Here Are the Judges of the ETPCA

Andrea Monti

Oh god… I have to write a bio? A biography for Andrea “MickeyFantasmic” Monti?

And who would want to read something as boring as that? It’s not like I’ve followed in the footsteps of the great Italian legacy before me… Michelangelo, Leonardo, Dante, all my other fellow Italians who have contributed in awesome forms to the arts & sciences…

I have suffered my way through maths classes – whilst dreaming of castles and parades – and can’t draw Mickey Mouse to save my life!

So my biography would certainly not be that of an artist or a scientist … maybe a cook?

Yes, a cook! We Italians are splendid cooks! People like Gualtiero Marchesi, famed master of the risotto… or those in Naples who make awesome pizzas, or even better wines. We certainly have a reputation for great wines!

But why is it that every time I invite my friends over to my place for dinner and a movie, we inevitably end up eating Goofy shaped pasta, on dishes decorated with Winnie the Pooh, cups and glasses with Donald, and even a bottle opener in the shape of Mickey’s silhouette?

Ok, so I’m not a scientist, not an artist - and a strange cook?

“So where did this crazy Italian come from? And who is he, anyway?”

Well, I suppose you could say that the fault was entirely of my parents, when they had the crazy idea of taking a 7 year old boy to Walt Disney World for the first time in 1984…from that moment it was love at first sight!

I can still remember the first moment I crossed the Main Street train station and entered the park; it was around 11 am (an hour I wouldn’t dare enter the park these days, now I’m a little older and wiser) and the morning parade was just passing by! Jiminy Cricket was standing in a giant star medal shaped float, Dumbo was looking down at the clowns and Mickey was waving “ciao” (hey, I’m Italian) to all of us!

From that day on I developed a love and passion for all things “theme park” – and Disney still remains closest to my heart. I went to an English school instead of an Italian one - to learn the ways of Disney faster - I studied French, since EuroDisney was going to open in Paris (I’ll get to Japanese some day), I headed over to business studies in order to maximise my chances of working for Disney someday, and I became friends with every Mouse House employee I could conduct my own little meet ‘n’ greet with!

So… I’m a 27 year-old with a passion for Disney and theme parks in general. I studied economics and marketing & communications at university, and most importantly to the Disney philosophy… I love life and friendships! And what better use for this than inviting friends for my birthday to Disneyland Paris…

Websites that have been crazy enough to host my ramblings include DLP-Guide.com, Jim Hill Media, ParksMania.it, and DisneyDreams.com.

So, to conclude, let’s put it this way -- I am a person who dreams and does, and I try as hard as I can to follow my dreams, tending to research and write about as much theme park related stuff as I can!

I hope you’ll forgive me for the craziness expressed here… but hey - who wants to stay on the ground when the only limit is the sky?

Marcus Sheen

I suppose it won’t make for interesting reading if I told you that I was a fairly average enthusiast with a fairly average heritage.

But, at the risk of sounding overly modest, I am a 24 year-old enthusiast from the UK. With an average amount of air miles under my belt and an average track record, I strongly believe I have the credentials to be considered as average an enthusiast as they come.

So, with no real qualifications, what makes me a great authority on what is and is not a great ride? A comfortable grasp of the English language helps, as does the patience and will to document my critique.

Anyone can have an opinion, and I don’t expect people to respect mine any more than another average enthusiast, but I strongly believe that I can put forward a strong and honest argument to fight my corner, and if you disagree, then you would at least have enough basis upon which to respect my opinion.

My enthusiasm towards rides and coasters was stoked by Chessington’s then-visionary ride, the Vampire. As a little’un, the majesty and grandeur of this family coaster was quite overwhelming, especially in an age of cookie-cutter rides.

Coasters are very much like great theatre. Whilst there’s no glamour behind the scenes, everything is down to the final deliverance. Like a good play, you expect a great start to continue to the dying throes all despite the fact a coaster is simply a soulless mass of machinery.

The Internet seemed a great way to expel my enthusiasm to the people who wanted to listen. It started off as a simple biography, soon grew to include fairly rudimentary reviews and news and rumours and then focused on fine-tuning itself to include only comprehensive articles and critique.

Outside of riding and writing, I enjoy travelling and socialising in and around Brighton. My vocation is simply to design adverts for a local and nearly national paper, the hours of which are incredibly accommodating to the cause of getting out and enjoying the parks.

Even if you disagree with the points of view, my reviews at Coaster Kingdom at least try to entertain the grey matter with interesting and well-researched features. And that, I think, is probably why I’m on the board.

Alex Smith

Since becoming a theme park enthusiast in 2001, I have enjoyed many theme parks around the world, most of them in Europe. As a resident of the UK, I have been to many domestic theme parks, regularly visiting Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures, watching their separate developments - they have been quite interesting.

Other parks I have been to include Warner Bros Movie World in Madrid, Port Aventura, Disneyland Paris, Terra Mitica, Legoland Windsor and some parks in Scandinavia. They all have their ups and downs, of which I have experienced. I would love to visit the theme parks in Holland and Germany; generally, they are parks I feel I must visit sometime soon.

I think the greatest theme park experience has to be Florida - the whole package of atmosphere, rides, theming, the happiness of the guests (me certainly), the hotels, Downtown Disney etc, just blends together to create an amazing experience which cannot be beaten. But of course Florida is in the US, and Disneyland Paris, while close, doesn't quite have everything Florida has.

An interesting fact: I have loved theme park rides since I was born, until I was about 6 or 7 when I injured myself on a Ferris wheel which I wasn't tall enough to go on at a fairground. From then on till I was about 11 - 5 years ago - I refused to go on even the tamest theme park rides, including Thorpe Park's Flying Fish and Disneyland Paris' Big Thunder Mountain. Thankfully though, I have overcome that and love theme parks to death now!

Dirk van Diringshofen

Working as a lawyer, specializing in the area of Intellectual Property and Information Technology with EY Law does not really predestine one to be active as a theme park aficionado and webmaster of a Disneyland Resort Paris website - but the interest in the world of theme parks in my case is a bit older than the relationship to law. It grew slowly but surely out of family visits to theme and amusement parks, and soon found its partner in an interest for the world of Disney when the Euro Disney Resort opened its gates in 1992.

Parallel to law studies, I tackled a career in journalism, culminating in a stint as a journalist for the bi-monthly Austrian stage musical magazine "Musical-Cocktail" for which I covered the stage musical world in Germany till 2002, reporting from hundreds of show premiers including Disney's Lion King, and conducting countless interviews.

The experience won in the print journalism was then transferred to the online world, when I entered into talks with the team of the DLP-Guidebook in late 1999 regarding a potential participation in that hobby-project which came to a successful culmination during the Millennium Celebration in the Disneyland Resort Paris.

Originally supposed to be working on the coverage of the stage productions, parades and other entertainment offering in the resort, with time my involvement in the website (now operated as DLP.info) grew and I slid deeper and deeper into the world of theme parks - offering the perfect excuse for countless visits to theme and amusement parks all over Europe and in the USA!

While I try to follow the development of theme and amusement parks all over the world, I tend to specialize in the Disney theme parks, particularly the Parisian resort.

Jamie Shoesmith

I’m a 20-year-old ride operator from Southwest London, posted for my fourth consecutive season at Chessington World of Adventures, operating – among others – Dragon Falls (the Mack log flume) and Billy’s Whizzer (the world’s first Zierer water wave swinger). I’ve recently acquired membership to the ECC, despite being a slightly late starter in coaster enthusiasm; I was left in tears after riding Vampire as a child, and swore myself off coasters till a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach finally changed my perception for the better.

Oh, and I’m also halfway through a writing degree at Southampton Institute University College, Hampshire – so it’s no secret my life is pretty much devoted to the pen (or indeed, Microsoft Word).

I’d be the first to admit I’m the Tottenham Hotspur of the panellists – not as practised in Europe as I’d like to be, and thus my approach to the competition being slightly marked by the limitations of experience purely towards the UK market. I’ve dedicated most of my tourism abroad to the USA, doing Florida in 1998 and Southern California last year (where I hold the strange honour of managing to ride all of Magic Mountain’s coasters in the one day I visited).

However, as previously mentioned, my unfamiliarity with the mainland attractions of our fair continent is, hopefully, more than made up for in my depth and experience in the UK, and so my article will, unsurprisingly, be focussing on the main weapons that Britannia has at hand to do battle with the European elite.

While the bias may seem in favour of Tussauds parks, my vote is actually helping to represent the entire UK theme park market, lest we forget the remarkable contributions of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Oakwood and Drayton Manor, among others.

My main Internet contribution can be found, not too surprisingly, at guidesforum.com, the unofficial but highly regarded forum for Thorpe Park and Chessington discussion, though Ben also gave me the honour of doing the first-ever review for Dragon’s Fury in 2004 on TPI.

Ben Mills

Hello everybody, and welcome to my… err, our show. Yup, that’s right. Ours. But nonetheless, I’m the ringmaster! Umm… why?

Quite frankly, I don’t think there is a straight answer to that question. Youth, talent and modesty are all qualities of mine, but if there had been an application form for me to fill out, I doubt they would have been particularly relevant.

I’m a theme park enthusiast. For good or for worse, it just happens to be one of the main obsessions in my life. So in my mind, that puts me as the perfect person to chair the Awards. Through my passion, I’ve developed an intimate knowledge of the online theme park fan base. I’ve improved my writing skills and industry knowledge through my work with various websites and publications. And of course, travelling around Europe has given me a unique perspective on our lovely continent and its theme park residents.

The ETPCA is a team effort. I’ve always intended it that way, as it reflects the industry. If one man tries to build a theme park by himself, he will undoubtedly fail. But when a group comes together, they can create something truly special. I’m hoping for a similar turnout of affairs from these Awards.

Am I potentially the perfect host? Probably not. But am I potentially the worst? No…

*Insert Eisner joke*

And once again, welcome to the greatest show on Earth. Well, on the continent, anyway.

European Theme Park Critics Awards