December 2012 AMUSEMENT TODAY 1 NEW JERSEY PIERS HIT HARD BY SANDY AT’s exclusive coverage inside | Pages 29-31 DECEMBER 2012 • VOL. 16, ISSUE 9 VOL. DECEMBER 2012 • COURTESY MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NEWS SUBSCRIBE TO Extra! Extra! Daily Edition Dated material. material. Dated AMUSEMENT TODAY Get FREE news delivered to RUSH! NEWSPAPER POSTMASTER: PLEASE 16, 2012 November Mailed Friday, (817) 460-7220 your inbox EVERY DAY! PERMIT # 2069 # PERMIT FT. WORTH TX WORTH FT. com PAID amusementtoday Sign up now at: US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT www.amusementtoday.com 2 AMUSEMENT TODAY December 2012 NEWSTALK OPINIONS CARTOON LETTERS AT CONTACTS EDITORIAL: Gary Slade, [email protected] SPECIAL INFORMATION | SUPERSTORM SANDY Storm a rare industry challenge SUPERSTORM SANDY: NJAA NEEDS HELP NJAA 1st Responder Relief Effort: Your Help is Needed! The damage that has been done to the New Jersey and east coast amuse- SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. — The New Jersey Amusement Association sustained a direct ment industry by “superstorm” hit to the heart of the amusement industry as Hurricane Sandy damaged and destroyed more Sandy is unprecedented. than 50 miles of the Jersey Shore and dozens of communities from Long Beach Island to Not in my lifetime can I recall a Keansburg. NJAA members’ homes, businesses and property were impacted, as well as the property and homes of our communities and guests. Many of these communities are served Slade single storm event causing such wide- by volunteer first responders, including firefighters and emergency medical personnel, who spread damage and performed vital emergency services at the height of the storm at great personal sacrifice. disrupting so many facilities at one time. Today, the storm has passed, but up and down the Jersey Shore, these volunteers and their From Maryland and the entire new Jersey families are unable to return to their damaged homes and are now in need of shelter, food shoreline up to historic Coney Island, the hurricane- and basic needs. turned-monster Nor-easter (spanning more than The New Jersey Amusement Association (NJAA) needs your help. Now is the time to as- sist those who risked their personal safety to help others survive Hurricane Sandy. 1,000 miles at its peak) wreaked havoc on our The NJAA is accepting direct financial contributions to the volunteer first responders and amusement industry, causing varying degrees of their various association. The NJAA will also aid by collecting and distributing food, personal damage to parks, piers, waterparks and supporting articles and basic needs. For more information visit: www.njamusements.com. attractions. Monetary donations can be made to: This massive area of destruction has left some NJAA Volunteer First Responders Relief Fund Charitable Registration NJ CRI-300R in our industry without homes and facing shattered Mail to: 720 Woodchuck Lane, Toms River, N.J. 08755 businesses. Casino Pier and FunTown Amusement Or wire transfer to: TD Bank, Routing #031201360, Account #: 4274682058 Pier, both in Seaside Heights, N.J., were the hardest hit with portions of their parks ripped away by the EDITORIAL: Andrew Mellor, [email protected] tidal surge. The annual IAAPA pilgrimage While many in this industry have become experts at cleaning up after Mother Nature, this setback As I write this column, Orleans that year and I remember charging will challenge even our strongest-willed owners and the news here in the U.K. is round the show gathering my reports and operators. full of reports from the U.S. pictures, trying to cover as many companies on the devastation being as possible in numerous different categories, Mopping up is one thing. But this recovery caused by Hurricane Sandy from major and children’s rides to anima- has some unknowns. Will New Jersey impose new as it batters the country’s tion and F&B — and everything in between. coastal regulations making the rebuilding process east coast. The pictures look I have fond memories of the event, which harder for pier owners and others to restore their Mellor awful and I sympathize with introduced me to so much about the busi- businesses? Let’s hope government cuts the red all those who are caught up ness all in one go and to so many industry tape and doesn’t over-regulate. in the dreadful conditions. Indeed I have colleagues. friends visiting Washington this very week so One of the first people I interviewed and I know all of our amusement associations, I’m not sure how their holiday will be going photographed at that 1980 IAAPA was John IAAPA, WWA, OABA and of course locally the right now. Probably not that great! Wood at Sally Corp. and I’ll be very happy to NJAA, will be there for the membership, to support And talking of the U.S., when this issue of see him again in Florida this year, along with them in their efforts to clean up and rebuild. AT AT is hot