PW-MAR20-05-Frontgate.qxp_Frontgate 30/03/2020 17:17 Page 5


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Park News


Park News


Big Question


Paul Callander, chief strategy officer, Dreamworld, WhiteWaterWorld, SkyPoint: Adapt your brand presence to the environment –We have created


their career aspirations and expectations. This can help your staff feel valued and lead to greater productivity and loyalty.


Help your employees outline a potential career path within the organisation, so they can better visualize their future at the company. Identify specific milestones for achievement, and the supporting resources employees will likely need to tap along their journey. Clear, direct and consistent communication from the boss about career advancement steps can help workers feel more engaged.


colouring in pages for our guests to print at home that will both keep them engaged with our brand and keep our brand front of mind. • Use honesty to create impactful social content – Our park has wildlife that needs care even in a lock-down situation, so we’re telling and showing our guests how we’re continuing to do this.


The key is to communicate frequently with your workers so that you can stay attuned to


• Find aspects of your business to make virtual –We have set up live stream filming of some of our wildlife so that guests can watch them from home and keep having “Dreamworld” experiences.


• Bring your product or service into the homes of your guests – Our SkyPoint business is working on how-to videos for menu items and cocktails that guests can create at home.


I’m also focusing on creating a succession planning document which can demonstrate to high- potential employees that you not only want to invest in their professional development, but also see them evolving into future leaders for the business. I create a succession plan for every key position in the organisation. It can help motivate employees to learn the skills and knowledge needed for their career advancement.


Coen Bertens, theme park director, Efteling: Thrill seekers can still experience the adrenaline rush of riding a roller coaster through our series of on-ride videos available on the Efteling YouTube channel, which are filmed from the front carriage on rides at Efteling. For Example, viewers can experience the tale of De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman) and the jaw-dropping Baron 1898 dive coaster – which plunges 37.5m into a mineshaft at


My employees will be better positioned to achieve their career goals if they know they have manager support. Emphasising employee career growth can create significant and lasting benefits for my workers.


TEA Digital launches The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) has launched TEA Digital to use the organisation’s dedicated, global


platforms and online channels to support its membership with education, professional development, discussion and networking. The program will support online discussion threads, webinars, watch parties, virtual mixers and more – including an online job fair.


Laurent Albert, Puy du Fou, France


Puy du Fou is naturally inclined to spark and reward excellence. For more than 40 years, the Puy du Fou team has been comprised


of artists, managers, technicians and hospitality specialists who strive to transmit a heritage and emotions. Sharing knowledge and know-how between generations is at the core of our DNA. Through the “Académie Junior”, created in 1998, we train 800 young people in more than 30 disciplines every year. These talents have the chance to find the ideal and most appropriate place for their future, within Puy du Fou. We believe this is one of the strongest vehicles to achieve success in their life. They anyhow are our best talents pool even if we obviously recruit also young people from other horizons.


At Puy du Fou, we are naturally inclined to provide time and energy for them and for the best experience of our visitors.


Hani Khalil Al Hussein, Al Hokair Group, Saudi Arabia


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How do you support seasonal and entry level staff with ambitions to rise through the ranks and establish a successful career in the industry?


How do you keep guests engaged, while gates are shut?


90km/h. The channel also has walk-throughs of the recently opened attraction, Fabula as well as three different journeys through the magical Symbolica: Palace of Fantasy. Alongside this, users can get Efteling tips from Efteling


Nick Laister, Fairytale Farm, UK


employees, behind-the-scenes access and sneak peaks of the new double family roller coaster,Max &Moritz.


Many of our seasonal staff have been with us for since we opened in 2013 and we feel we are good at spotting those who have


potential to lead a department. We take time to encourage them to increase their responsibility, and to try out different roles, supported by either in-house or external training.


It is great to find talent and then to see that person develop as they take on more responsibility. But we realise that, as a small business, there is not always the opportunity for each talented person to find their career path with us, but there is nothing that pleases me more than to see that person go on to have a successful career within the tourism and leisure industry. I think we all have a responsibility to support young people and to convince them that this industry is capable of giving them a fulfilling career.


experiences through our multiple channels. For children who are being homeschooled right now, we offer joy in the form of free-of-charge learning materials on our website related to Linnanmäki Amusement Park and also current topics such as learning media skills. Across our popular social media channels we offer


amusing content such as many quizzes, fun things to do, challenges and funny contests to keep the younger-ones entertained. Also, Linnanmäki has enchanting material throughout its 70-year-old history, so we have brought photographs from our archives to our social media channels for people to marvel and to refresh their good amusement park memories. In addition, this spring we will launch our very own


amusement park boardgame, featuring a range of fun tasks that will challenge their intellect. This game will enable our guests to enjoy Linnanmäki Amusement Park while at home.


