Big Business vs. Traditional Parks

[Dane]

http://www.pki-central.com/editorials/tpbcbvsttftp.htm

[italianchef]

I found Ryan's article to be intellectually stimulating and a sad sign of the times. His article is not just relevant to the theme park industry, but American (and worldwide) business in general. Small family friendly theme parks, retailers, pharmacies, grocery stores, and even restaurants can't compete with the financial might of large corporations such as Disney, Paramount, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, Kraft, etc.

I love PKI more than any place on Earth. However, I must say that some of its cost-cutting decisions have reduced my happiness at the park - specifically the elimination of Hanna-Barbera characters walking around the park. The only H-B character left is Scooby Doo and he is now stationary. Additonally, the Scooby Doo shows, which I greatly enjoyed, are gone.

The decision to scale back the Hanna-Barbera presence in the park is, in my opinion to save money as well as because H-B characters are not very well known by the current generation of rugrats. And it PKI's defense, they have invested heavily in other areas, such as the new food service and the upcoming Boomerang Bay.

Yes one must wonder, if PKI were a small park, would it maintain the walking H-B characters to appease folks like me who grew up with them?

In conclusion, I think that Ryan's article was very well-written and makes one stop and analyze the changing amusement park industry in The United States.

Good job Ryan!

Sincerely,

Charles Infosino aka Italian Chef

:chef:

[BoddaH1994]

Thanks Chef!

I hope you guys liked the article whether you agreed or disagreed with my observations.

[flightoffear1996]

I argee with you and it is sad. parks are it for money and not about the guest happiness. Well i guess the could lower prices on food/games or at least build us a long need rollercoaster

[Mrs. G.]

I agree with Chef about the "sign of the times" - it is sad to think that your generation may be the last one that even remembers the old Mom & Pop businesses. I believe that bigger is not always better, but I am in the minority on that. I grew up at a time when $4 bought you a whole day's fun at Adventureland, with all of the old classic rides - Six Flags killed Adventureland by 1980. We also had a very quaint INDOOR amusement park (including a looping steel coaster) that died after just a few years because of corporate greed and mismanagement.

It's sad to me, but it's all about giving the people what they want - if more people supported the small parks and didn't only flock to Disney, that's the only way things will change. We have one small family park that survives today, I brought my kids there when they were small instead of Six Flags. Will it still be there for their kids?

Now that I can afford to go to any park I want, I still choose PKI because although it has become more commercialized since the days of the Smurfs and the monorail, it still has more of the charm, friendliness, and relaxed atmosphere than any of the others I've been to - and I give most of the credit for that to the employees. I've been to several Six Flags I don't even remember, Disney didn't impress me. In my opinion PKI has managed to grow with the times while keeping its nostalgic atmosphere, not perfectly, but better than most.

[Here_is_Trouble!]

i go with what my mom says(Mrs.G)

but for only being a 12 year old I don't think of the money put into the park or advertisement of the place... i am just happy i get to go

[italianchef]

i go with what my mom says(Mrs.G)

but for only being a 12 year old I don't think of the money put into the park or advertisement of the place... i am just happy i get to go

You are lucky to have a mother like Mrs. G. Trust me on that!. My passions are amusement parks, travel, cooking, and wine. And my parents didn't help with those interests. I saw your mother interact with you and I hope that I'll be as graceful a parent with my child.

And may I commend you and your sister for your well-behavior? With all the troubled children out there commiting crimes and bad deeds....Mrs. G is lucky to have 2 nice daughters. I hope that I'll be lucky to have a nice, well-behaved child.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

:chef:

[TheRickster]

How the child behaves is usually how the adults are with em. (or what the adults dont know they are doing and getting way with) in otherwards. I dont think you got anything to worry about chef Sure youll be a great daddy!

[italianchef]

Thank you Rickster! I want to be a great father - 1000% better than my pop.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

:chef:

[Here_is_Trouble!]

i know im lucky to have Mrs.G as a mom.

[Mr. Christopher]

You'll make a great dad and father figure, Chef! Better get used to Nick Central & HB Land for a while.

