{"id":1245,"date":"2019-01-29T02:24:14","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T02:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/?p=658"},"modified":"2024-05-05T11:32:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T11:32:02","slug":"common-mistakes-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-opening\/#Common_Mistakes_in_Opening_a_Theme_Park\" title=\"Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park\">Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-opening\/#Development_Phase\" title=\"Development Phase\">Development Phase<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-opening\/#Operational_Phase\" title=\"Operational\u00a0Phase\">Operational\u00a0Phase<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-opening\/#Vicious_Circle\" title=\"Vicious\u00a0Circle\">Vicious\u00a0Circle<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p><span >Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parquesreunidos.com\/\">Parques Reunidos<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iqpc.com\/\">IQPC Middle East<\/a>, the content below is a summarized version of a talk that Jose Maria Letamendia delivered at an IQPC Theme Parks conference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span >Mr. Letamendia is VP of Business Development at Parques Reunidos.\u00a0 Be sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/themeparks.iqpc.ae\/downloads\/best-practices-in-successfully-operating-theme-parks-by-parques-reunidos-spain?utm_source=theparkdatabase&amp;utm_medium=mediapartner&amp;utm_campaign=25338.005-external-externalmail&amp;utm_term=content&amp;utm_content=text&amp;mac=25338.005_tpd_em1&amp;disc=25338.005_tpd_em1\">download the entire presentation here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Common_Mistakes_in_Opening_a_Theme_Park\"><\/span><strong><span   >Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Development_Phase\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 40px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Development Phase<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><strong>Unrealistic Opening Dates<\/strong> &#8211; targeting an unrealistic opening because of pressure from politicians, investors, or other stakeholders can potentially set off a vicious cycle of mismanagement.\u00a0 More on this below, but often these opening dates are unrealistic because developers underestimate the lead times necessary to procure rides from vendors and negotiate terms with IP&#8217;s.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><strong>Construction Problems<\/strong> &#8211; 99% of projects are over budget, often in large amounts.\u00a0 Lack of careful planning and overoptimistic projects can lead to big problems, especially because construction companies are often local enterprises with no previous experience in building theme parks.\u00a0 Whereas the theming process requires a high level of skill, especially if the terms of IP agreements demand it, and sets up a disconnect between the skill required and skills available in the market.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Operational_Phase\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 40px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Operational\u00a0Phase<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">The list of potential operational issues is lengthy, but a quick summary of some salient points is as follows.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Budgets for the opening year are often wildly unrealistic and unachievable, because <strong>feasibility and market research reports tend to be overoptimistic about opening year numbers<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">F&amp;B sizing is often miscalculated, leading to design problems in the kitchen, back of house areas, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Ride capacity is similarly often miscalculated.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">The complexity and duration of staff hiring and training is often underestimated, especially in countries with a limited previous offering in amusement and theme parks.\u00a0 This leads to developers and owners often overhiring in staff and managers to compensate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Vicious_Circle\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 40px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Vicious\u00a0Circle<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">At all costs, the vicious circle must be avoided.\u00a0 This is a cascading set of problems that results from the development and operational issues above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Premature opening dates and operational issues result in poor performance, and can cause the park to come under criticism on social media and elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">In response to this, owners often undertake drastic decisions such as aggressive discounting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">This further exacerbates underperformance, which may lead to staff reductions and an inability to provide the level of service demanded by guests.\u00a0 In some cases, a reduction in staff, staff training, and services can lead to accidents and security incidents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">In extreme cases, this cycle can lead to the collapse of a park.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 40px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><strong>About Parques Reunidos:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>One of the leading global operators of regional leisure parks and one of the three truly global leisure park operators.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>After 50 years in the sector, we now operate a well-diversified portfolio of more than 60 different assets (theme parks, zoos and marine parks, water parks,\u00a0indoor entertainment centers and other attractions), spread out over various countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Australia. Our asset diversity has placed us as the second-largest leisure park operator in Europe and the eighth-largest leisure park operator worldwide.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>Overall, our parks received a total of approximately 20 million visitors every year, a number that materializes the success of our three-format business model: \u00a0operation of fully-owned parks, operation of third-party parks, and consultancy for park developers.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>We have a highly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.parquesreunidos.com\/en\/the-group\/management-team\/\">experienced and committed management team<\/a>\u00a0with a proven track record across different geographical areas and economic cycles.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 40px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><strong>About IQPC:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>We invite leading executives and academics to share insights, expertise and solutions to today&#8217;s escalating challenges. Simply put: Our conferences and communities provide the fundamental and cutting-edge information you can use immediately.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>IQPC also ensures our delegates are introduced to inspiring thought leaders and stellar speakers; Raymond \u201cRay\u201d Kurzweil, American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist, General Colin Powell, Retired US Secretary od State, Jack Welch, former Mayor of New York, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, And from \u2018Shark Tank fame, both Robert Herjavec, CEO &amp; Founder of Herjavec Group and Barbara Corcoran, Chairman &amp; CEO of Barbara Corcoran Inc are just a few of IQPC&#8217;s most recent keynotes.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>We conduct exhaustive research into our speaking panels, only inviting domain experts with practical knowledge or peer reviewed research that can solve your current challenges. From Digital Disruption events in Sydney, Oil and Gas events in Dubai, Call Center events in Las Vegas, Autonomous Vehicle events in Germany, Corporate Learning Exchanges in Tampa, Process Excellence conferences in London and CX Summits in Singapore, IQPC transfers expertise around the world, keeping its delegates competitive, profitable and delivering maximum ROI.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><em>View a full list of our upcoming events\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iqpc.com\/events\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy of Parques Reunidos and IQPC Middle East, the content below is a summarized version of a talk that Jose Maria Letamendia delivered at an IQPC Theme Parks conference. Mr. Letamendia is VP of Business Development at Parques Reunidos.\u00a0 Be sure to download the entire presentation here. &nbsp; Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[48,74,75,76],"class_list":["post-1245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides-and-references","category-theme-parks","tag-development","tag-mistakes","tag-operations","tag-parques-reunidos"],"acf":{"":"","bfi_title":"","bfi_title_2":"","bfi_description":"","chart_image":"","chart_title":"","chart_description":"","bc_title":"","bc_sub_title":"","bc_content":"","bc_right_side_content":"","highlighted_image":"","highlighted_sub_title":"","highlighted_title":"","highlighted_bottom_text":"","highlighted_button_text":"","highlighted_button_link":"","below_highlighted_title":"","below_highlighted_sub_title":"","below_highlighted_content":"","below_highlighted_right_side_title":"","below_highlighted_list":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}