Funworld May 2010

GKTW Golf Tournament: Sign Up Now!

The eighth annual IAAPA International Charity Golf Tournament to benefit Give Kids The World will be held Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010, at Hawk’s Landing Golf Club at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Florida. Join us at this fun event to get a jump start on your networking before attending IAAPA Attractions Expo 2010. Golfers of all skill levels can gather to cultivate new connections in all industry segments worldwide while playing on one of the best courses in Orlando. Register to play for US$200, or become one of the prestigious sponsors of this exclusive event. To learn more or to register, go to www.IAAPA.org or contact Angela Kernan at akernan@IAAPA.org.

Alice Mathu Earns Prestigious Credentials

IAAPA congratulates Alice Mathu, exhibition sales and services manager, for successfully completing and passing the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) exam. The CMP program recognizes individuals who have demonstrated key understanding and excellence in the meetings, conventions, and exhibitions industry.

Calling All Students: Become a Show Ambassador

The IAAPA Show Ambassador Program gives students and recent graduates with hospitality and leisure backgrounds the opportunity to be involved in the premier amusement and attractions trade show and conference. In exchange for a valuable learning opportunity that includes a behind-thescenes tour of Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center, these volunteers will provide energy, initiative, and guest services for all IAAPA Attractions Expo attendees. This internship features a structured learning program, scheduled work hours, valuable networking, and a ticket to one of the largest trade shows in the world. Ambassadors commit to work for the full week of Nov. 13- 19, 2010.

Executives and managers: Help IAAPA recruit the best candidates by encouraging your outstanding young team members to apply for the Ambassador program.

To apply, go to www.IAAPA.org/ expos/attractions/ShowAmbassador/index.asp, and submit your application by May 21. Visit www.IAAPA.org/education to learn more about Student Opportunities.

Best Practices Right to Your Desktop In the first months of 2010, more than 500 members participated in IAAPA online education programs. IAAPA will continue to offer live webinars on a monthly basis as a free benefit to our members (advance registration required). On Tuesday, May 18, at 1 p.m. Eastern, join us for “Suddenly Supervisors,” when members of the IAAPA Human Resources Committee will share their training tips and guidance to help your rising stars succeed when faced with the challenges of suddenly supervising their friends. For this session, we encourage you to invite your new and upcoming frontline supervisors to attend. In June, encourage your team to join us for a session on planning for Halloween and other fall events. By treating Halloween event planning as a mini-business plan, speakers will demonstrate how to approach your decision-making process. They’ll address what choices need to be made now to position your company for a successful fall. Particularly for new and smallbudget Halloween and fall events, this program will offer guidance to keep you on track toward creating a safe and successful event. Visit www.IAAPA.org/education/elearn/elearning.asp for details, registration, and links to the webinar archives, where members can view past session recordings.

Breakfast in Guadalajara Fifteen attractions professionals met in Guadalajara, Mexico, for a networking breakfast, led by IAAPA’s Latin American office.

SHOW REVIEW: Fun Expo International 2010

Attendees take away ideas and advice from education sessions
Story and photos by Steve Friess

Safety is always a priority, but in today’s age of ever-present news, video, and user-generated content, keeping guests out of harm’s way is more critical than ever.

“We’ve all heard the story of an accident happening in a park and the owner’s dialing 911, and someone else has his cell phone camera out and it’s on YouTube before you’ve reached emergency,” said Robert S. Rippy of Jungle Rapids in Wilmington, North Carolina, during a keynote address during Fun Expo International in March. “That’s the world we live in now.”

Effective Training
Rippy’s address opened a four-hour seminar on facility safety at Fun Expo, a joint trade show in Las Vegas sponsored by IAAPA along with the American Amusement Machine Association and the Amusement and Music Operators Association.

Rippy’s message: There’s always more to do safetywise, and now more than ever, operators can’t afford to let down their guards. Still, since the best defense is always a good offense, Rippy and copresenters Bret Pfost and Kurt Mueller of Disneyland spent the session outlining specific and crucial steps to be taken to minimize the prospects of an accident as well as running afoul of regulators like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The key, speakers said, is to create a training program and handbook for employees that is mindful of state and federal regulations and then not only routinely test employees and assess their on-the-job performances but to have careful documentation for all of that. The aim is to keep safety top of mind.

