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Volume 1, No. 17. September 21, 2001
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Reverberations
"I'm a modern-day immigrant,"
said Lynton Harris, a native Australian and chairman and CEO of The Sudden
Impact Entertainment Company. "I moved to America and moved to New York
for all the right reasons. The Statue of Liberty and New York are extremely
symbolic and important to me." Watching the events of September 11, 2001,
unfold from his mid-town New York office not only shook Harris to his
moral core, it undermined his very profession: building and marketing
horror-theme attractions, including one of his biggest projects ever,
Fright House at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. Scheduled to open
in two weeks, Harris and Armory CEO Bobby Goldwater canceled the show
for this year.
The fallout from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New
York and the Pentagon in Washington rippled throughout the entire amusement
industry in many ways. Several theme parks in Florida and California closed
for the day. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association cut short its annual
conference in St. Louis, Missouri, (see story below),
and IAAPA canceled its summer meeting at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio,
which was to start the next day (Fun Expo in Las Vegas and the WWA Convention
and Trade Show in Orlando next month, and the IAAPA Trade Show in Orlando
in November will continue as planned, organizers said).
Parks on weekend schedules responded with various acts of support. Holiday
World in Santa Claus, Indiana, gave away admission tickets to every person
donating blood at area Red Cross blood drives. Pacific Park on the Santa
Monica Pier replaced the green and purple lights on its 130-foot high
(39 meters) Pacific Wheel with red, white and blue bulbs in a show
of patriotism, and 50 percent of revenues from the wheel will be donated
to relief efforts.
In an example of how far the terrorist attacks reached across the nation,
SeaWorld in San Diego, California, canceled its Skytower evacuation
drill scheduled for September 13. The technical rescue team from the San
Diego Fire and Life Services Department that was supposed to conduct the
drill had been sent to New York to fill in for rescuers lost in the collapse
of the World Trade Center towers.
Harris didn't think twice about canceling his pet D.C. project, for which
he had built scenery that included such Washington icons as the White
House, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. "I made the decision
from a personal perspective on the Tuesday it happened. Anybody who lives
in this city has been impacted quite emotionally," he said, counting himself
among those deeply distraught. "To be in the right spirit to go to Washington
that suffered a similar situation on the same day would be inappropriate."
What he called a "moral decision" he later rationalized from the pragmatic
viewpoint of a marketer. "I've sold half a million tickets to scary shows
in my career using adjectives like 'horror' and 'scary' and 'experience
the terror.' Those words took on a whole new meaning last week."
He is, however, continuing to work with Paramount's Kings Dominion in
Virginia and Kings Island in Ohio on their Halloween festivals. "I think
in the context of a theme park, an existing leisure product, the public
will feel comfortable and familiar with those properties." He also thinks
the public will be, by next month, looking for entertainment opportunities
again, including haunted attractions, and he is working with the International
Association of Haunted Attractions in a fund-raising project.
Harris clearly laments the temporary loss of his new show, a project he
had been planning for a couple of years with "magnificent" sets that included
all 43 U.S. presidents carved as jack o-lanterns. "From a creative point
of view, I'm definitely disappointed people won't see it this year. It's
clearly a shame, but a small, small price to pay in this context." The
weary voice on the phone, however, was not one of a crestfallen artist
or disappointed marketer; it was one of a numbed New Yorker and shocked
immigrant. "People should be allowed to grieve and move forward," he said.
"And we'll look for new initiatives to be part of that get-back-to-work
process."
To print this article, click here
'We don't have the
heart
to continue'
The celebratory mood had vanished.
In its place, the delegates at the American Zoo and Aquarium Association
(AZA) milled about the foyers, lounges and rooms of the Adams Mark Hotel
in St. Louis, Missouri, sharing disbelief, anguish and uncertainty arising
from the events that had occurred that morning when hijacked U.S. airliners
crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C. Within minutes of the conference's activities being
suspended, however, the activity turned to a hubbub of cooperation and
caring.
The convention still had a day of meetings, the closing banquet, and a
week's worth of specialized symposia on the schedule. However, with concerns
among attendees for family members and now-disrupted travel plans, on
top of the general state of shock that had settled over the whole country,
AZA officials decided to cancel the remaining activities.
