2012 IAAPA CHAIRMAN ROLAND MACK HAS BIG IDEAS FOR EUROPA-PARK, THE ASSOCIATION, AND THE WORLDWIDE ATTRACTIONS INDUSTRY
It’s hard to imagine Roland Mack ever sleeps. When does he find the time?
Take, for example, one 24-hour period in mid-August when the managing director of Europa-Park met with delegates from Switzerland, hosted a lunch for the secretary of state from Azerbaijan, went on camera with a French television station, gave a speech to German entrepreneurs, held a special event to announce the details of his park’s new wooden coaster, and welcomed the United States ambassador to Germany.
In Mack’s world, this is a typical weekend.
As the managing director of Europa- Park in Rust/Baden, Germany, and shareholder in Mack Rides, the family’s manufacturing company, Roland Mack is constantly on the move. Perhaps this is why his “office” is actually just a conference room tucked into a back corner of the Cesare Italian restaurant in Europa-Park’s Hotel Colosseo. Dubbed “Circus Macksimus,” this finely appointed hideaway overlooks the hotel’s gorgeous central plaza and serves as good a place as any for those times when Mack has to be involved in a meeting or on a conference call.
 For all the million-dollar deals he’s brokered and foreign dignitaries he’s met, Mack’s heart remains in his beloved Europa-Park, which he founded with his father, Franz Mack, in 1975. He’s often asked why he hasn’t exported the concept to other parts of the world, and his answer is simple: He couldn’t bear to take any attention away from this fantasy land he so dearly loves. No detail escapes his intense gaze, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. His demand for excellence in all things associated with Europa-Park is inviolable, his energy is infectious, and his approval can put an entire room at ease.
It is for these reasons and many more that Mack’s peers elected him chairman of the IAAPA Board of Directors for 2012. Here he shares with Funworld his vision for the association, his thoughts on the global attractions industry, and his dreams for the future of Europa-Park.
Mack’s Vision for the Future of IAAPA: The EU Model
So what does being elected chairman of the world’s largest attractions industry trade association mean to Roland Mack?
“More work,” he says, flashing a grin that’s probably closed a thousand and one business deals. More serious now: “It’s a great honor. I come from a family business founded in 1780 and now in its seventh generation. No one before me—not even a German— has been elected as chair of the international association.
“But it is combined with additional work: traveling, meetings, discussions … and hopefully bringing the industry a step forward in being more international.”
As the fifth European chairman in IAAPA’s history, Mack acknowledges there are high expectations for a leader “from the Old Country.”
“We have beautiful parks and important manufacturers,” he says. “To represent both sides, that’s a special thing.” Mack certainly wants to continue IAAPA Europe’s successful growth from the past few years—his son Michael is on the IAAPA European Advisory Committee—but he sees the regional office as part of a broader conversation about the future and nature of a global association.
“What will the organization look like in the next five to 10 years?” he muses. “Will it be an American association with a lot of different segments of international members, or is it more an international association with heavily selforganized branches in the different regions? I don’t think this question has been answered yet.”
 The 2012 chairman believes the association is off to a good start by anchoring two of its regional offices to thriving trade shows. He is also pleased with IAAPA’s worldwide commitment to education and training, as well as networking. But Mack’s long-term vision is a decentralized association of strong, largely independent regional delegations under the IAAPA banner that come together to work on major issues affecting the industry worldwide—safety standard harmonization chief among them (more on that topic later). These offices “must not be subsidized by an American association—that’s not possible for the future. They have to be self-sustaining financially.”
He looks at IAAPA in much the same way as the European Union: joined in its overall goal but maintaining the unique traditions of its members. “The culture is different, the thinking is different—in Asia and Latin America, too, not just Europe,” he says. “It’s similar to the EU: Brussels can’t solve all our problems—we have to do our own homework, as you see with the financial problems now. If you don’t do your own work, you will fail—the whole thing will blow up. We have to do the regional work, solve the regional problems, and then try to talk to the international association.”
The Benefits of Working—and Networking—Internationally
Mack speaks about the benefits of international relations from a place of experience and deep-sown passion. The 62-year-old has been working on a global scale since his introduction to the attractions industry four decades ago. It was on a whirlwind trip in the early 1970s touring theme parks in the United States that Mack and his father conceptualized Europa-Park. That voyage continued a cycle of sorts, Mack points out, as Walt Disney toured Europe when developing Disneyland in the mid-20th century; and now emissaries from all over the world come to Rust/Baden to pick Mack’s brain. In August, a delegation from the Azerbaijan tourism ministry invited Mack to come to their country and meet their president.
