Inside a large ballroom lined with well-dressed walls at the St. Regis, two blocks from the White House, board members and friends are mingling, waiting to spring the surprise. And John Collins appears, business-like, thinking he’s headed into the annual board dinner, although his face is still painted with a rosy-cheeked smile. From each of the tables, voices yell “Surprise!” in celebration of the chairman’s sixtieth birthday. His eyes widen and then begin to tear. That was how it happened, John Collins’s surprise birthday party.

IAAPA’s board isn’t commonly known for its surprise party antics, but Collins is not a common chairman. His stakes in the amusement industry began before he was born, starting with the pioneering efforts of his grandfather and then his father. He’s been an industry leader for four decades, trying on dozens of hats before wearing the IAAPA chairman crown. And although he marks his sixtieth birthday as the highlight of a very special year, Collins says he only hopes he’s given as much back to the industry throughout his exhilarating and challenging year as chairman.


With September 11 and plummeting tourism, seemingly a dark moment in history fading in the rearview mirror, Collins might’ve allowed himself a glimmer of hope for a relatively smooth journey. With the appointment of Clark Robinson to association president and a successful 2002 trade show in Orlando, the year began on just that note. But an airborne virus, a contentious war in Iraq, and economic and political tension around the world gave the amusement industry, like so many others, a few unexpected bumps in the road.

Safe and Sound

From the beginning of his tenure as chairman, Collins prioritized Give Kids The World and international unity, as well as improving the perception of industry safety in the United States and avoiding government regulation of amusement park rides. A year ago, Collins said he would have a straightforward approach to dealing with the issue and with Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.). “There’s no point in putting up the no-comment sign. You have to deal with it, face on, and that’s what we’re doing as an industry, and what we’ve done as long as I can remember.”

Having had the experience as chairman of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers, and Attractions (BALPPA) with similar impending legislation in the U.K. more than two decades ago, Collins was prepared to encourage Six Flags and the IAAPA committees and staff to improve the media and public’s perception of roller coaster safety.

He supported a strong media campaign throughout early 2003 and promoted various reports that were published, proclaiming the amusement industry as a safe one. “The very positive coverage we had after the brain injury report came out and the two other reports proclaiming the safety of our industry and the safety of roller coasters made a huge difference,” Collins says. “The coverage from the different networks was such a positive indication of how safe our industry is and has put us leaps and bounds ahead of how we might have been perceived even before Congressman Markey initially criticized us. Worldwide coverage—CNN and BBC World—were so positive. People realize that we are a very well-organized and very safe industry. From that point of view it’s been a banner year. We must be thankful to Gary Story and Six Flags for their committment to funding the studies and the media event.”

Gone with the Wind

The campaign to show the U.S. and the world that the amusement industry is a safe one basically went according to plan, he says, and in some ways the outcome surpassed his hopes. It was the world events no one planned for that caught the industry by surprise.

SARS came as a shock, Collins says. The disease (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which spread throughout Asia, made a previously flourishing Asian amusement industry come to a halt while the region’s governments struggled to control the illness. Tourism all but froze in the months leading up to the summer season, with some of the world’s largest cities virtually shutting down. In the midst of all the hysteria over the illness and the amusement industry’s concern over their season, Collins had to make a crucial call regarding the recently acquired Asian Amusement Expo, scheduled for July 14–16, 2003 at the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center.

The final decision to cancel the twelfth annual show, the first with the IAAPA name, was done by committee, Collins says, and was ultimately an uncomplicated one. “That decision wasn’t made without lots of consultation. All sides of the industry were involved—the manufacturers and suppliers, the operators, the board, members of the executive finance committee, as well as the IAAPA staff—so it wasn’t a difficult decision or one I made without a great deal of input. We had plenty of opinions before us to make the right decision,” Collins says. “It would have been impossible to hold that show at that time and be successful.

“I think most of us are sadly getting used to the world we live in and all the things that come with it. But SARS was a shock.”