"This is a time of shock and extreme sorrow," Charlie Hoessle, director
of the St. Louis Zoo, told the assemblage in a specially called business
meeting. "There is no right or wrong decision. We don't feel we have the
heart to continue with our normal meetings and sessions." Recognizing
the need to care for the now-stranded delegates, that evening's banquet
went forward as a non-celebratory dinner.
Care was the operative word for the rest of the day. The blue-shirted
volunteers and staff of the St. Louis Zoo serving as hospitality hosts—400
in all—were now crisis managers, contacting coach companies, coordinating
car pools, finding lodging, setting up grief counseling and locating Red
Cross centers so delegates could donate blood. In the ballroom serving
as the main meeting hall, the two giant screens that would normally show
speakers at the podium ran CNN's broadcast of the day's unfolding events.
That evening, those screens were used to show President George W. Bush's
speech to the nation.
Though the conference was irrevocably disrupted, its purpose became magnified.
Amusement industry colleagues worked together for moral support and physical
accommodation, and the host zoo took whatever steps necessary to make
its guests comfortable. When at the banquet outgoing AZA president Ted
Beattie, president and CEO of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois,
introduced Hoessle, the St. Louis Zoo director received a spontaneous
and prolonged standing ovation. "I'm sure that outpouring of appreciation
was directed not at me but to all the dedicated workers of the St. Louis
Zoo," he told the audience. He was right; Hoessle and his staff had accomplished
what that morning had seemed impossible: while September 11, 2001, would
be remembered by all the AZA participants for the events in New York City
and Washington, the experiences and accomplishments of the annual conference
preceding that date would be fondly remembered, too.
Robert Ramin of the African Wildlife Foundation and Jo Ann Keirsey of the Oklahoma Zoo got into busing at the AZA Conference. Photo by Eric Minton
Properly schooled
The scene caused drivers of cars to do a double-take. A long line of yellow
school buses headed for the St. Louis Zoo, carrying not children but some
1,600 AZA delegates, the youngest of whom last rode such a vehicle probably
10 years ago. The host zoo's choice of using school buses instead of tour
coaches was in part thematic, an attempt to remind the zoo executives,
keepers, curators, managers and marketers of the excitement of taking
a school field trip to the local zoo.
The choice also saved $7,500. In announcing the mode of transportation
during the conference's opening session, Hoessle granted that the school
buses would have small seats and no air conditioning. "We wanted you to
know that though we aren't using big, comfortable, air conditioned coaches,
we aren't cheap," he said, and he pulled out a $7,500 check made out to
AZA's Conservation Endowment Fund (CEF). In addition to donating the money
saved by using school buses, the St. Louis Zoo also gave AZA members a
10 percent discount at its gift shops and turned those savings over to
the fund, too. Along with the annual auction and donations gathered at
the annual CEF reception, the fund received $109,000 during the St. Louis
meeting.
Former St. Louis Zoo employees celebrated their homecoming. Photo by Eric Minton
Returning favors
For several AZA members the trip to the St. Louis Zoo was something of
a homecoming. Twenty-nine delegates who started their zoo careers there
gathered at the R. Marlin Perkins Plaza to pose for a group photo. The
gathering ranged from Kym Folkemer (children's zoo keeper 1988-91), who
now is a keeper at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove in Orlando, Florida, to Bill
Conway, recently retired president and general director of the Wildlife
Conservation Society headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Conway
started at St. Louis as a volunteer in 1945, became bird curator in 1951
and moved on in 1956.
"Marlin Perkins always encouraged keepers to learn and do papers," Hoessle
said. "We had always opted to be a training zoo. We thought we were training
them for leadership positions in our zoo, but our senior staff didn't
turn over."
"Starting here was one of the better foundations you can get in the zoo
business," said Bruce Reed, now director of the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama.
He worked at St. Louis from 1971 to 1993, when he was recruited by Walt
Disney World for Animal Kingdom. "Charlie taught us the tradition of mentoring
people for leadership. I see that as my responsibility at Birmingham."
Starting with Tim Snyder, his assistant director at Birmingham, whom Reed
recently hired away from the St. Louis Zoo.