“I was born into a company that was working internationally from the beginning,” he says. “It was one of the reasons I was so keen to work in this industry—looking over my own borders to have friends worldwide without competition. I have no competitors in New York or Los Angeles or Guangzhou. We can tell them our ideas because we’ll never be competitors.”
This zeal for working globally, in turn, is what drove Mack to take such an active role in IAAPA and, eventually, become its chairman. He takes pride in showcasing his renowned attraction prototypes from Mack Rides in front of a worldwide audience at IAAPA’s trade shows; but even more, he enjoys the relationships he’s developed through the association. And now the potential for new friendships and ideas is broader than ever as IAAPA extends into Asia and Latin America.
“It’s all about language. It’s not the euro, it’s not the dollar— it’s the people who understand each other,” says the man who speaks four languages himself. “If you work internationally, you can take a lot of developments and integrate them into your own culture. It’s not just copying something you’ve seen elsewhere in the world; it’s adjusting it to the people visiting your attraction. This is what keeps the industry moving and is very helpful for our development.”
Innovation—and Not Just in Rides— Is the Key to Growth
Roland Mack’s mind is always moving, evaluating, cultivating new ideas. He is always on, and his drive manifests itself in Europa-Park. The resort doesn’t know the concept of resting on its laurels, much less engage in such behavior. With Mack Rides—the original Mack ride manufacturing company that dates to 1780—as the incubator, there is always something new at the resort. 2012 will see Europa-Park’s first wooden coaster (built by Great Coasters International) and the unveiling of the resort’s Bell Rock New England-style hotel.
 Bell Rock will be the resort’s fifth accommodation built in less than two decades, demonstrating Mack’s commitment to transitioning Europa-Park into a multiday destination, which he says is crucial for the industry’s continued growth and success. Mack believes it’s an inverse relationship to the European industry’s roots in the carnival business; obviously it’s impossible to take Europa-Park on the road from city to city, but if guests have a wonderful place to stay, the park’s reach grows farther and farther away. As of 2009, 51 percent of Europa- Park’s guests came from outside Germany, with the resort’s 3,500 rooms operating at more than 90 percent capacity.
“People need more than just thrill rides—they need hotels, good food, good shows … they want to be entertained from the moment they enter,” Mack says. “So if we succeed in delivering quality with friendly staff and a good atmosphere, and all of this at a fair price, I think we have no competitor at all. But you have to provide a wide range of entertainment.”
Hotels and attractions go hand in hand at Europa-Park, because Mack knows all those beds are worthless if there isn’t enough infrastructure to make guests extend their stays. He studied engineering in college and is heavily involved in developmental projects for Mack Rides, many of which are showcased at the park to give potential clients a hands-on look at what they’re buying.
“Innovation is a very difficult question because you only have three or four possibilities for a ride,” Mack says. “You can go left or right, backward or forward, or upside down. You can combine those movements, but that’s all been done. That’s why we’ve developed rides that go on tracks and in water—we try to use different transportation mechanisms on the same ride. Then we combine a lot of transportation systems for indoor themed attractions. By that you can really change the whole feeling for the riders through theming.”
The other way to separate an attraction from its competitors is size and speed, which he acknowledges is nothing new to the industry but remains a constant balancing act for both manufacturer and park. “You have to make a decision about what kind of clientele you’re looking for,” Mack says. “If you’re going too high, too fast, you’re looking for a small segment of visitors. At Europa-Park, we try to offer attractions for the whole family, not just one target group.
“My father always said the best ride is when someone gets out and wants to ride again and do it all day long,” he continues. “If you have the highest and fastest ride, this will not happen. The ride that gets people back again isn’t always the highest, fastest, or most thrilling ride.”
As an example Mack points to “Blue Fire,” Europa-Park’s newest steel coaster, which debuted in 2009. It’s moderate by coaster standards at 124 feet high and a top speed of 61 mph, but it marked two crucial “firsts” for the park’s ride lineup: “Blue Fire” is both the first launch and looping coaster at Europa-Park. These elements, combined with an animatronic preshow and a unique restraint system that monitors riders’ heart rates, have made the coaster an instant blockbuster in Mack’s corner of Germany.
