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The unscary truth: Amusement parks today aren't so thrilling
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MERINO, Colorado — This year the meek are inheriting the amusement park, as little kids and scaredy-cats lash back against ever-more-awesome roller coasters.
That is good news for Jerry Wisdom. The 70-year-old former carnival owner runs Wisdom Amusement Rides, a leader in the burgeoning market for rides that don't terrify children. Instead of the 160-kilometer-per-hour World's Supermen, he offers “Space Sled,” which gently twirls 24 riders on airborne toboggans.
Just a third of visitors at big amusement parks ever ride the big roller coasters. But amusement parks have spent disproportionately big bucks to entice thrill-seekers, erecting 1,500 coasters world-wide over the past 20 years. The push culminated in last year's “Summer of Fear,” when a record 120 new coasters opened for business, according to the U.K. trade magazine Park World. Some cost as much as $20 million.
“I don't like thrill rides,” says Carol Murray, a 64-year-old visitor at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. Pushing her two-year-old granddaughter, Shannon, through the menacing shadow of “Montu,” a 13-story metal coaster, Mrs. Murray adds: “I'd like to see more activities that we can have fun doing together.”
This year, amusement parks are listening, adding gentler rides and other attractions that aren't at all hair-raising. Ride manufacturers expect installation of slower rides, costing $100,000 to $400,000 each, to be up 20% this year, to about 250.
Mr. Wisdom's company cranks out about one ride a week, at an average price of $150,000, from January to June. For the past two years, his 160 workers have been working at full throttle to keep up with orders. “The monster rides aren't our market,” he says.
His company, based here on the edge of a cornfield, gets expert advice from the likes of J.J. Levy, five years old and the son of Ken Levy, an owner of Kids Star amusement park in Port Charlotte, Florida. J.J. got to try out dozens of new rides built by Wisdom Amusement and other manufacturers at a Tampa area trade show in February. His highest praise is reserved for rides that are “fun but won't make you puke.”
Mr. Wisdom's rides are tailored to little-kid sensibilities. No loud sound effects, no explosions or thunder. No creaking or groaning noises to give the impression that the ride is about to collapse. No molded demonic gargoyles or monsters embellishing the action. No loops that take you upside down. Top speeds are between 16 kph and 24 kph.
Mr. Wisdom's favorite decoration: colored lights. At least 3,000 of them adorn many of his rides. “Nobody is afraid of Christmas tree,” he says.
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