“I’m a big believer that robust auditing will lead to a safe culture,” said Pfost, senior manager of park operations, safety, training, and compliance at Disney’s famed Anaheim, California, theme park. “If you don’t invest in that, you’re not going to create a safe culture.”

Maintenance Matters
Obviously there’s more to be done than simply drilling employees and keeping a paper trail. Facility maintenance is crucial, too.

One example: Rippy said he replaces all tires once a month on the go-karts at his family entertainment center (FEC). That may sound extravagant and costly, but if a customer gets a flat, problems could occur. “We prevent it with maintenance,” he said. “It costs me $40 per car for the tires. It’s a $2,500 deductible if there’s an accident, and there’s an insurance claim. That’s a whole lot of go-kart tires.”

Some other practical tips:

Regularly walk the property searching for torn carpeting that could lead to potential tripping problems.

Teach employees not to tug electrical cords out of sockets because that will degrade the outlet and could lead to the fire hazard of electrical shorts.

Bar the use of cell phones and other handheld devices to eliminate the prospect of employees being distracted by them.

IAAPA has hosted similar safety seminars in China (see next story for coverage), the United Arab Emirates, India, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, and Malaysia this year.

Internet Marketing
While the safety seminar cast the web as a potential problem, another Fun Expo presentation showed attendees how new Internet tools can enhance business. Sheryl Bindelglass, a frequent IAAPA presenter and New Jersey-based FEC consultant, explained the value of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

“I’ve noticed not many of you put a tagline on your web sites that says ‘Click here to join my Facebook fan page,’ ” Bindelglass said. What owners who don’t get involved with Facebook and Twitter don’t realize is they’re missing out on the opportunity to have customers and employees promote them in that all-too-valuable peer-to-peer way, she said. A Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com), for instance, can be a repository for happy customers to post their photos from a venue—pictures their friends will see and envy.

Owners ought to experiment with Twitter, the burgeoning 140-character microblog site (www.twitter.com), by offering weekly deals there, Bindelglass said. Tweet to your followers that, perhaps, there’s a $10 game card taped to a video machine in your place on a certain day, and urge people to come down to look for it.

“One owner I know had a group shoot their own little video of their time at his place, and they had 1,400 people watch this video on YouTube,” she recalled. “He did nothing. He didn’t even know what happened. And it was a better ad than the one he paid for.”

Party Time
Bindelglass also helped present the Party Workshop, a fun-packed threehour session in which several venue owners talked up the best ways to market and throw parties. In a conference room reborn with gold tablecloth, party favors, cartoons pasted to the walls, and more, attendees learned of the importance of training employees to have patient phone manners and of signage that reminds visitors of the potential to hold a function at an FEC or amusement park, and they discussed how lucrative in-house cake service can be.

Perhaps the highlight of a session that included conventioneers learning to make balloon animals and the consumption of a delicious Fun Expo cake was the arrival of Slugger and Bogey, the mascots straight from Michelle Kapuscinski’s Fiesta Village Family Fun Park in Colton, California.

“Imagine the difference between me going to a school and handing out coupons and my mascot Bogey high-fiving all the kids,” Kapuscinski said. “It’s a commitment, but it makes such a difference when we have our evaluations.”

Redemption Tips
With the rough economy finally showing some signs of improvement, there was a more upbeat spirit about the FEC business in this go-around than in some past conferences. A session called “Redemption 2010” was, of course, about the redemption counters at FECs, but the word seemed to also apply to the health of the industry as a whole.

The aim of that session was to remind attendees their redemption counters are the sales display cases for FECs that thrive on tantalizing customers with the promise of fabulous rewards in exchange for their play. To that end, presenter Jim Chapman of Family Fun Companies urged this checklist:
• Are the bins full?
• Are they full of great prizes at every ticket level?
• Are there products for adults?
• Do the counters look their best?

“Owners need to walk through their front doors, get on their knees, and look at the display case from the perspective of being a kid,” said Chapman, actually on his knees for this portion of the discussion. “Do you have things in there that you would want to play for? When somebody walks in, you want them to say, ‘Wow! I don’t know what I want, but I want it all.’”

