NAARSO Safety Forum Mary Wade Burnside Man
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TM www.AmusementToday.com Vol. 13, Issue 12 MARCH 2010 $5.00 Held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Attendance up 25 percent at NAARSO Safety Forum Mary Wade Burnside man. “It was a full day in the Amusement Today field. We left the hotel at 8:00 in the morning and came back Attendance at this year’s at 5:00 in the afternoon.” 23rd Annual Safety Forum Participants had the of the National Association opportunity to use about 10 of Amusement Ride Safety or 12 rides in the park where Officials exceeded expec- SEE RELATED SAFETY they were split into different tations by 25 percent. Held STORIES - PAGES 22-23 groups. in Myrtle Beach, attendance “We have an accident sce- reached 206, significantly more nario and we have role play- than the minimum of 150 that restraints and pneumatics. ing for some of the members,” organizers had anticipated. Then they take tests, divided Barber said. “This year, it was “I would say it was the into Level I for entry level a go-kart accident. We give location and the rate,” said and Level II for those with the teams a certain amount Connie Patton, who runs the more experience. Seventy-five of info and a date, time and Brandon, Fla.-based NAARSO. people took the Level I test place, and they have to figure “Our room rate was $48, which while 25 took the Level II test, out why it happens and how is a pretty good room rate. I Patton said. She did not have to prevent it from happening think we had a lot of individu- test scores in early February. again.” als that came in because they In addition to taking Patton compared the acci- knew they needed the train- classes that would help them dent scenario to a “CSI” situ- ing and they saw where it was with the tests, participants ation, after the crime scene located. We find that when also had the opportunity to investigation television show we’re in that area, we have a get some hands-on experience that requires forensics and lot of people who will drive.” at an actual amusement park, detective work to solve a The safety forum was held Family Kingdom. case. Jan. 24-29 at the Sands Ocean “There are 25 rides in When choosing groups to Club Resort in Myrtle Beach, the park, and they were kind investigate the accident sce- S.C. enough to let us go in and use nario, “We separate people The weeklong event the facility and use the rides that work for the same com- allows participants to take as hands-on inspection points pany,” Patton said. “A lot of a variety of classes in ride to teach the inspectors what to what people go to conferences repair and maintenance such look for and how to do a valid for is the networking ability. as inspection techniques, elec- inspection,” said Jim Barber, We want them to be able to PHOTOS COURTESY NAARSO tric hydraulics, components, a past president of NAARSO share information. Hopefully Myrtle Beach, S.C. and the Family Kingdom amusement magnetic braking, emergency who now serves as the associ- that will allow the different park served as the host site for the 2010 NAARSO Safety evacuation systems, safety ation’s communications chair- 4See NAARSO, page 3 Forum. INTERNATIONAL AMUSEMENTPARKS WATERPARKS BUSINESS MIDWAY/CLASSIFIEDS SEE PAGES 5-8 SEE PAGES 9-13 SEE PAGES 14-18 SEE PAGES 19-24 SEE PAGES 23-31 Dated material.Dated RUSH! NEWSPAPER PLEASE POSTMASTER: 26, 2010 February Mailed Friday, PERMIT # 2069 # PERMIT FT. WORTH TX WORTH FT. PAID @ US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT 2010 Golden Ticket Awards • Busch Gardens Williamsburg • Williamsburg, Virginia 2 AMUSEMENT TODAY March 2010 TM Gary Slade Founder and Publisher [email protected] A record setting snow It was a sight that North Texans had never seen before. On February 11 an all-day snow descended upon the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and when it did quit snowing, 24 hours later, 12-1/2 inches had fallen, shatter- ing the old record of six inches. While this record amount of snow is no big news to those industry professionals who live in the north around the Great Lakes or on the eastern seaboard, it was a big deal for North Texas. If there was one advantage to the massive snow- storm, it was beauty. It was a beautiful sight to see the Arlington landscape draped in so much snow. That includes the views of the sports stadiums as well as Six Flags Over Texas. One look across the park’s entry lake Andrew Mellor with snow piled up on the ground, in the trees, on the park’s wooden roller coaster, one almost forgets for just a Discounts: friend or foe? moment that this is still Texas. (See photo below.) Hard economic times bring prob- gates during these troubled economic There is no doubt this has been an unusual winter, lems for us all in many different ways, times? By no means has everyone had and certainly the calendar says that spring is just around none more so that when you are trying to do it, of course, but some have and the corner. Many in our industry on the east coast can’t to sell something. No matter what the it remains to be seen what the guest wait for the spring warmup to begin. Let’s hope that product, selling it at the best of times reaction will be when they try to get winter is getting all this crazy weather out of its system, can be hard work but when finances prices back up to pre-recession levels. so that everyone in our industry will have an outstanding are tight, it’s a good deal worse. Speaking at a conference recently, summer with perfect weather. As one former park execu- In the publishing game for exam- Mellor Disney chief executive Bob Iger noted tive told AT, we’re all overdue. Amen. ple, we often see advertising prices that the company will be reducing the —Gary Slade slashed in an effort to bolster space sold, level of discounting that has been offered at particularly when times are tough finan- its theme parks over the past year due to the Six Flags Over Texas entry lake cially, and it can be the same scenario in other recession. The strength of the Disney brand as seen on Feb. 12. businesses too. But does discounting really will no doubt ensure this doesn’t cause any AT PHOTO/GARY SLADE achieve the desired end result? Perhaps unit problems, as has been the case in the past, but sales will be maintained or even increase, but for others in the theme park industry who will bottom line figures hold up or increase? have discounted heavily of late or who have That’s a debatable question. had some very special offers going on, it may And then there’s the position further be a different ball game. down the line when times come good again. The Disney product is one that is in Once you’ve lowered your prices can you get demand, so people will pay for it one way them back up? Maybe, but over the longer or another, but for those not offering a good, term. quality value for money product with excel- So what’s going to happen in our industry lent customer service, it may prove a much where parks and resorts have been offering steeper hill to climb. discounts to keep visitors coming through the 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: Mary Wade Burnside, Dan Feicht, Andrew Mellor, Janice Witherow, WHR Inc. Arlington, Texas 76005-5427. March 2010 AMUSEMENT TODAY 3 NAARSO The association’s annual dent.