Amerika bringt uns Eßkultur!
Für alle SixFlags-Fans und -Jünger, die noch bekehrt werden müssen, hier ein Artikel aus dem Wall Street Journal vom 21. Juni 2001:
"American-Style Theme Parks
Are All the Rage With Europeans
By Paulo Prada
WAVRE, Belgium -- Ze das Batatas liked the free-fall tower and roving Looney Tunes characters. But what really wowed the 15-year-old from Lisbon was the 3-euros ($2.56) cheese-smothered patty of ground beef that he had for lunch.
That's one reason he prefers Six Flags Belgium to the small-scale, conspicuously European offerings at home.
"They don't sell hamburgers at any of the parks that I know back in Portugal," he said on a recent visit to the Six Flags amusement park south of Brussels.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, Hollywood-born cartoon stars -- if it's Americanesque, and packaged with looping roller-coasters and splashy water rides, Europeans will buy it. People who once turned up their noses are now crazy for U.S.-style theme parks, and entertainment companies are lining up to meet the demand.
At least four big parks -- into which developers are pouring well over $1 billion -- are set to hit the continent by 2003. They include a Warner Bros. park near Madrid, where a bar named for Humphrey Bogart will grace Hollywood Boulevard, and a toy-themed Legoland outside Munich. These four join a half-dozen parks with distinctly American manners that have opened in Europe since 1992 and boast annually rising ticket receipts.
"A few years ago, nobody in Europe would have bet on this kind of tourism," said Amando de Miguel, a sociologist at Madrid's Complutense University. "It's a completely fake kind of escape, after all. But you look at the movies and they're fake too, and in the end we all end up falling for them."
The amusement park concept is by no means new to the Old World. In fact, the world's first such modern-era attraction was Tivoli Gardens, which has been operating in central Copenhagen since 1843. But Tivoli's European charm, with its delicate wooden buildings and old-fashioned fun-fair environment, isn't what today's developers are selling to Europeans: It is America, which means fireworks spectacles, cotton candy and boisterous song-and-dance extravaganzas.
None of that seemed very appealing nine years ago, when what is now called Disneyland Paris opened to lukewarm reviews, slow ticket sales and Gallic disdain. Indignant French intellectuals dubbed it a "cultural Chernobyl," an arrogant effort by Americans to market their shallow and expensive entertainment concepts in the guise of something fun. But Euro Disney SCA soon tweaked its product. It introduced wine and spirits -- taboo at most theme parks in the U.S. -- and offered a broader range of food concessions. In a nod to Europeans' preference for leisurely dining, Disney also beefed up the number of sit-down and full-service restaurants. Not incidentally, at the same time it improved its roller-coaster offerings, introducing Space Mountain, the indoor, glow-in-the-dark stomach churner that had long been featured at Disney's signature parks in Florida and California.
Today, Disneyland Paris is the single biggest tourist destination in Europe, and the French are among its biggest fans. Last year, five million people from France were among the 12 million who paid between 23 euros and 36 euros each to pass through the gates. They don't seem to be snobby about the Americanism anymore, either: Euro Disney said such U.S.-flavored attractions as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" are among the most popular features.
"It's great," said Jay Rasulo, the company's chairman and chief executive. "We can serve chili and barbecue to the French, Germans, Italians and Scandinavians while they watch Buffalo Bill ... It's all part of the escape, the experience."
On the heels of Disney's success came parks that include Universal Studios Port Aventura near Barcelona, which opened in 1995 and has grown to include such attractions as Dragon Khan, the roller coaster with the most loops in the world -- eight -- and a cast of characters that include Woody Woodpecker and Popeye. Then, in 1996, came Warner Bros. Movie World near Dusseldorf and a Legoland in the U.K. Euro Disney itself next year will open a second park, the movie-themed "Disney Studios," alongside the first.
There are lots of explanations for the enthusiasm for entertainment not so long ago considered a tad over-the-top for Europe.
"It reflects a real change in the culture here," said Christine de Panafieu, managing director of Cosight SA, a Paris-based marketing agency. "Europe has become much more of a hedonistic and pleasure-based society."
Maybe so, but it's also true that the European economy expanded at an average annual rate of 2.57% between 1994 and 2000, giving people -- most importantly parents -- more disposable income. On top of that, some Europeans recently started to abandon the tradition of the single, long summer vacation in favor of multiple, shorter breaks spread out over the year. In other words, they are acting a lot more like Americans than they used to.