At Global Village, we are proud of our track record in empowering seasonal and entry-level staff through business education and


Smurfs theme park re-opens in China After a long period of closure, Smurfs theme park ‘Dream City’ in China has opened its doors again for the public. One of the main attractions is Lagotronics Project’s recently installed GameChanger dark ride, ‘Swamp Adventure’, which is completely themed in Smurfs style.


providing opportunities for them to realise their career aspirations. We have managed to sustain this support and success for over two decades and see training and coaching as an essential foundation to our sustained customer service excellence. We welcome a diverse and multi-cultured range of businesswomen and men and inspire them to achieve their dreams based on first-hand insights and success stories. At the same time, we prioritize channelling their passions, harnessing their skills, and broadening their creative boundaries to gain even more confidence. Our tried and tested nurturing programme accelerates personal development and helps them to shape a long-lasting and successful future in the entertainment industry.


Spokesperson, Mirabilandia, Italy First of all satisfying and feeding their curiosity by answering all their doubts or questions: ours is not an ordinary job! Often, especially


among the younger generation, working in an amusement park is seen as a game. During the initial training, it is already possible to understand who has different ambitions and attitudes towards our work. These employees are then placed side by side with senior employees who test their ambitions and skills in the field. The next step is to have them


Muahhand Ishaq, Global Village Dubai


Pia Adlivankin, CEO, Linnanmäki Amusement Park: During this exceptional time we want to keep our guests close and still offer them fun and joy with amusement park -like


work with the field managers and provide them with ongoing feedback on their activities. This leads to a gradual increase in responsibility.


Suzanne Smagala-Potts, public relationsmanager, Ripley Entertainment:With so many families staying at home and looking for ways to keep their children


entertained, we have created a way for our guests to engage with Ripley’s virtually. Ripley’s Aquariums at Home and Outside the


Odditorium can be used as hubs for a schedule of live Facebook events, downloadable educational materials, arts-and-crafts, and more. Be sure to follow us to tune in for events like Story Time


Even with entry-level staff, we conduct three hiring steps. First, we share our hiring form, which includes some questions that measure the level of engagement from the applicant. The answers to these questions together with the 13 open ended questions we ask at a second interview tell us a lot about the applicant’s mind set and ambitions at that point. In our final interview, we conduct a group interview, in which we create three groups and give them a task to create games and engage with the customer, so we see how they work as a team under pressure and with each other.


lesson plans and activities throughout the week. Following advice from health officials to practice social


distancing, our Ripley’s Believe It or Not! attractions and Ripley’s Aquariums are temporarily closed, but we are thankful for the opportunity to deliver free, family-friendly entertainment and educational Ripley’s programs directly to your homes.


We have promoted a number of entry staff to more senior roles after acquiring the right skills. We also ask them if there are any courses they would like to go on to aid in their professional development and we support them in doing so by paying the fees. We also support staff led charitable initiatives.


TessaMaessen, Communications Manager, Toverland:We keep our guests entertained through our social media channels.We share our park shows and on ride videos of our main attractions.We also provide games to play at home and ask our followers to share their best Toverland memories with us.


Kernels


Covid-19: IAAPAprovidesadditional resources Visitors to the IAAPAMember Resource Center can learn more about the support in their region and take advantage of free IAAPA resources, including Covid-19 webinars, a Crisis Communications Plan Template, the IAAPA Security Advisory Program, Covid-19 Educational Series and more.


Hugo Camp, Toverland First of all we try to investigate if and what the development wishes are for our entry level and seasonal employees. If we see that there is both a career potential


and a development drive with the employee, we create a focus for the growth.


We mainly see two different paths which both need a separate approach. The first one is an entry level employee with the potential for operational leadership. Here we try to grow the skills within the operational departments by enlarging the responsibility and the operational scope. This path mostly leads to an operational supervisor or manager role.


The second path are mainly seasonal employees, working at the park in the summer and weekends, but studying throughout the week. Here we try to match the study background with potential internships in the company, often outside of the operational departments itself. Here we see that the match of operational background from the seasonal jobs, combined with the study education can also lead to great combinations and roles in the company.


SPRING PART 1 2021 MARCH 2020 5 5


Live!, Champs & Chumps with Dustyn, and even live readings ofMoby Dick… on toilet paper! These sites will be continuously updated with additional


Abdullah Almunajem, Woosh, Saudi Arabia Before they are seasonal or entry- level staff, they are people with hope and dreams so we take good care in the hiring process.


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