The sky’s the limit: Islands of Adventure at Universal
Studios Orlando
Creating
exciting, unique experiences is the business of theme
parks, which have the resources and creativity to help
corporate clients customize events or meetings, whether the group
comprises 20 people or thousands.
With increasing emphasis placed on the branding of meetings and
events, theme parks have become more attractive destinations
because of their built-in assets and their ability to work with
groups to produce large-scale happenings, says Beth Robertson, vice
president of communications for the Alexandria, Va.-based
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
Moreover, several park directors say the fact that attendees are
encouraged to bring their partners or kids along for the trip helps
boost attendance.
“At theme parks, events are designed for the entire family --
not necessarily the same activities at the same time, but in one
facility everyone has something to do,” Robertson says.
The following are examples of how far some theme parks will go
to satisfy corporate clients.
Busch Gardens & Adventure
Island
Tampa Bay, Fla.
(888) 800-5447, option 3
www.buschgardens.com
An African landscape it is not, but
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, with more than 2,000 live animals of 320
different species, typically acts as a proxy for the continent.
“A lot of time people ask us to do an event with an African
theme,” says Brenda Waldron, national convention sales manager for
Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, Tampa Bay.
Groups can set up in the Crown Colony House, which accommodates
up to 300 people and overlooks the park’s Serengeti Plain; in the
Desert Grill, a Moroccan restaurant for up to 750 people; or in the
Moroccan Palace, a performance venue suitable for breakfast or
lunch receptions. The park can provide entertainment -- bands or
other live performances -- with African themes.
Additionally, the park customizes “safaris” for groups, during
which participants can feed giraffes alongside the park’s
trainers.
For mealtime events, the park can cook up anything from
hamburgers and hot dogs to a black-tie dinner.
Groups can buy out the park in part or whole for exclusive use
a half hour after doors close to the public. And while the park
doesn’t have overnight accommodations, transportation from downtown
hotels or beachfront properties can be worked into the
contract.
WATER WORLDS
Making waves: Wilderness Hotel water parkThe number of hotel rooms attached to water parks in the United States has more than quadrupled since 2000, according to Cave Creek, Ariz.-based JLC Hospitality Consulting. As a result, there are more opportunities for corporate groups to take the plunge into family-friendly venues.
The 740-room Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., has more meeting space -- 100,000 square feet -- than any other indoor water park in the country, according to JLC’s research.
The nation’s largest hotel water park, the 594-room Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort, also in Wisconsin Dells, is undergoing a $150 million expansion and will open a 25,000-square-foot banquet and conference facility this fall. Corporate events can be held in the Timberland Playhouse, a (dry) six-level fun house offering friendly “battles” with foam balls.
Other notable parks: the 194-room Grand Harbor Resort in Dubuque, Iowa, connected to a 120,000-square-foot convention center; and the 596-room Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio, which opened in May and will add a $12 million convention center in August. -- T.I.
It’s a take: On-set dining
at MGM Studios, Orlando
Walt Disney World Resort Orlando
(321) 939-7221
disneymeetings.disney.go.com
Disneyland Resort Anaheim,
Calif.
(714) 956-6556
www.disneylandmeetings.com
Disneyland Resort Paris
France
(011) 33-1-60-45-75-00
www.drpbusiness.com
Groups staying at the Walt Disney World
Resort or participating in an Orlando citywide convention have
exclusive access to the Disney Event Group (DEG), which oversees
every creative and technical aspect of an event’s execution, from
specialized entertainment to food and beverage and floral
arrangements.
Customized characters can be designed to mingle with attendees
or appear as part of the program during a general session or an
awards banquet. For a recent financial company event, DEG invented
a “groupie” named Dee Posit, played by an actress who had been
prepped with facts and stats about the firm. “We do a lot of that
because it’s cost-effective and memorable,” explains Dennis
Wirzman, managing producer for DEG.
For a company that sells cooking products, DEG in Orlando
invented a dance show, a la Stomp, in which performers
used the company’s spoons, pots and other products as percussion
instruments.
With a total of 5,365 guest rooms at its six convention
resorts, the theme park also offers more basic options for groups
that might be looking for a uniquely Disney experience. Groups can
hold receptions in the resort’s nearly 600,000 square feet of
dedicated function space, alongside virtually any of Disney’s
attractions, or in a space DEG creates from scratch. At MGM
Studios, groups can have a progressive dinner on movie sets.
