Park News
parkworld-online.com
ParkHoppin’ with Paul Ruben
Give a fun house a home
Fun houses are a disappearing breed. A few burned, others were abandoned, some were torn down. Once a staple found in many amusement parks, there are now few remaining. That's a shame because as the name suggests, they were fun.
Unlike thrill rides, fun houses were participatory attractions, where visitors enter and move around under their own power. Incorporating aspects of a playful obstacle course, fun houses sought to distort conventional perceptions. They startled people with unstable and unpredictable physical circumstances within an atmosphere of wacky whimsicality. Classic fun houses died when their parks closed due to competition from new theme parks. A few traditional fun houses are still operating around the world, but very few. Today's fun houses are really dark (or not so dark) walk-throughs. During a recent visit to Waldameer Park in Erie,
Pennsylvania, I was reminded of the delights of fun houses by the park's walk-through Pirates Cove. There I manoeuvred through shifting floor boards, a tilted room, black-light rooms filled with frightening characters, and posed before several nearby crazy mirrors. I loved the mirror shown here; it was so slimming. It brought me back to an earlier era, when fun houses proliferated. Not so any more, and we all know why. Low capacity, liability insurance rates, and a likely hotbed for guest misconduct. Appearing originally in the early 1900s at Coney Island, the fun house was just that: a house or larger building containing a number of amusement devices. At first these were mainly mechanical devices. Some could be described as enlarged, motorised versions of what might be found on a children's playground. Among the most common were a slide, usually much taller and steeper than one would find on a playground. Some were as much as two storeys high. A large spinning disc was popular. While the disk was stationary patrons would get on and sit in the centre, then
the operator would start the disc spinning, and people would be thrown off by centrifugal force, ending up against a padded wall. Want to see one in action? Then make your way to Munich this fall and check out Feldl’s Teufelrad (Devil Wheel) at Oktoberfest.
A horizontal revolving cylinder or "barrel" challenged guests to try to walk through without falling down – still a staple in many of the fun houses that remain. There were floor tricks such as sections of floor that undulated up and down, tipped from side to side or moved forward and back, either motorised or activated by the person's weight. Stairs moved up and down, tipped from side to side, or slid side-to-side alternating directions between steps. There was an array of distorting mirrors. Perhaps best of all were compressed air jets shooting air up from the floor, originally designed to blow up women's skirts, but effective at startling almost anyone and making them jump and scream. It may not make much sense today to have a fun house in a major theme park because of the capacity issue and likelihood of guests to dwell for too long. But for small to mid-sized parks, a fun house gave them character. It was different and it was charming. There are portable walk-throughs now made for travelling shows and small parks, but a classic fun house, a permanent structure with some unique elements, would provide great family appeal. We miss them.
6
Ferrari Land and other future plans
The addition of Ferrari Land, destined for PortAventura in 2016, and the Spanish resort’s new partnership with Cirque du Soleil, are intended to increase its penetration of markets like Italy and Germany, which currently contribute significantly less visitors than the UK, France and Russia (and of course Spain). Owen Ralph reports
These and other tentative details of the planned Ferrari-branded park were revealed by PortAventura executives at a press conference last month to launch its new Angkor water ride. Owner Investindustrial – whose deal with Ferrari is exclusive for Europe – has committed a budget of €100 million to the project, which will include a handful of rides including Europe’s tallest and fastest vertical launch coaster, a themed 5-Star hotel, restaurants, shops and simulated racing experiences.
“The new area must be consistent with the rest of the park,” explains
PortAventura development director Luis Valencia.“ To this end it will be feature Italian theming that blends seamlessly into the Mediterranean area towards the front of the existing park. However, adds Valencia, no decision had been made yet with regards to Ferrari Land’s commercial strategy. Park World is therefore unable to confirm whether it will be separately gated to the main park, with it own admission fee (as with the Costa Caribe waterpark). PortAventura is still tendering for ride suppliers, including the manufacturer of the launch coaster. “We will also we have additional rides for kids because you mustn’t forget that we are a family destination,” notes Valencia. “Trademarks like Ferrari and Cirque du Soleil will really put us on the map.,” believes PortAventura CEO Fernando Aldecoa. “One example is the Italian market, where perhaps before they didn’t know so much about PortAventura, and also Germany.” Currently PortAventura hosts around 4 million guests a year – around half of those from outside Spain. The goal is to get attendance up to 5 million. One of its biggest rivals, or the one executives brought up most often in the press conference, is Disneyland Paris. “We can never compete with Disney in terms of the Mickey Mouse experience, but we don’t want to,” muses Aldecoa. “I think we are the only
Ferrari Land – an artist’s impression. The rollercoaster manufacturer and other suppliers have yet to be confirmed
MAY 2014
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