 But in 2009, the tide seemed to begin to turn. Four seaside communities that lost their amusement parks over the past decade saw them return in some form:
�� In Sea Isle City, New Jersey, Gillian became the third generation of his family to build an amusement park when he opened Gillian’s Funland.
�� Mark Lazarus teamed with a local businessman to open OD Pavilion Amusement Park in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
�� Carolina Beach, North Carolina, attracted a carnival operator to its boardwalk as a first step in eventually bringing back amusements on a permanent basis.
�� Panama City, Florida, entrepreneur Teddy Meeks installed a merry-go-round at the Pier Park shopping center. The overwhelmingly positive response is prompting the addition of more rides this season.
While each park is different, what they have in common is an operator willing to adopt new ideas and business models to overcome barriers that would have otherwise sidelined their plans.
Public/Private Partnership
One of the first seaside parks to close in the past 10 years was Sea Isle City’s Fun City, which shuttered in 2000 after 30 years of operation to make way for condominiums. “As an amusement park, the property was worth $1.2 million, but as condos, it was worth $6 million,” says Gillian. After the sale, though, he was almost immediately intrigued about the prospect of bringing an amusement park back to the town but was deterred by the high cost of real estate.
By mid-decade, the community also saw the need to develop an attraction to reinforce its appeal to families and stem the tide of tourists leaving in the evening for entertainment. The city put out a Request for Proposal to develop amusements on city-owned property, and Gillian, who operated Gillian’s Wonderland in nearby Ocean City, emerged as the winning bidder. The city offered him a 25-year lease on a 24,000-square-foot parcel in exchange for 10 percent of the gross.
Despite a one-month delay in opening due to weather, Funland had a successful first season. Built for less than $2 million, the park generated an estimated $400,000 in revenue based on payment records to the city. “The community has embraced the facility,” says Gillian, noting the 10 restaurants in the neighborhood saw an uptick in business during the year. In fact, the park was so well received the city offered additional land to Gillian to expand Funland from 12 to 17 rides for the 2010 season.
Controlling Debt
Mark Lazarus was another experienced operator who took advantage of an opportunity. His family, which has been involved in the business for 30 years, closed its Grand Prix amusement park in North Myrtle Beach in 2006 to make way for a retail development. It was one of three amusement parks that closed in the community that year. Following the closing of Grand Prix, the mayor of North Myrtle Beach would tease him: “You took away all our entertainment; you’ve got to do something,” Lazarus recalls.
That opportunity presented itself in the form of a vacant oceanfront lot owned by local businessman Harold Worley, who originally intended to develop the parcel, but the decline in the real estate market deferred those plans. Ironically, the land had been the site of an amusement park from the 1950s until 1972
Lazarus teamed with Jody Cadwell, who operates Boardwalk Amusements in Virginia Beach, and agreed to lease the property for 10 years. The plan was to put another amusement park on the land. Rather than purchasing rides, the team brought in Bob De Stefano of Dreamland Amusements to provide a dozen rides for what the team named OD Pavilion Amusement Park.
The developers undertook $100,000 in site improvements and even discovered the foundations for the original Ferris wheel, allowing them to return one to its historic location. “Elderly people would come up and say they never thought they would see this again,” says Lazarus.
Timing meant the park was only able to open for what Lazarus termed a “very successful” trial run during month of August. “The community was very excited,” he says.
Based on this success, Lazarus and his team are planning for a full 100-day season in 2010 and will be bringing in bigger rides and installing permanent water, sewer, and electric. Marilyn Hatley, mayor of North Myrtle Beach, shares her enthusiasm: “It was so well received, it’s been a wonderful asset,” explaining that after Grand Prix closed, people were leaving town for entertainment. Now they stay in North Myrtle Beach, which benefits local businesses.
According to Lazarus, his business model provides several advantages. Not only did he not take the risk of expensive equipment purchases, but he provided a compelling opportunity to a carnival operator, saving travel expenses and providing a built-in market.
Driven by the Community
Operators of Carolina Beach, which had been without an amusement park since 2004, employed a similar strategy to Lazarus. In this case, however, the business community took the lead. In 2006, local business owners identified a lack of family activities as a critical need and launched an initiative to bring new life to their boardwalk area.
After several delays, their efforts caught the attention of Robert Megerle of Megerle’s Magic and Hildebrand Rides of Gibsonton, Florida, who offered to provide the rides. For 2009, he brought in 11 rides for a four-month summer season. It was so successful Megerle is seeking to expand by an additional acre. Business leaders hope this will eventually lead to a permanent amusement park in the town.
An Unlikely Alliance
It’s not often a shopping center developer plays a role in returning amusements to a community, but in Panama City Simon Properties, the world’s largest mall operator, did just that. Simon partnered with a local entrepreneur to answer a call from a community still mourning the 2004 loss of Miracle Strip Amusement Park.
In 2007, Simon opened Pier Park, a shopping destination on the Gulf of Mexico. Local entrepreneur Teddy Meeks saw a lack of family activities at the facility and initially considered installing a Ferris wheel at the center. Deterred by the high prices, he switched his attention to purchasing a merrygo- round. As fate would have it, ride broker Intermark Ride Group was offering Miracle Strip’s ride. Meeks saw an opportunity not only to bring a family activity to Pier Park, but also to preserve a piece of a beloved community institution.
Meeks opened the ride in May, and response was overwhelming, attracting 90,000 riders during its inaugural season. “The demand was extraordinary,” says Meeks. Mall manager David Lee was also surprised by the response: “We were not really aware of what Miracle Strip meant,” noting the ride helped to establish the new mall in the community.
The response prompted Meeks to think bigger. For the 2010 season, he purchased Miracle Strip’s “Red Baron” and “Balloon Race” along with a Ferris wheel. He hopes to grow what he now calls Miracle Strip at Pier Park to approximately 10 rides occupying a one-and-a-half-acre parcel he is leasing from Simon Properties.
“It’s become something much bigger,” says Lee, crediting Meeks with creating a high-quality asset that fits Pier Park’s business model perfectly. “He is doing a fantastic job of taking the concept and making it top end.” This includes high operating standards, landscaping, uniformed employees, and a birthday pavilion.
According to Lee, in just a short time Meeks’ facility has become an institution. “We are at the point where I don’t know how we can’t have him here.”
Timeless Appeal
While it is probably too early to determine whether the reemergence of these amusement facilities are a few isolated cases or the start of a new trend, it is a reinforcement of the timeless appeal of the combination of amusements and the ocean air.
According to Jack Morey, executive vice president of the Morey Organization, operator of the country’s largest seaside amusement park, “I think the recent reappearance of some seaside amusements is definitely a realization that the term ‘highest and best use’ is relative and has limitations, and that entertainment is a critical component of most seaside resorts.”
Jim Futrell has been historian for the National Amusement Park Historical Association since 1984. He serves on IAAPA’s Hall of Fame and Archives Committee and oversees the association’s Oral History Project. His fourth book, “Amusement Parks of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware,” was released last year.
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