Team competition
At the opening session, John Chapo's job as chair of the AZA's honors
and awards committee was to read off first the nominees, then the winners
of the various annual AZA awards. The International Conservation Award
nomination for the Betampona Ruffed Lemur Release and Conservation Program
listed the work of 35 different institutions, all duly mentioned by Chapo.
Upon announcing that project winning Significant Achievement Honors, Chapo
started repeating the list of participating institutions, eliciting a
groan from the assemblage. It was physical discomfort they felt in the
overly air-conditioned room as the meeting moved into the latter half
of its second hour that led to the groans, and Chapo obligingly cut it
short. Still, the importance of the list was no less appreciated by this
crowd.
Since 1993, AZA had bestowed 12 such conservation awards upon a total
of 25 institutions. "In one fell swoop we doubled that number," Chapo
said. "It was the largest collaborative submission ever." Chapo thought
the submission, let alone its being honored, indicated a trend of cooperation
among zoos that has flourished in the past 10 years. "Historically, zoos
are like any institution: 'I'm good by myself.' Zoos have been collaborating
much more in the last decade. It shows we're all in this together, working
hard to save wildlife and habitats."
For a list of all AZA awards given at the conference, and the participating
zoos in the ruffed lemur conservation project, click here.
To print this article, click here
A young Bill and Pat Koch established a family standard for a younger Will and Kristi. Photo courtesy of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
William Albert Koch
1915-2001
Visiting the home of Bill and
Pat Koch in Santa Claus, Indiana, one can't help noticing the hallway
lined with family photographs on the wall. It's a gallery like that in
so many other houses around the world, a home-grown hall of fame. This
one, however, is especially notable for the quintet of success obviously
emanating from the frames: the youngest, Natalie, earning her Masters
of Business Administration degree at Purdue University; Kristi, a neurologist
in Indianapolis; Daniel, a lawyer in Miami, Florida; Philip, general manager
of the Koch's Lake Rudolph Campground and R.V. Resort; and Will, president
and CEO of Holiday World and Splashin' Safari, the theme park founded
as Santa Claus Land by Bill's father, Louis Koch, and developed into one
of the industry's most lionized operations by Bill himself.
Of all the achievements that crowd his résumé—ranging
from Holiday World to his success at routing interstates through his beloved
southern Indiana homeland—it is the family that emerges as the true
legacy of Bill Koch, who died Monday of complications stemming from an
apparent stroke. He was 86.
"I think what Bill, along with the whole Koch family, has brought to the
amusement industry more than anything else is a sense of integrity," said
Janice Witherow, public relations manager at Cedar Point in Sandusky,
Ohio. She grew up in Santa Claus and started her own amusement park career
with six summers working at Holiday World during her high school and college
years. "I couldn't be more proud to say that's where I first got interested
in this wonderful industry of ours. It's a small family-owned park; that
is what defines Holiday World. Once you walk through that gate, you can
feel that sense of family."
Witherow remembers Bill Koch walking the midways of the park. He always
wore a suit with a tie, always looked distinguished, always exuded an
air of respect. He also was always approachable, always friendly. Almost
to the end he was taking these midway strolls, still immaculately dressed,
still greeting guests and employees, and usually accompanied by Pat. "I
once asked him why he doesn't say 'I love you' to me anymore," his wife
of 40 years recalled. "He said, 'What I told you when I married you still
stands until I say otherwise.'" That so succinctly sums up the man who
personified equal parts humor, dignity, warmth, loyalty, and humility.
Last night for Mr. Koch's visitation, Holiday World's Marketing Director
Paula Werne put together four posterboards containing photographs, articles
and memorabilia of Bill Koch's life. One was devoted to Santa Claus Land,
one to Holiday World, one to his civic achievements and one to his family
life. Will, seeing the posterboards, suggested they be placed so that
people would have something to peruse while waiting in line to pay their
last respects to his father. Even at a moment like this, Will was thinking
of queue theming. Bill Koch would be proud.
To print this article, click here
Local anglers
The media taketh away, and
the media gives.