Changing up the merchandise and keeping current with the latest crazes are key, said fellow presenter John Maurer of Coast to Coast Entertainment. That can mean anything from being aware that the kids are—for now—nuts these days over colorful, odd-shaped rubber bands and Japanese erasers to the importance of having the big prize.

That, this season, is going to be Apple’s tablet device, the iPad.

“I’ll go pay somebody to sleep outside [the store] the night it comes out to get one,” Maurer vowed. “I want to be the first guy on the block to have it.”

Steve Friess is a Las Vegas-based freelance journalist whose work appears regularly in the New York Times, USA Today, and many others. He is also co-host of the weekly celebrity-interview and touristnews podcast “The Strip” (www.thestrippodcast.com) and author of the blog www.VegasHappensHere.com.

Safety: The Cornerstone of Operations

IAAPA Safety Institute in Beijing focuses on effective training and park operations to ensure a safe environment for guests
by Li Xiang

While Asia continues as the world’s fastest growing market of the attraction industry, industry experts, operators, and government officials gave top priority to ensuring safe operations and implementing rigorous safety standards in the region at the IAAPA Safety Conference held in partnership with the China Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (CAAPA) during its annual Expo in March at the Beijing Exhibition Centre.

Noble F. Coker, vice president of park operations at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, elaborated on the comprehensive safety strategy adopted by Disneyland to ensure safe and enjoyable guest rides in the park.

“Safety starts when we first think about a new attraction that we want to build,” Coker said. “We have safety engineers actually get involved in the design of every attraction to ensure safety is literally built into the design and the construction.

“Disney attractions are designed to global standards... if the safety standard for a certain attraction is higher than ours, then we raise our safety standards to meet theirs. If their safety standards are lower than ours, we stick to our safety standards to maintain a consistent approach to safety around the world,” he said.

Safety in Training
To minimize operational errors, Disney also categorizes operational performance into eight attraction classifications with six core operator positions, Coker said. “By focusing on job requirements and training for these six core positions, we have consistent training standards for every person around the world, which is critical to standardize safety and minimize errors for operator actions,” he said.

Coker noted safety education and communication with guests are also essential to ensure safety as about 75 percent to 80 percent of accidents industrywide occur because of inappropriate guest behavior. “So the biggest challenge is to educate and communicate with the people who are coming inside your park,” he said. “And that’s why we have a strong reporting and feedback process to make sure that we understand where we can communicate better with our guests.”

Coker added that rigorous installation, testing, and adjustment of the show and ride system and round-the-clock maintenance and inspection are vital to safe operations, especially when the park faces business and marketing pressure. “We put in place standards for every type of attraction for exactly how long it must be tested. It can’t be opened until we’ve fulfilled those requirements,” he said. “It’s one way for us to ensure the park doesn’t compromise safety in order to meet business and marketing objectives.”

Coker concluded by discussing the business reason for safe operations of amusement parks: Safety is the key for the park to consistently deliver a high quality of service and keeps visitors coming back.

He stressed that being able to retain guests is important for service firms as Disneyland relies on existing customers for 85 percent to 95 percent of its revenue, and it costs 11 times as much to bring a new customer in than it does to keep an existing one.

“Safety builds the foundation for your reputation,” Coker said. “The quality of the service and the product builds on that foundation so that people would want to keep coming back.”

Lifeguard Training
On the topic of waterpark safety and practices, Richard A. Carroll, senior vice president of Jeff Ellis & Associates Inc., shared with the audience his insights on how to achieve aquatic safety and best practices through proactive risk identification, management, supervision, and comprehensive lifeguard training. “Being in the aquatic business means that we are very passionate about safety. Everything that we focus on is about making sure that every guest goes home safely and our goal is zero drowning,” he said.

Carroll then discussed how effective rotation of lifeguard positioning and alternating tasks are essential for lifeguards to maintain optimal vigilance, and why comprehensive lifeguard training is crucial to provide active surveillance of the guests. “In the world of a lifeguard, we spend 99 percent of our time watching swimmers. And we train 100 percent of the time for that 1 percent that we have to act. But if we don’t train all of those times for that 1 percent, it doesn’t make a difference because we won’t be able to perform,” he said.

