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Ocean Park Goes Prehistoric
Ocean Park in Hong Kong went to extraordinary lengths this past summer to transform the look, feel, and sounds of its park to those of a primeval era. From July 1 to Aug. 31, the park presented “Ocean Park Prehistoric Splash 2009,” and few areas of operation were left untouched.
For starters, Ocean Park partnered with Kokoro Company Limited to bring more than 20 animatronic dinosaurs to “life” at “Empire of the Dinosaurs” at Tai Shue Wan Plaza, headlined by an enormous tyrannosaurus rex. Other prehistoric creatures and scenes from the new motion picture “Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” were scattered throughout the park.
 Numerous themed “wet” attractions at “Stone Age Water World” allowed guests to engage in water battles at “Bucket War,” and play with stone-age cars and water-erupting volcanoes at the “Prehistoric Wet ’n Wild Playground.”
The “Ocean Park Prehistoric Summer Splash” edutainment included “Wonders of Ancient Times,” where kids became adventurous archeologists for a day and searched for dinosaur fossils, stomach fluids, and, yes, even dino excrement. Touch screens and interactive games presented facts about these long-extinct creatures.
The park was covered in prehistoric decor, dinosaur models, and caveman art. Four of the park’s restaurants featured more than 30 dinosaur-themed entrees. Not to be outdone, Ocean Park’s retail shops offered almost 300 dinosaur souvenirs.
Though the “Prehistoric Summer Splash” ended Aug. 31 for the start of school, the Ocean Park staff had no time to rest on its laurels. “Within hours, we [struck down] all of the summer attractions,” Gillian Cheng, spokesperson for Ocean Park, told FUNWORLD. “We [had] roughly 18 days to construct haunted attractions for ‘Ocean Park Halloween Bash 2009.’” Cheng said this year the Halloween event will feature around 110 attractions, shows, and performances, and added, “All ‘hard’ attractions—the haunted houses and haunted zones— are tailor made for ‘Halloween Bash 2009’ and based upon hair-raising childhood ghost stories in our schools, our subways, the police stations, the haunted mansions, as well as on an award-winning movie of the supernatural world, ‘Recycle.’” www.oceanpark.com.hk.
40 Years at Morey’s Piers
The colorful, crazy, fun-filled history of Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey, is captured in a huge new book called “A Wild Ride.” Measuring 12 inches by 9 inches, the oversized, 192- page volume is in celebration of the piers’ 40th anniversary and was introduced by brothers Jack and Will Morey and the Morey family July 6 at a book launch ceremony at the “Tea Cups” amusement ride on Morey’s Mariner Landing Pier.
The book was written by John Wright of Exit Zero Publishing; he described it as “a thrilling story of high risks, big ideas, large monsters, and a huge amount of fun!” “A Wild Ride” is a colorful account of this historic seaside amusement park. It is crammed with hundreds of black-and-white and color photographs that cover everything from the early days of the Wildwood boardwalk and piers, to the wild rides that appeared on the piers, to the 2008 fire that severely damaged one of the piers, to the visions of the future for the venerable amusement haven.
“Because my parents passed away about 10 years ago, when we came on the 40th anniversary, we wanted to have something more visual as a dedication to Will Morey, my father,” said Jack Morey, executive vice president of the Morey Organization. “It’s not our book, but we worked closely with the author. We wanted it to be more about the evolution of all the great seaside parks, and wanted it to be about not just Morey’s, but Wildwood, and it needed to be sufficiently rich as a resource guide for kids.”
In an interesting twist befitting Morey’s Piers’ colorful history, “A Wild Ride” is actually available with two different book covers. “Let me make it clear that my brother and I are partners, but we are polar opposites,” Morey explained, “and that’s why we have two covers for the book!” www.moreyspiers.com
Winning Never Tasted So Good
In a joint celebration of a new marketing partnership, the 10-year anniversary of a popular roller coaster, and the ingenious creativity of some of the park’s devoted guests, Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia held a lighthearted contest July 16 to see who could build the best miniature roller coaster—made out of pretzels.
