THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210806
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 100 lines
How do amusement parks keep patrons coming? By adding new attractions.
Busch Gardens - the region's largest and most popular destination for thrill seekers - has done just that.
``Alpengeist,'' which opens this spring, is the world's tallest, fastest, most twisted, inverted roller coaster. It also boasts the world's largest vertical loop and largest drop for an inverted roller coaster.
Park officials are hoping the addition of ``Alpengeist'' will add up to a record number of visitors this season. They declined to release costs for the new attraction.
``We will be drawing people from around the country and around the world to ride this coaster,'' said Keith Kasen, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's executive vice president and general manager.
Much of a theme park's success literally rides on the introduction of new rides and attractions, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Alexandria.
``The parks are very dependent on repeat business,'' said John R. Graff, executive director of the amusement park association. Most parks rely primarily on visitors from within a 150-200 mile radius, he explained.
At Busch Gardens, a majority of visitors have been to the park at least once before, Kasen said.
``That's why they need to keep the parks new and fresh and exciting,'' Graff said.
About 265 million people visited theme parks in this country last year, making it a $7 billion to $8 billion industry that keeps growing. That attendance is more than all professional sports events combined last year, Graff said.
To keep their numbers up, Graff said most parks add a major ride every two to three years. While a new attraction is unveiled every year at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, major attractions are offered about every other year.
The theme park has plenty of room to grow. The park consumes 117 acres, and the parking lots, 100 acres. And there's another 260 acres for future expansion.
``The theme park business is very competitive,'' said Cindy Sarko, Busch Gardens public relations director. While the competition is on a national level, she said the park's biggest rivals are other East Coast attractions.
``It's all about what the guests want,'' Sarko said. ``They're looking for the newest, highest, most thrilling technology in attractions. We're here to provide that fun for them.''
``Alpengeist'' is scheduled to open April 11. Busch Gardens opens for the season March 22.
In addition to ``Alpengeist,'' the park will open a new musical extravaganza, ``Rockin' the Boat.'' And at neighboring Water Country USA, ``Aquazoid,'' billed as the world's largest special-effects family raft ride, opens this spring.
The goals of new rides, Kasen said, are to reduce the amount of time between repeat visits and to give people a reason to come back.
It is unclear how successful Busch Gardens is at accomplishing that as the company does not release attendance or revenue figures. However, park officials said 1995 was a record-breaking season for attendance.
``Alpengeist,'' which means mountain ghost in German, spans four of the park's nine hamlets. It is an inverted roller coaster, which means the cars hang from an overhead track.
It is designed to resemble a ski lift, as riders' feet dangle freely below the cars. That means when the cars go upside down, riders' feet are silhouetted against the sky.
At its tallest, the coaster looms 195 feet. The largest drop is 170 feet. It reaches speeds of 67 miles an hour.
``This thing is big, I mean big,'' said Ed Dreistadt, vice president of marketing. ``It makes the Loch Ness Monster look like a kiddie ride.''
With the introduction of ``Alpengeist,'' Busch Gardens can claim four world-class coasters. Roller coaster junkies rate them as some of the best steel coasters in the country.
Steven A. Thompson, of the Mid-Atlantic Coaster Club and American Coaster Enthusiasts, predicts huge success for the new ride.
``It will be one of the best in the world, no doubt about it,'' Thompson said, who has ridden roller coasters across the United States and Europe. Thompson rode a similar, but smaller, coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla.
``When you ride this, you will experience something you've never experienced before,'' Thompson said. ``It's a very intense ride, but it will be extremely smooth.
``I can't wait to get on it.''
David Wright, physics professor at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, looks at the ride a little differently.
``It's got everything on it,'' Wright said, who rides coasters regularly with students with a homemade contraption that measures gravity forces, or G's.
In a 360-degree roll, riders will experience weightlessness. In the biggest drop, riders will feel a gravity force that is four times your body weight, or 4 G's.
``Space shuttle astronauts only do 3 1/2 G's,'' said Wright. ``Hey, kids, you can be an astronaut.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
``Alpengeist,'' with the world's largest vertical loop and largest
drop for an inverted roller coaster, opens at Busch Gardens April
11. The coaster is 195 feet tall, with the largest drop at 170 feet.