Funworld February 2008
Industry Notes
by Keith Miller
A Different Kind of FEC
FITNESS WORKOUTS, WATERPARK RIDES, AND AN EDUCATIONAL DISCOVERY AREA are just a few of the activities guests can indulge in at JayDee’s Family Fun Center, an unusual five-acre FEC that opened in Inwood, West Virginia, last August.
The brainchild and longtime dream of owner Terry Hess, JayDee’s probably does have something for everyone. In addition to the usual FEC offerings—an arcade, mini-golf course, climbing playground, bumper boats, and party rooms—the facility boasts some unusual activities for an FEC. “We have a 5,000-square-foot fitness center, an outdoor ‘spray park,’ a 24-foot-tall waterslide, a gift shop, a food court, and a Discover Nature Center,” said Hess. “We’re also adding a lazy river and [another waterslide] for small children.”
Hess, who retired in 2006 from his position as CEO of Martinsburg, West Virginia-based Vita Specialty Foods, said his vision is for a wholesome place everyone in the family can enjoy. “I wanted to have an all-around experience, and having the other things can carry through the slower times, like during the winter,” said Hess. “With a fitness center, the parents can be working out while the kids are playing—the parents don’t have to just sit there and watch the kids play.”
In addition to the waterslide, the waterpark features large toy figures that spray and dump water on frolicking guests. The Discover Nature Center covers 5,000 square feet of the 20,000-square-foot building area and includes seven rooms, each with different activities. “Each room will have different things,” said Hess. “In one room, honey bees will fly in and out of the building and make honey in an observation hive. We also have saltwater tanks and birds, an aquarium, a planetarium with a solar system, and a fluorescent rock display— all kinds of hands-on activities for kids.”
Hess attended IAAPA Attractions Expo 2007 in Orlando and came up with a few more ideas there. “I bought a ‘duck slide’ for little kids, and we’re also getting a Water Wars,” a game in which players use catapults to hurl water balloons at each other.
JayDee’s offers free entry to parents and grandparents who accompany kids into the facility.
Ferrari Theme Park Races to UAE
ALDAR PROPERTIES, HEADQUARTERED IN ABU DHABI, UAE, has begun work on the world’s first Ferrari theme park. A joint venture between ALDAR and Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari S.p.A., the 62-acre park—20 of them covered—is set to open in 2009.
ALDAR said the family park, reportedly costing about $625 million, will include multiple-format high-tech theaters, sophisticated driving schools for both children and adults, and participatory learning centers. The park will boast 24 attractions that will include both “high-octane and family rides,” with “roller coasters jetting into the sky and dipping into covered areas.” The heart of the park will be an advanced driving circuit that will be home to the first Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix in 2009.
At a ceremony for the laying of the project’s foundation stone on Nov. 3, the chairman of ALDAR Properties, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, said, “I am confident that the blend between the power and beauty of one of the world’s leading brands, Ferrari, with ALDAR’s expertise in development and regional knowledge will combine to create a destination that resonates with sports lovers around the world.”
Wild West World Goes the Way of the Gunslinger
Many of the park’s 24 rides were liquidated first—last fall—to head off winterization expenses for the attractions. Among them were a Fiesta Mexicana by Moser, which sold for $300,000 to Howard Young of San Francisco, who is constructing a 10-acre theme park in Fresno, California. A Himalaya sold for $250,000 to Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, NewYork. The park closed July 9, 2007, only two months after opening, as owner Thomas Etheridge filed for bankruptcy. Reasons given for the closure included cost over-runs and a very rainy spring and early summer that depressed attendance. But industry experts also cited an inadequate business plan, poor choice of theming, and too much initial capital outlay as reasons for the park’s failure. |
A SERIES OF FIVE AUCTIONS in December and January brought an end to the story of Wild West World theme park in Wichita, Kansas. Everything from golf carts to tractors, coin counters to computers, and cattle to stage-coaches was sold at the auctions, which were ordered by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Nugent.The fate of the park’s restaurant equipment and metal buildings had yet to be determined at the time of the auctions.
Record Attendance Leads to Florida Aquarium Expansion
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM IN TAMPA, FLORIDA, has embarked on a $6 million expansion made possible by record attendance in 2006 and an operating surplus. The development will include physical expansion of the facility as well as the replacement of an existing major exhibit.
The current “Sea Hunt” gallery will be replaced with “Ocean Commotion,” described as an interactive, multisensory exhibit. Other new exhibits will showcase sea creatures and feature interactive information that can be accessed through podcasts and cell phones. Also, a ship that the aquarium uses for sea-life-viewing adventure tours in Tampa Bay is being expanded from a current passenger capacity of 49 to more than 150. The final phase of the project will involve creating 9,000 square feet of new multi-use space.
“We’ve maxed out the number of education programs we can offer, and now hopefully we will be able to increase them 15 to 20 percent,” Tom Wagner, the aquarium’s public relations manager, told Funworld.
Wagner added that an investment in marketing resources in the Tampa “drive area” led to a 13 percent increase in attendance, to 675,000, in 2006 over 2005 and an increase in the proportionate number of tourists that visit the facility, and he said the numbers increased again in 2007. The aquarium also reported an operating surplus of $357,000 for 2006, more than the previous eight years combined.
