Written by Dirk van Diringshofen
Published: March 21, 2005 at 3:40 PM
ENTERTAINMENT VS RIDES:
How One Park’s Sorrow Is Another Park’s Delight
The European Theme Park Critics Awards that are handed out this year are meant to highlight some of the best - and worst - developments of 2004 in the world not only of theme parks but also amusement parks in Europe. So it would seem logical if I were to use the space that I was awarded as a member of the jury to take you on a personal journey through European theme and amusement parks to present some highlights and disappointments as I see them – but I won’t. I do not really want to get down to writing a whole article only explaining the votes I cast for the ETPCA. For one reason: I am sure there are more interesting subjects to read about. What I will do instead is try to highlight some of the major changes or movements that might be seen as dominating or important in 2004, when we all look back a few years further down the road. Sure not everything will turn out to be as important as I might think it is today, but then at least we’ve got something to talk about again…
At the Disneyland Resort Paris two themes dominated 2004 – and for once none of them were actually created or promoted by the marketing department of the theme park giant of Europe. The first one could be titled “The Year of the Shows”. As neither of the resort’s two theme parks opened a new ride, they still needed to add the sparkle of something “new”. The ailing Studios only received a small show, “The Lilo & Stitch Catch a Wave Party” which turned out to be immensely popular. The Disneyland Park on the other hand received a one small show (“Peter Pan to the Rescue” - which received not so positive guest reviews) and the blockbuster “The Legend of the Lion King”. The latter was touted by the press and marketing department Europe-wide as the highlight of the season and did attract endless lines, and with its live singers from the West End in London, received rave reviews from guests and critics alike – and continues to do so today.
But this could not hide the fact that the resort in 2004 was fighting while retreating. New shows and parades, special events and fireworks – too long was the time the Disneyland Park had been without a new ride, while other parks in Europe were busily expanding year after year. But there was a reason for this – since the Studios did not attract the expected huge guest numbers that Jay Rasulo had promised (but fans and critics had doubted from day one) the financial situation of the resort had fallen back into the more than just dangerous areas. So the second theme of 2004 for the resort was “Financial Rescue”. Surprising experts and fans alike, Andre Lacroix - the new head of the group - pulled the whole dismal financials to the light of the public and started to fight for the survival of the resort in plain view of everyone. And in the end succeeded – kind of, as he was able to get some fresh money for the resort and suspend the servicing of the mounting debt, which gives the resort some breathing room for the coming years. BUT none of the debt has been deleted from the balance sheet of the group, so the trouble is far from over, even though it won’t resurface for some years.
So why am I bothering you with this? After all, you’re not interested in the European subsidiary of the Disney theme park operations – because the changes at the Disneyland Resort in the past had a profound impact on the operations of other European theme parks, and will continue to do so.
From the first day, impressive guest numbers of the Disneyland Park made it obvious to its competitors all over Europe that they had to expand their offerings and add up-to-date attractions to keep up with the new player on the field. Once the Disney Hotels actually had been turned into a success other parks suddenly realized the potential of the concept of a resort and followed suit. And those who actually tried to do their best did fare rather well. Certainly the opening of the second theme park in the Disneyland Resort Paris did cause some nervousness, but that turned out to be totally unnecessary, as the second gate was far from a success. Instead, it became a worldwide example that Disney could fail miserably too. The following return of the resort’s financial problems added to the breathing room for other parks. While Disney had to find ways to reduce costs and improve revenue without any major investments, the other parks were able to build up their collection of attractions and bolster their position. But 2004 was the last year that this could be said.
2004 was the last year the European parks could more or less just ignore the competition in Marne la Vallee. Starting this year with a re-theming of their blockbuster indoor roller coaster “Space Mountain” they will once again have to battle against a Disney resort that is able to tout new attractions which are not just parades, shows and fireworks (even so, some surprises in these sections are up and coming too). So the results of the financial rescue in 2004 will once again alter the situation on the market … to the advantage of everybody who loves to see parks all over Europe add exciting new attractions.
