King Ludwig’s Castle

OK, first off: Unfortunately I’m not going to make it to Oktoberfest tonight, so yesterday's promise for reporting from one of the world's biggest parties will have to wait a few more days.

But, that’s not to say I don’t have anything to write about this beautiful Bavarian evening. Quite the contrary.

Today I loaded a bus with several other Summer Meeting attendees and drove about an hour and a half into the rolling hills of the Bavarian countryside on a quest to tour one of the most famous castles in the world, Neuschwanstein of King Ludwig II. Besides the fact that it’s a popular historical destination, this trip was especially appropriate for our group, as King Ludwig’s gorgeous structure on a hill is said to be the inspiration for one of our industry’s most well-known and beloved landmarks: Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland. Compare the photos below—the first is Disney’s castle, the second two are photos I shot this afternoon. The towers are especially alike.


But that’s not all. “Mad” King Ludwig serves not just as inspiration, but takes a starring role in Busch Gardens Europe’s “Curse of DarKastle” mega-dark ride in Williamsburg, Virginia. Here’s a photo of the castle the Busch folks built in his … honor:


During the half-hour tour we traveled all through the castle, going up and down literally hundreds of spiraling steps. Though it was under construction for 17 years, Ludwig’s fourth palace was never finished because construction ended upon his untimely—and controversial—death in 1886. But what was completed is spectacular, most notably the opera house that takes up most of the third floor; Ludwig was a celebrant of Wagner (the castle is dedicated entirely to the legendary composer), and the idea was to play Wagner’s music in that chamber. Unfortunately, Ludwig never got that chance, as he died two days after it was built; his legacy lives on, however, as concerts are held regularly in the hall today.

Unlike some tours of historic structures (I’m lookin’ right at you, White House), I really felt like I got to see and experience all of the major elements you’d wouldn’t want to miss in a program like this: We stood in Ludwig’s throne room (with its mosaic floor made of 2 million tiles), his bedroom, dressing room, living room (he’s also a big fan of swans, as they are all over this room), as well as several other ancillary spaces (his secretary’s office has one of Europe’s first telephones). Rather than just looking in on these rooms, guests walk right through them, as if we were real visitors of the king.

And what a place to live! I can see why Ludwig would want his castle built there. Though you’re not allowed to take pictures of anything inside the castle, several windows were open at various points, so I took some photos of what Ludwig saw when he looked out upon his land. Here are a couple:


Finally, after the tour I made a brisk, challenging uphill climb to a nearby canyon spanned by a small bridge affording tremendous views of Ludwig’s home. Here’s one (apologies for the scaffolding—the castle is being refurbished):


So, there you have it. Everyone came back a little tired (it was quite a trek up a long, winding road to reach the castle), but it was well worth the forthcoming sore legs.

More tomorrow …

2008 IAAPA Summer Meeting Underway in Munich

Yes, it’s official: The very last IAAPA Summer Meeting got off to a high-class start tonight in the beautiful multilevel ballroom of Munich’s downtown Bayerischer Hof Hotel.

Tonight executives from all over the world gathered for the event’s Welcome Reception, where a laid-back atmosphere was conducive for networking while reconnecting with colleagues and old friends over snacks and drinks.

And speaking of, tonight’s get-together was basically a very light appetizer for what’s to come tomorrow: the Wine Tent at Oktoberfest. I don’t know exactly what to expect from the world’s largest people’s fair, but somehow I think even if someone told me, it couldn’t do it justice.

More tomorrow …

Follow Summer Meeting/EAS Right HERE!

Just wanted to let all of our faithful "In the Queue" readers know you should keep checking back here throughout the next week as I'll be blogging from Munich, Germany, during the 2008 IAAPA Summer Meeting and EAS 2008.

Even though we're approaching our one-year anniversary here in this little corner of the Internet (hard to believe, I know), this is the first time I'm covering events of this scale almost exclusively on the blog, so your guess is as good as mine as to how this whole thing is going to work out. Starting Sunday night (Munich time), I'm hopefully going to post at least one item every day, so check back often.

See you in a few days!

After the Storm

Last week, Jeremy blogged about IAAPA members affected by the recent hurricane in the United States' Gulf region. Now that members are returning to their businesses and beginning to assess the damage, I thought I would offer a short list of government resources available to aid in the recovery process:

• The U.S. Small Business Administration offers both Physical Disaster Loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. The former is a source of funding for rebuilding privately-owned real or personal property. These loans are available to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and nonprofit organizations. The latter type of loan is for small businesses only and provides necessary working capital until normal operations resume. Information can be found on the SBA Disaster Assistance web site.
  
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can provide homeowners with temporary housing and money for repair or replacement following a disaster. It also can provide money for medical and dental costs, funeral and burial costs, clothing, clean-up items, and other necessary expenses. To apply for assistance, visit the FEMA web site.
  
• FEMA also maintains a list of other agencies that provide specialized assistance like the USDA (this may be helpful for zoo and aquarium members) or the IRS (if you have special tax considerations as a result of the disaster). Legal aid, crisis counseling, and insurance information is also coordinated through FEMA. The list is organized by state.

Finally, Jeremy did hear from one more member in the affected area. Jeffrey Seibert, director of corporate communications and sales for Schlitterbahn Waterparks, e-mailed to say Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark remains closed as park officials assess the damage caused by Ike. A reopen date has not been set, but keep watch here for more info.

Under the Sea! October FUNWORLD Floating Your Way

Last month I posted about my trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas, and now the fruits of that labor (yes, it was work!) should be hitting your mailboxes smack-dab on the cover of the October issue of FUNWORLD.

