Over the 15 years of Coaster101, we’ve done well over a lot interviews with people from all over the theme park industry. It’s been one of the most consistent features of the site, mostly because we love getting to talk to people in the field. And, the best way to learn more about the industry is to speak with people in it, whether it’s manager of parks, people who design rides, sound designer and lighting designers, costumers, modelers and hobbyists, or other journalists and enthusiasts. I can’t think of any where it wasn’t fun to talk to people who are passionate about what they do. So, when it comes to making our next 15 to 15 list in honor of our birthday, narrowing the over 130 interviews we’ve done down to 15 favorites is not easy. But here’s our attempt.
We’ve tried to highlight a range of people from different aspects of the industry, and from a range of different eras. We’ve also focused on interviews that don’t land on any of our other lists. You can find a few of those among our top-15 food articles list and our top-15 educational articles. And, If there are interviews you love that we didn’t mention here, or interviews we haven’t done yet, let us know in the comments. And if you’ve got a lot of free time, here’s our entire collection of interviews from 2005 to now!
Park Managers, Directors, and Producers
I always feel special when we get to talk to somebody that manages parks or leads a parks design team or comes up with the new entertainment for a park. As anyone who played Roller Coaster Tycoon knows, there’s a lot more that goes into a park than just building cool rides. In my mind, these people are even more deep behind the scenes than the ride designers, they’ve got so many aspects beyond just the ride to think about. And usually, they’re people who love theme parks. It’s no surprise that several of these are among our favorite interviews.
Carowinds VP and GM Mike Fehnel in 2014
One of our first interviews with a Park GM, we talked to then Carowinds VP and GM Mike Fehnel a few months after he started the job in 2014. Mike had been a fixture in Cedar Fair parks for years, having been at Dorney Park for over 20 years – including as VP and GM there – before heading to Carowinds. He gave us great insight about how he worked his way up at Dorney and about the change from Dorney to Carowinds. He also talked about Cedar Fair’s growing investment in North Carolina (remember, Fury325 opened the following year). These days Mike is back up in Pennsylvania at Dorney, still doing great work.
Holiday World President and CEO Matt Eckert in 2015
For our second interview of that 2014-2015 offseason, we spoke with President and CEO. Matt was in his second year as Holiday Worlds president, but had been with them for years beforehand. He offers some great persepective on running a “unique” independent park that behaves differently than a lot of major parks. And Matt’s still there as president and CEO, with Holiday World still as great as ever.
Efteling COO Coen Bertens in 2016
This might be our only interview with someone from a park none of us had visited, but when we got connected to Coen Bertense of Efteling we couldn’t pass up the chance. It was a great opportunity for us to learn more about the fascinating history of this unique Dutch park, and to learn about some of the differences between operating European parks vs the North American ones we’re much more familiar with. Efteling shot to the top of all of our overseas “to-visit” lists after this.
Busch Gardens Tampa Director of Design and Engineering Jeff Hornick in 2014
While we talk to a lot of park operators and ride manufacturers, we actually haven’t interviewed too many people from park design and engineering teams. But it’s important to remember that ride manufacturers are only part of the design process. Especially at a park like Busch Gardens Tampa, the in-house teams are key parts of overall creative design. Jeff talked to us a lot about how the team re-designed the whole land around Faclons Fury when it was being built.
Knott’s Berry Farm Producer Eric Nix, 2019
Eric’s favorite time of the year!
Like with ride design, a key part of a theme park management team are the folks who make the in-park entertainment. As shows and festivals become a growing part of parks big and small, show producers are becoming more and more important. This was a great opportunity to learn from Eric Nix all about what goes into producing things Knott’s Scary Farm. Eric’s experience at Disney also gave us some great insight into the differences between how things get done at the biggest of theme park giants (Disney) and regional parks like Knott’s.