When civil disturbances erupted in Cincinnati, Ohio, last spring (LOOP,
May 4, 2001), the media's coverage went national and subsequently
dampened the summer tourism industry for the whole Cincinnati area, including
the Newport Aquarium across the Ohio River in Newport, Kentucky. The aquarium
saw a significant drop in attendance, which was a unfortunate for an attraction
that had just mounted one of the most unique water exhibits in North America,
"Guardians of the Deep" featuring rare South African species of sharks
(LOOP, May 18, 2001).
Um, sharks? When later in the summer shark attacks around Florida and
up the U.S. east coast became the sensational news du jour, Newport Aquarium
suddenly became the must-cover entity for journalists from Cleveland,
Ohio, to Louisville, Kentucky, seeking local angles on a big national
story. Throughout the summer the aquarium received frequent press visits,
said Genine Drozd, the aquarium's public relations assistant.
Then came the Virginia Beach attacks over Labor Day holiday weekend. Within
15 minutes of returning to work the day after Labor Day, Drozd said she
received seven calls from television stations wanting to shoot footage
at the aquarium. "I had them scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 and a live shot
at 4:30, and wouldn't you know six of the seven stations came at 12:30,"
she said.
Overall, she said the coverage was balanced. Many reporters arrived apparently
intent on doing "dangerous shark" stories, but Drozd had them walk through
the "Guardians of the Deep" exhibit, which clearly dispels many common
myths about sharks, and then lined up interviews with curatorial staff
and Newport Aquarium General Manager John Tighe. "We could tell them the
true natural history of the animals and that they are not the human-hunting
creatures of legend," he said. "In one interview I said I had been diving
most of my life, and I've never seen a shark in the wild." Consequently,
the broadcasted stories ended up focusing on the exhibit and offering
tips on how to avoid injury from sharks.
The aquarium then started seeing an upswing in visitation. August attendance,
in fact, exceeded projections, Drozd said. "I think (the media frenzy
over sharks) had something to do with it." Tighe said he couldn't verify
how much impact the shark stories had on attendance because the aquarium
was still recovering from the fallout of the riots' coverage. "More people
are hearing your name on the radio and TV," he said; "It has to help attendance."
SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas was also affected by the Florida shark attacks
as the theme park launched its new Shark Interaction Program. See that
New Arrival in this issue by clicking here.
To print this article, click here
Return visit
Bonfante Gardens and Theme
Park in Gilroy,
California, which opened June 15 (LOOP,
June 29, 2001), closed this week because of a cash shortage. The
park originally had planned to continue through the year on a weekend-only
schedule but had to close because owners had not been able to complete
the financing package for the park, according to published reports. President
and founder Michael Bonfante had invested $70 million of his own money
in the 28-acre park, part of a total of $100 million raised. However,
$32 million in bond financing fell through in January and the park was
not able to make up for that shortfall, according to an article in the
Santa Cruz Sentinel. Most of the 150 full-time and 500 seasonal employees
have been laid off.
The horticulture-themed park received more than 280,000 visitors in the
truncated summer season, and season pass sales were ahead of expectations,
officials said. But cash shortage and the softening economy doomed continuing
into winter. "Instead, we have elected to conserve capital (and) concentrate
on our future funding requirements and the completion of additional attractions
in anticipation of enjoying a full season next year," Michael Bonfante
said in a statement. The park is scheduled to reopen in the spring of
2002.
In
this issue
(To
go directly to a story, click on a blue keyword or phrase below):
The amusement and attractions industry reacts to the terrorist attacks while the AZA exemplifies the industry's spirit of fellowship in the throes of the tragedy;
We say goodbye to Holiday World's patriarch, Bill Koch;
Shark publicity puts Cincinnati's Newport Aquarium in the spotlight and delays the arrival of SeaWorld San Antonio's new interactive program;
We welcome a new hospital at San Diego Wild Animal Park and new boomerangs at Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Magic Mountain;
And we bid farewell, at least temporarily, to Bonfante Gardens.
by Eric Minton
San Diego Wild Animal Park vets moved into the plush new hospital this week. Photo courtesy of the San Diego Zoological Society
It's
a medical center!
The San Diego Wild Animal Park in California
announces the arrival of the Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center, September
18, 2001. Measurements: 64,000 square feet (19,394 square meters) on a
10-acre site, 34,000 square feet (10,303 square meters) devoted to laboratories,
offices and treatment rooms, and 29,000 square feet (8,788 square meters)
devoted to outside pens, aviaries and sun rooms for patients. Delivered
by Tucker-Sadler and Associates (architects) and ED2 International (scientific
advisors).