As far as IAAPA was concerned, Collins says he was disappointed to cancel the AAE show because he was excited about the opportunity to play a part in the development of that show and see it come to fruition. Robinson says Collins handled the cancellation of the show the way he handled everything else during his chairmanship—“with strength of purpose, resolve, and with a great deal of wisdom,” he says. “He was cognizant and very concerned about how the actions taken would impact a very diverse IAAPA membership, as well as the industry as a whole.” But as far as AAE goes, next year’s show is already in the works—IAAPA’s AAE 2004 will be held at the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center on July 14-16.

Integrating Technology

Collins set out to begin his chairmanship with an array of ambitious goals. One of the most significant priorities was supporting IAAPA’s staff so they could exponentially expand the association’s technological capabilities to offer more benefits to members worldwide. During the year, IAAPA launched two new integrated web sites which give members the opportunity to register for events and trade shows online, update their membership, and stay current with the industry’s events. The Space Allocation Committee also gave exhibitors the chance to request booth space live on the Web and watch the process as it unfolded.

These advances are essential to IAAPA’s success as an international association, Collins explains. “We have to be, as an association, on the cutting edge of technology and all that technology provides for us. The IAAPA communications department and the web site manager and others have been recruited because we are fully committed to staying on top of whatever technology offers us and our members.” Another of the chairman’s goals set out last summer was to place greater emphasis and resources on regions of the world with fledgling or undeveloped amusement industries. In April, Collins met extensively with three Russian park associations in Moscow. He toured parts of the country and learned a great deal about the Russian industry.

As the former Soviet Republic moves from a communist state to a free market society, they are experiencing growing pains, Collins says, and require IAAPA’s support. “Under the communist regime, every reasonable-sized municipality had some kind of amusement park. It might have been a fairly simple amusement park by our standards, but it was an amusement park nonetheless,” he explains. “So there’s a huge culture of amusement parks in Russia. And now the problem is going from free use of those parks to paid use. As time goes on those parks will have to be enhanced for people to want to pay for them.”

The payoff for the Russians and manufacturers and suppliers around the world will be huge, he says. “It’s an enormous country with a lot of people and those people in time will be willing to pay for amusement park and theme park entertainment. It’s already started.”

Innovation Nations

From Russia to the U.K., this year’s debuts from manufacturers, suppliers, and parks have raised the bar yet again. One of a very short list of regrets Collins has with regard to the past year is that he didn’t get the chance to ride Top Thrill Dragster, the new 420-foot coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. After 2002’s Summer Meeting at Cedar Point, he knew it was going to be colossal. “There were these huge yellow pieces of steel around the park. And the more the Summer Meeting got under way, the more the rumors started circulating with regard to what it was. Dick Kinzel said it could be the biggest McDonald’s in the world, but it was the tallest roller coaster in the world,” Collins says.

“Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to ride Top Thrill Dragster, as I haven’t had the opportunity to ride some of the other state-of-the-art coasters. From the perception of the media and guests around the world, it looks as if the whole coaster situation has taken another great leap forward. Cedar Point certainly set an enormous challenge. They set the bar very high for manufacturers.”

Beyond the amusement industry, Collins says he was impressed how far zoos, aquariums, and museums have come in terms of making learning a fun, exciting experience, and being able to integrate with other parts of the industry. As these venues close the gap between education and entertainment, the association takes on a much more significant role around the world, he explains. “Many of our members such as creative designers and specialists began to build the bridges from museums being conceived as formal places of learning to venues for family fun. They use a great deal of the technology and experience that has come out of our industry to make learning much more of a pleasant experience. Through these innovations, we’ve contributed to a lot of other industries through the talent that we have tied up in our industry.”

At the time of this writing, Collins is looking ahead to the Summer Meeting in Australia and especially to the 2003 Convention and Trade Show in Orlando. Beyond that, though, he imagines his life will return to normal on November 21. “There were times this year when I’ve woken up and thought, am I really chairman of the greatest international association of all the amusement industries in the world? I’ve had to pinch myself,” Collins says, with a nostalgic tinge. “From that perspective, I guess it’s changed my life this year. But I have to think when it’s all over in November, I will go back to my hum drum life, my ordinary life, and that hopefully I’ve contributed something to this industry, to the people who I care so much about.”

And Collins wants those people to know that so far he has no plans for his sixty-first birthday…