tips we picked up in the seminars. We talk of the hassles of traveling.
We seldom talk about the fun we have, on the floor, in the evenings, even
on the buses heading to this party or that reception. That, we know, is
a given. Fun is our business.
Having said that, in the six years attending this show, I don't ever recall
laughing so much as I have this week. Nor do I remember hearing so much
laughter. For me it started with the three clowns, Michael Getlan, Ben
Jones and Kelven Tan, at Give Kids the World on Sunday evening. It continued
through days of seminars, and Tuesday night's Amusement Today dinner at
Lulu's Bait Shack. The What's New Theater was the best in years, where
people were moved to tears by both John Graff's induction into the IAAPA
Hall of Fame and by the tape of Mr. Doubletalk's interview of a puzzled
Dick Knoebel.
I am writing this on the trade show floor, at 2:41 (14,41) Thursday afternoon.
Around me are the huzzah of amusement and attraction business. From my
perspective, the show floor is as loud, as hyperactive and as happy as
ever. We're hearing mixed reports from vendors on how heavy the traffic
and how productive the business has been at their booths, but everybody
seems happy. Now, half way through the show, sore legs and all, I can
honestly tell all of you reading this that if you didn't come, you missed
a good show.
Thanks and
kudos
I would like to formally thank Amusement Today for letting us share their
booth. Gary, Randy, Paul, Bill and Tim have been warm, welcoming and fun
hosts for me and my team, Stacey Copeland and Lynne Mosman (above).
During the General Managers Luncheon Thursday, IAAPA presented its Service
Awards, and this year, for me, there were some special winners. The IAAPA
International Reps won the meritorious award, a group I've had the pleasure
of featuring in several stories. I have never seen a more compatable group
of people in my 27 years of professional journalism. Jerry Aldrich won
the public affairs award, and aside from being a good friend and strong
supporter, Aldrich as president of AIC is one of our advertisers in the
current LOOP. Sylvie Faujanet, with whom I had dinner in Barcelona, Spain,
last year, also won the public affairs award. Larry Cochran, one of my
favorite people in the industry, won the outstanding service award. The
Phoenix award went to Leap the Dips in Lakemont Park in Altoona,
Pennsylvania, where I took my sons last summer specifically to ride that
historic coaster. Congratulations to the foundation, ACE and Barry Kumpf.
Finally, the lifetime service award went to my main nemesis, Tim O'Brien
of Amusement Business. Well deserved.