Tuesday, January 15, 2013 Waterparks: Turkish Delight at Polin’s Annual Dealer Conference, Antalya, Turkey    The annual Polin Dealership Conference was held at the end of November 2012 in Antalya, Turkey.  A two day event, which Blooloop was fortunate enough to attend, the conference brought together 180 attendees of 32 nationalities for a program of presentations and site visits in southern Turkey....View more

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Aquariums: Durban's uShaka Sea World Launches the Ecohouse    The amazing animals at uShaka Sea World inspire us to love and care for our environment – but simply caring for animals is not enough – we need to know how to take action to slow the climate crisis....View more

Thursday, April 19, 2012 Attraction Recession Action Plan    Whilst ours is an international business sector and some economies continue to rocket away, stagnation and recession still rule in many areas and by their nature, location-based leisure and entertainment attractions have to change and adapt to the market conditions they experience locally. ...View more

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 What are you main objectives for the IAAPA Expo?    We asked the 3000+ members of Blooloop's LinkedIn group, “Are you planning on attending the IAAPA Expo? If so, what are your main objectives?”...View more

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin Entertainments Group sets out his six point growth driver plan    Marketing Week featured an exclusive interview with Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin Entertainments Group, where he gives an insight into Merlin’s phenomenal growth.
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Friday, October 01, 2010 Waterparks: Security in changing rooms – How vulnerable is your facility?    Back in the earlier days of public bathhouses and changing rooms, the buildings were built from cement blocks and  facilities used attendants near the entrance of the women’s area and the men’s area to ensure that individuals of the proper sex entered the respective areas. 
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Monday, July 26, 2010 "Giant Ambition & Excitement" : Dubai in 2010.    It seems like just yesterday I wrote to the world about cranes, waterparks and Atlantis.  I spoke of my recent move to Dubai and going to work at Aquaventure.  It turns out that was almost two years ago now.  Ok, well, although conspicuously quiet….I am still in Dubai.  And, yes….Dubai is still in business. ...View more

Monday, June 21, 2010 Waterparks and the Breast-Feeding Controversy    Here is an issue that, for park operators in the US, has all the ingredients of a made-for-TV news story - for all the wrong reasons.  Mom comes to your waterpark with toddler either alone or with friends or family.  She breastfeeds her baby in public. Some of your other visitors are offended and complain. What do you do?...View more

Thursday, June 17, 2010 Holiday World's Will Koch remembered.    The amusement industry woke to the sad news on Monday 14th June that Will Koch, president of Holiday World and Splashing Safari in Indiana had passed away the night before. We at Blooloop had reason to be grateful to Will as a valued contributor to our blog, Bemusement, ...View more

Tuesday, June 08, 2010 South Africa : Theme Parks, Aquariums and Football.    Providing a neat template and an inspiring example of how the best attractions can both entertain and educate, Durban’s uShaka Marine World is home to 3 integrated organisations, each of which is vital to the wellbeing and development of the other. Visiting English football fans, after watching  the national team provide plucky resistance before losing agonisingly on penalties in the quarter finals of this year’s World Cup should pay a visit…...View more

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Will the FIFA World Cup also bring visitors to uShaka Marine World?    The long awaited 2010 FIFA World Cup (11 June – 11 July) is almost upon South Africa. After some three years of building stadiums, upgrading roads, indabas (traditional meetings) and arguments, celebrations of every shape and form......View more

Thursday, April 01, 2010 Attractions technology : 3 Major Projects – What happened next?    With a mood of cautious optimism in the amusement park industry and a number of high profile developments creating a stir – Disney in Asia, Sentosa, massive Chinese developments, the growth of the industry in South America and the rise and rise of Merlin – it is timely to revisit 3 major projects . What happened?...View more

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Waterparks : Canada's biggest waterpark - renderings.    Canada's biggest waterpark, Calypso theme waterpark,  is set to open next June between Ottawa and Montreal.  Construction is 80% complete...
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Monday, June 22, 2009 Waterparks: Chemicals and Safety    With all the water safety instruction supplied by such institutions as the International Association of Amusement Park and Attractions, World Waterpark Association......View more

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Amusement Law: Legal Learning at WWA and IAAPA    For those interested in legal and regulatory issues, fall is a useful time as it’s the season when some of the industry’s largest associations hold their annual conventions.
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Friday, October 10, 2008 Amusement parks: Off Season - Free, Unlimited Bon Bons    Well, it’s October 9 here in Indiana. The trees are starting to turn. We have just one weekend left in our season, and then it’s the “off-season.” For those of us who operate seasonal parks, the off-season is the time of year when we get very tired of answering the question, “What do you do all winter?” as though we had nothing better to do than sit around, tell jokes and eat bon bons....View more

Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Halloween Risk Management for Amusement Parks: Curbing the Scary Specter of Legal Liability    Now that Labor Day has passed, many parks are gearing down for the close of this year’s season.  However, a growing trend within the industry has been to keep certain operations going through the Halloween-time....View more

Monday, September 01, 2008 Life in Dubai : Cranes, Waterparks and Atlantis...    Hello all, my name is Scott Deisley and I am a part of the Management Team at Atlantis, Palm Jumierah  in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. My responsibilities specifically include the safe and profitable operation of Aquaventure, the waterpark at Atlantis. ...View more

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Amusement law: Snakes Alive! Amusement Legal and Business Update    This week’s column starts out with an update to one of last week’s stories.  Word continues to spread that the Busch/World of Discovery parks will be sold once InBev completes its purchase of Anheuser.  What’s becoming especially interesting is the list of potential suitors that are popping up in published reports:...View more

Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Amusement Law: As the Summer Season Winds Down…    Here in the States, August means that the peak summer amusement park season is beginning to wind down since many states now start their school years well ahead of the Labor Day weekend (though efforts continue to reverse that trend and return school starts to their traditional post-Labor Day spot). With amusement park facilities hopefully wrapping up a successful season, this week’s Update focuses on a series of quick legal and business notes facing the industry these days....View more

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Abandoned Waterparks , the World’s Best Roller Coasters and One Mighty Big Fish tank   

This weekend’s Sunday Telegraph carried a neat piece about the roller coaster industry, journalist Rose George travelling to Alton Towers to experience the theme park's famed Nemesis coaster and over to Switzerland (the offices are in  “…Monthey, a small, less than beautiful city on a plain between dramatic Alps and more dramatic Alps”) to meet Walter Bolliger of Bolliger & Mabillard ...

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Amusement Law: How the Airline and Amusement Industries are Tied Together    With the recent high-profile failures of major U.S. banks and lenders like IndyMac, the troubled domestic airline industry has been given a respite from harrowing headlines. However, that doesn’t mean the threat to their business model has gone away.  Indeed, with oil surpassing $145 per barrel (and going higher at a brisk clip), most U.S. commercial airlines are facing bleak prospects in both the short and long terms. So, why does this matter to the amusement park and recreation industry?...View more

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Butterflies and the Law    An interesting morning. Had a chat with Clive Farrell, the man behind the ambitious £25 million Butterfly World project here in the UK about  the economic and environmental impact it is set to make upon the local area. The centre piece of the project is an enormous biome, a vast greenhouse, set to include the third largest collection of tropical plants in the UK but also to boast a staggering variety of butterflies from across the world....View more

Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Focusing on Families    Hi.  It’s Will again. I said I’d try to share the benefits of what I’ve learned through a life lived in and around a theme park, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.  I’d like to kick off with a lesson I learned nearly 20 years ago about focus. Twenty years ago (OK, 25 if you’re keeping track), we were a smaller family park called Santa Claus Land. ...View more

Monday, June 02, 2008 Brush Boarding at Crealy    There is nothing new under the sun . Everything has been done . Whatever your great idea might be, it's not new.  However, you've been surfing. You've been snowboarding. But have you ever Brush Boarded?  ...View more

Friday, May 23, 2008 Amusement parks: Brush Boarding to Launch at Devon's Crealy    Devon, England : the lazy and popular stereotype would have it that the county’s social life involves sitting on a 5-bar gate with a piece of straw in one’s mouth talking about tractors, drinking coooider and pointing at aeroplanes . Not so....View more

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Waterparks: A Wet and Wonderful Phoenix from the Ashes    Didn't Geauga Lake waterpark close?...No, not really....View more

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Living the Tradition: notes from a Family Owned and Operated Theme and Water Park    By way of introduction, I’m Will Koch, the president of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, a small theme park and water park combination in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA... ...View more

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Dubai: Theme Park Capital of the World?    Dubai is in the news again with a number of major projects revealed, the main ones being the agreements involving Six Flags and Busch Entertainment, both big players on the American stage but until now with little presence overseas....View more

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Amusement parks: A Winter's Tale - Alton Towers and Singing Chickens    A weekend, mid-Winter in the UK's premier theme park....View more

Monday, February 18, 2008 Amusement parks: The Indian Amusement Industry Show - Thoughts.    I got back from Mumbai yesterday after we had a booth at the 2008 IAAPI trade show. The show was for us a great success and think this was feedback was echoed by almost everyone I talked to. ...View more

Saturday, November 03, 2007 Amusement parks : Welcome to Bemusement, the Blooloop Blog    View the post

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