Funworld February 2010

With the Internet’s worldwide explosion over the past two decades, the medium is now a continually growing source of information, commerce, and social exchange. It should come as no surprise, then, that one constituency group within the attractions industry increased its growth and influence, too, in the digital age: amusement park enthusiasts.

Amusement parks loosely define enthusiasts as guests who not only go to parks to enjoy themselves, but have such a passion for these experiences that parks become a hobby. Many of the activities in which they engage involve membership in organized enthusiast groups, but that’s not necessarily a requirement to be defined as an enthusiast by parks.

The best known of these connoisseurs are probably roller coaster enthusiasts, but there are several other sects as well, including dark ride fans and devotees of park history and preservation.

Though enthusiasts account for a tiny percentage of parks’ overall guest base, many facilities consider them to be crucial; Dino Fazio, director of operations for Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey, explains why: “They’re important because of their extensive travel to parks, and they have an emotional attachment to the industry. They bring something different to the table—a unique sort of insight. They give us ideas that are different from the general public because of their travels.”

The growth of the Internet has given enthusiasts easy access to fellow aficionados and allowed them to post their opinions for millions to see. “They talk among the community and get the word out about our products, and they get others out to our park who might not normally come,” says Melissa Pinkerton, spokesperson for Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. “People see the passion these guys have—they’re almost like our advertisers—and it’s great to have them saying good things about your park.”

Likewise, they can be a real public relations headache if they strongly dislike a new ride, are convinced a park is not giving guests a good experience for their money, or feel a park isn’t practicing good guest relations.

Special Events—and Attention— Solidify Enthusiast Base
Some parks actively solicit enthusiast opinions in light of their informed knowledge and insight. Morey’s Piers holds an annual event each July called “Coastin’ By The Ocean,” when park buffs are invited to spend two days of fun along the Jersey Shore. Among the happenings is a session called “On the Drawing Board,” where enthusiasts meet with park principals Will and Jack Morey to discuss park operations and future plans.

“It’s an open-ended discussion and they give us a lot of ideas about things we want their opinions on,” says Kristel Fillmore, the park’s events and entertainment manager. “This year we talked a lot about food, and we had our chef there, Chef Wally [Jurusz], and he was really interested about park food and what they enjoy.” Following “Coastin’ By The Ocean,” Morey’s surveys the participants via e-mail for feedback about what they thought of the event itself.

Six Flags New England took a very unusual approach to involving enthusiasts in a new attraction project during the 2008/2009 offseason. The park was revamping and retheming its “Superman: Ride of Steel” roller coaster and changing the name to “Bizarro.” In an effort to keep park fans engaged and interested in the project during the offseason, the park retained 42 Entertainment in Pasadena, California, to create an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that played out over several months and kept guests connected to the park during the long winter (See “Walk the Line” in the August 2009 FUNWORLD).

Participation in the game was open to anyone, not just enthusiasts, but the park hoped the game would address one of its concerns with the enthusiast base: “Superman” was a very popular and highly regarded ride, and Six Flags didn’t want the roller coaster community negatively speculating about the project in an information vacuum during the offseason. The ARG idea worked, and the coaster fans appreciated the effort. “As we got further into the game, we heard a couple of them say they couldn’t believe we went to such lengths for them,” says Pinkerton.

Before a park can capture valuable feedback from enthusiasts in a face-to-face forum like “Coastin’ By The Ocean,” it first has to establish communication with them, then attract them to some special event. Most of the parks contacted say it works best to have just one or two staff members act as a point of contact with enthusiasts. This allows those employees to become very knowledgeable about the aficionado base, to personally get to know club leaders, and to build trusting relationships with them.

Choose Enthusiast Groups Wisely
Parks are selective which enthusiast groups they court to avoid those with members who are continually abusive in their online exchanges or who don’t follow park rules when they visit. “We’ve primarily looked for groups that are well established, have a hierarchy [of leadership] like ACE (Amer ican Coaster Enthusiasts), NAPHA (National Amusement Park Historical Society), and DAFE (Dark And Funhouse Enthusiasts), and have bylaws they follow,” says Fillmore. “Ones we’re primarily going after are ones that have been around for a while. I talk to them [by e-mail] on almost a weekly basis.” Fillmore notes enthusiast groups hold events Morey’s Piers staffers attend, as well.

Pelle Johannisson, marketing manager for Liseberg Park in Gothenburg, Sweden, says parks need not worry that if they establish close relations with enthusiasts they’re opening themselves up to being hit with last-minute or unannounced visits from hordes of park buffs. “Most of them have a strict travel plan to start with,” he says, “and they contact us way ahead of their visit because they plan way ahead of time—they don’t just show up at the park. And if we get this information early, it’s no problem for us to plan for them. They work with management and do it very professionally, and they are usually very polite and thankful.”

Just the same, Joe Muscato, public relations manager at Knoebels in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, cautions the passion of the enthusiasts sometimes overflows: “They have their own [online] community, and even among themselves, they don’t agree and they don’t always get along. You probably don’t want to get in the middle of those battles!”

Parks say one useful element of having open lines of communication with enthusiast groups is the ability to call on them, even in a negative situation. Following the unfortunate death of an enthusiast who defeated the safety restraints on a roller coaster at Holiday World in 2003, many groups responded quickly. “After the incident at Holiday World, ACE instituted a code of conduct,” says Fazio. “I don’t know about the formality of it in other groups, but I’ve learned they’ve all become one voice as to how important it is to follow safety rules, and violations will make them subject to removal from the clubs. We’ve had no issues with them at all.”

Pinkerton agrees: “They absolutely take it seriously. Most [clubs] have a representative we can contact, and if you go to them with such a concern, they address it immediately and take care of it.”

The Right Mix of Activities Is Key
Though most enthusiasts associate themselves with dry-ride parks, waterparks attract them, as well. “We get individual enthusiasts, but groups like ACE also come, like in 2005 when we opened the ‘Black Anaconda’ [water coaster], and they thought it was fantastic,” says Tim Gantz, park president and co-owner of Noah’s Ark Family Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. “Then last year we opened ‘Curse of the Crypt’ and had two busloads from Hauntcon.” Gantz believes that the more waterparks put in “aggressive attractions” like AquaLoop, the first looping waterslide being installed this spring at Noah’s Ark (turn to page 9 for more details), the more they will hear from enthusiasts. According to parks, there are certain attractions and activities that enthusiasts are looking for. One of the most popular is Exclusive Ride Time (ERT) on one or more rides, which gives them unfettered access to one or more rides for a certain period of time. “They love ERT, so we typically let them come in an hour before the park opens and let them stay an hour after we close,” says Pinkerton. “They’re really fun. They also enjoy one-on-one Q&A sessions with our park president, and he knows the value of the enthusiast community.”

Fazio says behind-the-scenes walkabouts are popular as well, so Morey’s Piers gave a back-of-house tour of its coaster shop during two “Coastin’ By The Ocean” events.

Johannisson has nothing but positives to relate about enthusiast groups. “We look forward to having them here,” he says. “One thing I can say is they don’t put pressure on us for special treatment—they pay for themselves and don’t ask for anything free. I’ll tell you, we’re really happy to host them.” He says Liseberg tracks the ratings enthusiast groups assign to the park and its attractions. “If we are positively rated, we use those ratings in our marketing to the public because that speaks well for us.”

Fazio asserts it’s well worth the effort for parks to befriend them: “They’re a relatively easy group to speak to and get to know, and once you’ve courted them, they become very loyal and become some of your greatest advocates.”

Contact News Editor Keith Miller at kmiller@IAAPA.org.