At Disneyland in Anaheim, which has 2,200 guest rooms at three
on-site hotels and more than 186,000 square feet of meeting space,
the event staff works with planners to match the park’s assets to
the group’s needs. An aviation-related group recently took
advantage of “Soarin’ Over California,” a hang-glide simulator.
While Disneyland doesn’t have its own DEG, “we do have most of
the component parts,” says Gregg Haniford, sales director, resort
and park event sales.
Both parks, for example, offer “Turtle Talk with Crush,” which
is an interactive experience with the surf-loving star of Pixar’s
“Finding Nemo.” Conversations with the turtle -- projected on a
screen that looks like a glass wall of an aquarium -- are
unrehearsed, and with advance notice, Crush can mention details
about the company and attendees.
In France, Disneyland Resort Paris has 188,000-plus square feet
of meeting space and 7,600 guest rooms. Recently, the park hosted
30,000 attendees for France Telecom after hours and created a
special parade. For an Air France event, a customized fireworks
display was set to the airline’s theme music.
Chocoholics’ haven:
The Fountain Lobby at The Hotel Hershey
Hershey Park
Hershey, Pa.
(866) 726-3387
www.hersheypa.com
Hershey Park in Pennsylvania has its
quieter spots along with the requisite fast rides and other
kid-friendly attractions; indeed, such dualism is “the fun thing
about coming on board here,” says Jeff Rudder, director of sales,
Hershey Resorts Group. Draws for groups include Hershey Gardens and
the Hershey Museum (admission to both is free for overnight
guests), the Chocolate Spa at Hotel Hershey and 36 holes of
championship golf.
Nearly 900 guest rooms and 125,000 square feet of meeting space
are available in the resort’s two hotels, and a number of unique
venues can host a reception or dinner, including the resort’s
stately gardens and Fountain Lobby.
Janet Dise, assistant director of sales for the Hershey
Entertainment Group, says planners usually opt to have a picnic or
catered meal in Hershey Park’s private catering areas or pavilions
prior to some park playtime. The park can be opened after hours for
groups, or midweek during the day in April and May or September and
October.
Groups can ride Hershey Trolleys (and enjoy a narrated tour)
from the hotels to various venues, including a 30,000-seat outdoor
sports stadium that can be rented out for themed events or company
tournaments, and the Hershey Theatre, which has several lobbies and
a mezzanine for private functions.
The main draw here, of course, is chocolate. The resort can
“chocolatize” just about anything, according to Rudder. Menus
include items such as cocoa-crusted chicken or chocolate pasta.
Private chocolate-making demonstrations, “from bean to bar,” can be
arranged at Hershey Chocolate World, and chocolate tastings are
popular substitutions for coffee breaks. Given enough lead time,
the resort will even produce company logos in chocolate.
Six Flags
(Various locations)
(866) 726-3387
www.sixflags.com
Six Flags operates 29 theme parks in
North America, attractions which are best known for screamingly
fast roller coasters, but some also come with water parks or
“animal parks” attached. Only a few Six Flags have overnight
accommodations (though many partner with nearby hotels), and as a
result, “the vast majority of our [group] business comes from local
corporations,” says Steven Brown, vice president of ticket strategy
and group sales for the company, which has its headquarters in New
York City.
Six Flags theme parks are not capable of producing the
full-scale customized events that Disney or Universal might create.
Says Brown, “We typically let the group loose with our rides, shows
and attractions.”
Corporate groups can gather in the parks’ dedicated meeting
facilities or in private picnic areas, which offer catering
services and A/V capabilities. After hours, the parks will open for
exclusive use by groups.
Elements that can be customized include invitations, printed
T-shirts, special maps of the park with a company’s logo,
photographic mementos and company-specific activities within the
park. When a pharmaceutical firm held an event at Six Flags Great
America near Chicago, for example, the park flew company flags from
atop the tallest roller coaster.
Six Flags events are a fast-paced alternative for planners who
are “tired of the local national park” for an end-of-year hurrah or
group retreat, Brown says.
Universal Orlando Resort &
Theme Park
(888) 266-2121
www.uomeetingsandevents.com
Universal Studios
Hollywood, Calif.
(818) 622-3036
specialevents.universalstudioshollywood.com
As purveyors of movie magic, Universal
theme parks in California and Florida are well-equipped to spin
planners’ dreams into reality.
