Volume 1, No. 19. October 19, 2001
Show business
Audiences at seminars were sparse.
Traffic in the exhibit hall aisles could be counted on two hands for much of
the two-afternoon trade show. For some vendors, hours went by without a single
visitor at their booths. World Waterpark Association officials said that while
overall attendance was down less than 14 percent over their 200 show, attendance
among facility members was down 19 percent.
Yet, almost everyone was pleased. Organizers and vendors alike considered the
21st Annual WWA Symposium and Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, last week a success.
True, many came into the show with low expectations, and exceeding those expectations
could have led to a relative sense of success. However, several expressed optimism
for the state of the industry based on activity at the show. "(The year) 2002
will be a great year if any business happens internationally," said David Orr,
vice president of Amusement Leisure Worldwide, who added that on the week of
September 11 his company sealed a half million dollars of new business. "Leisure
and entertainment is going to happen."
It may not happen in the industry's traditional venues, but this year's edition
of the WWA Show indicated more than any previous show that the waterpark world
is realigning in facility types, ownership and opportunities. Municipalities
continue to get into waterpark operations in increasing numbers, and resorts
have fully emerged as the next growth sector as more hotels build indoor parks.
Visionaries are also thinking smaller in terms of venue scale, said Chuck Neuman,
president of Water Technology. "Financing may be an issue, insurance may be
an issue, but overall people are optimistic," he said. "Right now we see a lot
of options, and people are not giving up."
Both Neuman and Orr said they did good business at last week's show. "We got
a number of projects," Neuman said. Said Orr: "We were busy the whole time.
We didn't quit. We had a good show, and that's not b.s." Their sentiments were
echoed by Michael Turner, director of sales and marketing for Gateway Ticketing
Systems. "Quantity was down, quality was up," he said. "We were down dramatically
on quantity of traffic, but I was impressed with the quality. There are still
projects on the table to be built, and I'm very optimistic about our future."
Perhaps, too, the show proved that bigger is not always better, as far as attendance.
The general travel trepidations of the past few weeks on top of the global economic
sluggishness of the past two quarters forced facilities to cut back on the number
of people they sent to WWA. Consequently, the shoppers who did trawl the trade
show floor were truly serious buyers and decision makers. Though they may have
felt lonely at times, several vendors expressed appreciation for not having
to expend their energy and time delivering their messages to a superfluous herd.
HALL OF
FAME INDUCTEES:
Ed Arrighi, Adventure Bay
Rick Faber, Schlitterbahn
Mike Patrick, Busch Gardens
Stever Rodgers, Roseville Golfland
Dick Samuels, Water Country Corp.
Jerry Lee Taylor, Taylor & Associates
2001 WAVE REVIEW WINNERS:
POSTER:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Rock Canyon Waterslide
Pueblo, Colorado
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Antioch Water Park
Antioch, California
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Adventure World
Perth, Australia
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Waterworld Waterpark
Ayia Napa, Cyprus
SALES VIDEO
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Whale’s Tale Water Park
Lincoln, New Hampshire
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Venture River Water Park
Eddyville, Kentucky
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Magic Waters Waterpark
Rockford, Illinois
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Sportsworld
Ontario, Canada
PRESS/MEDIA KIT:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Whale’s Tale Water Park
Lincoln, New Hampshire
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
The Wave Waterpark
Vista, California
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Desa Waterpark
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Waterworld Waterpark
Ayia Napa, Cyprus
DIRECT MAIL:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Rock Canyon Waterslide
Pueblo, Colorado
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
The Wave Waterpark
Vista, California
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Wild Island Family Adventure Park
Sparks, Nevada
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Raging Waters
San Dimas, California
IN-PARK PROMO:
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Antioch Water Park
Antioch, California
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Roaring Springs Waterpark
Meridian, Idaho
BILLBOARD:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Thunder Island
Fulton, New York