 Called the Pretzel Coaster Build-off Contest, it pitted six semifinalists against one another in a three-hour duel to create the best pretzel coaster. The semifinalists earned a place in the contest by building their own pretzel coasters at home and submitting photos to the web site of Snyder’s of Hanover, the pretzel company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
The winner was 22-year-old Gregory Stanton of Lanham, Maryland, earning him a fourpack of Platinum Passes valid for admission and in-park discounts for two years at Busch Entertainment Corporation’s Worlds of Discovery parks throughout the United States and a year’s supply of Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, all valued at more than $1,350.
“The idea for the contest came up jointly between Snyder’s of Hanover and our park’s marketing folks, who were trying to figure out how to do a promotion that would benefit both the park and the pretzel company,” said Kevin Crossett, senior manager for communications at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. “It just made good sense that the way pretzels are configured, they could make some pretty cool little coaster structures.” www.buschgardens.com |
Doing the Incredible (Pizza)
California may be mired in a stagnant economy and a state government budget crisis, but one of its chains of family entertainment centers continues to grow and prosper. John’s Incredible Pizza, headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, just opened its ninth FEC in a shopping mall in Buena Park and is currently building its 10th in San Diego, scheduled to open in January.
The $8.5 million, 60,000- square-foot location in Buena Park Downtown is the company’s first in a shopping mall. “We really never had an opportunity like this before, and this one had exactly what we were looking for,” said John Parlet, founder and owner of the chain. “We have our own branded entrance and the parking area we need.”
Parlet started John’s Incredible Pizza in 1997, but he has actually been in the food business since he opened his own pizza parlor in 1972. The new FEC seats almost 900 and can produce up to 800 pizzas an hour. Guests choose to eat in one of six dining rooms, each with a unique theme, such as a Los Angeles nightclub or a lake cabin. Entertainment includes bumper cars, a Frog Hopper, miniature bowling, laser tag, the “Incredible Express Roller Coaster,” Glow Golf, and more than 100 video and redemption games.
Regarding the company’s future plans, Parlet said, “Our goal is to build two to three stores a year for the foreseeable future and to move into the surrounding states like Washington, Nevada, and Arizona.” www.johnspizza.com
‘Fab 4’ Go 4-D
 Almost 50 years after The Beatles made their first appearance on stage in England, an attraction in their hometown of Liverpool is bringing a whole new dimension to their storied past.
The Beatles Story, located within Liverpool’s historic Albert Dock, takes visitors on a journey through the life, times, culture, and music of the famous rock band. Recently the attraction added “Fab4D,” a stateof- the-art, 40-seat theater that combines stereoscopic 3-D projection and a variety of 4-D theater effects in a 12-minute show that highlights the history of the four musicians.
“The film was created entirely in cutting-edge stereoscopic 3-D format, using the same techniques that have propelled hit movies like ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ to cinema screens,” said Rowan Atkins, spokesperson for The Beatles Story. “Red Star 3D, the company that wrote, produced, and directed the animation, is one of the UK’s leading stereoscopic animation studios and has developed [custom] production techniques that maximize the immersive 3D effect.” Simworx, another UK company, installed the 4-D in-theater special effects that include smoke, water sprays, bubbles, leg ticklers, and aromas.
Entry to “Fab4D” is included in the general admission price of The Beatles Story. www.beatlesstory.com
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Dreamworld Commissions Its Own Film
Dreamworld Gold Coast in Coomera, Queensland, Australia, commissioned Sydney-based production house GraingerTV to produce a 30-minute Australian wildlife documentary for the park’s six-story movie theater.
 Called “Australia, the Great Southern Land,” the film was shot in high definition and focuses on the four Australian territories Dreamworld showcases in its park: the Outback, the wetlands of Kakadu, Koala country, and the Rainforests of Daintree.
GrangerTV crisscrossed the four territories, capturing footage of the wildlife and its habitats. Members of Dreamworld’s wildlife staff will be featured in the production, including Al Mucci, general manager of life sciences. “Our aim is to share Dreamworld’s passion for wildlife with our Australian and international guests, as a warmup to a visit to our wildlife sanctuary,” Mucci said. “There guests can actually see and touch the real thing.”
Erin Rolfe, Dreamworld’s international sales manager, said the park is making a special effort to entertain both local and international audiences: “We’re screening a Mandarin version of the program every morning to our growing audiences of Chinese visitors, with another screening in English every afternoon.”
Filming and editing of “Australia, the Great Southern Land” wrapped in August, and it debuted in Dreamworld’s cinema theater in September. www.dreamworld.com.au.
