The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 118

zE-6 S.F. Examiner Sept. 3, 1980 Castle Gold and Games In Redwood City 'features waterbumper cars, a new twist on an I' old amusement park favorite ExammorPaol Ghnea i Theme parks adopting a new theme: participation Can 'small' make it where 'big' gets squeezed? 1 ft I attendance 4 percent behind last year's, the park should end up about 4 percent ahead, according to Gallagher. Such success leads Gallagher to believe a change is afoot in the industry. "The last decade was the 'me generation' and this next will he the 'we with more family activities, he predicts.

But instead of having it "done to you," Gallagher says people are finding "it is better to do it to yourself. And (for the park operator) it's a lot less of a capital investment." In other words, an elaborate $1.4 million water slide appears to make, more business sense than a million roller coaster. "I think the boom is over and nobody is going to build a $100 million theme park again," says Gallagher. Marriott's keeps attendance a closely guarded secret, but Craig Thompson, the park's marketing services manager, says business is "off slightly." However, Great America had its biggest July 4 attendance ever, topping the previous high by 10 percent Thompson attributes that directly to an appearance by Pablo Cruise. Bringing in big name entertainers is something new for Great America, and is another indication of how amusement park operators are having to find different ways to lure repeat customers, instead of depending on ouf-of-area tourists.

Thompson says he doesn't necessarily believe the boom is over, but "dramatically" rising construction costs make it unlikely more parks like Great America will be built Back in 1976, the 200-acre park cost more than $50 million. Thompson recalls that when it opened, Walt Disney made the statement that Disneyland would never be finished. "That's smart philosophy! and I think most of the theme parks will continue to follow that philosophy," Thompson says. At a cost of several million dollars, Marriott's revamped its 'Turn of Century" roller coaster this year and renamed it "The Demon." More people are spending their vacations closer to home, taking two-or three-day excursions rather than long trips, Thompson notes, and it has shown up in an increase in Great America's business from the Sacramento area. Last year, Marine World saw its Bay Area attendance go up 2fi percent and its tourist business fall 56 percent.

Frontier Village has always counted on half its business coming from Santa Clara County, says Ed Hutton, the park's marketing and business manager. And this year, overall attendance is up 10 percent Frontier Village's problem is not making money, but making enough of a profit to justify the investment, according to Joseph Zukin who built the park in 11. Zukin sold the park to the Rio Grande Railroad in 1973, but stayed on to manage the facility until 1977. Now in the outdoor advertising business in Fresno and Merced, Zukin said if he were to do now. he would build a park smaller than the 40-acre San Jose facility and try to capitalize on the science fiction craze with some sort of space theme.

To build a big park now, he says "is really going for the big gold ring." Yet caught in between, Frontier Village tried for several years to expand and modernize. But its plans were blocked by neighbors who didn't want the added traffic. Hutton said he feels like an airiwtrt manager whose facility was there first: when houses were built around it, the residents started complaining about the noise. Hutton said the park wanted to add a few rides and more importantly restaurants and concessions. But when the City Council disallowed the expansion to 101 acres, Rio Grande decided to sell the property for the building of more houses and condominiums.

While the opening of Great Ameri- has helped boost sagging attendance at the Redwood City park By Mike Lassiter After 19 years, Frontier Village, the oldest of the Peniasula's amusements parks, is headed for the last roundup Sept. 2a The San Jose western theme park's closing is a classic case of the awkward teen-ager, too small to comete with the roller coasters and whale show up the highway and too big to cash in on the new wave of super miniature golf courses and their accompanying diversions. With the economy going flat and gasoline going up, amusement parks nationwide are having to cater more to the neighborhood trade. And indications are that investors are taking to heart Gov. Brown's suggestion that small is better and in this case more profitable.

"Since Disneyland opened in 1955, attendance at these multi-million dollar erector sets and giant fish bowls has been growing at a rate of 3 to 6 percent a year, according to industry insiders. But that grow th rate has leveled out to 1 or 2 percent this year nationwide, and except for Frontier Village, which is feeding on nostalgia, the big Peninsula parks are lumbering slightly behind last year's attendance. "The economy has not been that kind to any of us," says Mike Gallagher, vice president of Marine World-Africa USA. "People are being more -choosy with what they do ith their entertainment dollars and the San Francisco Bay Area has more things to do than anywhere." A rainy Washington's birthday week and Easter week didn't help either. But both Marine World in Redwood City and Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara report recent surges in attendance.

Since Marine World opened its highly publicized Tiger Mountain Rapids water slide July 3. paik attendance has been up 20-25 percent and more than 70,000 people have slithered down the water funnel. If that keeps up, despite June' Exclusive in the Bay Marine World's new water slide ca hurt attendance at Frontier Village and Marine World in that first year of 1976, Hutton says the three parks have not really been in head-to-head competition since. Each caters to a different age group, he says. It is like a restaurant or auto row, Thompson explains: the more things there are to do, the more people are attracted.

The new wave In theme parks appears to be along the line of a venture which recently opened in the suburb of Langehorne, Pa. Called "Sesame Place." the park is in a shopping mall and aims for the 3 to 13 age group. It features computer games along the theme of Sesame Street and was developed for $9 million by the Children's Televison Workshop, mak nia, Florida and Texas, and all are reportedly domg landslide business, including one next to the Oakland Coliseum. Miniature golf has been around for a long time, notes Bob Pacheco, director of marketing for Malibu Grand Prix, but now it is being combined with other activities to provide both a place to hang out on a Friday night and a center for family fun. Whatever the form, amusement parks are not going to fade away, assures Hutton of Frontier Village.

"Even Sierra-Club types." he says, "every so often get lost and retreat into an amusement park." "But people don't want to just walk from show to show," adds Great America's Thompson. MAKIN TENNIS marin lights film MlMU RESTAURANTE" LA TA.SCA SHP Lighting Center EftCKTO-SCHOQl ers of the television show, and Busch Entertainment a division of Anheuser-Busch brewery. Sesame Place features direct ipation and feeds on repeat customers. For a much smaller expense, Mali-bu Grand Prix, the developer of the scaled-down car race tracks, is cashing in with a line of miniature golf and arcade parks, called Castle Golf and Games. The newest, built at a cost of $1.5 million, opened this summer in Redwood City to a hungry audience.

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