PARKLIFE
Enchanted Kingdom
their pioneering vision of bringing a unique theme park experience to the Philippines. The park was conceptualised
in 1992-94 and opened to the public on October 19, 1995. At
the time, the original area of land available to the park was 11 hectares, while today this has been increased to 15.5 hectares with potential to expand still further up to around 40 hectares. The current developed area inclusive of parking is approximately 12 hectares. Initially the park had 16 rides and attractions located
within seven themed zones and interspersed with food and merchandise outlets and kiosks as well as various game stand. In 1996, responding to a call for more rides for the younger guests, Enchanted Kingdom installed two new rides in its Boulderville Zone, namely Stone Eggs, a Zamperla mini-Ferris Wheel, and Dino Soar ‘Us, a Zamperla Dinosaur ride. Moving through the years, other additions have included
the Rio Grand Rapids, an O.D. Hopkins river raft ride which opened in 2000. This joined another O.D. Hopkins ride, the Jungle Log Jam flume ride, that was part of the 1995 opening ride package, the new raft ride adding more
PARKLIFE 2005 marked the first full decade of Enchanted Kingdom’s
existence. It was a year noted for other milestones too, such as the highest attendance ever for the park of almost 1.2 million guests, as well as the launching of its first comic book series to the public. Enchanted Kingdom also tied up with a local production company to produce a local blockbuster film entitled Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom, which became a top grosser in the country’s year- end Metro Manila Film Festival. According to park president Mario Mamon: “We thought
that 2005 would be our breakout year, but sadly, it wasn’t and the following years until 2008 were far less than favourable. However, a general change in the organisation, especially in marketing and sales during 2008, signalled a dramatic change in the fortunes and future of Enchanted Kingdom.” By 2009, attendance was back to over a million, even
though the country was beset by twin natural disasters between the third and fourth quarter of the year. The addition of a 500sq. m events facility in 2007 and the introduction of additional ride attractions in 2008, along with Shake, Rattle and Roll (a locally conceptualised horror walk-through based on a long-running local movie series), Junior Kart Track and Triassic Tag (an infrared laser tag game), contributed to the renewed interest in the park. The upgrading of
thrills and excitement for families and also increasing the ride capacity
of the park. In 2003, a CIK/FIA sanctioned go-kart track was opened at the park.
This track was available to the public when Enchanted Kingdom was open but was also used for the annual karting championships during weekends of the
year. Both single-seater and dual-seater Italian-made karts were used. Enchanted Kingdom also opened its first 30- seat 4D Theatre in the same year. The theatre was initially supplied by Hytechnology Ltd. of Shenzhen, PRC but this has since been upgraded to a SimEX-IWERKS system. Since opening, it has always been a “sell-out” with such films as Escape from Bane Manor, Leslie Nielsen in Pirates, Brendan Fraser in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Dora & Diego and Yogi Bear.
58 InterPark May-June 2011
the Space Shuttle (Vekoma Boomerang coaster) into the Space Shuttle Max, with a brand new train and state-of- the-art magnetic braking system, also created “noise” and reason to come back to Enchanted Kingdom. Revitalised marketing and sales efforts also greatly contributed to the turnaround in 2009. “But 2010 was another year and being our 15th year, we
knew that it would be different,” says Mamon. “By the first half of the year, we were already cautiously optimistic that it would be the year, and so it was. We ended the year with an attendance of more than 1.6 million, the record so far and with almost the same rides, facilities and attractions that we had over the first decade and a half, save for some additions. As part of our 15th anniversary offering to our guests, we introduced our EKstreme Tower Ride, a 150ft drop tower ride from Larson/ARM of Texas, US. It was another first in the country.”
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