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Paradise Landing
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Great Bear Lodge
Sandusky, Ohio
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Hyland Hills Water World
Denver, Colorado
WEB SITE:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
The Whale’s Tale Water Park
Lincoln, New Hampshire
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
The Wave Waterpark
Vista, California
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Great Wolf Lodge
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Noah’s Ark Family Park
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
BROCHURE:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
The Whale’s Tale Water Park
Lincoln, New Hampshire
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Big Surf Waterpark
Linn Creek, Missouri
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Camelbeach Waterpark
Tannersville, Pennsylvania
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Raging Waters
San Dimas, California
PRINT MEDIA:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Thunder Island
Fulton, New York
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Paradise Landing
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Great Wolf Lodge
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Hyland Hills Water World
Denver, Colorado
RADIO:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Thunder Island
Fulton, New York
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Venture River Water Park
Eddyville, Kentucky
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Great Bear Lodge
Sandusky, Ohio
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Hyland Hills Water World
Denver, Colorado
TV TEASER:
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Antioch Water Park
Antioch, California
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Hyland Hills Water World
Denver, Colorado
TV COMMERCIAL:
Up to 50,000 annual attendance
Splash Zone Waterpark
Enid, Oklahoma
50,000 to 100,000 annual attendance
Venture River Water Park
Eddyville, Kentucky
100,000 to 300,000 annual attendance
Roaring Springs Waterpark
Meridian, Idaho
Over 300,000 annual attendance
Noah’s Ark Family Park
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
[Photo of two women dressed as mermaids on the WWA Trade Show floor. Photo by Vicky Adams-Nemec
Oh,
WOW
The WWA inducted its second class of Hall of Fame members at last week's show,
with six men joining the 25 charter members named last year. That keeps the
grand total of women in the WWA Hall of Fame at one, Phyllis Smith, who was
inducted last year. That 30-to-1 ratio does not accurately reflect the gender
distribution of the association's membership, or of the industry, and it certainly
doesn't reflect waterpark patronage.
The WWA took the first steps toward redressing that imbalance with a seminar
devoted to women's issues in the industry. "Women in Water" expressed in its
title the double-entendre line women must tread while trying to build careers
as waterpark operators and suppliers. "A young female at the WWA gets a lot
of attention," said Franceen Gonzales, general manager of Golfland/Sunsplash's
Waterworld Safari in Phoenix, Arizona, and one of the seminar's moderators.
The kind of attention she was talking about was the kind that two clamshell-clad
mermaids were attracting as they lounged in one of the vendor booths on the
trade show floor—it had nothing to do with professional respect or building
business relationships. "I never saw a glass ceiling in my profession, I never
thought of this as a male-dominated industry until I came to WWA," Gonzales
said.
In the seminar, one of the top-drawing sessions of the week with about 50 attendees,
women shared their frustrations over everything from dressing in a way that
balances professionalism and femininity to the lingering sexist imagery that
abounds in the industry. They also shared some avenues to success, such as learning
the technical aspects and terminology of the business, sticking a foot into
any door that opens to expand their job skills and working for an enlightened
boss who encourages their professional development.
Out of that last discussion
emerged a new WWA-sponsored mentoring program to enhance women's participation
in the industry and the association in particular, including the possibility
of a scholarship fund to help pay women's way to the convention. Every seminar
participant signed up to either serve as a mentor or to be mentored. The group,
tentatively calling itself Women of Water (WOW) also decided to continue the
discussions at future WWA conventions.
An even more significant outcome of the meeting was the tone of how these women
plan to address the issues that concern them: through professional interaction
rather than reactionary radicalism. Or, put another way, the vendor using the
mermaids lost quite a bit of potential business in that room.