Roller Coaster and Ride Designers and Manufacturers
Of course, we also love designing roller coasters in Roller Coaster Tycoon. So of course we love any chance we get to talk to people who design our favorite rides. It’s always a treat to learn more about what makes their attractions unique, what the process they go through on designing a ride is, and if we’re lucky we get a little hint about what might be in store for the future.
Gravity Group in 2005
We interviewed Gravity Group long before Mine Blower was a thing. Learn how it all started!
The first interview Coaster101 ever did, somehow we were able to snag Gravity Group! Makers of some of the best modern wooden roller coasters out there, it was a great early look into the Gravity Group design process and how they work with parks. Gravity Group was only a few years old when we spoke to them back then, so it might be time to check-in with them again. We’d very curious to see how things have changed since we originally spoke to them 15 years ago!
Great Coasters International Inc. in 2015 and 2016
Adam House, senior engineer at Great Coasters International, and really good interviewee.
We’re cheating a little with this one, because we’ve actually talked to Great Coasters International a few times. In 2015 we talked to them about their process for design new coasters and how they work with parks to develop new designs. But these days Great Coasters might be as well known for re-furbishing aging wooden coasters as they are for building new ones, so in 2016 we talked to them about that process. It was fascinating to learn the approach they take when working on a super historic coaster like Yankee Cannonball vs more modern wooden coasters like GhostRider.
Sally Corporation in 2017
Rich and John can’t wait for us to ride the latest and greatest Battle for Metropolis!
Of course, we don’t just love coasters. In 2017 Sally Corp was wrapping up their final “Justice League” dark ride for Six Flags parks. Sally is basically the premier Dark Ride manufacturer for any non-Disney park, working on everything ranging from Boo Blasters on Boo Hill at a bunch of Cedar Fair parks to Lost Kingdom Adventure at several Legolands to the original ET Adventure at the Universal Parks. We got to speak with both CEO John Wood and Creative Director Rich Hill about their history, the work on Justice League, and how they come up with rides both using existing IP and with new IP.
Theming Designers, Painters, Lightning Designers: The People Who Make Rides Pop
Of course, while we love ride manufacturers and designers, there’s a lot more that goes into making our favorite parks and attractions. And usually those are done by other companies. Think sound design, theming of lands and parks, the paint scheme on rides, and how attractions are lit. All important parts of the theme park experience that don’t always come first to mind.
Baynum Painting in 2016
You maybe haven’t heard of Baynum, but I can almost guarantee you’ve seen their work. They’ve painted coasters across the country, both wood and steel. This was a great chance to learn what goes into the process of adding a beauftiful color scheme to a coaster, and also what Baynum does to try to protect their work from the elements. Next time you see a fresh coat on your favorite attraction, there’s a good chance you have these guys to thank.
KCL Engineering in 2017
Ever since we first saw their amazing lighting system on Monster at Adventureland in Iowa, we’ve been big fans of KCL Engineering. Then getting to see the next generation of their work on Hangtime, and we were even more convinced that they should light everything. We’ve actually spoken to them a couple times, both in 2017, at the Hangtime opening, and again in 2019 A fascinating read about how a regular commercial lighting company entered the theme park business, and what goes into their tech to provide these detailed lighting systems (as well as how they’re improving). They quickly become one of our favorite companies in the theme park business, period. We also had a fun discussion about which coasters we want to get some KCL Lights!
Weber Group in 2019
It feels like parks have been putting more effort into the theming around new coasters recently. Often these days when a new coaster opens, it comes along with an entirely new or re-done area around it. That was certainly the case when Copperhead Strike opened at Carowinds in 2019. And all the theming that went around it was created by the Weber Group. We learn all about their history working on things like short-lived Tomb Raider theming at Kings Island up through Copperhead strike. We also learned about how they find their props for the theming and what goes into the creative design. If you love theming around your rides, these are some of the best in the business for it.
