Park World - December 06/January 07 - (Page 38)
Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters,
valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent
output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started
at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10
PWDEC06JAN07p38-39.qxd 12/20/06 9:44 AM Page 24 Park Profile Håkon Lund
with mother Veslemøy Konge Parken King Park , Stavanger, Norway, first
opened on May 3, 1986. We say “first opened” because it has opened and
closed a number of times in its 20-year history. But at last its present
owners, the Lund family, are making a go of it. David Wallis visits the
home of the bear Built at a cost of 250 million Norwegian Kroner €30m ,
the park was built on land belonging to the or iginal owner’s father.
Constr uction was difficult, however, because of a very hard winter and
heaters had to be used beneath the soil to make the roads and fo u n d a t
i o n s . Projected attendance for that first season was 460,000, but in a
country of just 4 million people, that was very ambitious. After just two
months the park went into liquidation and the banks took over. At this
time, the Lund family, tr avelling fairground operators for over 100 year
s, were asked to have a look, but declined. Konge Parken was then sold to
a marketing man, who also tried to get Lunds into the park with their
rides as concessionaires. The park went into liquidation three times in
total before the head of the family, Bjor n Lund, finally took an
interest. “I said to my father at the time, ‘are you crazy?,”
reveals eldest son Håkon Lund, now the park’s director of development.
“All three brothers [Håkon, Aasmund and youngest brother Magnus] said
no, but a good package was put together by the bank, and the politicians
asked us to become involved. We were very flattered.” Taking stock Lunds
eventually took control of Konge Parken on Febr uar y 2, 1997, and Bjorn
and wife Veslemøy moved there to live. The facility they took over had a
very good infr astr ucture , a well-themed entrance, food and retail
outlets and good office buildings, but very few attr actions. The main
features were a large walk-through attr action on the side of a hill, a
bob sleigh ride down the side of a mountain, bumper boats and a giant
aviary – with no birds! Attendance stood at just 45,000. “The park had
a very negative image locally,” recalls Håkon, who at the time was
studying for a law degree. “We discussed at great length whether to
change the name , but it had great recognition nationally, so we chose to
grow it organically and change the focus inside .” A ‘King Bear’
mascot was introduced and Lunds defined six values that would underpin
everything Konge Parken did: Lear ning, play, shar ing, explor ation,
magic and excitement. A Disney-esque policy of staff ‘auditions’
replaced interviews, and greeters were placed at the gate to welcome
guests. “We wanted to let people know that this was a place families
could stay and play together.” With just 300,000 people inside a
two-hour drive, Lunds had to be very creative in attracting guests from
fur ther a field. Ar med with their new teddy bear ambassador, they took
to the streets of the Oslo, about 300km away, for a big PR drive. Ever y
child in the Norwegian capital was invited to bring their soft toys to a
teddy bear hospital, to be treated for anything from a bit of loose
stuffing to an ice cream overdose. “We treated about 2,000 bears in the
first hour,” reveals H å ko n . “It’s taken us a lot of time and
investment to build up our teddy story, but we need it if we are to have
that extr a layer of somewhere like Disney or Plopsaland.” King Bear has
been so popular that Konge Parken now 38 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning :
Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the
current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in
Unknown on line 0
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Park World - December 06/January 07
Park News
Park Hoppin’
Big Question
Spotlight
Networking in Atlanta
Launch Pad
Bob Rogers
Konge Parken
Mondial
WWA Symposium
Technofolies 2006
IAAPA Attractions Expo
Euro Attractions Show
Fun Doctor
Park World - December 06/January 07
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com