Carroll noted skills such as CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation), first aid, and the proper use of oxygen and AEDs (automated external defibrillation) are important from a comprehensive standpoint. “We can’t just provide lifeguards rescue skills because when we get out on the deck, if we do not have any emergency response very quickly, we are not successful, and our guests are not having a positive outcome,” he said.

Proper oversight and supervision are also important for lifeguards to respond effectively to an emergency, he added. “The supervisor should be present and visible on deck and should provide support to lifeguards to deal with guest questions and allow lifeguards to provide swimmer protection without distraction,” he said.

Carroll then emphasized the importance of independent third-party audits that would help identify risk exposures and provide a “snapshot” to owners and operators that provides a unique perspective.

He concluded his presentation by advising to create a culture of safety that evolves over time and has to involve all levels of management. “Presence and participation of senior management in the lifeguard training underscores safety as a priority,” he said, adding the management team should always make sure lifeguards and their supervisors have the resources to be successful because they will ultimately be the group that will “make a difference” in a guest’s life.

Standards Harmonization
Randy Davis, senior vice president of government relations and safety services for IAAPA, highlighted the importance of the international standards harmonization and IAAPA’s commitment to it.

“Safety is the foundation of everything we do, and certainly standards are a very key element of that,” he said. “Harmonization incorporates international best practices for amusement rides, creating a common blueprint for ride safety throughout the world. It encourages efficient design and production processes through standardization and the minimization of product differences due to differing standards and regulations.”

Davis pointed out ASTM International committee F24, formed in 1978, is now in its 32nd year of standards development for the amusement industry worldwide. The scope of the work includes the development of standard methods of testing, performance specifications, definitions, maintenance, operations, practices, and guides for amusement rides and devices.

He concluded by saying the use of high-quality, universally accepted standards is a benefit to the industry and regulators should use the best technical guidance regardless of “brand” of standard.

More Work to Do
The IAAPA Safety Conference in Beijing included representatives from the China Special Equipment Inspection and Research Institute (CSEI) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ) as the country is rapidly developing its own attraction industry and requisite safety standards.

“Safety is the cornerstone. The industry cannot develop if there is no safety,” said Cui Gang, deputy director of the special equipment department of AQSIQ. “We still lag far behind the international standards so we need to stimulate innovation in regulation and inspection and learn from the advanced international experiences to establish a rigorous and unified system to ensure safe operations.”

Future of the Industry
Lin Shuqing, a senior researcher at CSEI, expressed optimism over the outlook of the attractions industry in China. “Amusement facilities have experienced three decades of development in China. The gap with developed countries has been narrowed as we have accumulated a good deal of design and manufacturing experiences and gradually mastered the core technology to ensure safe operations,”

Lin said. Lin pointed out China is currently dominated by private operators and small enterprises, but it should be taken over gradually by large enterprises to ensure safe operations and a high quality of service. “The attractions industry should also be integrated into the development of other key industries including real estate, tourism, commerce, and catering so that it could help boost the local economies,” he added.

Similar events were held in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, and Bogotá and are planned for Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, Rome, and Orlando.

Li Xiang is a business reporter at China Daily, the national English-language newspaper based in Beijing. She can be reached at lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn.

Destination for Success

A preview of Asian Attractions Expo 2010 in Kuala Lumpur
by Julie Parsons

In July, more than 3,000 professionals from nearly 50 countries will gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for Asian Attractions Expo 2010. The conference and trade show, which is the largest attraction industry product exhibition and conference in Asia, features four days of idea exchange, exclusive networking, and access to new products and business solutions.

Attendees include investors, developers, and operators from amusement and theme parks, waterparks, family entertainment centers, zoos and aquariums, museums and science centers, hotels and resorts, and more. This show provides a one-stop destination for insider access to world-class parks and attractions, one-on-one time with leading suppliers from around the globe, and trends and techniques from industry leaders.

This year’s show will be cohosted by the Malaysian Association of Amusement, Theme Park & Family Attractions (MAATFA), and colocated with the Australia Amusement, Leisure & Recreation Association. Here’s a brief preview of what to expect this year.

