(Image courtesy of ITEC Entertainment)
they can eat something in a restaurant of their characters and where they can find all kinds of merchandise of their characters. Each character has its own zone with attractive decoration, amusing attractions, joyful music, various pleasant spots to eat and homely boutiques. “Safety, cleanliness and quality are our greatest
concerns,” he continues. “By this mix of factors we try to give our characters eternal life and to find at least one character for each age.” As more parks are added to the Plopsa group, in Belgium
increase in the number of guests travelling from hundreds of miles away to partake in Six Flags America fun. “Our guests tell us that they are enjoying Thomas Town
at Six Flags America and many tell us that they are passing along their great experiences on to their friends. We are optimistic that as children discover Thomas and Friends and word of this permanent place to interact with the popular characters spreads, guests will continue to come to Six Flags America to visit Thomas at his home on the Island of Sodor.” So does Winkler feel that branded/licensed attractions
aimed at very young children are more beneficial to a park than other brands which might appeal to older kids or teens? “At Six Flags America, we wanted to balance out the
Plopsaland GM Steve Van den Kekhof with Plop, one of the Studio 100 characters (Image courtesy of Plosaland)
high-intensity rides that appeal to teens and tweens with rides and attractions that spoke directly to the youngest thrill seekers. We already have great brands and partnerships with many of our thrill attractions, like D.C. Comics for our Superman Ride of Steel, Batman Batwing and Joker’s Jinx roller coasters. The addition of Thomas Town means we have a trusted family brand for the young thrill seekers. There’s a full day of fun for every age group at our park. This is important to families who visit us looking for value in their entertainment dollar and it’s something we’re pleased to offer.”
Plopsaland, Belgium Plopsa comes from the immensely popular Studio 100 characters - Gnome Plop, SAmson and Gert and Plopsaland general manager Steve Van den Kerkhof explains their use in the park. “The aim of Plopsa is to find a combination of many
factors. We want to be a family park where children have the opportunity to meet their character/TV heroes in the park, where they can take part in themed attractions, where
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and elsewhere, one question has to be on how well the Plopsa characters are known outside the Benelux countries and how this will affect where new parks are opened? “Recently we bought the EM catalogue, one of the
greatest and most famous children’s catalogues in the world,” explains Van den Kerkhof. “A number of brands will get a remake, such as f.i. Maya the bee. These brands will be used in the parks outside the Benelux. Of course we will try to add a Benelux character to this range.” And, perhaps not surprisingly, he believes brands for younger children are the most important.
Tivoli Copenhagen, Denmark At Tivoli Copenhagen 2010 saw the introduction of Petzi’s World which according to vice-president Stine Lolk has been a big success, judging by guests’ very positive response. So what was the appeal for Tivoli to add a major IP and why
did they choose Petzi? “Petzi - in Danish Rasmus Klump - and his whole universe
is something that the Danish population grew up with; he is approaching his 60th
anniversary,” Lolk reveals. “Petzi and
Tivoli share many values, for example a certain innocence, inquisitiveness, open mindedness and friendliness. Visually it
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