Six Flags souhaite doubler la clientèle de La Ronde pour atteindre les deux millions de visiteurs par an en mettant l'accent sur la famille.
C'est ce qu'a annoncé son pdg Mark Shapiro lors d'un point de presse qui s'est tenu hier, au parc de l'île Sainte-Hélène.
«Avec tous les investissements qu'on y a faits ces dernières années, je ne comprends pas pourquoi il n'y a pas deux millions de visiteurs par année ici», dit celui qui a été nommé à la tête de l'entreprise américaine en décembre dernier.
Walt Disney
Depuis l'achat de La Ronde par Six Flags en 2001, 74 M$ ont été investis en infrastructures, manèges, animations et autres embellissements.
Or, la fréquentation stagne année après année, avec de 1,1 à 1,2 million de visiteurs.
«Ça peut paraître agressif et ambitieux comme objectif, mais La Ronde a tout pour réussir», indique cet ex-cadre d'ESPN.
Pour atteindre ce but, Six Flags compte investir 16 M$ l'an prochain. L'accent sera mis sur la mise en marché, le service à la clientèle et, surtout, les attractions destinées aux familles.
M. Shapiro souhaite donner un cachet «Walt Disney» à La Ronde. «On veut créer une ambiance de fête et de divertissement avec des parades, des mascottes et des spectacles, explique le jeune pdg de 35 ans. On a notre clientèle adolescente. Il nous faut améliorer celle familiale.»
Il envisage même le prolongement de la saison en novembre. «On pourrait profiter de l'hiver avec des spectacles, de l'animation et une patinoire», croit-il.
Pas à vendre
M. Shapiro refuse de dévoiler les finances du parc. «Ça va bien, mais ça pourrait aller mieux», se contente-t-il de dire.
Six Flags envisage de se départir de certains de ses parcs non rentables pour rembourser une partie de sa dette de 2,5 milliards de dollars.
Mais La Ronde n'est pas à vendre. «J'ai des parcs à problème et La Ronde n'est pas un de ceux-là. Le parc a un énorme potentiel de croissance», nous assure-t-il.
Rappelons que l'automne a été difficile pour Six Flags. D'abord mise en vente, la compagnie est finalement passée sous le contrôle de l'un des actionnaires, Dan Snyder, propriétaire des Redskins de Washington (NFL) après des mois de différends avec l'ancien pdg, Kieran Burke.
Depuis sa nomination, Mark Shapiro fait le tour des 30 parcs d'attractions de la compagnie. Il veut ainsi partager sa vision de l'avenir avec ses employés et rassurer les actionnaires.
L'initiative porte fruit. L'action de Six Flags (NYSE : PKS) a pris 35 % de sa valeur depuis le début de l'année. Elle a terminé la journée d'hier à 10,89 $.
Les parcs de Los Angeles, New Jersey et Chicago sont les plus fréquentés, avec trois millions de visiteurs annuellement.
Source : Canoe
Terry Wang suffered a fractured skull and a broken nose when she was riding on The Villain roller coaster in July 2000. She had her arms raised and eyes closed when she was struck with the object going down the hill at 60 miles per hour.
She was in tears as the verdict was read in the Portage County courtroom. Mrs Wang recieved $1.1 million for medical expenses and $2.5 million for punitive damages.
Terry still has headaches and numbness from the accident, as well as having to get reconstructive surgery on her forehead.
Source : Thrillnetwork
2006 is last season for MB amusement park
The beach's landmark symbol, which has greeted tourists every summer since 1948, will close after this season, park owner Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. announced today.
"A great deal of careful, painstaking thought has gone into making this decision. The Pavilion has been one of the central landmarks of Myrtle Beach tourism for more than 50 years, and no one has a stronger or deeper emotional attachment than the people at Burroughs & Chapin," said Doug Wendel, president of the company.
The announcement was made at the Grande Dunes Ocean Club.
It's an emotional move some visitors, and locals, had feared for years, ever since the city's Downtown Redevelopment Corp. suggested that the park leave the area a few years ago.
The Pavilion has not been a viable venture for B&C for many years, Wendel said, with operational costs growing as revenues decline.
The goal is to replace the rides and funnel cake booths, which only operate during warm weather, with a mix of lodging, shops and attractions that would lure people to the Pavilion area year-round.
Charleston firm LS3P is working on details, but they won't be ready for another two months.
Board Chairman Egerton Burroughs said today that the company is holding off on announcements about the Pavilion site and about the rides at the park.
"We don't want to take away from today with what will happen when the park closes," he said.
The company plans to announce those details after LS3P's study, Wendel said.
Wendel said the fate of the Pavilion building on the oceanfront is clearer: "My best guess is it will not be there."
The Pavilion opens on weekends starting March 17 and every day starting April 7. The complex includes an oceanfront arcade, Attic teen nightclub and 49 rides. It stretches from the oceanfront to Kings Highway in the heart of the city.
"We've known this is coming for quite some time," said hotelier Bert Anderson, who is a member of the Downtown Redevelopment Corp."
Source : The Sun News
Des inspecteurs du travail se sont présentés jeudi au ranch, dans la région de Santa Barbara (centre de la Californie), après que 30 des employés de la propriété se furent plaints à l'administration de ne pas avoir été payés depuis décembre.
