Dennis Speigel, International Theme Park Services: The “roll up” of the industry began officially when Premier Parks bought Six Flags and the subsequent park properties. They severely over paid for many of the parks in their quest to become the largest regional theme park operator. Unfortunately their business plan was flawed and created the problem that the current management is living with today – incredible debt. As soon as Prermier took over Six Flags they began losing money on a company-wide basis and never showed a profit, placing one of the industry icons in a disastrous positions. They paid too much. Today companies such as Parque Reunidos, who have been very active in the acquisition of leisure attractions, are paying reasonable multiples of EBITDA for properties. This is a prudent approach to business and to the industry. Managing the debt is a problem that acquirers have to address. “Biting off too much debt” can be a problem no matter how polished an operator you may be.

Curtis Parks, PARC Management, USA: LED lighting really caught my eye. There are some fantastic lighting products that can dramatically change the visual elements in a park. For instance, take an icon like the Ferris Wheel. You can change your lighting package (through a programming script) to match a particular theme for an event or holiday. If the park is celebrating Fourth of July, your Ferris Wheel is red, white and blue with fireworks. If it’s Halloween, your Ferris Wheel is themed with orange pumpkins and spooky bats. LED theming can really add some razzle-dazzle to any park environment.

William Henschke, Rehoboth Beach Funland, USA: There are a very small percentage of parks that would be viable. Land values have risen to the point that in some locations the land value exceeds the value of the park itself. You would make more money if you sold the land for condominiums than if you continued to operate as an amusement park. But in our family we want to operate as a park. This is our 45th season and we now have our fourth generation actively in the business. They have the same values we have. They want to continue Funland as it has been without cashing in. In shore areas, such as where we are, land values have escalated out of sight.

Linda Hays, Cliff's Amusement Park, USA: We’ve have had a great season. We are up a little over 10% this year. April was not a good month so being able to pull out from that plus an additional 10% is better than expected. We added three new rides this season including two kiddie rides, Baja Buggies by Zamperla and an SBF/Visa Doggie-Go-Round, and one thrill ride, the Sidewinder from Moser.

Henk Groenen, Efteling, Holland: We are not under pressure, because we accept our responsibilities. The Efteling Nature Foundation is still our one and only shareholder. We are a park as much as a theme park because no more than 10% of our area is built on, the rest is flowers, trees etc. Underneath Vogel Rok, our indoor coaster, there is a water tank that we use in summer for air conditioning in our hotel and in the winter to keep some attractions free of frost. We also buy used domestic water, run it through our natural cleaning systems and use it for our lakes and to water our golf courses. Some years we can even give water back to the system. We also catch rain water and use it to flush toilets. We are doing several other pilots schemes here too, but we don't put signs in the park explaining this, because during the day people just want to have fun.

Steve Cook, Gold Reef City, South Africa: The Occupational Health and Safety legislation in South Africa does apply to amusement parks and attractions, but is of general application. There is, however, no dedicated or specific legislation governing amusement rides and devices. We therefore comply with our obligations in terms of the health and safety regulations – but as a matter of course we also follow what is considered best practice in the industry globally, as these requirements are more focused and specific. Detailed and rigorous inspection is carried out by appropriately qualified independent experts on a regular basis.

Rob Norris, Seabreeze, USA: No, we have never seriously considered selling Seabreeze. Our family has been in the business for over 130 years; we started building carousels in 1876. We really hope the legacy continues but that's up to the next generation. We have a philosophy that we are the current caretakers of a great traditional amusement park. As long as we can continue to run a safe and profitable business, we have no desire to sell. But we've had great weather this year – if you ask me after two weeks of rain, you might get another answer!

Bill Muirhead, Movie Park, Germany: Well we actually have been talking about, believe it or not, a waterpark. I’m a big believer in marrying waterparks with theme parks. Every time I’ve added a waterpark to my attractions, and I’ve done it in Massachusetts, I did it in New Jersey, in Hong Kong and Pennsylvania, every time I did it; it was an absolute positive, to operations, to revenue, to EBITDA. But also I’ve got to tell you, this region, the North Rhine area, is up and coming with regards to tourism and we have a deficiency of bed nights, so I don’t know if it’s a second gate, but we could really use accommodation here and make that work. I could also see an indoor totally themed environment that we could open year round working too. And we have the room.

Mike Chance, Chance Morgan: It can be. It has both advantages and disadvantages. It can cut down on our selling expenses, having fewer customers to deal with and relationships to maintain. The disadvantage is that their increased buying power gives them a better negotiating position. More importantly, when a big corporation’s capital budget gets cut, as it occasionally does, it has a more dramatic effect on our business.

Jody Sweet, Disney Worldwide Services: We recruit quite a number of seasonal workers, 2,000 to 3,000 per year. We're fortunate because we have a strong Disney brand and our seasons correlate with times when there are employees available for work. It may be a challenge because of the volume of people we need, but we do have a good source of qualified talent for our needs. We actively recruit high school students, colleges, those who migrate south for the winter, senior citizens, and school system employees. We retain them with a good number of benefits and offerings that are unique to Disney. Plus, as we keep in contact with them to keep them connected, many return every year.

Cees Kikstra, StarParks, Europe: A few things caught my attention. First, and it's not quite new, interactive computer projection - smoke curtains, water curtains etc that you can walk through. I think these can be manipulated in a lot of ways and offer some very interesting possibilities. Then there's the development of the Mountain Glider. My colleague Bill Muirhead [StarParks CEO] signed up for the first one when he was at Walibi Belgium. This allows you to fly for 60-metres without supports, and that's really new for parks. Finally, the Splash Battle has been a real breakthrough. What visitors want is interactivity and water play, and this has it both. It's now available in a new trackless version I believe.

Chris Maier, Land of Make Believe, USA:

The weather. Family units with children aged two to 12 plan their leisure time activities well in advance. Forecasted weather has a negative effect on attendance. The Weather Channel is wrong more times than it’s right and families have learned to have back-up plans. The season of 2003 was the only exception in which a park attraction could make up for bad weather.

Will Koch, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, USA:

We feel as if we’ve done much of what we can do to make our rides and operations as safe as possible. What remains is the rider behaviour.

Jim Seay, Premier Rides:

Just as the manufacturer has a responsibility to understand and appreciate both the schedule and scope of work that a park operator has, it should be the operator's responsibility to understand and appreciate the process through which a new ride is designed, fabricated and delivered by the manufacturer.

Mats Wedin, Liseberg, Sweden:

Mediocre. The start of the season was ok, June and July too, surprisingly so because I was fearing like a lot of park operators, that with the World Cup and football, it would affect us.

Scott Simpson, Playland’s Castaway Cove, USA:

They do a great job within the United States. They’re very professional and very organised. Everything they do is done exceptionally well. Their international trade shows allow for IAAPA’s tremendous expansion.