AusLeisure

The operators of Victoria’s Enchanted Adventure Park have advised of record attendance levels during its post COVID summer season operations.

Commenting on the season, Enchanted Adventure Park Marketing Coordinator, Caitlin Archibald advised “we couldn’t have hoped for a better summer restart.

“In the five peak weeks of the 2021 summer period, we recorded an increase of 45% compared to the previous summer. This happened even though we had to respect the social distancing and limit numbers because of the COVID protocols.

“(But) we still had maximum turnout.”

First opened as the Enchanted Maze in 1977, the attraction, located at Arthur’s Seat south east of Melbourne at Arthur’s Seat south east of Melbourne, has steadily added to its attractions over the years, now offering multiple mazes, tree surfing courses, zip lines, bushland obstacles and, since 2011, Tube Slides from Neveplast.

Speaking to Neveplast about the popularity of its six downhill tube slides, Archibald advised “our Tube Slides are a fantastic addition to our park and are one of the most popular activities for our guests.

“We describe our Tube Slides as ‘dry water slides’ and therefore, they can be use all year round. We have a specially designed Nippers Tube Slide, specifically to cater to smaller children and we have our larger slides to cater for bigger kids and adults as well.

“As it can be expensive to visit the snowfields here in Australia, the slides are accessible and attractive without the higher costs involved for a snow holiday.”

As for Enchanted Adventure Park’s summer season, its summer Archibald went on to say “since our re-opening in November 2020, the park has experienced its busiest period on record. The COVID-19 restrictions put an additional layer of complication to our operation such as a limited capacity. “Luckily, the Tube Slide activity naturally supports social distancing as the Tubes act as a barrier ensuring queuing customers keep their distance from one another.

“There is strong support for local attractions with the uncertainty in the travel industry and the requirement to quarantine when traveling interstate. Therefore, more and more people are discovering their own backyard and supporting local businesses.

“Upon our re-opening, we were uncertain if the business would bounce back quickly and if customers would be hesitant to attend a venue with a large capacity. We spent many weeks preparing our COVID re-opening plan and put a strong focus on guest communications to ensure visitors of their safety by way of social distancing and cleaning practises.

“The feeling was that we were well placed due to our wide open spaces and being an outdoor venue.

“We need not have been worried as once the doors opened, the guest bookings flooded in (with) 62,000 guests welcomed into our park during our five week peak summer period - a 45% increase on the previous summer.

“Due to the capacity restrictions imposed on our business to uphold our COVID Safety plan, we turned customers away on many occasions.”

Using the lockdown period to “plan and deliver projects that increased business efficiency”, Archibald went on to advise “the management structure was adjusted and many key accounts such as phones, internet, IT and ticketing software were re-negotiated to ensure cost savings.

“Upon re-opening, we created a timed arrival ticket. Previously, guests were able to enter for General Admission at any time. By doing so, we reduced congregation of large queues at peak arrival times. Some customers avoided queues and actively pick the quieter times of the day to arrive such as the afternoon. By only allowing visitors to pre-book, we were able to move patrons into the park quicker.

“The additional administration required for contact tracing record keeping put an additional strain on our ticketing teams. Pre-bookings allow for us to capture that data prior to guest arrival.

Booking conditions also needed to be relaxed. Our product would normally be non-refundable. In the event of COVID-related non-attendance, we felt it was best to refund customers and give confidence to guests that they should pre-book and we would refund if non-attendance was out of their control.”

Images: Enchanted Adventure Park's Tube Slides from Neveplast (top), the attraction from the air (middle) and its tree surfing course (below).

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