I took my daughter to her second amusement park last weekend, not too shabby considering she is only five months old. We went with friends of various ages to Hersheypark’s “Christmas Candylane”. While no coasters were open, it is a very fun time. The great thing about visiting a park with kids, no matter how old, is that they help by adding a new dimension to what I take in. As someone whose livelihood is directly tied to the success of the amusement park, it was good to see people of all ages out at Hershey, enjoying themselves and spending time together.
There are obviously many challenges for amusement parks, but the two most basic are money and time. In today’s economy people have less entertainment money to go around, and folks also have less time available, especially time when the entire family does something as a unit outside of the house. Technology has certainly changed the way people allocate these two resources. For instance, with the way HD now permeates sports, many people prefer to spend Sunday on the couch where they can watch an NFL game, never miss a play, and walk straight into a bathroom during a TV time out. Once considered to be the best way to see the game, now the NFL and others sports need to work to bring people to the field. I am not saying that the NFL is hurting for business, they are the most popular sport in the country, but the dynamic has certainly shifted. It will be interesting to watch how sports work to make their guest experience that much better. While we will probably not have people being satisfied watching roller coaster 3D videos (anyone remember “America’s Greatest Roller Coaster Thrills: In 3d”), the advances in technology demonstrate that it will be a part of the guest experience, we just need to ensure that people are not satisfied staying home to see it.
This dovetails with the fact that amusement parks need to remember what sets them apart from the competition- service. Guests expect a high level of service wherever they go today, even at an amusement park. If they are not happy they will take their entertainment dollar somewhere else. In the past people used to reserve this ready cash for an annual amusement park visit, but this is no longer the case. Movie theaters have state-of-the-art sound and moving seats, zoos have 4D theaters, and some municipal pools look like waterparks. What once was earmarked “amusement park money” is now “money to entertain”. Recently Merlin’s Nick Varney had an interesting analysis in Park World and demonstrated how he feels that the cost per-hour for a family at an amusement park is one of the best values people can encounter and that we may be pricing the entrance gate fee too low. I believe Nick is onto something, and as an industry we need to remember that giving away the gate is a short-term solution that just creates a long-term problem. Parks have to get guests through the front gate, but giving away the gate annually does not necessarily provide the cash needed to provide repeating guest visits. Things like staffing, staff morale and park cleanliness are sure to suffer when the cash flow gets tight. Of course when looking at expenses, why not also follow the lead of parks like Holiday World where they roll parking fees, soda, and sunscreen all into the front gate, guests don’t mind paying more if they also take out their wallets less (http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/ticket-prices-discounts)? Will Koch certainly had some great ideas making his property different from the corporate competition a few hours away.
Some things to think about as our industry heads into the New Year. Tis the season for a brief industry analysis- happy holidays to you and yours.
Homeward Bound
November 19, 2011
I am on the plane heading back from IAAPA. A few months of build-up for what resulted in four days of business with a blur. This is my 11th show, in some ways it feels like I have been attending these much longer. Things have changed a lot, both for me and the industry. I started at Amusement Business about one week before 9/11. Even though we knew that this event would impact the industry, I do not think any of us comprehended knew that the next decade would see so much change in general, both throughout the world (mortgage and financial issues, wars on several continents, Arab Spring) or the industry (exponential growth in China, the sale of a family-owned icon like Kennywood to a corporate group, parks across the globe communicating with guests through their phones and email on an almost daily basis).
For this year our announcement about the new branding partnership with Hot Wheels certainly has turned a lot of heads, as have our line of hard products. The Gerstlauer line has remained strong, in addition to the corporate parks we find ourselves talking to a lot of the smaller properties. People that would have “gone Italian” are looking to spend a little more on what they realize is a long-term investment. Canobie Lake Park is just the first of many Gerstlauer small-park installations. Ropes Courses, Inc. continues to draw a lot of attention with its product. It is well-built and affordable; something that resonates with owners of parks of all sizes. Selling for people you can trust is important, and we are very lucky to have people that stand behind their work. Obviously it is important when we essentially sell entertainment machines, as one of our friends said amusement parks are “factories that move people”. He wasn’t trying to be contrite, but pointing out that as much fun as a 200-foot coaster is, at the end of the day it does not care about its guests- the manufacturer’s engineering and fabrication and the park’s diligent maintenance are what keep people safe, year-in and year-out.
While the IAAPA experience has changed, it is still a combination of fun and exhaustion. I don’t get to see as much of the floor as I used to, now it is mostly the conference rooms of 3 booths. However, that means we’re busy and I won’t complain. I will just have to see the latest and greatest when the seasonal properties open their doors next spring and we do it all over again. I hope I will be still visiting Florida for at least another eleven shows. At that time my daughter will be ten. I hope she can come down to Orlando and ride Tower of Terror with me.
Stepping Ahead
November 7, 2011
Launch Coasters appear to be a dime a dozen these days. Every manufacturer has one, so many do not stand out. However, there are some concepts that break the mold- the most notable of which is the Launched Euro-Fighter from Gerstlauer. I had the pleasure of riding their first version of this, at Hansa Park in Germany, this summer. Called “Fluch von Novgorod” the experience is fantastic from start to finish.