Education
IAAPA 2010 Chairman of the Board Chip Cleary, of Palace Entertainment, and Bob Masterson, former IAAPA chairman and former president and CEO of Ripley Entertainment Inc., will join speakers from Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts, Sentosa, Ocean Park, and other Asian parks and attractions to headline the education program at Asian Attractions Expo 2010.

The program kicks off with a full-day Safety Institute and continues with three days of educational seminars focused on marketing and operations. With two Leadership Breakfasts, roundtable luncheon discussions, and more than 15 conference programs, there is unsurpassed training value at this year’s Expo.

Events
Following the success of Asian Attractions Expo 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, this year’s social events will again focus on making the most of the industry’s greatest asset—the exciting and innovative parks and attractions that deliver entertainment and education to millions of guests each year.

Attendees in Kuala Lumpur will have the exclusive opportunity to have fun, make connections, and strengthen business relationships, all while seeing how these successful operations work. From an opening reception for all attendees at Aquaria on the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre property to a beach party and behind-the-scenes tour at Sunway Lagoon, industry networking continues to be a growing benefit at Asian Attractions Expo. Plus, attendees can make a significantly discounted trip to Resorts World Genting, a resort, casino, and theme park complex just outside the city.

Expo
The exhibition at Asian Attractions Expo continues to grow, with more innovative products and services, more exhibitors from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, and more buying opportunities for attendees.

This year’s show is on track to be the biggest IAAPA has ever hosted in Asia, with a large pavilion of MAATFA member companies, a Korean Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions pavilion, and an ever-increasing number of rides, games, and other products for display and demonstration.

For more on Asian Attractions Expo 2010, visit www.IAAPA.org/expos/asian/index.asp.

Give Kids The World Roundup

GKTW Continues Partnership with Six Flags
Give Kids The World (GKTW) is celebrating a gift of more than $10,000— raised one coin toss at a time. Six Flags Inc. supported GKTW for the second year in a row with its Fountains for Foundations program during the 2009 operating season. Each Six Flags park invited guests who visited Aug. 1 through the end of the season to donate change in a designated fountain; all collected funds were given to Give Kids The World. The fountain fundraiser has been a great extension of the partnership between the parks and GKTW, and based on past success, it will continue in 2010. Six Flags will once again encourage its parks’ guests to donate their spare change for Wish children.

100,000 Vacation Dreams Fulfilled
On Feb. 23, GKTW Village, a fun attractions-filled environment for children with life-threatening illnesses, celebrated the arrival of its 100,000th family. This milestone marked an important step for GKTW, as the organization continues to grow and reach children around the globe. Ten-year-old Yadin arrived from Israel with his family and spent the week creating magical memories and experiencing all there is to offer in Central Florida. GKTW welcomed its first international family from Russia in 1989, and since that time, more than 6,200 families from 70 countries have had their dream Wish vacation at GKTW. Without the continued support of IAAPA members, GKTW could not serve these precious children. Walt Disney World became GKTW’s very first partner, and since that time, SeaWorld Orlando, Universal Orlando, and countless other IAAPA members helped GKTW grow to become a 70- acre Village where happiness truly does inspire hope.

GKTW Celebrates 24 Years
On March 7, GKTW celebrated its 24th anniversary with a splash. Honoring GKTW Founder Henri Landwirth’s 83rd birthday, the Village also officially opened the all-new “Park of Dreams” waterplay area. Complete with an 80- foot-long pirate ship, donated by Environs Inc., the new area features a resort-style, zero-depth entry pool and an interactive water garden and splash pad. The water garden, a gift from Quebecbased Vortex Aquatic Design, features colorful floral elements that spill, squirt, and shoot water. During the festivities, GKTW unveiled the ship’s name, Serendipity, and officially dedicated it to the children of GKTW. Were it not for the dedication of so many IAAPA members, “Park of Dreams” and its water-filled fun would have remained a dream. GKTW offers a heartfelt thank-you to IAAPA members Environs Inc., Vortex Aquatic Designs, Universal Creative, ValleyCrest, Nassal Company, Morris Architects, Neptune-Benson, American Locker, Aquatic Design and Engineering Inc., Foster Conant and Associates Architects, and so many other dedicated partners for helping make our 24th anniversary all wet!