Stretching the Calendar-by K. F. Moffett It makes sense, really. For years, parks and zoos in intemperate climates have found ways to expand their seasons, coming up with nonride-related or indoor events such as holiday lights festivals. Museums and other indoor attractions have the obvious advantage of being sheltered from the cold, though sometimes even they have to retool their promotions to attract visitors in slower times. These include everything from more advanced technological additions to reduced admission prices. Some of the newest venues to expand their season are stadiums. “One of the big trends we’re seeing is facilities that traditionally haven’t been year-round that are going year-round in an attempt to boost revenue and generate more excitement among visitors and in the community at large,” says Keith James, president of Jack Rouse Associates (JRA). “Sports facilities are where we’re seeing this quite a bit. Many are adding themed restaurants and other entertainment features.” Last September, the ribbon was cut on the 25,000-square-foot Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, which was designed by JRA. The hall “celebrates all facets of the Green Bay Packers franchise as well as the game of football,” and it includes interactives, multimedia displays, traditional exhibits, and content selected to appeal to people of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests. Fans can also enjoy the Weather Theater, the Ice Bowl diorama, a trivia challenge game, a re-created locker room, and a re-creation of Vince Lombardi’s office. The Hall of Fame itself features a multimedia show celebrating great moments in Packer history as well as a display of the franchise’s three Super Bowl trophies, a database containing information about everyone who has ever played for the team, and an exhibit dedicated to the 126 Packers enshrined in the Hall. “When the Packers redeveloped historic Lambeau Field, they wanted to create experiences that went beyond what happens on the gridiron. They wanted to tell the Packer story, broadening the team’s appeal for a wider audience and drawing visitors to the stadium during the off-season and on nongame days.” JRA’s work on the Hall of Fame was part of a larger design project at Lambeau Field. The company also assisted in planning components of other major guest areas within the stadium’s five-story, 70,000-square-foot Atrium, including the exterior plaza areas, food service venues, and a games area to ensure consistent thematic treatments, efficient guest flow patterns, optimal revenue generation, and an overall integrated guest experience. The Atrium, which is expected to turn Lambeau Field into a 365-day-a-year attraction, opened last year to rave reviews. “The new Packers Hall of Fame really is the best of both worlds,” says John Jones, executive vice president and COO of the Green Bay Packers. “It gives us a modern, interactive family museum experience, while featuring irreplaceable Packers artifacts that have been collected and preserved throughout the team’s history.” The Packers aren’t the first sports team Jack Rouse Associates has worked with in the creation of sports-related attractions, nor will it be the last: The Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and, recently, the Cincinnati Reds, for whom JRA has created fan-based entertainment attractions and museums, have all collaborated with the design firm. JRA, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, is currently in the detail design phase of the Museum and Hall of Fame’s exhibits and guest experiences. Located at the new Great American Ball Park, which opened last year, the Reds Museum and Hall of Fame is scheduled to open in September. It will feature many of the same kinds of elements of the Packers Museum, focusing on Reds history and the game of baseball. Keith James thinks that the move to expand existing facilities to accommodate a longer season is a smart one, and he sees possibilities for other venues to do the same. It’s smart because the stadiums are able to attract visitors not only on nongame days and during the off-season, but also during game days when visitors are already there. With added attractions and expanded dining possibilities, visitors will be apt to stay longer and to spend more money. “By creating year-round attractions, sports organizations are finding that, on game days, they can draw fans to the stadium earlier and keep them there later,” he says. “Nonseason-ticket holders are given a reason to come back to the stadium again and again. And the stadium becomes a destination during days, weeks, and months when it otherwise would have sat empty. With new stadiums going up all over the country and professional sports organizations looking for new ways to generate revenue, we think this trend will continue. We also see potential for it to pick up at colleges and universities.” In August, JRA will complete work on another year-round attraction in Cincinnati, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which is housed in a new three-story building on the banks of the Ohio River. In the same spirit of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., the Freedom Center was envisioned by JRA to go further in challenging visitors to take action in defense of freedom if they feel so moved. “We felt that, as wonderful as they are, those institutions went right to the brink of asking you to take a personal stake in the issue, but ultimately did not ask that,” says Bob Harness, a JRA vice president. “We saw an opportunity for the Freedom Center to take the next step, to suggest that there are current issues of freedom and unfreedom that involve you and are worth your stepping forward and doing something, like the people on the Underground Railroad did. By and large, conductors on the Underground Railroad were average people, just like you and me.” BRC Imagination Arts In another year-round attraction project, JRA has teamed with BRC Imagination Arts of Burbank, Calif., to plan and conceptualize an as-yet-unnamed tourist attraction in Malmö, Sweden. “Our collaboration on Sentosa Singapore Island proved to be so successful, we decided to continue the cooperation—we make a great team,” says Bob Rogers, president and CEO of BRC Imagination Arts. BRC Imagination Arts has been working on several cultural/educational attractions lately, including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center, and