I feel pretty safe in saying this is the first time IAAPA's official trade publication has ever had an underwater photograph on its cover—I know it's the first one the magazine's ever shot for itself. I didn't shoot the photo, of course (wow, you should have seen the awesome getup our photographer used—he essentially put his camera in a bubble), I was swimming around right above as it was taken (being careful to stay out of the shot, of course).

But enough about the photo, already. The cover story this month focuses on Atlantis' Blue Project, the resort's big-time Bahamian conservation effort focused primarily on maintaining the islands' coral reef, which you can see in the photo (see, there I go again …). The piece also demonstrates how Atlantis has incorporated its tourist-focused Blue Adventures venture into the Blue Project, turning conservation into an actual business. That nice couple on the cover is participating in Atlantis' "snuba" (think a snorkeling/scuba diving combo) adventure.

Now that all is written and done, October has turned out to be one of my favorite issues of the year. There's great, great stuff in this issue, such as:

• An in-depth look at what other amusement facilities are doing to go green.
• An examination of how European parks are investing in hotels to increase length of stay.
• A round-up of casino waterpark projects.

And, in case you hadn't noticed, we have this little event coming up in November called IAAPA Attractions Expo 2008. Maybe you've heard of it? You know, the biggest trade show in the industry? Well, this month's FUNWORLD offers 14 pages of Expo preview coverage, letting you know all about tons of cool stuff going on at the show this year. Grab your calendars now!

FUNWORLD Update: Hurricane Watch on the Gulf Coast, the Good and the Bad

Last year I wrote a cover story about how the casino and resort industry along the Mississippi Gulf Coast had helped rebuild that community after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Though I only spent a week in the sweltering summer heat of the seaside tourist spot, the people I met there and their community will always be with me. Such was the impact of seeing both the incredible destruction and the equally incredible willpower of the people to rebuild.

The flipside of that coin occurs every time a new storm is bearing down on the Gulf Coast; I immediately think of the people and places I visited down there, hoping and praying they'll come through the next one OK. Thankfully, it seems they have this time around.

The past few weeks have been full of hurricane-related news here in the U.S., as storms Gustav and Ike, respectively, barreled up through the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the southeast quarter of the country. Now that the dust—and water—has settled from those two storms, I touched base with a couple of my contacts from the area, and they said, in general, the Mississippi Gulf Coast fared pretty well:

"Gustav was a nuisance and, yes, the winds caused further pruning of our trees. But, we’re a tough, strong, upbeat bunch down here," said Marcia Crawford of the Harrison County Development Commission, based in Gulfport, Mississippi.

"Gustav and Ike were little more than annoyances to most of the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Janice Jones of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Personally, Gustav trimmed mostly dead limbs from trees on my property and felled one tree that Katrina killed. It was a good cleansing for my family."

Jones went on to say there was some damage to buildings on West Ship Island, a tourist site about an hour's boat ride out in the gulf (see my story for details), but trips out to the island are hopefully going to resume next week. "Other than that, our attractions, golf courses, casinos, and fishing waters are open," Jones said.

It's not all good news, though. If you saw yesterday's IAAPA News Flash, the top story quoted IAAPA member Gulf Islands Waterpark officials saying business has definitely been affected at the Gulf Coast's only waterpark by the storms.

Unfortunately, as is almost always the case in these situations, one region's mercy is another's disaster. At the same time I breathed a sigh of relief over the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I had to hold my breath for my contacts on and near the Texas coast, which was absolutely drilled by Hurricane Ike. I was in Houston about a year and a half ago for a cover story on Landry's Restaurants, which is based in the city and owns and operates member facility Kemah Boardwalk, with its mix of restaurants and amusement rides (including last year's "Boardwalk Bullet" wooden coaster), on the nearby Gulf Coast. Understandably, I haven't heard back from my Landry's contact in Houston, but if you want to see what happened to Kemah Boardwalk, click here for a local news report (thanks to Screamscape for finding the link).

The five-minute piece features an interview with Kemah Boardwalk GM Tim Anderson, whom I met briefly during my trip last year. Standing amidst piles of broken glass and other rubble, he says he's been at Kemah for 10 years and has never seen anything like the fury of Ike (reports say Kemah was hit with a 17-foot surge of water). One glance at the video easily demonstrates the havoc wreaked on what was, just last week, a beautiful waterside development (one of the biggest tourist attractions in Texas, according to Anderson). About three minutes in, Anderson and the reporter move over where the group of small amusement rides are located, and they are just mangled.

"We started from nothing before, we've got a lot of work to do, but we can build this business back to what it was—and possibly make it even better," Anderson tells the reporter. "Some of it is not as bad as it looks."

The interview was conducted Sunday, and at that time Anderson said Landry's hadn't established any kind of timeline for reconstruction. I speak for all of us here at IAAPA in wishing them the best in their recovery efforts.

Safety in the Attractions Industry

Safety is the number-one priority in the attractions industry. One of the things IAAPA does to promote ride safety is participate in the ASTM Committee F24 to create safety standards for amusement rides.

The committee is a consensus-based standards setting body and is open to anyone who is interested in ride safety. Industry members, manufacturers, interest groups and government officials participate in the process and in order for the standard to be adopted, everyone must agree. This ensures the system stays fair and standards are written that benefit everyone.

The next ASTM Committee F24 meeting will be held Oct. 9-11 at the Sheraton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego, California. If you are already an ASTM member, you can register on the ASTM web site. If you would like to become a member, you can sign up on the ASTM site, as well. There is a $75 annual fee for an individual membership, but that fee allows you to attend meetings and vote on standards and also allows you to download the standards or order them in hard copy. Generally, a copy of the standards costs $159, so becoming a member is a much better value.

For more information on standards development, you can download the ASTM Handbook of Standardization for free, or just contact us at gr@IAAPA.org.