Turner
and turn again
Early in a video parade through the late Al Turner's life, a photo of a pre-school
Al sitting in a backyard, inflatable wade pool provoked an appreciative chuckle
from the audience at Thursday's general session. With Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's
soulful acoustic medley of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "What A Wonderful
World" serving as the soundtrack, Turner's career and contributions played out
in the images of the WWA founder posing with amusement industry leaders, visiting
with Arab operators and playing air guitar with a crutch. The tribute left members
of the audience simultaneously wiping away tears and applauding. With the general
session tribute and a toast at the Big Al's Beach Party that night at Disney's
Typhoon Lagoon, Turner was remembered with more humor than grief in keeping
with the casual, fun atmosphere Al himself insisted should be the prevailing
spirit of the WWA's annual trade show.
Notably, the week's activities and attitudes proved that Turner's passing last
April did not create a power vacuum at the top of the WWA. Among Board Chairman
Terry Turner (no relation to Al), new CEO and President Rick Root and Executive
Vice President Dave Bruschi, direction was very much in evidence at the WWA.
If last week's symposium had an underlying theme it would have been "same vision,
new glasses" as the association set about establishing the second generation
of leadership. And any notion that the WWA would die with Al's death was put
to rest by the news that the 2002 show had already been scheduled for Las Vegas
October 7-11. Such a winning convergence of locale and date suggests the WWA
is not playing the trade show game on whims, as appeared the case with the choices
of Santa Clara, California, in 1999 and Orlando this year.
Still, Al left more than a legacy with the WWA. Near the end of the video tribute
appeared the picture of a piece of notepaper bearing Al's handwriting, a selection
of some of his poetry. This one he wrote for the occasion of the trade show
four years ago:
Heady haunts
If the size of the crowds packed
into Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, for Horror Nights Saturday evening
were any indication, this is shaping up to be a solid Halloween season for parks.
In a city largely empty of tourists—where International Drive hotels were
offering rooms for $49, and queues were just 15 minutes long for the top rides
at the big theme parks—the streets of Universal Studios were filled wall-to-wall
with pedestrians, and queues to go through the haunted mazes and rides lengthened
to 80 minutes. According to one man working security, the crowds on this mid-month
night were the size the park usually sees closer to Halloween.
Other parks also are reporting good turnouts this Halloween. Perhaps with good
reason. Combine the season's penchant to induce creativity with the theming
and scheming minds working at amusement parks and zoos, and you have the kind
of product patrons want to come out for, no matter the economic conditions or
the national mood. Following are accounts of three such products advancing the
Halloween season as a thriving entertainment franchise.
High road to haunting
Paramount's Kings Dominion in Doswell,
Virginia, was not trying to break new ground when it set about building haunted
attractions for its Fear Fest this month. But, right in the middle of the location
chosen for the park's Halloween-themed shoulder season sat the Blue Ridge
Tollway, a Tin Lizzy ride. With the roadway coursing through woods and hills,
designers decided to make the antique cars one of Fear Fest's scary mazes.
Hence, Blue Ridge Bloodbath, a marriage of the traditional dark ride
with the new-flavored haunted maze, and perhaps the most singular Tin Lizzy
experience ever. "It really exceeded our expectations," said Joe Holtman, producer
at Paramount Parks Design and Entertainment. "We did not know how it would come
out when we were developing it, and we were wondering would it really work,"
he said. "It turned out that it does work."
The 350-foot-long (106-meter-long) Blue Ridge Tollway uses replica 1917
Model T Fords that the Fear Fest designers enhanced only with a skull covering
the hood ornament. They used hay bales, muslin and corn stalks to create blinders
throughout the course, obstructing riders' view of upcoming scenes and scares.
The addition of a spooky soundtrack with speakers placed around the course,
gloomy lighting, fog and eight actors gave Kings Dominion a classic haunted
maze, except that guests ride antique cars instead of walking.
