Family Run or Run by Businesses

[Enter Valhalla]

After a recent discussion comparing Europa Park with PortAventura where someone said family run parks do things better it really got me thinking in alot more detail about it.

On the one hand, we have Europa Park, which is family run and generally agreed by everyone to be one of the best parks in the world. I've yet to hear any really bad reviews for the place and many say that this is an example of how family parks are better because more pride goes into everything and it's not all about increasing revenue.

However, looking at it in the UK, we have two family run parks which are arguably the opposite of Europa Park's flawless operations, Flamingo Land and Drayton Manor.

Flamingo Land is known for not training their staff well enough to give a damn about customer service and giving the guests a good day, operations are dire, literally dire. Kumali never runs two trains even with an hour and a half queue on bank holidays despite two being available, you see rides where staff could literally double the throughputs if they cared and I never really feel like a valued guest there.

Drayton Manor, again family owned, has better staff than Flamingo Land but they aren't great. The park itself went through a very long stagnant period in between G-Force and Thomas Land during which time very little investment took place and the park started to look shabby and run down, possible because they didn't have enough money to spend on it, a possible other argument against family parks. Many would also say that now Thomas Land is a few years old, things are starting to stagnate again. Some areas look really shabby and it doesn't feel like a park with a plan.

One thing I find very interesting about Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the UK's biggest family run park, is that they do what PortAventura (run by a bank and often considered inferior to Europa Park for operations) do with late openings of rides and reducing availibility at quiet times. If you go to BPB on a quiet day, just like PortAventura you'll find several smaller rides closed as well as often one major ride such as Big Dipper and they will be closed for the whole day, presumably to save on operating costs. They also open rides on a staggerred basis, again like PA. If you go for the first half hour all that's open is Derby Racer and Flying Machines and you often wont find everything open until 2 hours after opening time.

Another big problem with family run parks is that when they fall on hard tims they have nobody to bail them out. Look at Oakwood, they were in £7 million debt and ended up having to sell. BPB seem to be in alot of financial trouble and some would say that because the park is family run it isn't achieving it's full potential as it isn't able to make any investments to get more people in. If, say, Merlin were running BPB (not that I'd EVER want them to), they would have the option of spending £20 million on an amazing new investment which would be an almost guaranteed success. Family run parks with little money don't have that luxuary.

So my question is this, when people say how great family parkks are and use the example of Europa Park, is this always the best way to be? Could a major family park ever be possible in a small country like the UK?

Europa Park is run extremely well but families who run parks in the UK simply don't have the money that they do to invest. You could also say that because Europa Park is run by a compay who make rides it was quite easy for them to build up the park at a cheap price. Would that ever be possible for someone like Amanda thompson for example.

I'm not convinced that family parks are the way forrward. I kind of think Europa Park is one in a million.

Any thoughts?

 

[Alastair]

People who show affection for family-owned parks do so mainly because they exist in such glorious contrast to the massive, faceless corporations that run most of the big parks either here in the UK or elsewhere. Family-owned parks are also generally more in touch with the average visitor, on a common sense basis rather than taking tickbox answers from surveys and compiling them into spreadsheets to garner opinion. There are lots of benefits to family-owned parks but equally lots of downsides (almost always lack of funds) where you'd rather have a huge company own it - as is currently the case with BPB.

In any case, it's not really viable to compare family-owned parks due to the massive variables between wealth, park position, visitor levels etc. Also the best parks in the world are run by large corporations (Universal, Disney) which proves that they can be just as good at maintaining public affection as family owned parks.

I've just read through this post again and realised that I've just made a series of completely unconnected but valid points

 

[Martin]

Can you really call Europa a family run park like LWV when it's basically the marketing arm of Mack Rides, which is a huge company that just happens to be run by a family?

 

[DiogoJ42]

I'd say Europa has the best of both worlds; it's family owned, but it has the finacial backing of a major ride company who use it as a show room.

 

[CGM]

I think it's a common misconception that because Europa happens to be a family run park that it's unquestionably the best way for a park to be run.

All this may seem obvious but I believe that in order to run a seriously good theme park, the owners must put the quality, prosperity and growth of the park before making a profit from it. Of course, a profit is necessary for a park to exist but it should not be the main objective. Profit should be be used as a means to sustain, improve and develop the park rather than solely to keep shareholders happy. Basically, what's needed are people who run a theme park for the love of running a theme park.

