wyliepoon
Senior Member
http://www.thestar.com/TheEx/article/488526
Next for Ex: Snow dome? Virtual reality?
Nicole Baute
Staff Reporter
It was the summer of the staycation and jaw-dropping gas prices – which the CNE's general manager says may have worked in the fair's favour.
"We certainly appear to be running ahead of last year," David Bednar said earlier this weekend. But Bednar said the numbers won't be in until after Labour Day, once all the stragglers – and air show fans – are counted.
"With the CNE the story always remains to be told on the final weekend," he said.
In the late 1970s, the 18-day CNE drew more than 3 million visitors, but in recent years attendance has been dwindling.
Though official numbers won't be released for a few weeks, Bednar pegged this year's total in the neighbourhood of 1.25 million.
Still, he says this year was a success, which he attributes to spectacular weather, a spectacular show and spectacular marketing. He also wonders – though he couldn't prove it – whether gas prices have encouraged people to seek entertainment close to home. But "the tentacles" of high gas prices "reach far and wide," he said, and also affect CNE operating costs.
"To a certain extent this year, and I think to some extent in the new year, those pressures are going to create budgetary constraints on us."
Yet looking ahead, Bednar said he would like to see "something a little bit bigger scale in the stadium" that would create "a new paradigm for family entertainment."
In the name of new paradigms, here's a peek at innovation in carnivals and theme parks around the world.
GO BIG
In a land where money shoots out of the ground in the form of oil, a 3 billion square foot development called Dubailand – practically a city in itself – is underway.
Dubai's Dubailand calls itself "the world's most ambitious tourism, leisure and entertainment destination," which isn't hard to believe while perusing its website. Among the eye-popping features Dubailand plans to offer are: a gigantic water park with a man-made beach, dolphins and sharks, a snow dome and snow resort (competition for Dubai's existing indoor ski hill), Tiger Woods Dubai and a Six Flags amusement park.
Although some of the attractions are already running, the first phase is expected to be done in 2010.
Once fully operational, Dubailand expects to attract 40,000 visitors a day and have a population of 2.5 million, including workers, residents and tourists.
Take a deep breath: the venture is estimated at $64 billion (U.S.).
GO VIRTUAL
Finally, you can achieve that perfect compromise between the kiddie coaster and the Behemoth.
At Disney World's DisneyQuest, a five-storey virtual theme park, you can build a roller coaster (with help from Bill Nye the Science Guy), and take it for a virtual spin.
Also virtually, you can tour Agrabah on a flying carpet, collect bounty on a pirate ship and battle in a comic book world. "You really feel like you're immersed in that environment," said operations manager George Lange.
But with 70-metre-high roller coasters on one end and Nintendo Wii on the other, can a virtual theme park really draw a crowd?
DisneyQuest opened in Orlando in 1998 and Disney reportedly planned to open more DisneyQuests around the country.
The second facility was built in Chicago but closed in 2001 because it "didn't meet the company's financial requirements," senior vice-president of Disney Regional Entertainment Randall Baumberger said at the time.
Another entertainment complex slated for Philadelphia was cancelled before construction began.
The robust Disney rumour mill says attendance at the Disney World facility is down, and those who watch Disney closely question the future of DisneyQuest.
Lange wouldn't discuss attendance numbers nor the reasons the expansions did not go forward, but he said "business is strong."
GO BACK
Death-defying acts, carnies in suspenders and berets, and a Ferris wheel built in 1917. Here's a creative alternative to the contemporary fair: a throwback to the travelling carnival of the 1930s.
Carnivà le Lune Bleue opened on a site near Ottawa just this summer, and founder Wayne Van De Graaff says business has been steady.
Tickets are $60 or more a pop, but that includes three top-notch sideshows, unlimited rides, and entrance to a carnie museum with a snake oil wagon and an (authentic) half-boy, half-turtle specimen.
Van De Graaff says Carnivà le Lune Bleue was inspired by his 1960s childhood in Utah. "The carnivals of old with the canvas tents and the sideshows were still travelling into small towns in Utah, and then I was quite struck by those."
Obsessed with authenticity, Van De Graaff's midway games do not use electricity.
"I think that it sets us apart because we're not looking for someone to have a five-minute thrill ride and then go home. We're really creating a memory that someone will have for quite a long time."
At the CNE, general manager David Bednar says this year's nostalgic throwbacks – like the rodeo and performers Mickey and Jan Rooney – and were a huge hit.
He said the show's success has been a reminder "to strike that correct balance between presenting new things and keeping traditions that people value."
*****
I can't believe that the Star, which presents itself as something of a think-tank for ideas on improving the city, has put forward such a list for "improving" the CNE. The "Go Big" section seems to describe Wonderland, while "Go Virtual" sounds like Playdium.
Introducing circus sideshows to the CNE in the "Go Back" section is interesting, but I wonder how many people such attractions can bring to the CNE. Also, I don't think many Torontonians would be comfortable with the idea of turning the CNE from an annual county fair/flea market into a three-ring circus.
Perhaps nothing short of a World's Fair/Expo type event will be able to bring the CNE back from its decline.