[Mrs. G.]

Holy cow, has this gotten :offtopic: ! There could be a whole 'nother editorial in here (The virtues of H-B Land and Nick for the under-5 crowd...) or at least a Poll (How great a dad will the Chef be?)!

Chef, you're going to be fine. I try to parent like my dad did, he was very young at heart til the day he died suddenly when I was 19. Which also taught me that there are no guarantees, live every moment, and take nothing for granted. Mom (100% Italian) was -still is- the Drill Sergeant.

In the interest of keeping this topic open for hopefully more opinions on Boddah's editorial (and because I have this "fear" of being deleted repeatedly!) I will try to bring it back around to the original topic by asking whether you will take the little Chef to the smaller parks as well as PKI?

[Dane]

What Mrs. G said, stay on topic. If you want to talk about another thing, start another topic!

[italianchef]

Please specify.

[Dane]

Please specify.

Please specify to whom you are speaking to.

[Scooter4Ever]

At one time, every large corporation was a "mom & pop" operation. McDonald's, Starbucks, even Disney were companies that started small and grew. It's easy to criticize the big companies because they are seen as faceless, money driven machines. Why did these compaines grow while similar ones faltered? It's because they did things right and were willing to take risks.

The event at Americana was very touching. And I don't think they lost much money on giving your friend that toy. But how many times did they just give away stuff? After a while, that adds up. And Americana had lots more problems than just giving away stuffed animals. Find any article on the park and you will see labor problems, broken promises, poor upkeep of the park, and many other factors that contributed to the downfall of that place. And while the generosity of that game op created a warm fuzzy memory for you, that don't pay the bills. Did you go back to the park? Did you continue to support the park? Probably not. Why? Because PKI is a better place.

It's easy to portray Paramount as the bad guy and question if they have enhanced or destroyed King's Island. But ask yourself this, why did the former owners sell? Did they feel like they accomplished everything they wanted and felt it was time to move on? My guess, Paramount gave them lots of money. Are they evil because they made money?

Nostalgia and warm memories are great and everything looked better when we were younger. But like I said, memories and nostalgia don't pay the bills. In happens everywhere. In Columbus this week, it was annouced that the Downtown Lazarus was closing. Suddenly all these people are reflecting on their memories of how great the store was, yet they now shop at bigger and closer stores. The downtown store never changed and is now paying the price. Same as those "treasured" Mom n' Pop stores. They may have been good at one time, but if you don't change and adapt as the years go by, you will fail. While there are some independent parks (i.e. Kennywood) that perform well, don't be fooled by their "homey" spin. They want your money. Just as much as Paramount. They are just better at better at putting a nice, smiling face in front of it.

[JIMMY JAMZ]

I'm with you guys on the "Big vs. Little" thing.

I grew up in Pittsburgh (still live there) and I frequent Kennywood.

Its a small park very traditional and from growing up with it all my life it seems thats what I compare other parks to. I remember going to Geauga Lake from time to time and felt it was a good small traditional park.(Its only 2.5 hrs from home so its not to far)I was very excited when 6 flaggs took over and couldn't wait to go.

WOW what a big dissapointment.They(6 Flaggs) sucked every bit of traditional out of the park.So much so,I will never return to the park.(well maybe I will if they put in a new coaster LOL) Thats why this summer when I was researcing what amusement park to visit this summer I looked at all aspects of the parks.

I chose to try Paramont I went there on the 3ed of July.for a small 2 day trip to see what it was like.(I was planning the 4 day take all the kids in August, i was really thinking I was going to go to a different park with them) I was really impressed with the small park charm, appeal, cleanliness, park employee friendliness so much so that I purchassed season passes for the rest of 2003and 2004 for the whole family.I've been back twice(6 days total)and I am returning on nov.1st and 2nd. with the whole crew.

They put together a very nice park.It seems it hasn't lost the whole traditional park feel.I'm sure a lot of you people on here who have been going there all your life would say"it was so much better 10 maybe20 years ago" but I cant say it was or not.

Also I would like to send a shout out to Chef.I wasn't aware you were the person who put out the book about Kings Island. I bought the book the first day I was there.Very good and informative Thanks.