EXPERT: Tourism-Targeted Taxes Are Harmful
A pattern in recent years of ever increasing taxes on travel-centric services and entertainment—such as rental cars, lodging, restaurants, and amusement park admissions and parking— could have a damaging effect on tourism in the coming years, according to budget and tax legislative specialist John Nothdurft of The Heartland Institute in Chicago, which discovers, develops, and promotes free-market solutions to public policy problems.
In a recent column in Newsblaze, Nothdurft wrote many politicians see these taxes as a way to tap additional revenues from nonvoting visitors and avoid a backlash from their own constituents. But he contends they’re not accounting for the long-term effect of such taxes.
“These targeted tax increases are an unfortunate trend,” Nothdurft told FUNWORLD. “They are becoming more en vogue because they touch only a segment of the constituents. But it’s horrible economics, and it’s not sustainable. With an amusement park, politicians believe a tax on admissions or parking won’t impact locals because they think it’s paid by outside visitors. They say it’s only a 5 or 10 percent additional tax, but when you tax something, you get less of it.”
He explained that as potential park guests start looking at the overall price of going to a park versus doing something else, they may choose the latter, and if they do, it has a financial impact on every business in the community that feeds off the park.
“It’s a compounding effect,” said Nothdurft. “[Guests] are already paying increased gas taxes, hotel taxes, restaurant taxes, and rental car taxes, and then when they get to the park, they’re hit with more taxes.”
No thdurft suggests parks join together with other local businesses being impacted by the taxes to inform area citizens that visitors aren’t the only ones paying these taxes, and the compounding effects will be detrimental to their communities. |
VOA Unveils Design for Cordova Center on the Rock
The Orlando office of VOA Associates Incorporated, an international architecture, planning, and interior design firm, announced the completion of a schematic design of the Cordova Center on the Rock, a $50 million entertainment, environmental, and cultural center to be located on the banks of Lake Red Rock, Cordova, near Des Moines, Iowa.
 Cordova Center on the Rock is a partnership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Marion County Conservation Board, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Central College. Project centerpieces include a 30,000-square-foot interactive, multiuse Visitors Center/Environmental Learning Center and an outdoor Performing Arts Amphitheater that seats 500. Jack Rouse Associates of Cincinnati is serving as exhibit designer and Schuler Shook of Chicago provides theater design.
The 70,000-square-foot Environmental Learning Center near the park’s observation tower will be dedicated to presenting the “Story of Water” to visitors, using a variety of interactive exhibits and displays that show how a watershed works.
“Our charge is to create a destination that offers an extended number of activities that appeal to a larger segment of the public,” said Jonathan F. Douglas, managing principal with VOA and principal-in-charge, in a statement. “To do that, we must engage people in a variety of ways, to provide a series of connections that make for a compelling journey via an assemblage of attractions and activities that are all connected to the landscape.” www.voa.com
Ripley’s Takes to the Radio Waves
In what is just another example of an attractions industry company utilizing “social networking,” Ripley’s Entertainment is launching the “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing is Believing” radio hour on the WebTalkRadio Network (www.webtalkradio.net).
Each week, show hosts Tim O’Brien and Edward Meyer will take listeners on “a journey through the weird, wacky, whimsical, wild, and totally unbelievable world of the odd, strange, and unusual.” They’ll also report on the latest “oddball happenings” and current events.
O’Brien told FUNWORLD, “Each week’s show will follow a different theme, from ‘Crazy Creations’ and ‘Body Oddities’ to ‘Fantastic Food’ and ‘Amazing Science.’ The show is an unpredictable and fun-filled hour that will prove beyond all dimensions that Ripley’s is, indeed, the global authority on the weird, strange, and bizarre.” Meyer, Ripley’s archivist and “keeper of the odd,” will go “Inside the Vault” during each episode to unveil a classic Ripley’s exhibit or discuss the company’s latest acquisition.
In addition to broadcasting on WebTalkRadio, the program will be linked to Ripley’s main web site (www.ripleys.com). “We see this as an extension of our social networking program,” said O’Brien. “It will be interactive with our Facebook and Twitter presence, will be blogged about consistently, and if someone texts ‘radio’ to 77007, the latest programming notes will be forwarded. A weekly e-mail newsletter will be sent out describing the following week’s show.”
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