That's what lured Six Flags , the Oklahoma City-based theme park giant, to Europe. It acquired Walibi SA, a Belgium-based operator of six amusement parks on the Continent, for $140 million in 1998. Now it is in the process of transforming the properties into near-replicas of the Six Flags parks in the U.S., complete with wandering Bugs Bunnies, Sylvesters and Tweety Birds, and live Batman action adventure shows.
The park Six Flags is building in the hills south of Madrid, much like the one in Dusseldorf, is an interactive monument to big-budget American movies and cartoons. In the dusty and machine-cramped construction site, the skeletons of a roller coaster named for Superman and the Rio Bravo log ride are already taking shape. There will be a "Lethal Weapon" action adventure show -- named for the series of action films starring Mel Gibson -- a "Police Academy" cop spoof and a "Dirty Harry" bar near a New York City street scene. Hollywood Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of the park's central area, is flanked by a small-town American ice cream parlor and a performance place built to resemble the storied Chinese Theater in Los Angeles that will host the 3-D Marvin el Marciano (Marvin the Martian) show.
"By being uniquely American in flavor we can offer them something they don't get everyday," said Thomas Mehrmann, a Six Flags vice president and general manager of the Madrid park. "It's not like we're going to teach Spaniards how to party."
The idea for the park, in fact, was cooked up by local officials. Noting the popularity of Universal Studios Port Aventura near Barcelona, the regional government in Madrid decided to look into building a major park of its own. After selecting a site in a depressed and largely vacant area, officials began courting big foreign operators and agreed to finance 40% of the venture's $420 million development cost. When it opens next spring, Warner Bros. Movie World in Madrid will be the third big park to have opened in Spain in as many years.
"A lot of people thought these places would be horrible," said Victor Benzakein, a 56-year-old French father of two who has taken his family to a number of parks in Europe and the U.S. "But for the kids it's like a dream. They like the American way of life, and they really push their parents to go.""
Naja, daß die Eßkultur in den SixFlags Parks was umwerfend Tolles sein soll, habe ich noch nicht gemerkt! ;-)
Grüße
Jens
"American-Style Theme Parks
Are All the Rage With Europeans
By Paulo Prada
WAVRE, Belgium -- Ze das Batatas liked the free-fall tower and roving Looney Tunes characters. But what really wowed the 15-year-old from Lisbon was the 3-euros ($2.56) cheese-smothered patty of ground beef that he had for lunch.
That's one reason he prefers Six Flags Belgium to the small-scale, conspicuously European offerings at home.
"They don't sell hamburgers at any of the parks that I know back in Portugal," he said on a recent visit to the Six Flags amusement park south of Brussels.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, Hollywood-born cartoon stars -- if it's Americanesque, and packaged with looping roller-coasters and splashy water rides, Europeans will buy it. People who once turned up their noses are now crazy for U.S.-style theme parks, and entertainment companies are lining up to meet the demand.
At least four big parks -- into which developers are pouring well over $1 billion -- are set to hit the continent by 2003. They include a Warner Bros. park near Madrid, where a bar named for Humphrey Bogart will grace Hollywood Boulevard, and a toy-themed Legoland outside Munich. These four join a half-dozen parks with distinctly American manners that have opened in Europe since 1992 and boast annually rising ticket receipts.
"A few years ago, nobody in Europe would have bet on this kind of tourism," said Amando de Miguel, a sociologist at Madrid's Complutense University. "It's a completely fake kind of escape, after all. But you look at the movies and they're fake too, and in the end we all end up falling for them."
The amusement park concept is by no means new to the Old World. In fact, the world's first such modern-era attraction was Tivoli Gardens, which has been operating in central Copenhagen since 1843. But Tivoli's European charm, with its delicate wooden buildings and old-fashioned fun-fair environment, isn't what today's developers are selling to Europeans: It is America, which means fireworks spectacles, cotton candy and boisterous song-and-dance extravaganzas.