Of course, you can’t talk about this ride without first mentioning the theming. FVN has a queue that uses the topography fantastically and guests are sucked into the experience. Walking down into the castle you would never know that below grade to your right are the ride’s launch section and brake run, which sit parallel to one-another. After walking through great theming you enter the boarding area which is dark, feels confined, and has a chandelier that flickers.
After getting in the car the lights dim and the ride is dispatched into a few show rooms. In the last one it is dark, doors open in front of you and the car rolls down a ten-foot drop. The butterflies in the stomach turn to a healthy dose of positive g’s as the LSM system grabs a hold of the car and launches it to over 60 mph (100 kmh). The vehicle turns to the right and bursts out into sunlight. From there, it flies over a great airtime hill, which is quickly followed by another hill where guests are tiled to the side just under 90 degrees. What follows is reminiscent of Magnum XL-200, a pretzel turn-around. After that the ride speeds through a heartline roll, and then is mysteriously slowed.
Here is where the experience gets even more interesting. The ride vehicle is picked up on Gerstlauer’s now-infamous vertical lift and slowly brought to the top. Using the variable-speed drive motor to its fullest, the car “creaks” to the top and slowly rolls into the beyond-vertical drop. In pitch black guests fly down the hill, into an Immelman turn, and then speed through the brake run.
The coaster’s exit is almost as crazy as the Euro-Fighter experience. Guests have to walk through a maze in order to get out of the ride. It truly is one of those “never in America” moments at an amusement park. All-in-all the “Fluch von Novgorod” is a ride experience unlike any other and one not to be missed. Of course, this ride simply set the stage for the even bigger Launched Euro-Fighter that opened at Japan’s Fuji-Q Highlands this year.
A Roller Coaster, Bear Costumes, 2 Grown Men, and a Great Cause
October 19, 2011
This Saturday Mark Rosenzweig and Adam Sandy will be getting “untamed” at Canobie Lake Park. To celebrate the end of Canobie’s first season with Untamed, one of Gerstlauer’s “Euro-Fighter” roller coasters, they will be donning bear costumes and “working” at the park on Saturday, October 22. They will be collecting money for Give Kids the World (http://www.gktw.org/). Give Kids the World is a “non-profit organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of all children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world to experience a memorable, joyful, cost-free visit to the Central Florida attractions”. As parents, both Mark and Adam appreciate what GKTW does for families and wanted to contribute in their own small way. They invite everyone to stop by the Untamed roller coaster, contribute, and enjoy the park’s Screemfest and Oktoberfest events. For those in the region, Canobie Lake Park (www.canobie.com) is easy to get to from anywhere in New England. If you can’t make it to the park this weekend, and would like to help, please send a check made out to “Give Kids a World” to:
Untamed Charity Event
c/o Ride Entertainment Group
114 Log Canoe Circle
Stevensville, MD 21666
The Ride Entertainment Group will pull the donations together and send them to Give Kids the World. With the event being this just around the corner we will wait until the end of next week before sending all of the checks to Florida. See you in New Hampshire!
Climb like a Pirate
October 9, 2011
I probably have a soft spot in my heart for the SkyTrail® Ropes Course we installed at Nickelodeon Universe because it was our first project in collaboration with our friends at Ropes Courses, Inc. While not a coaster, the structure is imposing as it looms over the entire park. It stands 4 stories tall, but it is also set about 13 feet above the midway, which really allows the blue and green structure to make a statement.
Every time I go on this attraction, called “Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank” by the park, I admit that I get a little nervous. Now, I have climbed on coasters, tower rides, and a lot of vertical structures, but even that does not quite prepare me to scamper across a rope or two while hanging 60 feet in the air. The crowning jewel of the entire installation is the “plank”. This was the first time that Ropes Courses, Inc. installed this element and it has proven to be a huge winner. Guests that climb all the way to the fourth story are greeted by three elements. There is the plank in the middle, and then on either side is a simple element, one has just two ropes that criss-cross and form an “x” on at the bottom with a simple assistance rope on top, and the other has essentially a rope ladder laid on its side. These lead out to the plank, which I approached with a little trepidation the first time I climbed, but kids about one-third of my age loved. Here you walk out on a dead-end, see the bright colors of Nickelodeon Universe all around you, and use both hands to pull the foghorn. The trick here is that the foghorn only goes if both ropes are pulled, which means you need to completely let go of your harness. I did it, but it certainly was not easy the first time. However, every time I visit now I feel like an old pro.
If you are in the neighborhood we recommend you stop by. There are 3 Ride Entertainment projects in the park, the “Fairly Odd Coaster” (a Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster), SpongeBob Sqaure Pants Rock Bottom Plunge (a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter), and the afore-mentioned SkyTrail® from Ropes Courses, Inc. All of their ticket information is at: http://www.nickelodeonuniverse.com/ticketpurchasing.html and it is worth the extra price to go for a climb.