Yes, the Zoological Society of San Diego is proud of its new veterinary
hospital, named for philanthropist Paul Harter, one of the center's primary
donors. David Rice, director of architecture and planning for the Society
(which also runs the San Diego Zoo) boasts that the $20 million Harter
Center is "the most sophisticated facility in the world," unequaled in
size and cost among wild animal hospitals. Contributors were given behind-the-scenes
tours back in March (the zoo broke ground on the structure October 29,
1998), and similar tours were offered the public on August 27.
But how does anyone celebrate the opening of their new office space? That's
right: by moving in. Rather than bother over ceremony, the hospital staff
spent Tuesday, the day the center officially opened, moving in and unpacking
boxes. The first patients will be treated there in the next couple of
weeks.
We can imagine that those patients will appreciate, as best any patient
can, the new hospital. The Harter Center replaces a 1969 hospital that
had only two treatment rooms and "beds" for 100 animals. The Harter can
serve 3,200 animals, treat animals as large as a 2,000 pound (900-kilogram)
giant eland and X-ray a 550-pound (248-kilogram) gorilla. The hospital
also has a mechanical overhead hoist to off-load anesthetized patients
and move them from surgery to recovery rooms, a freezer that can store
serum and tissue samples at minus-85 Celsius (minus-121 Fahrenheit) and
built-in video cameras to monitor procedures and patients in their recovery
rooms. The hospital will also become the site of University of California-Davis'
three year veterinarian residency program.
To print this article, click here
GM John Odom got front and center on Georgia's Deja Vu. Photo courtesy of Six Flags Over Georgia
It's
a roller coaster!
Six Flags Over Georgia in
Atlanta announces the arrival of Déjà Vu September
1, 2001. Measurements: 196 feet high (59 meters), 1,204 feet of track
(365 meters), 90 degree first drop. Delivered by Vekoma.
Working out the kinks and getting the ride ready for public consumption
may have taken all season, and the park may have ached that a ride scheduled
for a late spring opening lay enticingly dormant throughout the summer.
Still, in the end the new-generation boomerang's opening gave Six Flags
a big publicity boost heading into the weekends-only fall season.
"We were very pleased with the media coverage," said Marcie Tanner, the
park's public relations manager. Some 120 members of the media from as
far afield as Alabama, Tennessee and southern Georgia and broadcasting
even further afield through Fox News and CNN Radio International joined
about 50 members of American Coaster Enthusiasts for the August 30 media
preview. The news signaled for the general public, which had eagerly anticipated
the ride, a reason to get out to the park early on Saturday two days later.
"There were quite a lot of people waiting in line to ride it when it first
opened up," Tanner said of the rush from the front gate to the coaster.
"And it continues to be that way. We were very open with the fact it wasn't
opening when we hoped it would. We had been building up to this ride for
so long and people wanted to come out and try it."
And try it again and again and again. The first riders, Sam and Robert
Ulrich, the father/son coaster gurus, spent every possible minute of media
day riding Déjà Vu, and Robert proclaimed it one
of the best of some 300 different coasters he's ridden around the world.
In Tanner's own estimation, Déjà Vu immediately earned
status as best ride in the park. "It over delivered. You look at this
ride from the ground, and you think it's a good ride. You get on it and
you realize how intense it is. It is so much different than any other
boomerang: that 90 degrees straight down at almost 200 feet in the air
is one of the most unique and intense ride experiences ever."
Aside from its intensity, Vekoma introduces a clever seating arrangement
with the inverted coaster, wherein the four-abreast seats are arranged
in a V-shape with the two interior seats positioned forward of the two
outer seats. It thus gives every rider an unrestricted side view and open-air
feeling.
To print this article, click here
Guests SIPped an up-close encounter with a SeaWorld shark. Photo courtesy of SeaWorld San Antonio
It's
a Shark Interaction Program!
SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas announces the arrival of SIP, the Shark
Interaction Program, August 28, 2001. Measurements: Two-hour program,
up to four participants and 12 observers, countless sharks and stingrays.