[Mrs. G.]

As far as the memory of the game op giving a prize away, I agree, that's one of the things you're going to remember about a park...a couple years ago PKI had Spyro's at the football throw game. We really wanted one so my friend started throwing footballs, she made ONE. About $30 later the game op gave her the Spyro. Paramount still made money on us but the guy didn't have to do that, we didn't ask him to, and that's the kind of thing that keeps us coming back. PKI has some of the friendliest employees anywhere and that's how they maintain their atmosphere, to be that big but still give the personal attention, and usually with a smile. That's not easy to find these days. And yeah, I've been going there nearly 20 years, before The Vortex even opened, but don't long for the old days. They have managed to expand without losing all the comfortable, friendly feeling. It doesn't feel cold and corporate, I hope it never does.

[BoddaH1994]

Hey, I want to thank you guys for your responses! Whether you agree with me or not, these editorials are only worth writing if you guys actually read them and have some input.

First off, I think I need to defend myself a little bit. I want to tell you guys straight up that I love PKI more than life itself like many of you out there. I doubt Kings Island would have been able to grow exponentially the way it has without the Paramount takeover. In my opinion, Paramount is the only company that is worthy of "my" park. I'm not a big Six Flags fan at all, but I think that a lot of you might agree that they would not have done nearly as well with it as Paramount has. At that, the intention of my editorial piece was in no way to bring down Paramount or Paramount's Kings Island.

As far as my 'warm fuzzy memory' goes, that was simply an example. Obviously you can't make any money if you're just giving things away (although Video Professor seems to be able to do it ). I don't expect any park to give anything away really. The point of the story was more the mood-setting which it created rather than the actual act of giving things away. It was like, that guy did everything he could to make sure we walked away happy. A lot of PKI employees are the same way, but to a different degree. There is only so much an individual can really do, but if you think about it, that 'only so much' can really make or break an experience for another individual. For example, if say, The Beast were down, and there was an employee blocking the queue line, and I asked him what was wrong with it, he would more than likely say something along the lines of, "The Beast is experiece some maintanance problems and will be open as soon as the mechanics decide the ride is safe for our guests." It's generic, but respectful. Now imagine the same situation, but the employee said, "Well, obviously it's broken! It's really none of your business what's wrong with it. Now go away!" Both of which answer my question, but how would I feel had I walked away from either of the situations?

Americana did have several problems. Essentially, it was an over-worked, under budgeted little park for the better part of a century. PKI had the goods to go and stole all of their business. Not that PKI did anything wrong, but people are naturally attracted to winners, so it was obvious from day one who the winning team was going to be. If they reopen it, will I go back? Maybe some day. Who knows? I do see your point though. I didn't exactly go home and tell all my friends to go to Americana because they gave my girlfriend a stuffed animal.

As far as big vs. little, with big being the bad guy, you'd have to look at the situation. For the most part, you are correct though, the reason why big businesses are big is because they started small and did things correctly and built a small empire. I mean, is it wrong for McDonald's to drive a mama and pop family burger place out of business by opening a location right next door thus driving mama and pop into bankrupcy? Hell yeah, it is. But what are they going to do? Stop expanding? Would you stop expanding if you were them? Probably not. Would I? Probably not.

Jimmy Jamz, you mentioned that most people around Kennywood say that the park was better 10 or 20 years ago, that seems to be a rather common comment in the amusement industry. I don't know if it necessarily has to do with big business takeovers, though. I mean, how many times have we have threads on these boards about how great The Bat was? I mean, serious, how many of us had ridden it? I'd guess MAYBE one or two. The same goes for Phantom Theatre. Probably no one would have posted anything about it before, but not that it's gone it's mentioned in a thread atleast weekly. Ufortunately, it seems that park-goers really don't appreciate something until it's gone.

Well, I'm working on my next editorial right now. It's going to be about why we haven't gotten a coaster in several years, and how coasters affect the industry. I'm just waiting on a few e-mails from a few people. You guys will probably really like it.

Thanks,

Ryan