En conséquence, l'administration a interdit à Michael Jackson de "faire travailler tout employé" à Neverland jusqu'à régularisation de sa situation, et l'a condamné à 1.000 dollars d'amende par employé, soit 69.000 dollars.
Mardi, Michael Jackson s'était déjà vu remettre par l'inspection du travail une injonction à payer 300.000 dollars de salaires en retard à ses employés. Pour cette violation du code du travail, la star s'est également vue imposer une amende de 100.000 dollars.
Le chanteur a quitté Neverland pour Bahreïn, dans le Golfe, peu après avoir été acquitté d'attouchements sexuels sur mineurs par un tribunal californien en juin 2005. Contactée vendredi par l'AFP pour une réaction, la porte-parole de Michael Jackson, Raymone Bain, n'a pas rappelé dans l'immédiat.
Source : Le Monde
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| The Center Parcs holiday village in Thetford Forest, one of four in England. |
The Blackstone Group has made the 80p-a-share takeover bid for the firm, which operates a holiday village at Elveden Forest in Suffolk, as well as sites in Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Cumbria.
Blackstone, a US-based private equity firm, already has interests in East Anglia following the acquisition of Merlin Entertainments for £102.5m last year.
Merlin Entertainments operates the Sea Life Centre at Yarmouth and the Sea Life Sanctuary at Hunstanton as well as Sea Life sites across the UK and Europe.
Blackstone also owns the London Dungeon and the Legoland theme parks which it bought for £255m last year and is looking to increase its portfolio of leisure investments.
The £205.4m offer is being backed by the Center Parcs board, which said the company had "a number of material and financial operational constraints" which made accepting the deal a prudent move.
About 1.5 million visitors stayed at the four Center Parcs villages in 2005, and the company is currently seeking planning permission for a fifth site in Warren Wood, near Woburn, Bedfordshire.
Center Parcs said its prospects in the long term were good, but it faces a number of challenges, with no guarantee it would be able to gain planning permission for the fifth park.
It said the market remained challenging, with increased competition and rising energy costs hitting business.
Center Parcs also faces "significant constraints" as a result of its debt burden, which costs it £1.6m a year in interest rate repayments.
The company has been trying to negotiate a debt refinancing with its banks ahead of a loan repayment deadline of April 2009.
Each Center Parcs holiday village is about 400 acres, set in a forest environment with approximately 800 villas, apartments and lodges.
The sites are famed for their swimming areas - a transparent dome which houses pools, jacuzzis and slides - and sports facilities.
Blackstone said Center Parcs would provide a platform for further acquisitions and it would continue to invest in the existing sites, it said.
A Blackstone spokeswoman said that no agreement was in place about the make up of the Center Parcs management team. The proposals still need to be approved by Center Parcs shareholders.
The private equity group's 80p-a-share offer represents a premium of 26pc to the 63.3p average closing price of Center Parc shares over the past six months. Shares closed at 81p.
Source : The Business
Kennywood plans water park, new rides, hotel on 43 acres in Duquesne
Kennywood Entertainment Co. continues to bank property around the landmark amusement park for future expansion.
The West Mifflin amusement park already has bought 15 acres and is acquiring another 28 acres, all in Duquesne. The land, purchased for $2.6 million, is part of its long-range master plan to expand when the Mon Fayette Expressway is built.
The $60 million expansion includes a hotel, an indoor water park, 81/2 acres of new rides and a "signature" attraction, such as a roller coaster, in an area that is now a rail yard in neighboring Duquesne.
Peter J. McAneny, Kennywood's president, said his company is buying land to develop when the West Mifflin exit of the expressway is complete.
While there is no official timetable for that to happen, "the reason we are buying it now is because it's available now," Mr. McAneny said.
He said that Kennywood's proposed water park would not affect the operation of nearby Sandcastle in West Homestead, which is also owned by Kennywood, because it couldn't accommodate 5,000 people a day as Sandcastle, an outdoor venue, does.
But the proposed hotel would be attached to the water park so that the water attractions could operate when the amusement park is closed during cold weather.
The plan also shows 81/2 acres for new rides on what is now the site of the Union Railroad yard. Part of this property is a brownfield that plunges into a ravine on the eastern side of the park. Kennywood, of course, is known for its steep roller coasters, which incorporate the dramatic topography of the Mon Valley.
Mr. McAneny said he is uncertain what rides would be added but that there will be a new generation of them to choose from in the next six years. Any such attraction would have to accommodate 1,500 people an hour, he added.
Last year, Kennywood received a $175,000 state grant from the First Industries Fund to plan its expansion.
Steve Pholar, coordinator for the West-to-West Coalition, a Mon Valley nonprofit that works on problems associated with redeveloping former industrial sites, submitted the grant application.
"[Kennywood] has a tradition of not dealing with the government," Mr. Pholar said. Mr. McAneny said the company applied for the grants only because Mr. Pholar offered to put the application together.
The funds will be used for pre-development planning and marketing studies, and for engineering, environmental and geotechnical studies.
West-To-West was formed in the late 1990s to coordinate cleanup and site marketing for the 22 communities that make up the lower Monongahela River Valley.
Source : Post Gazette
Design : Hitmaaan
