TM www.AmusementToday.com Vol. 14, Issue 7 OCTOBER 2010 $5.00 Great Coasters opens ProSlide delivers slide package racer at Efteling New waterpark a big hit at Iowa's Adventureland Park Pam Sherborne Amusement Today Adventureland Park’s Bill Fisher, director of marketing, wasn’t sure how guests would take to going from a dry park to a wet park than back to a dry park with all those things that go along with that trans- formation. Two years ago, that was one of the questions park of- ficials in the Altoona, Iowa, park had when the facility opened the season with the RainFortress, a water attrac- tion with seven slides and a huge dumping bucket made by WhiteWater West Indus- tries, Vancouver, B.C. PHOTO COURTESY ADVENTURELAND “I did wonder how they The new $6 million Adventure Bay Water Park, part of would like going from the amusement park into the wa- Adventureland Park, Altoona, Iowa, opened mid-July and ter area, changing into a swim- response was great, according to park officials. Park manage- suit, getting wet, then chang- ment decided to invent in the waterpark after water elements ing back out of their swimsuit installed in 2008 and 2009 were met with great success. PHOTO COURTESY GCII and going back into the amuse- The race is on! Efteling in The Netherlands debuts Joris ment park,” Fisher said. “As it WWA show en de Draak, an exciting new racing coaster from Great turned out, it didn’t faze them a bit. They loved it.” Coasters International, Inc. See story page 5. preview...page 33 At that time, park offi- Euro Attractions Expo cials thought they were put- WWA exhibitor ting in a water attraction that Expo preview...page 33 would only lure the young. listing...page 35 4See IOWA, page 3 INTERNATIONAL AMUSEMENTPARKS WATERPARKS BUSINESS MIDWAY/CLASSIFIEDS SEE PAGES 5-10 SEE PAGES 11-18 SEE PAGES 19-32 SEE PAGES 33-40 SEE PAGES 41-47 Dated material.Dated For hosting the RUSH! 2010 Golden Ticket Awards! NEWSPAPER PLEASE Mailed Thursday, September 30, 2010 POSTMASTER: 2010 PERMIT # 2069 # PERMIT . P FT. WORTH TX WORTH FT. GOLDEN TICKET . I . V AWARDS PAID BEST OF THE BEST! US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT Full Golden Ticket Event coverage coming in November. 2 AMUSEMENT TODAY October 2010 TM Gary Slade Founder and Publisher [email protected] It’s time! Good people will support a charity or cause that they believe in. Good people give back in many different ways. Some will volunteer time, services, or donate needed items, or they may donate much needed money. That was the case when Gary and Linda Hays, own- ers of Cliff’s Amusement Park in Albuquerque, N.M., donated $25,000 to the National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives (NRCMA) to help expand the recently com- pleted archival and storage facility in Plainview, Texas. As Gary and Linda said, “The NRCMA has taken the lead in establishing the early beginnings of a museum for our amusement industry and we wanted to support their efforts.” Scott Rutherford Don’t let the words ‘Roller Coaster’ in the museum's name mislead you. The NRCMA has been acquiring far Summer's end more than just roller coaster memorabilia. Water rides to With a long, brutally hot summer traditional amusement park and its sig- waterslides, dark rides to kiddie rides, patients to neon finally fading, I find myself looking nature attraction weren’t worth saving. signs are all finding their way to the NRCMA. forward to the cooler weather and men- Well, shame on them. Any time a piece The NRCMA has much more work to do, many more tally tallying up the highs and lows of of history is salvaged, we all win. collections to go and secure, more equipment to move, this past season. Though Thanksgiving For the first time in a long while, I made and countless archival interviews to conduct of our aging is not here quite yet, I’m still rather the trek up north to visit Conneaut. It industry leaders who know, lived and worked ‘our his- grateful for a number industry occur- was a perfect Sunday in late August. A rences that merit mention. cool breeze off the lake was filled with toric past.' To do this, the NRCMA will need much more Rutherford Two notables both took place at the raucous sounds of the Penn-Ohio than a $25,000 gift from one good family, one good park. New York’s Coney Island: the magnificent Polka Festival down by the water. Though It’s time for the amusement industry to determine Wonder Wheel’s 90th birthday, and the debut of parts of the park still need work, it warmed my if it wants to preserve our historic past. If not, then lets nearby Luna Park on the old Astroland site. The heart to see so many families strolling along the move on to other things. However, if the industry does former remains a relevant icon thanks to the midway. Despite