Operational obstacles were easily overcome. The ride's terrain made placement
of blinders easier than Holtman anticipated. Another issue is the mode of transportation
itself, in which the frequently frightened guest must continuously accelerate
the car through the ride. Varying speeds of cars could interfere with the actors'
timing, too. The timing issue was solved by the dispatcher using a stopwatch
to space the cars out every 30 seconds. As for varying speeds among drivers,
Holtman said the guests self-police themselves. "We tell them in the station
to keep their foot on the pedal throughout the ride," he said. "They understand
that for them to get the scare potential, they have to follow the guidelines
we give them." Besides, some riders couldn't get enough speed out of the trundling
T's to escape some of the frights.
With Fear Fest's overall PG-13 rating, the Tin Lizzies got a rare workout from
teen-age guests rather than young children. "You did see the teens really enjoying
it, and that we really scared them," Holtman said. "They were enjoying Blue
Ridge Bloodbath as much as the mazes."
[Photo of Elvira lounging in the hotel suite decorated in her honor at Knott's Scary Farm. Photo courtesy of Knott's Berry Farm]
Suite nightmares
What many professional haunters consider
the best Halloween practitioner in the industry, Knott's Berry Farm in Buena
Park, California, is making its 29th Halloween Haunt a destination in its own
right. This year the park is going way upscale with a hotel package—or,
in keeping with the theme, way downscale.
The hotel suite, you see, is arguably the tackiest you will find anywhere. At
$999 per night, it also will cost you dear. But it comes with Elvira, so to
speak, and therein lies its appeal.
With the addition two years ago of the adjacent Radisson Resort hotel, Knott's
Berry Farm has been able to do cross-promotions, not only for the whole year
(with 16 themed Snoopy rooms) but for its October-long transformation into Knott's
Scary Farm. Last year the park offered a couple of October packages: Bare Bones
that included an overnight stay and tickets to Knott's Scary Farm ($159 for
two people) and Haunted Dreams ($219) added a T-shirt and dinner.
The initial success of those packages prompted Knott's officials to expand the
program, and they latched on to the idea of developing a partnership with that
other horror icon, Elvira, who has performed intermittently at Knott's Scary
Farm for 14 years. Said Susan Tierney, Knott's director of public relations:
"We drew a rendition of the room and gave it to her to look at, and she thought
it was great."
She would. "Elvira's Chamber" is all red and black velvet bedspreads and curtains,
with ornate pillows on the bed and a headstand that looks like it outlasted
a Victorian funeral home. The room is further appointed with candelabra, funereal
flowers and a couple of skulls. Any couple renting the "Mistress of the Park's"
suite (the hotel has only one) also gets tickets to the park, dinner, a gift
basket of Halloween goodies, VIM passes (Very Important Monsters) that allow
them to go to the front of the hour-long queues at the 10 mazes, and a meeting
with Elvira herself, whose show celebrating the character's 20th anniversary
("Elvira At 20: Almost Legal") is one of Knott's Scary Farm's six new shows
this year.
Could all that really be worth $999? Well, that VIM alone would appeal to a
lot of Knott's Scary Farm fans. The only other way the general public can get
the reduced-waiting privilege is to indulge in another hotel package Knott's
is offering this year, the Gruesome Getaway which includes everything guests
would get with the Haunted Dreams package plus the VIM. That one costs $499.
You do the math on how much meeting Elvira is worth.
"There are a lot of Elvira fans out there, and a lot of Elvira fans are Halloween
Haunt fans," Tierney said. The package was first unveiled to the public on July
13—note, that was a Friday the 13th—when Elvira herself checked into
her own suite. Within a week the park sold four nights, and as the Haunt began
the first of this month, more than half the available nights had been booked,
Tierney said. "I can say we certainly are pleasantly surprised with how well
it was received."
Techno-phobia
The Halloween bug has bitten the
museum world, as well. The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, Florida,
uses the haunted holiday as a theme for one of its camp-ins, a program of science
lessons that includes family sleep-overs in the museum's galleries.
The challenge for the institution is to come up with a program that incorporates
Halloween fun with science education. Creepy-Crawly Camp-In, which begins at
6:30 p.m. (18,30) October 27 and concludes at 10 a.m. (10,00) the next day,
will focus on caves and bats, obvious horror fare. The evening will include
bat experts bringing samples of species to the museum, the IMAX film Journey
Into The Amazing Caves and a craft session in which participants can make
their own bats.
The evening will also include a hike through MOSI's Back Woods which, for this
occasion, will turn into a Haunted Woods Hike. "Nothing too scary, because we
have 6- and 7- year-olds; nothing like the chain saw coming out of the woods,"
said Sonya Rose, MOSI's extended programs manager and the woman who creates
these camp-in programs. Rather, as the hike leader talks about some of the animals
living in the woods, such as frogs, a soundtrack begins playing "ribbets" and
a staff member wearing a frog costume will hop out of the darkness past the
group. Later the campers will participate in the Scars and Bruises workshop
to learn how to apply latex makeup and mix fake blood and slime. "It's a lesson
in the chemistry behind Halloween," Rose said.
Rose is constantly coming up with new themes and activities every Halloween
because many families return for the camp-ins. "It seems like we have the same
families come year after year," she said. But she's also getting more families
each year for her Halloween events. "When we started in 1999, we had maybe 20
people," she said. "Now we're averaging 50 or 60 total family members."
Legendary
efforts
When Holiday World & Splashin' Safari broke ground on a new enclosed family
raft ride two weeks ago (THE
LOOP, October 5, 2001), the park was not finished announcing upgrades
for next year. Last week another significant capital improvement project leaked
from the Santa Claus, Indiana, park: doubling capacity on The Legend
wooden roller coaster by replacing the single Gerstlauer train with two Philadelphia
Toboggan Company trains.
While adding a train to The Legend should cut the amount of queue time
in a park that markets itself as a "no-long-lines" theme park, the choice of
two new PTC trains rather than a second Gerstlauer points to a key marketing
strategy Holiday World has used since the opening of The Raven wood coaster
in 1995. A brilliant piece of coastering by Custom Coasters International, The
Raven failed to garner appropriate appreciation among locals. The typical
comment park staff heard: "It's a great ride for a park like Holiday World,
but it's no (Disney, Busch Gardens, Paramount's, Six Flags)."
The Koch family, the park's owners, set out to prove The Raven was a
great coaster, period, and they did that by actively soliciting ridership from
coaster enthusiasts. The subsequent relationship between Holiday World and coaster
fans paid off. Television commercials show American Coaster Enthusiasts Public
Relations Director David Escalante "coming all the way from California" to ride
Holiday World's coasters, and The Raven attained the number one rating
among the world's woodies in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Award in August.
The newspaper's editor and publisher, Gary Slade, even announced the award winners
at a press conference in Holiday World.
The Legend settled in at Number 5 on Golden Ticket's list, and Will Koch,
Holiday World's president and general manager, heard too often from enthusiasts
that it would be their favorite coaster if only it had PTC trains. That was
key to Koch's decision to take on the added expense of two PTC's versus one
more Gerstlauer, and he's unabashed in admitting that topping the rankings matters.
"It would be kind of neat to have a one-two punch in Amusement Today," he said.
"Those rankings are very important to us. We educated our local consumers about
those Amusement Today rankings and how well we do on those things."
Despite the upgrades to The Legend, Koch said the park's marketing push
for next year still will be the $1.7 million ZOOMbabwe family raft slide
in Splashin' Safari. However, you can count on Holiday World getting enthusiasts
to return to try out the "new" Legend in hopes that the park will get
a double-golden moment next August.
For a full account of Holiday World's 2002 capital improvement plans, see the
November issue of Amusement
Today.
New Arrivals
It's a Komodo exhibit!
The Los Angeles Zoo in California announces the arrival of Dragons of
Komodo, October 11, 2001. Measurements: Three habitats totalling 1,488 square
feet (451 square meters), two dragons. Delivered by Masonry/Rockatecture Inc.,
and the Los Angeles Zoo's Construction Division.