A good example for a park that was able to bolster its position in the last years while copying the successful concept of the Disneyland Resort Paris is the Europa Park in Rust, Germany, which even introduced the word “Resort” into its marketing. While the last additional ride in the Disneyland Park (which means: ignoring the Walt Disney Studios) was Space Mountain in 1995, Europa Park opened numerous new rides in recent years, including blockbusters like Poseidon, a water coaster, or Silver Star, a B&M roller coaster. Through the years it also added three high-class hotels with near perfect theming. The last one only opened in 2004 – an opening that can easily be said to be the most dominating theme park news in Germany. All three hotels boost stellar occupancy rates – but how will the park deal with a Disneyland Resort Paris expanding again? Only time will tell, but the park’s standing on the market is so strong, it should sustain its position and still leave room for plenty of expansion in hotel capacity too. Just to ensure it keeps its advantage, it is going to open a new ride this year, in its 30th season … but that is a story maybe for the ETPCA 2005…
But there is some other news from Germany that looking back, turns out to be extremely important: the sale of the Warner Bros. Movie World from Six Flags to Star Parks. It adds another chapter to the history of this park that opened with high hopes and aspirations, and has since been struggling eternally it seems. It also means that in 2004, the Warner Bros. characters - including the famous Loony Tunes - celebrated their last season in the German theme park and now can only be met in the Spanish Warner Bros park. But it also means that through all the goodbye pain, fans could look forward to some new friends to meet in the Movie Park in 2005. Which, once again, is maybe a story for the ETPCA 2005.
Speaking of Spain – the Warner Bros. Park there seems to operate with guests excluded, but contains to struggle on - and receives rave reviews for some of its attractions from those European fans who actually get to the park.
The Universal Mediterranea Resort might be called the victim of 2004. After a difficult start as far as the awareness of the European market was regarded, the resort fought hard. With the opening of the new hotels and the water parks, it had laid a basis for a growing success. Then in 2003 and 2004 the resort finally managed to creep into the minds of the average European. Huge marketing and advertising campaigns, special pages in catalogues made sure Europeans suddenly realized that a whole resort competing with Disney was waiting right in the middle of Spain, their traditional vacation destination. With its lush theming, outstanding attractions and impressive hotels, the resort seemed destined to become the big new player in Europe after it had realized its own strength and actually promoted it. But then it was dropped by Universal and all the long term plans and the coordinated marketing campaigns came crushing down late in 2004… the new owners have already started with small name changes, which will throw the resort several years back as far as the awareness of the typical European guest is concerned.
While there are numerous other parks all over Europe that actually did surprise fans and guests last year - not least Gardaland in Italy - there is one group that actually kept fans in several countries on the edge of their seats. I am not talking about the (not so sudden) exit of the ailing Six Flags group, which once again might be a story for the ETPCA 2005 as the impact of that exit will be felt this year when Star Parks opens the former Six Flags parks for the first time. What I am talking about is the Tussauds group.
While their park in Germany, Heide Park, only made headlines among fans for failing to come up with any new ride, and not even the announcement of an exciting new ride for 2005, its UK theme parks continued their transformations to fit into the new concept which assigns Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park each a distinctive target group. Not even Six Flags ever tried anything like that in Europe – taking several parks and trying to create a symbiotic relationship between them by letting them all feed of the image and popularity of their brethren while not actually competing as each of them would target a separate group of guests. Will the project succeed? Who knows? It is too early to tell, but right now it is already interesting to watch the smaller and bigger steps taken in each of the parks to reach that ultimate goal – and 2004 was another step of this long term project.
OK, I have come to an end! I already exceeded the amount of space I had been granted as part of the ETPCA by far, but I hope I was able to point out that I think there were some larger themes that not only had an impact in 2004, but will also have their impact felt for many years to come. They created the kind of moments in history we were all able to witness in the world of theme and amusement parks from the point of a guest, or as fans following the changes through the many websites on the internet. I am already looking forward to seeing the impacts that the big changes of 2004 had in 2005, and which surprises came up in 2005.
But before that… let’s all enjoy the season of 2005!
Dirk van Diringshofen
A park cannot continue to maintain its level of success when it adds attractions at the rate of one every ten years. Between the original park's stinginess and the Studios park's general rubbishness, the resort now only truly functions as a single day for repeat visitors. And the easiest way to solve this problem? Less shows, more rides!
So when even the hardcore DLP fans start ringing the warning bell, you KNOW something's up.
I am aware that I heavily critized the Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort Paris for not having added a new ride since 1995.
Normally I myself would counter this complaining by pointing to the Walt Disney Studios - unfortunately due to the low awareness of the WDS on the GENERAL market (not among theme park enthusiasts) these attractions do not attract a major number of guests to the resort. If all these attractions would have been added to the Disneyland Park the impact might have been noticeably higher.
Certainly you are correct pointing that shows, parades, fireworks etc. are important and do enhance a park in major ways. In fact these entertainment offerings are vital to the character of the Disney Parks and do help set them apart from other parks as e.g. the Six Flags parks you mentioned. But the problem is how the NON-theme-park-enthusiast perceives competing parks before making a decision to visit it.
A new spectacular ride that is advertised with posters all over Germany easily beats out a new firework or a new show among these potential guests, especially as these competing parks are faster to reach, have cheaper room prices and cheaper passports.
Since 1995 the competing parks advertise new added attraction regularly, while DLRP (besides the WDS which we need to take out of the quotation due to a lack of awareness among the public) "only" presents new shows, parades or fireworks.
Also it needs to be kept in mind that those new rides the competing parks advertises usually are new ADDITIONAL rides, which not only means added capacity to those parks but something MORE to see for guests who visit the park.
The new shows, parades and fireworks at DLRP on the other hand (at least all major offerings added in the last years) only REPLACED older offerings. This means there is not more to see but just something different. Again it is important for many average guests how "much" a park offers and a replacement show does not help there.
The replacement also is problematic as DLRP for the majority of guests / potential guests is still a first time visit, meaning that as long as the quality of the fireworks would stay the same a replacement usually does not make a difference.
On top of that it is a question how to advertise the new feature. If a park as Europa Park adds a new coaster it just slams photos of it on posters all over Germany. And everybody understands: there is a new coaster. With a new show as "The Legend of the Lion King" it is already more difficult to transport the message of how high quality the show is and that it is more than the cheap theme park show most other parks present. The same problem is also true with parades and shows. DLRP so far has not succeeded in transporting the quality difference message in regard to these products in a way that would help them give an ad-campaign for a new show more effect.
To make it short: show, parade and firework replacements are necessary to keep the resort from looking tired. But to sustain the number of guests and maybe even attract more guests the resort does need new rides. The competing parks are adding new rides and therefore guests are expecting this - especially as they see a huge price difference regarding transportation, hotel and tickets.
Or in other words: I think we need to differentiate what is good for the character and feel of a park and what is good for the park attendance wise. The latter in major ways depends on how other parks market themeselves and their new "additions" and how the park in question is positioned. The Disney parks are conceived notably different in the US and the UK than in continental Europe. For many Europeans the Disney Parks are just normal parks with the Disney name and characters. The quality approach in themeing and entertainment is something they only become aware of once they are in the park. But this also means they are not willing to expect a lot if they see an add for a show because they expect a normally not so impressive show as presented in competing parks. Only over many more years Disney will be able (in the best case) to develop that "quality" image for their parks in the general public of Europe, which it already has in the US. Once that is in place advertising a new show may have a larger impact than it has right now.
New rides aren't always the answer, but ignoring them for a decade is NEVER the answer.
Dirk, one thing:
this is a GREAT piece of reporting. I'm impressed. But, Dirk, you did IRK me with one thing: You've got to get it through your head that folks go to parks for more than rides. I don't know how many times you said, "They added shows, parades and fireworks, but no rides." Dude, when you say that the Lion King show is a HUGE success both critically and with all those waiting in line to see it, don't go on to say, "BUT IT ISN'T A RIDE." Nope, it's not a ride. Neither is the Castle at Disneyland. Or the Twister attraction at Universal Studios Orlando. Or the WaterWorld show at Universal Hollywood. Or so many other things that DO draw people into the parks. Thousands upon thousands stay late into the evening to see Epcot's closing finale, and guess what: It's not a ride either.
Dirk, you routinely criticize parks for not adding rides. Well, Dirk, let me tell ya--just adding more rides doesn't make a park great: look at all the Six Flags parks. They add a ride per year and still lag WAAAAAAY behind in attendance at some parks. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE RIDES. But adding parades, shows and fireworks DOES enhance the park. The Lion King show will certainly bring in more guests than an off-the-shelf mouse-coaster, that's for sure.