PW Oct 09 P7:PW Oct 09 P7.qxd 28/09/2009 09:32 Page 7
Front Gate
www.parkworld-online.com
BigQuestion
Figures
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What's been your best ever attraction in terms of return on investment?
50of Fun
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Paul Borchardt, Wonderland Park, USA: Our best investment has been the bumper cars.
We have Reverchon cars, the Almas, and they have been very popular. From when we open 'til
closing there is always a line of people waiting to drive them. People of all ages ride them. It
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takes the kid who wants to ride, to the kid who feels he is big enough to be driving alone. We number of haunted houses at Universal
have had five sets of cars from 1963 to today. That first two sets were Lusse, Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights,
the third was Duce, and the last two were Reverchon. I can honestly say that
which continue until October 31
this last group is the finest that I believe is on the market. Not only are they
really attractive cars (the finish, the style, the colours and the lighting), but the
maintenance on them is extremely minimal. Bumper cars are one ride that
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everyone really enjoys. They are anxious to get on, they have fun driving them,
centimetres – length of bamboo shark
and they are smiling when they get off.
that hatched from an egg in a diver’s
hand at Blue Planet Aquarium in
Roy Page, Knights Leisure, UK: It was actually when I was at First Leisure, and we put a
Ellesmere Port, England
giant Ferris Wheel on Central Pier in Blackpool. It was a big wheel as well;
we bought it from Mondial. Geoffrey Thompson, God bless him, said to me
‘I used to have Ferris Wheels at the Pleasure Beach but I chucked them all
away, what have you done?’ It wasn’t easy though, because it took some
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great structural engineering to get that ride on the pier, but it was worth it.
acres – size of the ex-Six Flags/Jazzland
What it did for the pier was it made a statement, because you had Blackpool
theme park in New Orleans, which will
Tower and then right opposite you had the wheel. It’s still an icon, when it’s
reopen by the end of 2010 as
lit up during the illuminations it looks absolutely marvellous. And it takes a
Nickelodeon Universe
lot of money.
Jack Morey, Morey's Piers, USA: In general, kiddie rides, but you can't 60,000
just build a kiddie ride park; you need a blend of rides. If we are talking adult
number of season passes sold at Happy
rides, then it would probably be our wood coaster.
Valley in Shanghai before the park
opened in mid-August
Pelle Johannisson, Liseberg, Sweden: Actually, two rides are outstand-
ing when you talk about return on investment. Firstly the Flume Ride, intro-
duced in 1973, is still incredibly popular and attracts riders of all ages (around
76,000
1.2 million passengers per season). The most popular ride of all is
Lisebergbanan, our Schwarzkopf steel coaster, attracting approximately 1.5
square feet – size of the new Sega
million riders every season. Lisebergbanan was introduced in 1987 and
Republic at The Dubai Mall, the first
became the starting point of a new era at Liseberg. Both these rides contribute
Sega-branded FEC in the Middle East
a lot in building the Liseberg brand and they are both icons in the eyes of the
public.
Figures by Economics Research Associates
(ERA) www.econres.com
Ups &
Sitting Tight - Owed more than $500,000,
developer Joe Sitt of Thor Equities abruptly shut down
Downs
the Dreamland summer park on his land at Coney
Fresh Decision - In a bid to crack down
Island, New York (ex-Astroland)
on sweaty summer smells, Thorpe Park near
London banned guests riding rollercoasters
with their hands in the air following
complaints about body odour
Cedar Fall - Attendance this summer
at Cedar Fair's amusement parks in the
Bear Necessities - Berlin Zoo’s
States dropped 11% and revenues
superstar Polar bear has a new female
were down 12%. The group blames
companion. Zoo-keepers hope Knut will
Driver’s Fury - A man driving to hospital with
cool weather and a weak economy
eventually mate with Italian arrival
a broken finger ended with a lacerated head after
Gianna, though she has a history of
crashing through the fence of DelGrosso’s
snubbing arranged relationships
amusement park in Pennsylvania and hitting the
Pharoh’s Fury ride
OCTOBER 2009 7
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