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Morgan’s Wonderland: A Very Special Amusement Park
 The past few years, a lot of attention in the amusement industry has been focused on the efforts of parks and attractions to make their facilities more accessible to guests with disabilities and other special needs. Now imagine for a moment an amusement park that was actually conceived, designed, and built from the ground up with accessibility as its primary, overriding mission. Well, such a place now exists. It’s called Morgan’s Wonderland (www.morganswonderland.com), and it celebrated its grand opening April 10 in San Antonio, Texas.
If ever there was a place born of inspired need, it’s Morgan’s. Back in 2006, philanthropist Gordon Hartman observed his daughter Morgan, who has some special needs, with a group of other kids vacationing at a hotel swimming pool. Morgan wanted to interact with the other kids but it didn’t happen. It got Hartman to thinking how great it would be to create a place for people with special needs like his daughter to be able to connect and interact with others in a safe place where they could relax and play outdoors.
 He learned that millions of kids and adults who suffer with physical and mental disabilities usually don’t have access to facilities especially designed with them in mind, so he set out to create such a place.
“After the first year, we’d raised about $15 million toward the idea, and then we started securing the land, which was the Longhorn Quarry,” he says. “The second year was spent on design and the third year on building the park.”
Hartman says he determined what the proper attractions for the park would be by holding major forums and bringing in parents, caregivers, doctors, therapists, and some persons with special needs. “We came out with eight and a half pages of ideas,” he says, “and we went through each idea and ultimately developed what is now known as Morgan’s Wonderland.”
The $32.3 million park is intended to serve as a haven not only for those with special needs, but for their families, caregivers, and friends. Admission is free to guests with special needs; all others pay $5. Hartman says the park’s theming is butterflies, based on the idea that when people go there, they can come out of their cocoon and have fun.
The colorful, 25-acre location features a train ride with wheelchair accessible cars; what’s termed an “ultra-accessible” carousel; water cannons and remote-controlled boats; a Water Works waterplay area; an off-road adventure ride; an 8-acre lake stocked with fish for catch and release; an “Around the World” train ride that circles the lake and travels through zones themed on various countries; and a host of other activities, rides, and adventures.
Morgan’s Wonderland also has a special events area for up to 700 guests, Braille signage, a service-animal rest area, and two gift shops. Everything in the park is wheelchair accessible, and RFID locator wristbands and touch-screen display monitors allow parents and caregivers to keep track of family and friends.
Hartman says one thing really surprised him: “I didn’t anticipate the interest from ‘wounded warriors.’ San Antonio is a big military area, and we have thousands of soldiers with special needs because of war injuries. Now they have a place they can go play with their families.”
Austria Readies ‘Craziest and Sportiest Playground’
On May 1, the latest in extreme sports parks, coupled with amusements, will open at the entrance to the Ötztal Valley in Austria, between the municipalities of Haiming, Sautens, and Roppen.
Called AREA 47 (www.area47.at), the 16-acre park will feature a variety of high-thrill adventures, including a waterslide park, an adjustable cliff-diving tower, ramps for skiing and biking stunts, a climbing wall, an 89-foot-tall high-ropes course, and a 2,000-footlong zip line called the “Flying Fox.”
Rafting and kayaking trips on the Ötztaler Ache and Inn rivers will also be offered, as well as canyoning and climbing tours through the Ötztal mountains and downhill mountain-biking trails. Skydiving tandem jumps from a helicopter will also be available for the truly daring.
Christian Schnöller, marketing director for AREA 47, says the site for the €13.4 million (US$18.1 million) park was chosen because it’s the ideal location. “We have two rivers there, and they are the best known in Europe for rafting—the two rivers where all of the rafting goes,” he explains. “It’s also only three minutes by car to the exit of the motorway and three minutes to the nearest train station.” The park’s name is derived from its location, on the 47th degree of latitude.
Schnöller says the park expects to pull from the German-speaking markets of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy; since Innsbruck, Austria, is only 30 minutes away, AREA 47 hopes to get its share of international visitors as well.
The waterpark will open May 13 and, according to Schnöller, it will feature the steepest waterslide in Europe and a cliff-diving tower that can be raised to a harrowing height of almost 90 feet. The lake will offer a sunbathing lawn for up to 2,000, as well as beach volleyball, beach soccer, basketball courts, and a Venice Beach-style gym.
In an effort to capture large crowds for concerts and international sporting events, AREA 47 will also have a 38,000-square-foot events hall that can host up to 8,000 people. The Saloon Sports Bar will seat up to 400, and a lakeside restaurant will allow visitors to dine on a sun terrace.
Close-to-nature lodging for up to 260 guests is available in Tyrolean-style log cabins or in authentic wooden tepees.
Schnöller, who contends nothing quite like AREA 47 can be found anywhere else in the world, says it’s the dream of its CEO, Hans Neuner, who’s been working on the project for seven years and says he wants AREA 47 to be “Europe’s trendiest, craziest, and sportiest playground for visitors of every age group.” Neuner captured two prominent business partners in the Sölden Ski Lift Company and Stiegl Brewery and signed sponsors like Red Bull, Adidas, and KTM motorcycles.
Following its May 1 opening, AREA 47 will operate each year from mid- April until the end of October and will employ 50 permanent and 150 part-time workers.
