P18


Park Word


MARCH 2015 4-5 Front Gate


Setting the agenda for the month ahead


6 Park Hoppin’ Paul Ruben on drop towers


7 Park Law How to de-risk your parking lot


6-20 Park News Your monthly update


22 Bertazzon Ghost Trains Supplier update


24 Goddard in China Supplier update


26 DEAL 2015 Show preview


28-29 Surf Safari Cover story


30-31 Seoul Grand Children’s Park Park profile


32-33 Hello Kitty Park China Park profile


34-35 Back to Life Retheming and revitalisation


36-40 Safety & Inspection Special feature


42-45 Latin America Peru’s parks, attractions and infrastructure


48 Show Guide Calendar


49 Ride Guide Park products


50 Web Guide Online resources


P36 P31 P22


Around this time last year, when I was in Hamburg en-route to Heide Park for the opening of the new Flug der Dämonen wing coaster, I spent a pleasant evening at the Frühlingsdom, the first of the city’s annual three Dom fairs.


Covering an area of 850,000 square metres, the aforementioned amusement park enjoys a reputation as Germany’s largest, with a total of nine rollercoasters. Yet where the Dom outguns Heide Park is in terms of attendance. The three month-long fairs in Hamburg recorded a total of 10.1 million visits between them in 2014, whereas the Merlin- owned property attracted “just” 1.4 million guests during its seven-and-a-half month season in 2013 (the last year for which figures are available). Comparisons are a little simplistic given the


Dom’s free gate, pay as-you-go attractions and longer daily opening hours. Spend per head is likely to be lower whilst repeat visits are significantly higher than at the rurally-located Heide Park. One thing’s for sure, Germans love fairs, or Kirmes/Volkfests as they call them. Munich’s world- famous Oktoberfest clocks up between 6 and 7 million annual visitors over just 16 days. Some of those people may never leave the beer tents, but even at Düsseldorf’s spectacular 10-day summer fair on the Rhine, where drinking plays second fiddle to the rides and attractions, attendance regularly reaches 4 million. By comparison Germany’s no.1 amusement park, the excellent Europa-Park did 5 million last season …over nine-and-a half months! So what makes the Kirmes so compelling? The size, scale and presentation of German travelling rides and attractions is arguably superior to that in any other country, but also many such events still function as important community gatherings, and therefore attract a wider demographic than just teenagers or families with children. And yes, the fact you can have a beer while you’re there also has a certain attraction. Prost!


Owen Ralph – editor


Editor: Owen Ralph (+44 161 438 2934 parkworld@btopenworld.com


North American Editor: Paul Ruben (+1 585 381 1012) parkw@rochester.rr.com


Contributors this issue: Heather Eichenbaum, Rick Bastrup, Ricki Chávez-Muñoz


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MARCH 2015 • ISSN 1462-4796 © Copyright 2015. All materials in this publication remain the copyright of Datateam Business Media Ltd and no part of it may be reproduced without the written permission of the proprietors. A request to insert an advertisement is deemed to be an acceptance of Datateam Business Media Ltd’s conditions of trading, copies of


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THIS MONTH’S COVER SHOT: Now open at Turkey’s Rixos Tekirova Aquapark, Surf Safari is the latest high capacity – and high impact – waterslide from Polin Waterparks & Pool Systems. See page 28-29. www.polin.com.tr


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