Volume 2, No. 18. September 27, 2002
New Arrivals
It’s
a water slide!
Waterworld Waterpark in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, announces the arrival of The Quest
of Heracles, August 16, 2002. Measurements: 19 meters tall (63 feet), two
73-meter (240 foot) slides. Delivered by Ashtec, Bridgestone, Capers Hill, George
Karas and Associates and Whitewater West.
Waterworld has gotten into the habit, for one reason or another, of opening
its new attractions well into the season in August, right as Cyprus resort town’s
tourist season peaks. Conventional wisdom asserts new attractions should help
launch a season, a tenet the waterpark’s Director Suzanne Melas had adhered
to. But her experiences the past couple of years has turned that tenet on its
head.
Last year, for example, the August opening of The Fall of Icarus (THE
LOOP, August 24, 2001) created a buzz for the waterpark when Ayia Napa was
at its busiest, and enticed local residents to make return visits to the park
in September. “I’d rather not do it (late), but then it’s always
exciting when it opens and it's a success, and it’s just at the right time
because it shortens our queues at the other rides,” she said. “And
it brings the Cypriots back.”
That
last factor is even more vital this year as Cyprus on the whole suffered through
a 30 percent drop in tourism. While Waterworld has been down a little each month,
the park maintained its annual attendance in the peak months of July and August
thanks to some 30 different marketing campaigns and partnerships.
“Figures show we would have been down 30 or 40 percent without the extra
coupons,” Melas said. A campaign through McDonalds proved most valuable
as the fast food restaurant handed out 20 percent discounts for admission to
Waterworld, and the waterpark reciprocated by giving those coupon bearers additional
coupons for McDonalds.
Heracles gives the park a formidable hero in its attendance sustenance
campaign. Another prototype slide by Whitewater West that Waterworld dressed
up in detailed theming—an ancient Greek pharos with two snakes (the enclosed
body slides) curling around the tower—The Quest Of Heracles raced
to the top of the park’s thrill offerings. The seven-second passage from
top to the snake's fanged mouth makes Heracles a faster ride than even
the park’s Freefall Plus.
This became obvious when the ride opened just after noon on that Friday on the
eve of Waterworld’s busiest week. The park announced Heracles’
imminent opening over loudspeakers and on the Melas-owned radio station, and
with a long queue waiting to inaugurate the ride, Melas and the park’s
managers along with the ride’s installation team lined up to watch the
first 20 children take the plunge. These kids received souvenir caps, and Melas
received encouraging reviews about how fast and frightening the ride was, reviews
that received confirmation in subsequent days by the long—but constantly
moving—queue at Heracles.
Melas had to rely on the reports of these guests and her lifeguard crew—who
also rated Heracles the park’s scariest and, therefore, best ride—because
she herself has never been on it. Normally she rides a slide before declaring
it ready to open, but when she got to the top of Heracles’ tower,
she said, “I chickened out. It’s too scary for me.” She said
she would wait until Whitewater West officials visited before she would venture
into one of those snakes. “I choose the rides for my market, not for myself,”
she said.
Once again, it seems, she chose right.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved