New Paramount Park in Japan

[jzarley]

I saw this headline over on CoasterBuzz about Paramount planning to build and open a new park in Japan. If I'm not mistaken, I think this will be the first park (not including the Vegas Star Trek attraction) that Paramount has built from the ground up. I think it will be interesting to see how Viacom develops a park from a "blank slate."

Here's the link:

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031016p2a00m0fp003000c.html

Joel

[coasterrz]

Very interesting. I also found that they were refering to Paramount Pictures and not Parmount Parks. I`m assuming Paramount Parks will operate the park.

[bradb055]

Thats good to know that Paramount is willing to spend that much on a theme park. This, however, could be bad news for PKI if Paramount decides to spend less on PKI to build this new park. Hopfully this woulnt happen. The only question I have is... Are the Japeneese people tall enough to ride the bigger rides? This may seem stupid to ask but, Japeneese people are short people. THis would mean this new park could get custom made rides for the smaller stature of the Japeneese people. Just wondering?

Nice find jzarley!

[coasterrz]

While Japanese people may be shorter, I don`t think height should be a problem. Also, I certainly hope that the building of this park doesn`t take funds away from PKI. However, as I understand it, the press release was made by Paramount Pictures in order to try and get some sponsorship to ease the financial burden of building a new park.

Edited January 1, 1970 by CoasterRZ

[jzarley]

Yeah, I also found it interesting that the article referred to Paramount Pictures and not Paramount Parks (or that Viacom wasn't mentioned at all). I assumed that might because it was from a Japanese news site, and that "Paramount Studios" would be most recognizable to their readers.

I also think it's interesting about the money that's been invested in brand new Japanese parks over the last few years. First Disney and Universal and now Paramount. Considering how much the Japanese economy has suffered over the last several years, it's interesting that these companies have made such huge investments in discretionary activities. I guess bad economic times haven't affected theme park attendance as much in Japan.

I'm really anxious to see what the plans for this park will look like...I'm sure "Action Zone" and "Nickolodeon" will be represented, but I wonder if any of the "pre-Paramount" theming/attractions will be carried over?

Joel

[Beastfreak]

I'm sure that even though the article says "Paramount Pictures" it means Paramount Parks. They are all the same company in the long run anyways. Both having the name Paramount in them, it is an easy way for news reporters to confuse things. They are known to miss print stuff quite often.

This definetly better not affect PKI or any of the US parks financial wise.

[bradb055]

Ok I looked up some conversions to find out what this thing will actualy cost in US currency and how big it will be. By my calcuations Paramount (Viacom) will spend $1,097,293,343 on this park if no other companies pitch in. The space that it will lie on will be just under 125 acres. This seems a little small to me but my math could be off. This price may seem to be a bit huge but one must remember that Viacom has about 30 billion in revenue each year. While Im happy for Japan, I would much rather see a 1 billion dollar investment in PKI! But... you know as well as I do that woulnt happen in my life time!

[coasterrz]

That price tag seems really high! I would presume since its so high, that the money will not come from the budget of the current 5 Paramount Parks. 125 acres is smaller than the amount of land that PKI uses. I believe that PKI has currently developed 164 acres, or at least thats the number I remember hearing somewhere. I also agree that spending that much money on PKI would be nice, but they wouldn`t see that much return for their money. By building a new park, they are hoping to tap into a new market to get more return for their money.

It seems that Paramount Parks have been expanding lately. Since 1993 through recently, it was just the five parks and Star Trek the Experience in Las Vegas. Recently, they entered into management agreements with Bonfante Gardens in California and Terra Mitica in Spain.

[bradb055]

I thought that PKI sat on 364 devoped acres including the 15 acre water park (subject to change due to BB) and the 100 acre parking lot. If I remeber right PKI owns another 450 acres or so. Someone that works at PKI should be able to chime in on this one. Im sure of the ET elevator comintators (sp?) has mentioned it more than once. But yes that would be a bit small inside Japan. Hopefully that is just the park and not the entire area including the parking lot.

Edited January 1, 1970 by Bradb055

[SOB_TOM]

I will help everyone out on this:

Roughly, the middle of the owned land of PKI is The Racers. Meaning, PKI could clone itself, and it would fill out the land behind Racer that is owned. Now side to side, I have no idea how much they own. PKI does own a total of 740 acres if I remember right.

[IcarusLives]

The park is small in US terms but decent for Japan. Remember, Japan is an island and availlable land is scarce. I imagine Paramount/Viacom will have a percentage interest in the park, much like Disney does in Disney Sea parks. The only park Universal owns 100% of is Universal Hollywood. They share the rest with investors.

I thought it was funny that they mentioned "the Godfather" and "Roman Holiday" as examples of Paramount's movies in the article. Will Japan get a ride themed to "The Godfather"? Just imagine

[jzarley]

Ok I looked up some conversions to find out what this thing will actualy cost in US currency and how big it will be. By my calcuations Paramount (Viacom) will spend $1,097,293,343 on this park if no other companies pitch in.

I know nothing about Yen-to-Dollar conversions, but this figure would seem to make sense to me. At just under $1.1B, I believe this would be in the neighborhood of what it cost to build IOA, Animal Kingdom, and California Adventure. (And, the opening date for the Japanese Paramount park will be nearly a decade--of DAK and IOA anyway--of those parks.) I also believe construction costs can run quite high in Japan due to lack of land, earthquake building codes, etc.

Joel

[fryler87]

I have no clue as to how much 120 billion Yen is, however if the American currency conversion is correct...1.1 billion dollars...that sounds like a hell of a lot of money. would guess that they would have to purchase the property and then develop it, pay taxes, etc. I also don't know what the liquid value of PKI is, but my guess is that it's a few pennies less that a billion. Let me state that I have no source of facts and am purely drawing this from my mind alone.

I doubt it will take away from PKI's "funds." Remember, despite the fact that Paramount is owned by Viacom and the money does get flushed into one account, the money would only be redistributed back in somewhat of the same fashion that it was given. I think that Paramount would only open a new park if they had the money.

[italianchef]

The only question I have is... Are the Japeneese people tall enough to ride the bigger rides? This may seem stupid to ask but, Japeneese people are short people. THis would mean this new park could get custom made rides for the smaller stature of the Japeneese people. Just wondering?

Nice find jzarley!

Dear Sir,

When I first read your question, my reaction was "The Japanese people are NOT Pygmies!"

However, I realize that your question suggests that you have never met a Japanese person in your life - or perhaps very few. I have been to Japan twice and lived there for over one year. I met MANY Japanese people and studied their language, culture, religions (Buddhism & Shinto), and history. And I am a full-blooded Italian-American married to a Japanese woman who is carrying our first child.

First off, you are totally wrong to assume that Japanese people are too short to ride bigger roller coasters. The average Japanese is only 4-5 inches shorter than the average American. If you want evidence....read the following:

http://blazernet.ccsd.k12.co.us/media/math...ere/height.html

As a GENERAL statement of ethnicity and height...West Africans (ex. Nigerians, Ghanans) tend to be taller than East Africans (ex. Ethiopians, Somali) and Africans in general tend to be slightly taller than Europeans. However, Africa is also home of the Pygmies. Hence, the world's tallest and shortest people are Africans. Northern Europeans (ex. Dutch, Swedes, etc.) tend to be taller than Southern Europeans (ex. Italians, Greeks). And Europeans in general tend to be taller than Asians. Amongst Asians, Northeast Asians (Mongolians, Japanese, etc.) tend to be taller than Southeast Asians (Thais, Vietnamese, etc.).

Not all of any race fits all of any stereotype. As a European-American man of 5'5, I am over 4 inches below my ethnicity's average height. My Japanese wife of 5'3 is 3 inches above her ethnicity's average height. Either way, between the 2 of us...we expect a short, dark haired child.

On a side note when I lived in Japan I noticed that the "average" man over 50 was shorter than me but the average man under 40 was taller than me. Not only were men taller than me....but even some women! I actually dated 2 Japanese women who are TALLER than me before I met Mrs. Chef.

In conclusion...no the Japanese are NOT too short for any ride that Paramount may bring to its new park in Japan.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

PS - I have studied anthropology and ethnicity in detail, so please don't feel overwhelmed.

[DegenRider]

@_@<---Overwhelmed

Hey now if My PKI pass will work in japan IM THERE!

[fyrfyter]

I am thinking that with a three year construction Time, they are going to get a lot of the rides they already have and send them to Japan. Paramount may have just found a new home for King Cobra. And I am sure we will see some copies of the paramount Parks rides that already exist. I would hope that P(aramount) would look at all the parks they own, and decide which one's design works best. From all the P parks I have been to, I think PKI's design works best. If you look at the way PKI was designed, it kinda has the design of a spoked wheel with the hub in the center. From the center of the hub, or international street, you can get to any area of the park fairly quickly. In addition to this, you can also get to other areas of the park very quickly as well. Keeping in mind that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and with all the spokes, in some areas of PKI you can pretty much cross the park in an almost straight line, thus being the fastest way from one area to another. its also nice that, you can walk around the outside loop and take in everything, without missing anything.

[fyrfyter]

Ok I looked up some conversions to find out what this thing will actualy cost in US currency and how big it will be.  By my calcuations Paramount (Viacom) will spend  $1,097,293,343 on this park if no other companies pitch in.

I know nothing about Yen-to-Dollar conversions, but this figure would seem to make sense to me. At just under $1.1B, I believe this would be in the neighborhood of what it cost to build IOA, Animal Kingdom, and California Adventure. ......... I also believe construction costs can run quite high in Japan due to lack of land, earthquake building codes, etc.

Joel

Yeah, your conversions are right. if you take 120 billion yen, and divide it by Fridays market closing of 109 yen to the dollar, then this new park should cost,

$1,100,917,431.20

So you are actually just over 1.1 billion dollars. and by the time you account for inflation over three years, I think the actual park amount will be around this number.

$1,211,009,174.32

or just over 1.2 billion dollars, guessing 3% standard inflation each year. I think a lot of this cost is going into research and finding out what Japanese people like in an amusement park, since their lifestyle and characteristics are so much different from ours.

[bradb055]

chef,

That is a plethera of good info. I didnt relize that the average Japeneese person was that tall. Yes, I have meet a few Japeneese and Asian people and they were fairly short. The few I have meet would most likely made any and all height requirements, but may have been uncomfortable with the harnesses at eye level. Like you mentioned I have only had very little experince with Aisians and Japeneese. Thanks for clearing that up, now I know.

Please dont take my previous statments as an insult to the Japeneese. I was just stateing that Japeneese are mostly smaller than Americans. This may influence ride designs (especaily over the head restraints). Thats the only point I was trying to make. This may prevent some rides that are designed for Americans from being directly cloned and sent to Japan. Alterations for comfort and saftey may have to be made.

Also, I did some math converting Yen to the American Dollar. Can you check it and tell me if it sound right?

[Beastfreak]

The only design changes that might be made would be in the restraints or cars. Nothing about the ride itself, so yeah the ride could be cloned still.

[PKI Homey]

So, does this mean no new coater for PKI until 2044? Sounds like a lot of money to be spent for a new park. Hopefully, this won't effect PKI's budget plans.

[SOB_TOM]

Who says that Viacom has to pull money away from PKI to build another park? I want to know where in the article it says "All other parks will not be adding new attractions until the park is finished". Point that out to me. Thats right, it doesnt say. I dont know the exact function of how Viacom splits up money, but I would think that each park is given a budget for each year. With that budget, the parks have enough to add new attractions, do regular maintenance, and such like that. Thats why Viacom released that story, so that investors could put money in and get a cut back. The other parks will not be hurt.

[fryler87]

In contradiction to what I said above a few days ago, I think Viacom HAS pulled money away from PKI to help save up for this new park. I know nothing little about business, but I know that making money off of saved funds from interest is better than being charged for it when you take out a loan. Viacom probably pulled nickels and pennies from all of the Paramount parks (esp. PKI b/c it's the cash cow) and after the new park opens, will probably take a few nickels and pennies from it to give back to the money source. That's how I would do it.

[PKI Homey]

Ok, let's all calm down here. I was just inserting a little sarcasm. Anyway, no one said that they would pull money from PKI, but when you talk about building a new park and spending that kind of money, it will affect the budgets of all of the other parks in some way or another IMO.

[italianchef]

chef,

That is a plethera of good info. I didnt relize that the average Japeneese person was that tall. Yes, I have meet a few Japeneese and Asian people and they were fairly short. The few I have meet would most likely made any and all height requirements, but may have been uncomfortable with the harnesses at eye level. Like you mentioned I have only had very little experince with Aisians and Japeneese. Thanks for clearing that up, now I know.

Please dont take my previous statments as an insult to the Japeneese. I was just stateing that Japeneese are mostly smaller than Americans. This may influence ride designs (especaily over the head restraints). Thats the only point I was trying to make. This may prevent some rides that are designed for Americans from being directly cloned and sent to Japan. Alterations for comfort and saftey may have to be made.

Also, I did some math converting Yen to the American Dollar. Can you check it and tell me if it sound right?

Brad,

No offense was taken. I realize that in this area there aren't many Asians and folks tend to have 50 year old stereotypes that are obsolete. As I said before, the young Japanese are on average MUCH taller than the older Japanese.

I'll look into the yen computation some time in the future. Amongst folks on this site I am unique that I actually lived in Japan and grew up in multi-ethnic NYC.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef