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Park People
www.parkworld-online.com
Is there any growth left for regional private equity, privately held or market based.
amusement parks in the US and Europe? Investment in our industry is a healthy thing.
Will Morey
Yes! With travel plans being affected by the economy
third in line
regional’s parks are in a good position to take IAAPA is making efforts to reach out to a
Will Morey of Morey’s Piers in
advantage of that. wider range of attractions, including
New Jersey (pictured) has been
museums, casinos etc. What can traditional
elected IAAPA’s new third vice-
Do you expect further consolidation? amusement park operators learn from these
chairman. He will move
Consolidation is part of the basic business cycle. As venues and vice versa? through the positions of third,
such I see it continuing. Great storytelling, great presentation, and great
second and first vice-chairman
execution have no borders. When I visit a successful
before leading the association
Who do you expect the big players to be in attraction whatever discipline it is in I am always
as its chairman in 2013.
Morey will assume his new
10 years time? questioning how they market themselves, how they
role during IAAPA Attractions
We are privileged to live in an exciting fast moving package their pricing, how they present an attraction,
Expo in Las Vegas this month.
time, as the last 10 years have shown. So predicting how they present their food and beverage offerings
As he does so, a line of vice-
10 years out is definitely not something I have my etc. Since we all approach our business’s from chairmen will move one step
crystal ball set up to do! Having said that the current different perspectives I believe there is a wealth of
closer to the top. Bob Rippy of
market leaders in each platform, segment or region information to share between us and our fellow IAAPA
Jungle Rapids, North Carolina,
will have the opportunity to get stronger as it will constituents.
will become the association’s
first vice-
continue to be challenging to do start-ups.
chair,
Do you see many park operators
followed by
Palace Entertainment was taken over a few diversifying?
Europa-
years ago by Parques Reunidos. Do private Absolutely. The guest definition of entertainment from Park’s
equity backed enterprises such as this, 10 years ago to now is very different and evolving
Roland
Merlin and others benefit or distort the very quickly. But remember within that diversification
Mack as
market? great storytelling and doing something above guests'
second vice-
chair.
Capital flows to where opportunities exist, whether it is expectations will always be the key to success.
NOVEMBER 2009 37
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