The Insights from IAAPA specials continue with reaction and exclusive interviews from the latest IAAPA Expo Europe held in Barcelona. There we spoke with Jim Seay, President and Owner, Premier Rides. The conversation with Mr. Seay covers the positive experience at the Barcelona Expo, the success of Alpen Fury, and the current state of the visitor attractions industry.
Summary from Barcelona
“Well, first of all, Barcelona is an absolute gem of a location for us all together. Our industry is the industry of fun and enjoyment and Barcelona’s lifestyle, Barcelona’s vision, Barcelona’s theme is enjoying life. So, if there was ever an intersection of a location that represents what we’re all about and represents the passion of our industry, then Barcelona hits the target, It’s been a great week, a lot of camaraderie, an environment where the suppliers and the operators can not only focus on their business together but focus on the business in a very relaxed manner, which does help. It helps with the discussions and makes for a better outcome.”
How does this event compare with IAAPA Expo?
“Well, the US Expo is one of the largest in the world and has more suppliers and more operators. So, it is the Olympics of our industry when it comes to trade shows. But the regional trade shows that IAAPA does, such as the Asia Expo, the EMEA Expo. Those are very important because not everyone can travel to Orlando. IAAPA Expo receives 40,000 plus people there. By contrast, this is a smaller show, but this is a smaller show where regional people can attend and do it very economically. So, that is important as something that augments their land from our state.”
Give us an insight into Alpen Fury at Canada’s Wonderland
“Canada’s Wonderland tells us that it never had a ride open that’s got the level of passion as Alpen Fury. And Six Flags has said the same that this ride stands out from every other project they’ve done in recent years. This reflects upon their quarterly call to talk about the profitability of the company. They specifically highlighted this ride as one that has exceeded expectations in a significant manner with attendance being up 20% plus. The park generated an unexpected surge of over 200,000 season pass sales at $100 apiece and then near 25% increase on the fast passes, which for parks have a tremendous profitability. So, we’re very happy with Alpen Fury. The feedback from the coaster enthusiasts is it’s set a bar up very high for the ultimate thrill machine, and we’re honoured by the feedback that we’re getting on the park.”
Tell us about the challenges creating the ride
“I’ve ridden the ride, and it is a stunning, stunning attraction. The location for the ride actually covers a good part of the entire park. The site was the most complicated that we’ve ever had.
We had to deal with the structure of the mountain to put the train through it at high speed. But not only just the structure of the mountain; there were already three other rides that had existing inversions into the mountain and so there’s elements of the ride where we had to thread the needle. There are some photo spots that you see hundreds of people watching and if you time it right, you actually see three coaster trains going past each other at the same time!
“There were a lot of challenges for both Six Flags and for Premier Rides on coordinating that effort. The level of data that was collected in order to create that ride sets a standard for us, sets a standard for Six Flags. We’re talking terabyte amounts of data using the most advanced technologies for how to capture the site and capture whether it’s drone systems or laser systems on the ground or surveying, journal surveying. It’s a stunning amount of data.”
What was the origin of the ride concept?
“The park wanted to really say to the world that we can have the best coaster attraction in the world. And it had to be a gold standard attraction. It had to be an attraction that was new to the park, an attraction that could break a record for the world. And the idea of using the mountain and not just making an encouragement in and out of the mountain, but actually going through the entire mountain and shooting out the top of it with a huge flame effect is quite stunning.
“The enthusiasm of the ridership and the guests at Canada’s Wonderland impresses even someone like myself who’s been all over the world. I’ve never seen the level of passion on a ride where you have people coming to the park every single day this summer. There’s been crowds of people early morning and you’ll have the people that have ridden the ride, you’ll have the people that haven’t ridden the ride and they all talk to each other about where to sit on the train and how many different locations. You can’t just ride just once; you have to do this seat then you do this seat then you do this seat. You receive all the best advice on where you should open your eyes etc. From my perspective, you should make sure to you open your eyes at this point because it’s unbelievable.
The success of Alpen Fury
“I’ve been out there in the early morning when everybody’s got their coffee and they haven’t opened the lines and then they have to have security every day come because otherwise there’s this the frantic race to the ride. But even when they have the queues, the ride has been very fortunate because of the ride’s design and because of the expertise of Canada’s Wonderland. You’re talking about a ride that’s had spectacular uptime, very close to 100% uptime, which has allowed a large throughput of the people to ride the ride. So when you combine that with an operations team that’s very efficient and a maintenance team which is focussed on keeping the ride running at its top capability then you can deliver a really pleasant experience for the riders.”
A festival atmosphere for Alpen Fury
“Let me tell you, a lot of people are dressed in Oktoberfest outfits, which adds a level of passion to the ride experience of waiting for the ride. The fans of Alpen Fury have also come up with some songs about the ride which they sing in the entire queue. I don’t know how they all know it, but social media has been very effective. They’re singing polka songs in the queue. I have never seen a song like it for a ride. I stand there in the station, you hear this song start, and then it gets louder and louder, and then every train that’s coming in, the people are cheering! Hats off to Six Flags and Canada’s Wonderland for really producing this wonderful atmosphere.”
How do you see the current state of the visitor attractions industry?
“It’s an industry that is always growing. It’s an industry that brings you unexpected growth in areas. If you look at the cruise ships now, they don’t build a cruise ship without attractions on it. And if you look at all other tourism destinations, whether it’s casinos or whether it’s museums, you start seeing the ability to take attractions at these higher levels and using technologies that weren’t available just a few years ago.
“The industry is strong, it’s very global right now, and I think what you seeing is that, because it is a global industry, the world gets smaller, and you get innovations that are coming out of all areas of the world. Innovations are coming out of China, then in Vietnam, Vietnam’s coming up with some innovations that you haven’t seen anywhere in the world, and then you have traditional areas like Europe and the US where the innovations are non-stop.
“We had the pandemic, which naturally was a difficult time. And the difficulties have not stopped since the pandemic stopped. The difficulties continue with the world economies and world altercations and wars. But the attractions industry allows people to escape reality and to really have fun, to really enjoy themselves. And with technology now, what you see is our industry just takes it to the next level. To provide a form of entertainment whereby people can forget about the daily stripes and really have a great time.
“It’s a fun industry. We should all always never forget. We are providing fun to people all over the world.”
Image: Premier Rides