"Build it and they will come," but not Komo the Komodo. One half of the LA Zoo's
pair of dragons, Komo, didn't make it to the ceremonial opening of his new home
because he had fractured his front, left leg about a week before, apparently
while exploring the new habitat prior to the public unveiling. Komo is being
kept in a confined space off-view to let the bone heal. Meanwhile, his fellow
Komodo, Modo, did bask in the glory of media attention—or, at least, he
basked in the sunlight in the exhibit's common-space—when Zoo Director
Manual A. Mollinedo, Zoo Commission President Susan Mazzarella and donor Myra
Wildhorn cut the ribbon on the $450,000 themed exhibit.
The two male, 3-year-old dragons had outgrown their window exhibit in the Reptile
House. So the zoo turned an un-used roundhouse in the Australian section into
an exhibit hall dedicated to the Komodos featuring authentic Bali statues and
a thatch-roofed, hand-carved wood entryway painted in gold, red and green to
replicate the Indonesian homeland of these reptiles.
The habitat itself is U-shaped and divided into three
sections. On one side is Komo's territory designed as the mud banks of Komodo
Island's coast. In the other wing resides Modo, whose room looks like a lush
bamboo forest. Each individual habitat is 525 square feet (159 square meters),
and they are joined at one end by a 438-square-foot (133-square-meter) common
room covered in mesh to allow natural sunlight in. The habitats feature murals
depicting the Komodos' natural habitat painted by Senior Animal Keeper Ian Recchio.
The explorative Komo, though, has already prompted a change in the interior
design of his habitat. Keepers suspect he climbed up artificial stonework to
explore a skylight and broke his leg while descending, so they have removed
one of the rocks to keep Komo from hurting himself again.
Eric’s
Turn
Word-slinger
As we gear up for that really big show next month, the IAAPA Trade Show in Orlando
November 10-17, we've called on Allen F. Weitzel to give us some guidelines
on the tricky business of merchandising. Allen's article, Managing
the Merchandise Monster, appears in the Reading Room.
Allen has been a frequent contributor to the Reading Room since the inception
of THE LOOP in its internet form back in February. He's also been a long-time
contributor to this industry. That's him above back in 1967 as a dashing sheriff
at Frontier Village Amusement Park in San Jose, California. The park is long
gone, but Allen has continued a successful and varied career in the amusement
industry, working at parks and other amusement venues around the San Francisco
Bay area and Northern California.
That experience
is evident in his stories for THE LOOP. For us he has written about working
with inspectors, about writing manuals, about developing a safety program, about
training. One of the stated missions of THE LOOP is to provide information and
insights to help park operators run their venues more efficiently, safely and
profitably. That has been Allen's mission over the years, too, and we're fortunate
to have him on board here at THE LOOP.
Another of our stated missions is to provide a connection for people throughout
the amusement industry. Personally, I always have been most impressed with the
collegial spirit that pervades the trade shows, as competing exhibitors share
laughs in the hotel lounges and competing park operators share successful tactics
and lingering problems while sitting side-by- side in seminars. And everybody
mingles business and camaraderie on the trade show floor.
Here at THE LOOP we are trying to supplement that spirit with our global reach
and our ability to, literally, link suppliers with buyers. Though our special
IAAPA Show issue won't post until November 2, we have started running links,
at the top of this column, to suppliers' web sites, allowing you to check out
their products and services in advance of hitting the trade show floor. You
can also use these links to establish contacts and set up meetings during the
convention. Just click on their logos to go straight to their pages. We have
also posted two exhibitors' lists for the IAAPA show: to see the vendors listed
in alphabetical order click here,
and to see the vendors listed numerically by booth number click here.
The linking logos above are paid advertisements, and you suppliers still have
time to get yours in the special IAAPA Show issue by contacting our advertising
manager, Lynne Mosman, via e-mail (lynne@gettheloop.com),
or toll-free 866-902-LOOP (outside North America, call 1 937-294-3406).