Don't Curb your Enthusiasm: Lovin' Theme parks

Thursday, August 28, 2008 Don't Curb your Enthusiasm: Lovin' Theme parks The enthusiasts’ sites are abuzz with news of Holiday World’s latest announcement. In summer ‘09 it will debut Pilgrim’s Plunge ride, said to be the tallest waterslide in the world.

(see: World's Tallest Water Ride coming to Holiday World) The best fan sites are fired by red-hot zeal. They whisper rumours, drop hints and leak information that the business media may be loath to print. The sizeable fan community furnishes these sites with a stream of dedicated foot soldiers engaging in constant speculative analysis and field research. They especially love roller coasters. I love reading them and I think half the indsutry does. Operators’ intentions are hypothesized, inner corporate workings somehow divined and company pronouncements analysed to the nth degree. Potential alterations to rides are greeted with unrestrained horror or excited hyperventilation. An industry bigwig parts his hair to the left and questions are asked. The big, successful companies in any industry will always be under the microscope, and such intense scrutiny from the community can have its positive side in bringing important things to public attention. Powerful companies – and people - have been known on occasion to ride roughshod over the rules and regulations to which mere mortals subscribe. The line between “professional” and “enthusiast” in the world of themed attractions is blurry, to be sure. Plenty of our enthusiasts are parks workers. Plenty of our professionals grew up as diehard coaster and dark ride fiends who resolved, at a tender age, to make their careers in the industry. The season passes they hold are not just for “research,” not just a concession to the desires of their children. The foot soldiers of the enthusiast community visit parks and attractions regularly and their word-of-mouth can be valuable marketing for the parks. Their thumbs-up or -down for a particular ride can be a powerful tool in effecting the success or indeed transformation if necessary of the same. On the other hand I have also heard mutterings from within the industry that operators pay too much heed to the streams of commentary that issue from the enthusiasts’ media vehicles. Is too much weight given to the feedback from such groups? However numerous and vocal, are they representative of the overall guest community? If an operator is looking to attract families with young children for example, the members of an on-line coaster fan group are probably not a typical cross-section of the park’s visitors. What is lame to “Coasterboi84” might be a delightful all-round experience for Joe Bloggs, his 2.4 children and their grandparents. I encountered some Star Wars enthusiasts once. In NY for the weekend I was out late and passed an enormous queue outside a cinema in Manhattan. I walked by the entrance and asked the guy on the door what it was about, he told me it was for the eagerly anticipated new Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. Noting my sweet and dulcet Mancunian tones (overriding my spell check here; I was almost Manchurian) he asked me if I was English and after a brief chat let me in to see the film. Next morning at JFK I joined the long and weary queue for the plane home and realised that well over half of the line were dressed as characters from the Star Wars Galaxy. There was a number of Skywalkers, a smattering of Chewbaccas, Princess Leias with their cinnamon-danish style hair cuts and one poor guy in a home-made R2D2 costume. Outside the airport building, in the open air, a tall figure in black leaned against a wall, Darth Vader having a fag, smoking it through his grill. As Yoda might say, “Enthusiasts. We are all.”
Posted By Charles Read -- At 12:40 PM \| Comments (2) \| Trackbacks (0)
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Categories Amusements Parks, Attractions Business Tags coasters, enthusiasts, george lucas, Holiday World, star wars
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Comments :

I am a regular visitor to Blooloop site and I feel you guys are really growing by leaps and bounds as a one stop shop for all enthusiasts hungry for amusement park news. Articles & reviews related to attraction business ( amusement park / theme park business ) are also regularly updated. I think your site should grow in popularity amongst all the amusement park enthusiasts like myself. I have a small humble suggestion. Are you guys thinking of introducing a section about amusement parks around the world, the history of theme parks / water parks etc ? It would have been a nice read for all who feel really fascinated about these lands of fantasy. Wish the site a bright prospect in days to come.

Comment By Janice At 9/4/2008 10:44 AM

Thanks for your kind thoughts Janice, I am really pleased you enjoy the site. We do in fact have a lot of changes lined up for the next year, some of them fairly radical and all designed to increase the readability and usefulness of the site. The history of the parks is often fascinating and would indeed make an attractive addition to Blooloop. I guess the answer is watch this space...!

Comment By Charles Read At 9/8/2008 5:03 PM