None of that seemed very appealing nine years ago, when what is now called Disneyland Paris opened to lukewarm reviews, slow ticket sales and Gallic disdain. Indignant French intellectuals dubbed it a "cultural Chernobyl," an arrogant effort by Americans to market their shallow and expensive entertainment concepts in the guise of something fun. But Euro Disney SCA soon tweaked its product. It introduced wine and spirits -- taboo at most theme parks in the U.S. -- and offered a broader range of food concessions. In a nod to Europeans' preference for leisurely dining, Disney also beefed up the number of sit-down and full-service restaurants. Not incidentally, at the same time it improved its roller-coaster offerings, introducing Space Mountain, the indoor, glow-in-the-dark stomach churner that had long been featured at Disney's signature parks in Florida and California.
Today, Disneyland Paris is the single biggest tourist destination in Europe, and the French are among its biggest fans. Last year, five million people from France were among the 12 million who paid between 23 euros and 36 euros each to pass through the gates. They don't seem to be snobby about the Americanism anymore, either: Euro Disney said such U.S.-flavored attractions as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" are among the most popular features.
"It's great," said Jay Rasulo, the company's chairman and chief executive. "We can serve chili and barbecue to the French, Germans, Italians and Scandinavians while they watch Buffalo Bill ... It's all part of the escape, the experience."
On the heels of Disney's success came parks that include Universal Studios Port Aventura near Barcelona, which opened in 1995 and has grown to include such attractions as Dragon Khan, the roller coaster with the most loops in the world -- eight -- and a cast of characters that include Woody Woodpecker and Popeye. Then, in 1996, came Warner Bros. Movie World near Dusseldorf and a Legoland in the U.K. Euro Disney itself next year will open a second park, the movie-themed "Disney Studios," alongside the first.
There are lots of explanations for the enthusiasm for entertainment not so long ago considered a tad over-the-top for Europe.
"It reflects a real change in the culture here," said Christine de Panafieu, managing director of Cosight SA, a Paris-based marketing agency. "Europe has become much more of a hedonistic and pleasure-based society."
Maybe so, but it's also true that the European economy expanded at an average annual rate of 2.57% between 1994 and 2000, giving people -- most importantly parents -- more disposable income. On top of that, some Europeans recently started to abandon the tradition of the single, long summer vacation in favor of multiple, shorter breaks spread out over the year. In other words, they are acting a lot more like Americans than they used to.
That's what lured Six Flags , the Oklahoma City-based theme park giant, to Europe. It acquired Walibi SA, a Belgium-based operator of six amusement parks on the Continent, for $140 million in 1998. Now it is in the process of transforming the properties into near-replicas of the Six Flags parks in the U.S., complete with wandering Bugs Bunnies, Sylvesters and Tweety Birds, and live Batman action adventure shows.
The park Six Flags is building in the hills south of Madrid, much like the one in Dusseldorf, is an interactive monument to big-budget American movies and cartoons. In the dusty and machine-cramped construction site, the skeletons of a roller coaster named for Superman and the Rio Bravo log ride are already taking shape. There will be a "Lethal Weapon" action adventure show -- named for the series of action films starring Mel Gibson -- a "Police Academy" cop spoof and a "Dirty Harry" bar near a New York City street scene. Hollywood Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of the park's central area, is flanked by a small-town American ice cream parlor and a performance place built to resemble the storied Chinese Theater in Los Angeles that will host the 3-D Marvin el Marciano (Marvin the Martian) show.
"By being uniquely American in flavor we can offer them something they don't get everyday," said Thomas Mehrmann, a Six Flags vice president and general manager of the Madrid park. "It's not like we're going to teach Spaniards how to party."
The idea for the park, in fact, was cooked up by local officials. Noting the popularity of Universal Studios Port Aventura near Barcelona, the regional government in Madrid decided to look into building a major park of its own. After selecting a site in a depressed and largely vacant area, officials began courting big foreign operators and agreed to finance 40% of the venture's $420 million development cost. When it opens next spring, Warner Bros. Movie World in Madrid will be the third big park to have opened in Spain in as many years.
"A lot of people thought these places would be horrible," said Victor Benzakein, a 56-year-old French father of two who has taken his family to a number of parks in Europe and the U.S. "But for the kids it's like a dream. They like the American way of life, and they really push their parents to go.""
Naja, daß die Eßkultur in den SixFlags Parks was umwerfend Tolles sein soll, habe ich noch nicht gemerkt! ;-)
Grüße
Jens