In November 2007, Nick Farmer will certainly become the very first European Head of state of the TEA (previously the Themed Entertainment Organization), a blog post to which he was unanimously elected. Farmer has Thirty Years experience of working for amusement park, theme park, aquariums, zoos, science centres and also other recreation destinations. He suggests customers on park, story and brand name development and also new destination planning in Europe and also Scandinavia. Blooloop spoke to him regarding his Thirty Years occupation in the themed entertainment industry as well as ambitions for his presidency.
Early Career
Farmer started his occupation in advertising with Palitoy, manufacturers of Action Guy, Tiny Tears dolls as well as Celebrity Wars toys. He after that created his own production screen business, Farmer Studios, in 1976 which quickly expanded to use full layout, production and also setup services. 4 years ago, having actually ended up being progressively annoyed that the development of the firm suggested that his time was spent on administration, administration and also capital rather than style and imagination, Farmer disbanded the production company and also established Farmer Tourist attraction Development.
By reorganising and also creating a group of freelancers which can be congregated as needed for projects, Farmer has actually produced an extra efficient business model with a reduced taken care of price base. This versatility allows the company to weather the seasonality of the sector, along with reducing task costs. He is now complimentary to concentrate on destination idea advancement, manufacturing and working as a consultant.
Farmer’s core service entails making use of his experience in the sector to create and develop destinations. The majority of his business is in Europe and Scandinavia and also reflects the existing state of the European market, with couple of new parks opening up as well as most function focusing on existing parks by either revamping existing flights or enhancing new conventional trips. He specifically enjoys the difficulty of dealing with well-known locations to create tourist attractions which will certainly change the instructions as well as the public’s assumption of the park.
Current Tasks
Farmer serviced 7 new trips and several other destinations for the 2007 period.
Current jobs consist of:
– Grona Lund in Stockholm. Farmer developed the name, visuals identity and also station layout for Kvasten, their new put on hold coaster. Kvasten is playing a major park in rearranging Grona Lund within the Swedish recreation market.
– Bewilderwood in Norfolk. Farmer offered consultancy to the 50 acre household “interested treehouse adventure” which opened to such praise in Might 2007. His contribution was to boost the original concept and also to provide “a layer of narration interaction on top of the basic attraction to deliver a much richer experience and an extremely marketable attraction”
– Earth Traveler in Ostend. Farmer developed an idea making use of a common decrease ride to develop an educational experience which takes youngsters on a flight around the solar system. In this situation Farmer generated a custom-made video reveal to incorporate with the basic flight, so youngsters enjoy at the same time as leaning concerning space.
Along with his consultancy business, Farmer is a non-executive director of Wicksteed Park Ltd, Kettering, among the UK’s earliest recreation parks. This gives him the fringe benefit of an operator’s perspective. He discovers this beneficial for an appreciation that “operators battle with spending plans just as long as suppliers”.
Market Trends
In regards to demographics, the marketplace has currently lastly became aware the lengthy heralded maturing populace is finally right here and also Farmer is dealing with parks in order to help guarantee brand-new tourist attractions are created to provide for grand moms and dads as well as grand youngsters. In his own organisation for attractions intended largely at little kids he will usually try to “include a layer of amusement”, usually humour, that will certainly appeal to grownups as well.