off the presses I’ll be in the middle the many other industry colleagues I’ve met encourages these associations to work together not of my annual pilgrimage to Florida attend- over the years. Seeing people you’ve known only to assist members, but to monitor new regula- ing the IAAPA Attractions Expo. The task of for a long time from different parts of the compiling this item for AT is, therefore, being world, albeit just two or three times a year, tions that may impact the recovery efforts. done a little earlier than usual as this issue will and making new contacts at different events, Our industry’s park owners, operators and work- be available at the show on the last two days, is one of the most important aspects of our ers are proud and resourceful. We are willing and so deadlines have been brought forward. industry for me, as I’m sure it is for most able to work hard to overcome the odds, and we My first “IAAPA,” as it is fondly known, people, and I value very much the friendships will emerge even stronger for it. was way back in 1980 when I was a fledgling and acquaintances I have made. And I look journo and sub-editor. It was held in New forward to making many more in the future. —Gary Slade AMUSEMENT TODAY STAFF Gary Slade, Founder Tim Baldwin Sammy Piccola Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Editorial Accounting / Circulation (817) 460-7220 [email protected] (817) 460-7220 [email protected] [email protected] Deliveries Member of: Pam Sherborne 2012 E. Randol Mill Rd, Suite 203 IAAPA, AIMS International, PAPA, Arlington, Texas 76011 NEAAPA, NJAA, OABA, WWA, TTIA, Stacey Childress Editorial Sue Nichols NAARSO and IISF Web & Graphic Design [email protected] Advertising (817) 889-4441 (615) 662-0252 Subscription rates are: 1 year (14 issues) $50 in the USA; $70 elsewhere; 2 years (28 issues) $90/$130; [email protected] Scott Rutherford [email protected] 3 years (42 issues) $130/$190. Send check or money order (U.S. funds only, drawn on a U.S. bank) to Amusement Today, P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, Texas 76005-5427. Your cancelled check is your receipt. Editorial Please allow up to six weeks for your subscription request to be processed and the first issue mailed. John Robinson / W.H.R. Inc. [email protected] Bubba Flint Daily E-mail Newsletter Cartoonist Amusement Today is an independent newspaper, published monthly by Amusement Today Inc., P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, Texas 76005. Presort Standard Postage (Permit No. 2069) pre-paid at Fort Worth, [email protected] Jeffrey L. Seifert [email protected] Texas. The entire contents of this newspaper and its related Web sites are copyrighted and trademarked Editorial / Special Projects by Amusement Today 2011, with all rights reserved. [email protected] POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Amusement Today, P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, Texas Contributors: Dean Lamanna, Andrew Mellor, Richard Munch, Janice Witherow, WHR Inc. 76005-5427. December 2012 AMUSEMENT TODAY 3 THIS MONTH IN HISTORY •1905: Frederick W. Hen- Presented by MINUTE ninger and Theodore M. Har- ton would announce the cre- ation of West View Park, just 2 DRILL north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylva- COMPILED: Janice Witherow nia, in early December. Report- Mark Rosenzweig, Ride Entertainment Group of Companies edly built at a cost of $300,000, the 30-acre park would open in www.RollerCoasterMuseum.org For Mark Rosenzweig, going May 1906 and become a show- to work doesn’t feel like work case for T. M. Harton and Ed- at all. A true amusement park ward Vettel rides. Meanwhile in 1906, Henninger would partner fan and the director of new with Andrew S. McSwigan, to purchase the then nine-year old business development for Ride Entertainment Group of Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Descendants of Companies, an international both families owned and operated Kennywood, until the sale of leader in the amusement the park in 2007. West View would close after the 1977 season. industry that designs, sells, in- stalls, maintains and finances •1912: Henry B. Auchy announced in early December that his attractions for clients around park property, Chestnut Hill Park (or White City), outside of Phila- the world, Mark is right at delphia, Pennsylvania, had been sold for real estate development. home on the job. Known The park was opened in 1898 by Auchy, who lived across the road. for his dry sense of humor He said he would now spend full time at the Philadelphia Tobog- and antics; plus creative flair and quick follow-up, Mark’s gan Company, which he had started with Chester Albright in 1904. The park operated 15 seasons, until area residents, who approachable attitude makes Mark Rosenzweig is an avid park fan traveling throughout the didn’t like the type of crowd attracted to the park, eventually pur- him everyone’s friend, too.