Having a family run park does have many advantages in this area. You have an environment where the owners are likely to care a great deal for their business. Many generations will have grown up with the park and consequently it will become a huge part of their lives. As such, throughout the generations, the family will develop a great understanding of the industry which will be built upon as the knowledge is passed down.

However, as with any family run business, there is always the danger that the park will eventually end up in the hands of an individual completely unqualified for the job. Someone who had they not inherited the position would never have ascended to the role and who maybe doesn't even care for the welfare of the park that much. I'd say that there are a few instances of this in the UK alone.

There is also the issue that by having a family run businesses, it can prevent talented, passionate and capable people from reaching management positions which is in many ways unfair and could conceivably prevent parks from reaching their full potential.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the faceless park chain operators. They reap in huge profits and drip feed tiny amounts back according to where their research tells them investment is needed. Almost everything that can be is outsourced and their parks are generally treated like short term money generating machines rather than guest experiences to be proud of. Any creativity within the business is usually stifled by lack of funding and rigid corporate structure.

However, you do also have chains such as Disney and Universal where they operate hugely profitable parks but still manage to lead the way in terms of guest experience and ride technology.

I think that if there is such a thing as an ideal way of running a theme park, it's not as simple as saying it should be family run, public or private because there's successful and well loved parks running all over the world with all sorts of management structures. The most important thing is for the park to be run by passionate, creative, capable people who take pride in what they do and who want to see the park grow and be the best it can be.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

One other point which I didn't think to mention but has kind of been coverred is that family run parks have the danger, if they are a success, of the owners becoming very set in their ways and thinking they know how it's done. The theme park industry changes so quickly that you need to be dynamic and there's no room for the "we've always done it this way" attitude. That attitude could seriously damage a park and it's less likely to occur in parks run by corporations who will hold their bosses accountable if targets aren't met.

 

[AstroDan]

It can sometimes work, and it sometimes cannot.

It definitely works for Europa-Park; the evolution of ideas and developments from within the Mack family have worked wonders for the park. But it's not like the Mack family just sit there and decide every single last thing. They have development people, they have a marketing department, they have operations managers... The park has gone on to win countless awards, it is the most popular seasonal park in the world and has more rollercoasters than any park in Europe. The investment also dwarfs all parks in Europe, possibly with exception to Disneyland Paris.

The problem in the UK these days is that there is such a dominance from Merlin, that everyone else is struggling. It has been the same since the early 1990's when Tussauds bought out Chessington and Alton Towers.

Back in the 80's and very early 1990's, I would argue that parks such as Flamingoland, Alton Towers, American Adventure, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Drayton Manor were on a much more even footing! There was genuine competition in the sector. Now, there isn't really...

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Sadly though, I think Europa Park only suceeds as a family run park because it is an arm of Mack Rides, so therefore has the financial backing to make regular investments and improvements to the park and keep it constantly fresh without risking everything by making big gambles on installing new rides.

Family run parks in the UK don't have this luxuary. Making a multi million pound investment, in a major thrill coaster for example, could be unsuccessful with the public, so it's no surprise that the likes of Drayton Manor, Flamingo Land and Blackpool Pleasure Beach don't want to take these risks and instead settle for cheap, low impact installations. Much as I hate to say it, if these parks were run by multi million pound corporations they'd have the financial backing to make big investements and also to spend a fortune on marketing and re-marketing these investments if they turned out to not be as successful as the park had hoped. For a family run park however, this could finish them.

 

[AstroDan]

I don't think it's fair to say that due to EP being tied to Mack is the 'only' reason for its success.

The majority of investment in it is not directly on Mack products.

Being owned by the Mack family certainly helps, but I would argue it is the drive and determination of the parks leadership which really drives growth.

 

[Benzin]

but I would argue it is the drive and determination of the parks leadership which really drives growth.

I would say this is probably the most important factor to how good a park is, not whether or not it's run by a family or corporation...

Unfortunately, most theme park corporations aren't particularly well known for putting lots of love and care into their parks, which is why there always seems to be such a difference between them and the smaller independently run ones... But there are still independent parks that are run insanely badly...

 

[_nemesis_]

I think a businesses run park is definitely better. Yep, much better. Family parks have very little funding.

 

[James]

It's a mixture of finance and drive and determination really. If you have the drive and determination you need the financial backing to allow some things to become reality. Takes Alton Towers as an example. There are certain staff that have the drive and determination but not the financial backing due to the way in which Merlin operates.

Europa is very lucky to have both to keep it as a leading European resort.

This is looking at it very blandly though. There's a lot more to making a good theme park/resort.