Universal’s Animation Celebration. Recently it was announced by USA Niagara Development Corp. that BRC would be leading the charrette (“an intense multi-day work session for key Niagara Falls representatives to share creative thoughts and opinions and select themes, exhibits, storylines”) for the Niagara Experience Center, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Rogers says, “We’re excited to see the Niagara Experience begin and develop into a world-class project. Our team sees great potential in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and we are looking forward to developing an experience that will touch many lives.” The project is being envisioned as a state-of-the-art portal to the Niagara Frontier Region and its historical and cultural attractions. Over the past two and a half years, USA Niagara has made great progress in developing the project. Governor George Pataki recently committed $10 million in capital funding, and an interim board of directors has been put together. ITEC and Amusement Leisure Worldwide ITEC Entertainment of Orlando, Fla., is busy on several projects, only two of which they were at liberty to discuss. The company’s Creative Design Group has just finished master planning and creative concepts for a large-scale resort for Hengdian World Studios (a feature film company) in China. The company is now moving into the Schematic Design phase focusing primarily on the resort’s theme park component. Also, ITEC’s Technical Engineering Group is in the final weeks of a project that was started in late 2002. The group is programming control systems for The Mummy’s Revenge attraction, scheduled to open this May, at Universal Orlando . Mark Nichols of ITEC says that no product or trend in year-round entertainment stands out so much as the location in which most projects are occurring. “It is apparent,” Nichols says, “that the bulk of new work for the themed entertainment industry is in Asia.” No one knows this better than the people at Amusement Leisure Worldwide, though their forte is themed water attractions. In the past year the company has built several year-round parks in Asia—one in Vietnam, which opened last July, and one in Singapore, which opens this June. The Singapore waterpark will be its largest. Says David Orr, president of ALW, “The development of this project has been three years in the making and has been a very interactive process with Melchers Project Management Pte Ltd. and the client. This park will be a great success and we are very proud to have been an integral part of the design process, and now the supplier of the attractions.” The park is checking in at an estimated cost of $16 million and is set to attract 700,000 visitors annually. It will feature a wave pool and four of ALW’s waterslides: a Giant People Eater Family Raft Ride, two Superflume Inner Tube rides, and ALW’s signature Sidewinder ride—the first ever in Singapore. Bullock Smith & Partners Paul Palko, a senior designer for Bullock Smith & Partners of Knoxville, Tenn., says that the majority of their recent work in year-round entertainment attractions has been in the Mexican market. “For a client in Monterrey, Mexico,” Palko says, “we designed a family entertainment center to complement a new cinema. Our tasks included developing a conceptual building plan to set the shell of the structure, coordinating the attractions and finishes as well as producing the architectural drawings through the design development phase.” The mezzanine level of the FEC contains the children’s attractions, including a theater, play structure, additional party rooms, and branded interactives highlighting the developer’s media interest and holdings. The roof level accommodates a miniature golf course and a thematic track ride all within an outdoor tropical setting. “This project is completed and is experiencing a great deal of success in the market,” says Palko. “Additionally, for the same developer, we are designing enhancements to an existing outdoor theme park adjacent to the city zoo in Monterrey.” The project included designing a new entrance pavilion and exit retail building, a relocated children’s ride area, a 4,000-seat amphitheater, group picnic shelters and lawn areas, and public cafe style food service on the plaza. “We’ve seen a trend in year-round attractions occurring in other less-tourism based cities in the Mexican market,” Palko says. Bullock Smith & Partners just completed concept drawing for a retrofitted FEC in Juarez, Mexico, a border town adjacent to El Paso, Texas. “This project is intended to be the first phase of an outdoor village mixed-use center also including big box retailers, specialty retailers, a cinema, restaurant locations, and a festival lawn area. This project is poised to move into design development with an expected opening of May 2005.” Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, is excited about the soon-to-open Wannado City in Miami, Fla. “This new indoor concept is without question the best indoor children’s attraction I’ve seen in 20 years,” he says. ITPS is working with CIE and Grupo Magico to put the finishing touches on the 120,000-square-foot facility, which is due to open in July or August of this year. It is located in Sawgrass Mills, Florida’s largest mall (with more than 26 million visitors a year). It is being billed as the “anchor location,” with future parks planned for New York, the West Coast, and beyond. “We think that there is a definite need and desire for year-round park concepts,” says Speigel. “We believe that Wannado City will explode and fill that requirement. We see the potential for up to 20 of these around the world.” The concept behind Wannado City? Allowing kids to play grown-up in an elaborate, highly themed venue. All this with the help of various corporate “partners,” interested in “creating lifelong brand relationships with kids through hands-on interaction.” Aimed at four- to 11-year-olds, Wannado re-creates the feel of a major city from the point of view of “kidizens.” ITPS worked on the initial operational review for the Miami location and is now working on expansion and development in the international market, including South America and Asia. Speigel thinks Wannado City will revolutionize its entire niche. “The indoor attractions market has been searching for its soul” he says. “I believe it has found it in Wannado.”