PW July 09 P20.qxd 7/2/09 8:53 am Page 20
Park News
www.parkworld-online.com
Forest Falcon
Kernels
A new attraction has risen from the forest at Duinrell in the Netherlands.
Operating since May, Falcon is smallest of several EuroFighter coasters
Doug Waterbury has established Empire Attraction LLC, an umbrella company to
installed this season by Gerstlauer. The ride features 361-metres of track, a
manage his numerous entertainment venues and events in New York, including
vertical lift and a signature 97-degree drop. A small family park and campsite,
Santa’s Workshop, the Historic Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, Yesterday’s Royal, the
Duinrell is located near the coast at Wassenaar, close to The Hague (Den Sylvan Beach Screamer Speedboat Thrill Ride, the Sterling Renaissance Festival, the
Haag). Sterling Celtic Rock Festival and Screamers’ Hollow. “New Yorkers no longer have to
travel thousands of miles to find exciting and worthwhile family entertainment,” says
Waterbury, “it is all right here in their own backyard.”
Canada's largest publicly owned and newest aquatic centre has opened in Kelowna,
British Columbia. H2O Adventure offers waterslides, a family wave pool, river run
and the country’s first ever FlowRider indoor surfing attraction. The aquatic centre
can cater for up to 500 swimmers at a time with attractions, which also include an
AquaPlay multi-level play structure.
Great City Attractions (GCA), formerly World Tourist Attractions, has chosen RefTech
Services to supply a ticketing system for its Wheel of Windsor observation wheel
just outside London. The ride, which spent the Christmas period in the city’s Hyde
Park, opened for another season’s business at Windsor on April 2. The RefTech
system delivers walk up sales and demographic analysis without the requirement for
lengthy staff training. Online sales are handled through a dedicated website
developed for GCA by RefTech. Any tickets sold or scanned for entry will be reported
upon via a secure internet connection within 10 seconds of the transaction.
Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice in Luton, England, has received over £5,600 in
donations from Monster Play Systems, the Watford based playground equipment
manufacturer. This follows a pledge by the company to donate 1.5% of the profits to
charity from all equipment installed in three counties: Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and
Milton Keynes.
PARC Foundation makes
first award
US campgrounds add
Darien Lake Theme Park Resort, PARC Management and its new philanthropic
arm, The PARC Foundation, recently awarded the inaugural Jack Kemp
water attractions
Community Service Award to celebrate the life and work of the American
politician, vice-presidential nominee and professional football player.
Private parks in the United States are investing in everything from “spray-
The award was presented to Hunter’s Hope, which aims to keep children
grounds” and splash pads to floating trampolines, floating rock-climbing walls,
safe and healthy by keeping them in school, fighting illiteracy, encouraging
waterslides and water balloon war games.
healthy mentoring relationships and supporting leadership development and
When families head to Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Mexico, New York,
higher education.
roughly 36 miles north of Syracuse, they aren’t going there simply to relax in
During the presentation ceremony last month, Hunter’s Hope CEO Jacque
the woods. Many can’t wait for the chance to try out the park’s new Water
Waggoner accepted a commemorative plaque carved with the Jack Kemp
Wars attraction in which opposing teams use catapults to see how much they
Community Service Award logo and a carousel symbolising the magic of
can saturate their fellow campers. The popular attraction has been installed in
childhood. Additionally, a full-size, hand-painted carousel horse will be placed
more than a dozen private campgrounds across America.
in Darien Lake Theme Park Resort’s wishing well garden.
Some operators of RV (recreation vehicle) grounds have even developed
their own waterparks, including Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Quarryville,
Pictured from left to
right: Jim Seneff and
Pennsylvania, which built a $2 million park last year, and the Jellystone Park in
Byron Carlock of
Williamsport, Maryland, which added two 400-foot waterslides two years ago.
CNL Lifestyle, 10-
“Private park operators are investing in water related attractions because year-old Jonah
they know these will not only appeal to families with children, but encourage
Kemp and father
people to stay at their parks for longer periods of time,” says Linda Profaizer,
Jimmy Kemp,
president and CEO of the National Association of RV Parks and
Christopher Thorpe,
Campgrounds, which represents the nation’s 8,000 private parks.
Darien Lake’s
Her point is validated by Bob Ryan, who owns Jellystone Park in Quarryville.
general manager, Jill
Kelly of Hunter's
“Our reservations are up 40% over last year,” he reports, noting that the
Hope, Randy Drew,
addition of a waterside has been a big draw.
CEO of PARC
All this investment is also making private campgrounds and RV resorts Management, and
increasingly competitive against each other, since families with children will Jacque Waggoner of
naturally gravitate to those parks that offer the most water related activities.
Hunter's Hope
20 JULY 2009
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