A year in the planning, and following on the marine mammal theme park's
successful interaction programs with beluga whales and sea lions (BIP
and SLIP, respectively), the debut of SeaWorld's program to get guests
up close and personal with sharks had to be delayed when, out in the wild,
people and shark encounters ended in highly publicized, sometimes fatal
attacks on humans.
"We just elected to wait because we didn't want to look like we were just
diving into this," said Paige Newman, supervisor of the park's aquarium
department, which runs SIP. "We put so much time into this, we didn't
want to blow it." So, the park did another month's worth of beta testing
with staff, then, beginning in early August, invited members of the media
to try out the program. Finally, late in August SIP went public. (See
story on the attack's impact on Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati by clicking
here.)
Similar to the format used by SeaWorld's existing marine mammal interaction
programs, participants, paying $100 on days that the park is open (price
includes a full-day's admission) or $75 on days when the park is dark,
start with a half-hour of classroom instruction on sharks and their habitats.
Then guests dress in wet suits, receive snorkels and masks (which they
may keep as souvenirs), and head for the park's shark exhibit. In a holding
area—where the water only gets four feet deep (just over a meter)—adjoining
the main exhibit, the park installed a stainless steel fence with handles.
Participants, accompanied by an aquarist, learn how to snorkel, then submerge
as the aquarist chums the water, releasing chopped fish to entice the
scalloped hammerhead, sand tiger, bonnethead, zebra, wobbegong and nurse
sharks closer to the cage.
Then comes what, according to guest response, is the program's true highlight
as the group visits the stingray pool and, bearing food, interact with
those animals. "It's one thing to be outside the pool and reaching down
to pet the stingrays," Newman said of the standard stingray exhibit at
this is and other SeaWorlds. "But to be down with the animals, eye level,
and them accepting you in the school and swimming with them, that's special.
So many people have that teary-eyed reaction."
Newman recounts several instances of people frightened to enter water
near sharks, but once in the guests almost refuse to emerge. "That's what
I love about this job, is getting them over their fear," she said. Initial
post-program surveys, meanwhile, yield the most promising results of SIP,
especially in light of the hysteria generated over this summer's shark
attacks on the Eastern Seaboard. On the question "Has your perception
of sharks and stringrays changed for the worse or for the better?" 100
hundred percent marked that their perception had changed for the better.
To print this article, click here
It's
a Deja Vu again!
Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, announces the arrival
of Déjà Vu August 25, 2001. Measurements: 196 feet
high (59 meters), 1,204 feet of track (365 meters), 90-degree first drop.
Delivered by Vekoma.
Del Holland, vice president and general manager of Six Flags Magic Mountain,
was giving his opening remarks at the media day press conference August
24 when, on cue, the Déjà Vu train was let loose
from its upright tower and sent tearing through a banner, sending large
pieces of confetti floating down on Holland's head. It was a most pleasing
paper rain after on-again, off again media events had been scheduled since
spring. The first of Vekoma's new generation of boomerang—the tallest
boasting a 102-foot vertical loop (31 meters) and fastest with the V seating
inverted trains reaching 65 mph (104 k/h)—was finally open.
For the occasion the park invited twins to be among the first riders.
About 50 sets showed up, said Publicist Amy Means, ranging in age from
pre-teens to twins in their 60s. Members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts
accepted the media day invitation, too, many impersonating twins by wearing
matching Hawaiian shirts or park paraphernalia.
As it would in Georgia a week later, Déjà Vu opened
to immediate acclaim. Public guests got their first chance at the ride
the next morning, and the rush from the gate to the ride's queue has been
repeated every weekend since, Means said. "It's right next to the Cyclone
at the back of the park," she said of Déjà Vu. "People
used to run the front way toward Goliath. Now they all run the
back way." For her part, the ride exceeded expectations. "The most thrilling
part is when you are pulled out of the station backward 23 stories up,
and you are hanging there, and then you instantly start to free fall.
When you look at it from the ground you think, 'Oh yeah, that's going
to be fun.' But when you get on it, it takes your breath away."
Have we heard this before, or is this Déjà Vu?