JRA and Steelers Country in 2018
One our other recent favorite ride theming projects was the theming of Steel Curtain and Steelers Country at Kennywood in 2018. Yes, partly because many of us are football fans. The whole idea for that theme came from a design company called JRA. We sat down with their senior project director Rick O’Connell all about the Steelers Country project. It was fascinating to learn about how this project in particular combines a bunch of JRA’s previous work into their best project yet.
JM Music Design in 2018
Music and sound effects are as important a part of park theming as lighting and props. In 2018 we talked with Justin Mabry of JM Music Design who worked specifically on music for the growing number of shows at regional parks. Specifically, his work includes shows at Carowinds and Busch Gardens Williamsburg (some of my favorites). We talked all about the process of creating a sound for a show, from early brainstorms up through the first performance in a park. We also found out he’s a huge fan of Fury325, so we were instant fans.
Theme Park Videographers and Journalists
The last broad category are interviews tend to fall into is basically people who are better at this job than we are. We love talking to our favorite theme park journalists, videographers, podcasters, or anyone else who loves theme parks. Here are a couple of our favorites from recent years.
Taylor Bybee in 2018
We should probably be really jealous of Taylor Bybee. I mean, he’s way more successful than us, and none of us have hair that can come close to competing with him. But he’s just such a nice guy, and his videos deserve their popularity. You’ve probably seen Taylors work before on Youtube with Coaster Studios, and we dove into the history behind his channel and all of his projects. In a separate interview later in 2018 we also talked with Taylor specifically about one of our favorite pieces of theme park media, the Kentucky Kingdom documentary Save My Park. The film documents the up and down history of Kentucky Kingdom, and the effort to bring it back from the dead after closing in 2009. If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend giving it a watch.
Len Testa on Touring Plans in 2018 (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4)
Len Testa is one of the true “theme park” expert out there. He’s written multiple books about theme parks, including The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and The Unofficial Guide to British Theme Parks. He also co-hosts the “Disney Dish” podcast. But maybe the most fascinating thing he’s created is the website Touring Plans. If you’ve ever tried to plan a Disney World, Universal or Disneyland trip there’s a very good chance you’ve used Touring Plans. And if you haven’t, you should.
The site uses detailed data analytics and statistics to help plan optimal trips to parks. If you’re a nerd and a theme park fan, it’s basically perfect. So we spoke with Len in for a giant interview series about his background, the origin of Touring Plans, the science behind it, and his thoughts on the changing Theme Park industry. It’s all fascinating, and a perfect read as you plan your first pandemic era trips!
Like we mentioned a the top, Coaster101’s interviewed a lot of people over our 15 years. We’ve learned a ton from all of them, and can’t wait to talk to more. If you want more, you can find all of our interviews here. There are tons that we’ve loved that we couldn’t add to the list.
And let us know in the comments what people, companies, or jobs you want us to interview next. We’re also looking for more ideas about what stories to hear!
Coaster101 15 to 15 Giveaway #13
We continue our “15 to 15” giveaways with another Coaster101 Prize Pack! To enter, leave a comment below telling us your favorite Coaster101 interview or someone in the industry who you’d like us to interview.
You can enter now through 11:59 p.m. ET tonight.
Giveaway Rules
- The entry period for this giveaway will run until 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. We’ll email the winner tomorrow.
- To remain eligible for your prize pack, you will need to respond with your name and mailing address within 24 hours of receiving the email notification.
- One entry per person.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to ship Prize Packs outside of the U.S.
Finally, keep an eye out for the next 15 to 15 tomorrow as we continue celebrating 15 years online!
Good luck!
My favorite interview was Jeff Hornick. Loved hearing some tidbits about my #1 bucket list park!
It would be great to see interviews with more GMs of different parks!
I really love the behind the scenes interview with some of the higher ups at the parks. It really lets you look behind the curtain of what goes on, so my favorite is Busch Gardens Tampa interview.
My favs are GCI (my favorite manufacturer) or Taylor Bybee (classic man)
The interview of Taylor Bybee has been one of my favorites