Contents
Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!
Andrew Mellor Editor T
HE UK’s amusement and theme park industry owes much to many coastal towns around the country, where many decades ago entrepreneurs set up static parks to bring a new and exciting
form of entertainment to the masses who thronged to the seaside for their annual holidays. Today, a number of those parks still exist, albeit in very different guises to those early days, while among the towns themselves, one of the most well-known is Blackpool in the north west, with its world renowned Pleasure Beach, seaside piers, ‘Golden Mile’ (of attractions along the promenade) and the iconic, and world famous, Blackpool Tower, to name but a few of the major tourist attractions and facilities to be found their today. As readers will see in this issue of InterPark, the Tower has undergone a major redevelopment programme of late and having been closed to the public for 10 months while the work was carried out, was relaunched on September 1 by the owners, Blackpool Council, and operating partner Merlin Entertainments. The work on the Tower is part of an overall £250m regeneration programme for the town which it is hoped will bring in another 800,000 visitors annually and around £55m in additional revenues. As Merlin CEO Nick Varney noted at the relaunch event, Blackpool now boasts the largest concentration of attractions in Europe, no less than eight of which are owned and/or operated by Merlin themselves, and it is testament to the world’s second largest attraction operator’s faith in the town and what it can offer that it has become so heavily involved in it. And the signs are promising. Merlin opened Madame Tussauds Blackpool at Easter this year and the number of visitors to that attraction is already 25 per cent ahead of expectations. The Sea Life Centre, again a Merlin attraction, is also 10 per cent up on attendance, so the figures augur well for other venues in the town and therefore the town itself. Returning to the Tower, the work it has undergone has given it a new lease of life. Furthering the ‘Eye’ branding used on the London Eye observation wheel, also run by Merlin, the Blackpool Tower Eye as it is now known provides visitors with various new experiences. Firstly, a 4D film acts as a pre-show to a ride up the tower, while once at the observation platform 381ft. above the promenade, guests have the chance to walk over the SkyWalk, a glass floor stretching along one side with views ‘straight down’ to the ground below. Additionally, they have the opportunity to look out to sea through one side of the platform which is made up of glass from floor to ceiling. Back in the Tower buildings below, the Blackpool Tower Dungeon is another new attraction, while the redevelopment work has also seen much of the lower structure of the tower uncovered and carefully illuminated, adding further to the overall experience. As mentioned, the aim of Blackpool’s regeneration plan is to attract many more visitors to the town throughout the year and to return this once bustling family resort to something of its former glory. Merlin clearly has faith in this plan and has done much towards making it happen while others too, such as the Pleasure Beach with its recently opened Nickelodeon Land, continue to invest significantly. Let’s hope the many family’s all this work is aimed at recognise the effort being made and are tempted back by what is on offer. Success is certainly deserved.
4 World news 6 US news 8 Europe news 12 Asia news 14 Waterpark news
18 Show preview EAS, London
20 Feature Blackpool Tower relaunched
24 Alterface celebrates 10th anniversary
26 Feature The creation of Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park
34 Association profile ANCASVI
35 Feature The Halloween phenomena
40 Feature F&B – in house or out sourced operations. Which is best?
46 Feature High tech live shows
50 Park Life Lost Paradise of Dilmun waterpark, Bahrain
53 Open to Question Henrik B. Nielsen, Djurs Sommerland
56 Show preview IAAPA Attractions Expo
Supporters of:
BALPPA
www.InterPark.co.uk 1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60