To print this article, click here
Eric’s
Turn
Photo courtesy of WaterWorld Waterpark
We ARE the world
"I would like you to meet my good friend, Oktay Orhon," said Suzanne Melas,
introducing me to the - vice president of the Dedeman group which owns
several waterparks in Turkey. Suzanne is the director of WaterWorld Waterpark
in Ayia Napa, a resort on the south coast of Cyprus, and we were gathering
for an international waterparks roundtable session at last year's World
Waterpark Association Symposium and Trade Show in San Antonio, Texas.
That's Suzanne above posing with the Egyptian construction crew who built
her latest ride.
For those of you with knowledge of history or geography, the significance
of Suzanne introducing Oktay as her "good friend" should not be lost on
you. This was the third time the two had worked a symposium together,
yet the two cannot visit each other's waterparks or homes. Their countries
are, effectively, in a state of war with each other, and have been since
1974 when a Turkish invasion of Cyprus divided the island nation into
Turkish Cypriot (northern) and Greek Cypriot (southern) zones. The hatred
between these two ethnicities runs deep and long (some 12 centuries, in
fact), and the political animosity is such that travel between Turkey
and the nation of Cyprus is virtually prohibited.
Yet here were Suzanne and Oktay conversing like old pals. Having lived
in Turkey as a child, and having visited Cyprus two years ago, I was deeply
moved by their obvious respect and regard for each other. I knew at that
moment, too, this was not just a tribute to two exceptional people, but
to our whole amusement and attractions industry. Our mission is to provide
fun and smiles to all people, any people, a mission which transcends national
borders and political boundaries.
Wherever you live in this world you were probably shocked and even overwhelmed
by the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. last week.
Several of you may have been personally impacted by the events. It is
typical in the aftermath of those tragedies, and at the start of the uncertain
times to come, to "put our jobs in perspective," which is to say denigrate
the importance of our work as amusement operators, suppliers and promoters.
I beg to disagree. Never has our industry played a more significant role
than it does in the present environment, if only for the example we provide.
We bring pleasure, enlightenment and a regard for life in all its richness
and excitement through our products. And through our camaraderie, we engender
respect, trade and friendships on a global scale.
That global aspect is what originally inspired us to publish THE LOOP
through such an international medium as the aptly named World Wide Web
rather than using a print publication. The internet is the quickest and
most convenient way to share industry news and insights around the world.
At the same time you are reading this, people on five other continents
are reading it, too. All those readers living in dozens of different countries
and representing scores of different cultures are, hopefully, learning
and smiling and prospering as they read THE LOOP. For us, the most rewarding
aspect of publishing THE LOOP is how frequently we converse by phone or
email with readers—friends—in countries far afield from our
Dayton, Ohio, operations.
To that furtherance of world understanding, respect and cooperation, we
dedicate this issue of THE LOOP to the victims, hailing from 63 different
nations, of last week's terrorist attacks, to the rescue workers and to
the members of the armed forces in all the countries who will risk their
lives to remove terror as a political option the globe over.
Thank you
I was covering the American Zoo and Aquarium Association conference in
St. Louis, Missouri, when the terrorist attacks occurred in New York and
Washington (see story above by clicking here).
Needless to say, my flight home was canceled. I want to thank the Columbus
Zoo and Aquarium, especially Patty Peters, associate zoo director/marketing,
for offering me a ride in one of their vans, which the zoo sent down to
St. Louis to fetch its people home. Not only did I make it home only a
few hours after my flight was scheduled to get in, but I enjoyed pleasant
company on the five-hour drive; and company was what we all needed at
that time.
IAAPA Show issue
One place where the international nature of this business is most in evidence
is the annual IAAPA Trade Show and Convention in Orlando, Florida, November
10-17. THE LOOP will post a special show issue November 2, plus one at
the show November 16. With these and all THE LOOP issues leading up to
November we have put together special advertising packages.
Suppliers, this is your best chance to tell your international clientele
about your new products, your show specials and where to find you on that
huge trade show floor, because our publication, delivered at the speed
of email, will be the one that reaches your potential customers before
they reach Orlando. And knowing the tight budgets most of you currently
are working with, we have made our prices extremely low in our attempt
to get every exhibitor on board and make this a true show special—and
special show.
For information, click here
or email Lynne Mosman, our advertising manager, at lynne@gettheloop.com.
To print this article, click here