Universal Orlando Resort & Theme Park is the larger of the
two as a corporate event destination. With 2,400 guest rooms on
site, the resort comprises three theme parks that can serve as
backdrops to events: Universal Studios, CityWalk Orlando and
Islands of Adventure. Paul Rothenburg, vice president of domestic
sales for Universal Orlando Resort, says he likes to hold
receptions or dinners outdoors, against dramatically lit attraction
facades, when appropriate. “Why would you come to Orlando and have
a giant event in a ballroom?” he asks.
The best time to schedule an event at Universal, Rothenburg
says, is the park’s off-season, which coincides conveniently with
peak convention months: September and October, and January and
February.
Recently, inventive corporate clients at the theme park have
created customized 3-D films; cast employees in shows Æ la the
Indiana Jones stunt spectacular; taken over the Shrek attraction
for a day’s meeting; arranged for behind-the-scenes tours of the
park, and designed an event with a pervasive mummy theme.
Like Disney, Universal has the resources to create virtually
any setting, show or event extra that a corporate client might
request. “The coolest thing about Universal is that any asset or
any piece of intellectual property can be customized to do
something for a group,” says Rothenburg.
Lori Gordon, conference and event manager for Press Ganey, a
South Bend, Ind.-based vendor of satisfaction surveys and
improvement services for the health-care industry, planned the
company’s 20th birthday bash at Universal for 1,600 attendees last
November.
Block party: CityWalk
Orlando
at Universal Studios
“I knew I wanted an ’80s theme, but
that was as far as I had developed it,” Gordon says. With help of
the event staff, she elected to buy out the CityWalk theme park and
make over each of the nightclubs with an ’80s theme. The staff
created a Cheers bar, an arcade with Atari games, and
brought in an ’80s band plus Madonna and Cher impersonators. Gordon
says her attendees are notoriously difficult to please, but her
evaluations yielded a 96 percent approval rating. “I joke that I
need to put in my resignation to my boss, because I don’t know if I
can top it this year,” she says.
At Universal Studios Hollywood, the biggest news for special
events is that Wolfgang Puck agreed in February to become the
official caterer of special events. “If a group is considering our
destination and a few other destinations, we’re hoping Puck will be
the tie-breaker,” says Evelyn Taylor, director of Universal Studios
Hollywood, Theme Park and CityWalk special events.
Universal Studios Hollywood’s capacity to create full-blown
corporate events is equivalent to that in Orlando, says Taylor,
who’s worked at both locations.
The Hollywood park has a total of 918 guest rooms in two
on-site hotels and, of course, an active movie studio. When groups
arrive, attendees can board a tram that will snake through the
backlot and deposit the group at the Globe Theater, a
9,600-square-foot venue popular for receptions.
In Hollywood, Universal staff will help groups script
customized movie scenes performed during the event. Groups also can
customize the experience by putting names on marquees or into the
design of Wolfgang Puck’s desserts.
Xcaret
Riviera Maya, Mexico
(998) 884-9422
www.xcaret.com
Xcaret, 45 minutes south of Cancun,
doesn’t fit the traditional mold of theme park. “Visitors arrive
hoping to spend a day of fun and entertainment, but at the end of
the day, they take a unique experience with them, one of ecological
conscience and Mexican culture,” says Erika Madrigal, manager of
groups and conventions.
The park was co-developed in 1990 in conjunction with Mexico’s
National Institute of Anthropology and History’s efforts to
reconstruct traditional Mayan pyramids and buildings. The result
was part cultural center, part Club Med, with offerings as exotic
as expeditions to explore underground rivers and archaeological
sites, swimming with dolphins or caring for baby turtles living on
the 200-acre property.
Xcaret, which means “little inlet,” has a butterfly pavilion, a
bat cave, an orchid conservatory with an in-vitro reproduction lab,
coral reef aquariums, an island populated by jaguars, a jungle with
fragrant flora named the “Valley of the Scents,” a spa, and a
6,000-seat theater that hosts a variety of dance and musical shows.
Guides will take small groups around the property’s Mayan village
and talk about the area’s fascinating nature and history.
There are no overnight accommodations at Xcaret, but the park
does offer pick-up service from nearly 75 hotels in CancSn, Playa
del Carmen and the Riviera Maya. Dinners or receptions for up to
600 people are infused with Mayan culture. Groups can enjoy private
use of the park’s venues, and corporate logos easily can be
incorporated into
the decor.