“Blue Fire’s” preshow also points to a trend Mack says his park will continue to embrace in coming years: themed attractions. As audiences trend older and more sophisticated, he believes attractions that mix media with ride systems will be critical to the industry’s success, citing “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure as an example. However, he acknowledges family and independent parks have a tougher path to these types of rides since they do not have access to in-house intellectual property, brands, or licenses.
Mack’s Big Goal: Global Safety Harmonization
Mack says European manufacturers have not only driven the creative benchmarks for the worldwide attractions industry, but safety and quality standards, as well. Thus, “there’s a lot for the association to do” in terms of standardizing safety guidelines for the entire industry, especially as IAAPA extends its reach around the globe and starts introducing manufacturers and operators from different regions to one another.
“Safety has nothing to do with borders,” Mack says. “It’s really a technical and quality issue, so we have to try for harmonization through the association. This is quite difficult, but it has to come. It was hard to unify Europe, but we are now prepared for the international way and hopefully we can combine with Russia, China, and others.
“Because if there is an accident in Tokyo, in Los Angeles, in Sao Paulo, or in Europa-Park, it’s on the front page [everywhere]. That’s why it’s very important that we are safe, and we should talk proudly about our safety standards. And those standards need experience from the production side—what can we learn from each other?
 “So I’m happy we have an organization in IAAPA where competitors are sitting at one table and discussing technical issues. That is very different from when I was growing up, where we tried to avoid each other. Now we have groups working together, talking openly about what can be better, what makes sense … to do that internationally is a great thing.
“My dream is to have a standard worldwide. I know how long it took to get a standard in Europe, so for this dream to come true it will take much more time. But it’s an idea I’d like to work on, and you have to go step by step. If I can be part of this international exchange to help everyone come closer together, that’s what we have to look for in the future.”
Mack Paves the Way for Future Generations of Dreamers
In Circus Macksimus, two paintings hang on opposite walls of the room. They are portraits of Roland’s parents, Franz and Liesl Mack, seemingly looking at each other as well as watching over the important decisions made around the conference table. Because no matter how big Europa-Park becomes, it’s still a family business with a heritage that is sacrosanct to its caretakers.
 Mack is now in the process of transferring his responsibilities to his two sons. Michael, the elder, is also a shareholder in Mack Rides and handles operations, sales, and marketing for Europa-Park; he also created new fields of activity such as Mack Media and the consulting firm Mack Solutions. Thomas, meanwhile, oversees Europa-Park's resort hotels and food and beverage operations. It’s the ascension of his sons that allows Mack the freedom to take on responsibilities outside the business—such as IAAPA’s chairmanship—but that doesn’t mean the transition has always been easy.
“It’s always a difficult question—the most difficult situation for a family business,” he says. “To transmit your influence and responsibility has to do with how your sons make good decisions. That’s a process, and I want to subsidize this process in handing out more and more operational issues from the daily business.
“A lot of family businesses don’t have the chance to have followers, who want to do the same job and continue a long history. But Michael is heavily involved in family thinking. He looks back at what the name ‘Mack’ means.”
Indeed, the Mack legacy holds a great deal of responsibility, and each generation has made significant strides in expanding the family’s reach. Mack’s grandfather saw the company through two World Wars; his father, Franz, took the risk of building Europa-Park “in a location nobody thought would ever be successful”; and now Mack has “developed those products into a size my father never thought possible.”
In the process, Roland paved the way for his sons to dream even bigger, most notably through securing a sizable piece of land adjacent to the resort just begging for the next generation to develop. Ideas for a waterpark and more hotels are in the offing, but nothing is yet official.
And now Mack’s eyes show a special twinkle when the topic turns to his first grandson, whom Michael named Paul, in honor of the company’s founder. In a turn of generational fate, Paul II was born last fall—260 years after the birth of his namesake and just four weeks after the death of his great grandfather, Franz.
“Michael wanted to show the Mack tradition. I think that’s a good way to continue the success of this business, handed down from generations before,” Roland says of the significance of his grandson’s name. “I know my sons are looking back to the secrets of family tradition and success, so I’m hopeful they will continue to improve Mack Rides and Europa-Park.
“A family business is not just about being successful in your own life, but finding someone who keeps going on. So, hopefully, Paul can see much more and bigger attractions in Europa-Park and more clients for Mack Rides … a great future. I hope so.”
Contact Senior Editor Jeremy Schoolfield at jschoolfield@IAAPA.org.
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