The Canadian Yukon Comes to Germany’s Hannover Zoo
 You don’t expect to experience the Canadian Yukon when you’re standing in the heart of northern Germany, but that’s exactly what the staff of the Hannover Zoo (www.zoo-hannover.de) hopes to accomplish when they open an impressive new animal habitat May 19.
“Yukon Bay” will be almost a quarter- million square feet of Canadian themed wilderness in the heart of Hannover, Germany. The habitat was painstakingly designed to capture the look and feel of a Yukon gorge and a busy harbor, where polar bears, wolves, foxes, sea lions, penguins, and caribou feel right at home.
 Under construction for two and a half years, “Yukon Bay” is desperately needed. The zoo’s polar bears have been living in an old lion enclosure that dates to the 1930s, and the homes of the sea lions and penguins are old-style concrete zoo exhibits from the 1960s. The old enclosures don’t meet European Union standards on animal welfare and keeping. “This is going to be a much better place for the animals,” says Klaus- Michael Machens, the zoo’s director, “and a much better setting for the [guests] to experience them.”
Machens traveled to the Yukon Territory in Canada to get a first-hand view of how the region looks and feels, and he brought back countless photos. He reportedly has almost been living on the building site of the new habitat during construction, personally overseeing every detail.
“Yukon Bay” is themed as a little village on the coast of Canada, connected to the sea by a bay where polar bears live. On their way to the bay, zoo visitors will negotiate the forests, gorges, and caves of Alaska. Upon reaching the harbor, they’ll look out over the bay and watch the polar bears swim in the ice-cold water, which comprises a third of the total area of the habitat.
Along the dock of the bay will be a shipwreck “overtaken” by penguins, which hop from deck to deck and swim inside the water-filled hull. Visitors can enter the hull through a hole in the ship’s side and see the penguins swimming overhead through transparent pipes. Outside the portholes, guests will get a stunning view of the polar bears swimming alongside the ship. Though most of the animals won’t be transferred to the new exhibit until May, the zoo has already greeted the arrival of seven wolves and placed them in their new habitat.
The project was a joint effort between zoo staff and Berlin-based Dan Pearlman architects. Total investment in the project is €31 million (US$42.1 million), and financial support came from a variety of sources, including the State of Niedersachsen economic development fund, the European Union regional development fund, the Region Hannover local government authority, the zoo foundation, donations, and bank loans.
According to Machens, this investment brings both the animals and the zoo visitors something priceless. “It’s authenticity,” he says. “The theming is remarkable. It’s really like Canada.”
More 5 Wits About You
 5 Wits, the Boston, Massachusetts company responsible for creating the highly successful “TOMB” adventure in Boston’s Patriot Place, is about to unveil two new fully immersive interactive experiences, “Espionage” and “20,000 Leagues.”
The $2 million living dramas are hourlong walkthrough adventures that use advanced set designs and special effects. Guests work together in groups to complete a series of riddles, puzzles, and other tasks. Each decision made by the group affects the storyline they experience and the outcome of the adventure, and this intelligence control of the experience is its fascinating hallmark.
 Similar entertainment center venues usually feature 3-D or 4-D cinema attractions, but Matt DuPlessie, owner of 5 Wits (www.5-wits.com), tells FUNWORLD these two interactive adventures are far more. “Most of those that mark themselves as the pinnacle of interactivity fall short in my mind,” says DuPlessie. “If you’re strapped into a seat and being hit by water droplets, there is no guest control. With ours, the guest has control and is part of the story experience, and they influence what happens in the story.
“Each show takes place over eight rooms,” explains DuPlessie. “The content and the difficulty are dependent upon how a group is performing. If a group is fast or slow, the game actually adjusts to that. And there are multiple endings that are determined by how the group performs, and it’s not always a happy ending!”
DuPlessie says the goal of the multiple endings is not just to keep the outcome a mystery, but also to keep guests coming back to experience other endings. Another element that will lure players to return is that the attraction keeps track of their scores during the adventure, enticing them to want to play again. 5 Wits knows its interactive experience model works because the company watched crowds roll in for “TOMB,” which premiered in 2004 at Patriot Place, a 1.3 million-square-foot shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. “TOMB” is in its sixth year and is still going strong; Lucas Neilly, the attraction’s general manager, knows why.
 “With our shows, you’re not just pushing a button; you’re becoming the characters,” he says. “Nobody really understands exactly what we do. It’s a pocket amusement park. ‘TOMB’s’ attendance is still strong, and I don’t see it going down anytime soon, so I’m thinking [‘Espionage’ and ‘20,000 Leagues’] will both easily run eight to 12 years.”
“Espionage” will allow guests to play the role of international secret agents. They’ll be tasked with completing a dangerous mission, which involves keeping important military secrets from falling into enemy hands. “20,000 Leagues” will challenge guests to explore the ocean depths while solving puzzles and fighting man and beast.
DuPlessie says 5 Wits took its themes for these adventures from popular fiction: “We listed the top themes that appear in books, games, and movies, and the most popular are ancient Egypt, spycraft, and Jules Verne-type adventures. We took those top three and made them the themes for our first three [experiences].”
He says the customer demographics are “all over the map,” from families, to corporate team-building, to school field trips. “These [adventures] are at a crossroads of many things,” he says. “It’s a cross between museum exhibits and theme park experiences.”
Contact News Editor Keith Miller at kmiller@IAAPA.org.
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