Saturday, January 08, 2000
Repair cost drained Americana
Park spent $4M on fix-up
BY CLIFF PEALE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Even after spending $4 million on plumbing, wiring and structural repairs, the owners of Americana Amusement Park in Butler County could not revive it, industry watchers said Friday.
“We were close, but we couldn't get around the corner,” said Vic Nolting, president of Park River Corp. “We didn't have the breakthrough year last year that we had hoped for.”
After the Cincinnati company said Thursday that the 77-year-old Americana in Monroe would not reopen this spring, amusement officials around Greater Cincinnati faced the hard economic reality that in most businesses, bigger is better.
While Paramount's Kings Island, less than 20 miles away, spent nearly $40 million during the last two years on three high-profile rides, Americana's owners stuck with its same basic formula.
John Graff, president of the Arlington, Va.-based International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said there still are several thousand smaller amusement parks in operation, with some thriving.
“They need to carve out a niche, something that is interesting and appealing to local people,” he said.
Park River also owns Co ney Island and a company that franchises 72 campground sites around the country. It bought Americana in 1996.
The company is talking with several potential buyers that might continue to operate the amusement park, but it does not have an offer, Mr. Nolting said. At some point, it might be forced to start selling the equipment, he added.
He said the park was losing money, but he would not disclose profit, revenue or attendance at Americana. Coney Island posted record results in 1999, he said.
Both Coney Island and Americana are geared to families with younger children, but the money poured into basic infrastructure at Americana made that a tougher turnaround, Mr. Nolting said.
Many of those renovations were invisible to the customer. Meanwhile, Kings Island opened the Drop Zone and Face-Off rides last summer, the Newport Aquarium made a splashy debut and the Manatee Springs exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo attracted more visitors.
This year, Kings Island will unveil Son of Beast, the world's only wooden roller coaster with a loop. At an estimated $15 million, it is the single largest investment in the theme park's history.
“You have to continue to add things into the park, which we have continued to do at Coney,” Mr. Nolting
said. “I just think when we bought Americana in 1996, it was in disarray. We had a more difficult time turning it around.”
“What they were lacking is new product,” said Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services, a local designer and builder of theme parks.
“In my opinion, Americana is in the best physical condition it's been in the last 25 years. But that doesn't bring one person to the front gate. It's the rides and the attractions.”
Kings Island spokesman Jeffrey Siebert agreed that introducing new attractions is the only way to bring customers back.
“It's always important to develop new technologies and to really hit home what our guests want,” Mr. Siebert said.
For example, Paramount's Kings Island will add a direct entrance to the water park area for season-pass holders this year, he said. It also has more than 300 acres left to develop.
Attendance at Kings Island fell slightly to 3.3 million in 1999, compared to about 3.4 million the year before, according to the trade publication Amusement Business Weekly. Americana last reported its attendance in 1996, when it drew about 200,000 visitors.
Several competitors said they appreciated the difficulty Americana faced in competing with the larger theme park.
“They put a lot of effort and a lot of money into it the last several years, but they couldn't make it work,” said Margaret Drexel, marketing director at the nearby Beach Waterpark. “We're really sorry to see that property go.”
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