the Blue Streak’s opening still support a museum concept – all the better. Let’s move care it receives from the Vourderis clan while more than a week away, a rather lengthy queue forward by supporting the NRCMA’s efforts with a real the latter’s success is a direct result of Italian at the ticket booth was a good indication that museum building full of historic artifacts, exhibits and ride manufacturer Zamperla’s desire to bring perhaps the amusement gods have once more the fun back to Coney. Bravo to both! smiled on this little park by the lake. educational features that both the general public and our On the historic front, one of the most And on the flip-side of historical happen- industry employees and professionals can enjoy. important events was the continuing rebirth ings is the saga of the Geauga Lake Big Dipper. It’s time for the amusement industry to make a of Pennsylvania’s Conneaut Lake Park high- The latest word on this survivor is that since financial decision. Good people like Gary and Linda lighted by the reintroduction of the Blue Streak the anonymous owner was unable to sell the Hays made theirs, to support the museum effort. wooden coaster. This happened because a loyal ride, his decision (as of mid-September) was What’s yours? group of supporters believed that this park to demolish it. Let’s hope the gods mentioned —Gary Slade deserved to survive. The Blue Streak finally above step in to shine some love on the Big opened in September after much hard work and Dipper. Like the Blue Streak, it too deserves to SEE NRCMA $25,000 DONATION STORY...PAGE 16 naysayers saying it couldn’t or even shouldn’t roll once again. be saved, that this rare example of an American AMUSEMENT TODAY STAFF ADDRESS, SUBSCRIPTION, POSTMASTER INFORMATION Mailing Address Deliveries Gary Slade Sammy Piccola P.O. Box 5427 2012 E. Randol Mill Rd, Suite 203 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Accounting / Circulation Arlington, Texas 76011 (817) 460-7220 AWARD WINNER [email protected] Arlington, Texas 76005-5427 1997 • 1999 • 2000 • 2002 • 2004 • • [email protected] Member of: EDITORIAL (817) 460-7220 Fax (817) 265-NEWS (6397) IAAPA, AIMS International, PAPA, ADVERTISING NEWSPAPER PRODUCTION NEAAPA, NJAA, OABA, WWA and IALEI Tim Baldwin Subscription rates are: 1 year (14 issues) $50 in the USA; $70 elsewhere; 2 years Sue Nichols Stacey Childress / Affinity Communications [email protected] (28 issues) $90/$130; 3 years (42 issues) $130/$190. Send check or money order (615) 662-0252 Graphic Design (U.S. funds only, drawn on a U.S. bank) to Amusement Today, P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, P.O. Box 238 Scott Rutherford [email protected] Texas 76005-5427. Your cancelled check is your receipt. Please allow up to six weeks Pegram, Tenn. 37143 [email protected] for your subscription request to be processed and the first issue mailed. [email protected] Terry Lind / TLCreative Design Pam Sherborne Website Design & Maintenance Amusement Today is an independent newspaper, published monthly by Amusement (615) 221-5149 Beth Jenkins [email protected] Today Inc., P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, Texas 76005. Presort Standard Postage (Permit [email protected] (615) 794-7288 No. 2069) pre-paid at Fort Worth, Texas. The entire contents of this newspaper and its 2040 Belmont Circle John Robinson / W.H.R. Inc. related Web sites are copyrighted and trademarked by Amusement Today 2010, with Bubba Flint Franklin, Tenn. 37069 Daily E-mail Newsletter all rights reserved. [email protected] [email protected] Cartoonist [email protected] POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Amusement Today, P.O. Box 5427, Contributors: Robb Alvey, Andrew Mellor, Janice Witherow, WHR Inc. Arlington, Texas 76005-5427. October 2010 AMUSEMENT TODAY 3 IOWA Continued from page 1 They found out, yes, the young loved it, but so did the older generation. Fisher said they had guests go to Koko- mo Kove, which is what they named that area, ranging in age from five years to 85. With that experience in mind, Adventureland officials took another leap of faith with water. The park installed Her- on Harbor for the 2009 season. It was geared toward the very young with a pool that gently slopes toward the center filled with hoops, sprays and a huge plastic heron that squirts out water. Again, response was great. “So, we decided at the end of last season to go ahead and put in a full-blown wa- terpark,” Fisher said. “We got with ProSlide (Technology Inc., headquartered in Ottawa, PHOTOS COURTESY ADVENTURELAND Ont.) and expanded beyond Kokomo Kove and Heron The above overview of Adventureland's new Adventure Bay shows the layout of the waterpark including the quarter- Harbor.” mile long lazy river.