The aquarium is currently a 250,000-square-foot facility that also features a small, two-acre outdoor waterpark called “Explore-A-Shore.”
Busch Entertainment Moving to OrlandoBUSCH ENTERTAINMENT CORPORA TION (BEC), a division of Anheuser Busch Companies and the parent company of 10 amusement parks, has announced it is moving its corporate headquarters later this year from St. Louis to the unofficial theme park cap ital of the world Orlando. As a part of the move, Jim Atchison, SeaWorld Orlando’s executive vice president and general manager, has been named president and chief operating officer of BEC, effective Dec. 1. “We’ve recognized over time that, frankly, with our three parks here in Orlando and two in Tampa, we have five of our 10 operating parks half of our operations here in Florida,” said Atchison of the move in a statement. Fred Jacobs, BCE’s vice president of communications, told FUNWORLD the relocation had been a long time coming. “The move has been discussed for years-really going back to the acquisition of the SeaWorld parks in 1990-but substantive planning only began this year,” he said. Jacobs added that in addition to being closer to five of the company’s parks, other reasons for the move included being in the middle of the “themed entertainment universe” and having a much closer connection with BEC’s guests, employees, and one of the world’s great family travel destinations. Other changes as a result of the move included Dan Brown, general manager of Busch Gardens Africa and Adventure Island inTampa, assuming Atchison’s role at SeaWorld Orlando, and Donnie Mills, vice president and general manager of Busch Gardens Europe and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia, succeeding Brown at theTampa parks. BCE has 26,000 employees over all 10,000 in Orlando and was expected to generate around $1.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2007. |
Major Expansion Announced for Legoland California
LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA, located about 30 miles north of San Diego in Carlsbad, has announced a $20 million expansion that will include a 36,000-square-foot aquarium and the park’s eighth themed area, called Land of Adventure.
The two-story Sea Life aquarium, which opens this summer, will be the 29th to open worldwide, but the first in North America. Julie Estrada, a spokesperson for Legoland California, told Funworld that the aquarium will be located adjacent to Legoland’s main ticket booth and will share the park’s main parking structure.
Sea Life will feature play zones, fun facts, and quiz trails, and, according to Legoland, will be designed to be a child’s guide to the life of the sea. The aquarium will be separately gated, with an admission cost below $20.
“What Legoland California has brought to theme parks in the United States, Sea Life Legoland ... will bring to aquariums in that it is 100 percent aimed at inspiring and captivating children on a level that can’t be found anywhere else,” said John Jakobsen, Legoland California’s president and general manager.
Land of Adventure opens in March and will include four attractions: “Lost Kingdom Adventure,” Legoland’s first dark ride; “Cargo Ace” plane ride; “Beetle Bounce” drop ride; and “Pharaoh’s Revenge” foam ball pit.
Tank Engine Steams to Drayton Manor
EUROPE’S FIRST THOMAS LAND WILL OPEN during Easter at Drayton Manor Theme Park, located near Tam-worth, Staffordshire, England. Based on the fictional Thomas the Tank Engine, created by the Reverend R.V. Awdry in his Railway Series of books, the $11 million section will transform 64,500 square feet of the park into the land of Sodor, the island where Thomas “lives.” This will be just the second Thomas Land to open in the world, the first being in Fuji-Q Highland amusement park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan.
“HIT entertainment asked Drayton Manor to be home to Thomas Land based on a number of factors, including its geographic location, 
popularity, success, and transport links to and from the park,” said Sundeep Sehipal of Gough Allen Stanley Marketing and Advertising, which handles marketing for Drayton Manor. HIT Entertainment, headquartered in London, is the licensor of Thomas and Friends.
Thomas Land will feature themed rides like “Cranky the Crane,” an engine with “a high and mighty attitude that annoys other engines,” according to the park. Also, the Troublesome Trucks will appear in their own special roller coaster. Drayton Manor said in a press release one of its goals with the new park section was to have rides that both adults and children could ride. Ride manufacturers for Thomas Land include Zamperla, Metallbau Emmeln, SB International, and Gerstlauer.
Of course, Thomas Land would not be complete without a Thomas the Tank Engine, so a new Thomas train will take guests on a five-minute journey through Sodor on 2,100 feet of track, and the park said it would include a special appearance by the Fat Controller himself.
Museums Vying to Land the Ultimate Exhibit
The remaining three space shuttles—Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor—have only about a dozen scheduled flights remaining before they are retired, and though that day won’t come for about two more years, museums are already engaged in a high-stakes battle for the big prizes. The current favorite to land one of the spacecrafts is the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. But four others are also in hot pursuit: the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the Vision for Space Exploration in Palmdale, California; and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This marks the first time in more than 30 years U.S. spacecraft that carried astronauts have become available to museums. The Enterprise shuttle at the Smithsonian was used for testing, but never traveled into space, and the Pathfinder at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center was just a prototype model. The Smithsonian has said should it receive one of the three space shuttles, it will offer the Enterprise to another institution. |
EVERY MUSEUM LOOKS FOR ICONIC CENTERPIECES for their collections, whether it’s T-Rex skeletons, giant diamonds, or historic documents. But in 2010, three showpieces will become available that are truly extraordinary, and they will be the last of their kind— the NASA space shuttles.