Next for Ex: Snow dome? Virtual reality?
Nicole Baute
Staff Reporter
It was the summer of the staycation and jaw-dropping gas prices – which the CNE's general manager says may have worked in the fair's favour.
"We certainly appear to be running ahead of last year," David Bednar said earlier this weekend. But Bednar said the numbers won't be in until after Labour Day, once all the stragglers – and air show fans – are counted.
"With the CNE the story always remains to be told on the final weekend," he said.
In the late 1970s, the 18-day CNE drew more than 3 million visitors, but in recent years attendance has been dwindling.
Though official numbers won't be released for a few weeks, Bednar pegged this year's total in the neighbourhood of 1.25 million.
Still, he says this year was a success, which he attributes to spectacular weather, a spectacular show and spectacular marketing. He also wonders – though he couldn't prove it – whether gas prices have encouraged people to seek entertainment close to home. But "the tentacles" of high gas prices "reach far and wide," he said, and also affect CNE operating costs.
"To a certain extent this year, and I think to some extent in the new year, those pressures are going to create budgetary constraints on us."
Yet looking ahead, Bednar said he would like to see "something a little bit bigger scale in the stadium" that would create "a new paradigm for family entertainment."
In the name of new paradigms, here's a peek at innovation in carnivals and theme parks around the world.
GO BIG
In a land where money shoots out of the ground in the form of oil, a 3 billion square foot development called Dubailand – practically a city in itself – is underway.
Dubai's Dubailand calls itself "the world's most ambitious tourism, leisure and entertainment destination," which isn't hard to believe while perusing its website. Among the eye-popping features Dubailand plans to offer are: a gigantic water park with a man-made beach, dolphins and sharks, a snow dome and snow resort (competition for Dubai's existing indoor ski hill), Tiger Woods Dubai and a Six Flags amusement park.
Although some of the attractions are already running, the first phase is expected to be done in 2010.
Once fully operational, Dubailand expects to attract 40,000 visitors a day and have a population of 2.5 million, including workers, residents and tourists.
Take a deep breath: the venture is estimated at $64 billion (U.S.).
GO VIRTUAL
Finally, you can achieve that perfect compromise between the kiddie coaster and the Behemoth.
At Disney World's DisneyQuest, a five-storey virtual theme park, you can build a roller coaster (with help from Bill Nye the Science Guy), and take it for a virtual spin.
Also virtually, you can tour Agrabah on a flying carpet, collect bounty on a pirate ship and battle in a comic book world. "You really feel like you're immersed in that environment," said operations manager George Lange.
But with 70-metre-high roller coasters on one end and Nintendo Wii on the other, can a virtual theme park really draw a crowd?
DisneyQuest opened in Orlando in 1998 and Disney reportedly planned to open more DisneyQuests around the country.
The second facility was built in Chicago but closed in 2001 because it "didn't meet the company's financial requirements," senior vice-president of Disney Regional Entertainment Randall Baumberger said at the time.
Another entertainment complex slated for Philadelphia was cancelled before construction began.
The robust Disney rumour mill says attendance at the Disney World facility is down, and those who watch Disney closely question the future of DisneyQuest.
Lange wouldn't discuss attendance numbers nor the reasons the expansions did not go forward, but he said "business is strong."
GO BACK
Death-defying acts, carnies in suspenders and berets, and a Ferris wheel built in 1917. Here's a creative alternative to the contemporary fair: a throwback to the travelling carnival of the 1930s.
Carnivà le Lune Bleue opened on a site near Ottawa just this summer, and founder Wayne Van De Graaff says business has been steady.
Tickets are $60 or more a pop, but that includes three top-notch sideshows, unlimited rides, and entrance to a carnie museum with a snake oil wagon and an (authentic) half-boy, half-turtle specimen.
Van De Graaff says Carnivà le Lune Bleue was inspired by his 1960s childhood in Utah. "The carnivals of old with the canvas tents and the sideshows were still travelling into small towns in Utah, and then I was quite struck by those."
Obsessed with authenticity, Van De Graaff's midway games do not use electricity.
"I think that it sets us apart because we're not looking for someone to have a five-minute thrill ride and then go home. We're really creating a memory that someone will have for quite a long time."
At the CNE, general manager David Bednar says this year's nostalgic throwbacks – like the rodeo and performers Mickey and Jan Rooney – and were a huge hit.
He said the show's success has been a reminder "to strike that correct balance between presenting new things and keeping traditions that people value."
*****
I can't believe that the Star, which presents itself as something of a think-tank for ideas on improving the city, has put forward such a list for "improving" the CNE. The "Go Big" section seems to describe Wonderland, while "Go Virtual" sounds like Playdium.
Introducing circus sideshows to the CNE in the "Go Back" section is interesting, but I wonder how many people such attractions can bring to the CNE. Also, I don't think many Torontonians would be comfortable with the idea of turning the CNE from an annual county fair/flea market into a three-ring circus.
Perhaps nothing short of a World's Fair/Expo type event will be able to bring the CNE back from its decline.
