NEWS: Looping Group to invest €5 million in Isla Magica

[jedimaster1227]

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CaixaBank has reached an agreement with Looping Group - French group specializing in the management of parks controlled by U.S. investment firm HIG - for the sale of its shares in the theme park Isla Magica in Seville, where the financial institution has the 82.8 percent of the capital of the park.

 

As indicated by the entity in a note sent to Europa Press, the transaction is expected to be closed by next summer. Also, thanks to this agreement, the financial institution will assume a cost of 30 million euros for "letting unencumbered financial contingencies park operator society and facilitate the future viability of Magic Island".

 

The purpose of the sale of shares is as CaixaBank, "ensure continuity and future development of the park."

 

The agreement, which is subject to the fulfillment of the legal and administrative measures, reflects the commitment of CaixaBank, with 82.8 percent of the capital costs of taking 30 million euros to free of charge and financial contingencies park operator society "and thereby facilitate the future viability of Magic Island".

 

According CaixaBank, Looping Group, which already operates eight regional parks in Europe, wants to "secure the future of Magic Island with a strong and ambitious plan that will incorporate new attractions in the coming years to improve the attractiveness of the park."

 

To achieve these objectives, Looping Group is committed to support an investment of five million euros in new attractions to the park.

 

For Isla Mágica, which receives about 600,000 visitors each year and in 2011 recorded a loss of 3.2 million euros, the agreement, if finally closes in current terms, means "to be managed by an expert group in this type of facilities and a clear willingness to grow in Europe in the coming years. " Moreover, in this way, the park Seville "will ensure its continuity."

 

Looping Group, formed in 2011 following the acquisition of 70 percent of seven parks to the French group Compagnie des Alpes, made last May to buy the park Cobac Park, who joined Park Bagatelle, Saint Malo Aquarium, Park Mini-Châteaux and Val de Loire Aquarium, in France, in Switzerland Aquaparc, Avonturenpark Hellendoorn in the Netherlands, and Pleasurewood Hills in the United Kingdom.

Edited September 7, 2014 by jedimaster1227

[prody]

Hi everyone!!!,

here are some fresh news about this little spanish park. For 2014 the park is going to open a new waterpark inside the park. IS going to be theme in the mayan culture (as it was the section of the park which would became the new waterpark). Here are some pics of the model and some of the theming.

here some of the mayan theme

 

here a map of hoe is going to be the park

 

the model

 

So as you see, is going to be a really small park, but really complete.

[_koppen]

According to the blueprint the park will have a copy of the tube slide complex going into Cowabunga Bay Las Vegas, just with a few body slides added to one side of it. Hopefully the rest of this park will be Polin as well.

Source

[_koppen]

This park is almost finished, and it looks really good!

 

The Cowabunga Bay tower is not being built, instead the slides are looking like this (and they are all from Polin):

 

 

It seems like the wave pool have had a soft opening

 

Theming!

 

Look at that awesome dueling bowl/boomerango slide!

 

It's been a while now since Polin redesigned their line of play structures, but it's not until now that they start to pop up all over the world

 

 

 

Source

Source

Source

[jedimaster1227]

Polin has sent us a press release regarding the success of Aqua Magica, also providing a good look at the completed property.

 

Reviewing the recent activities of the Looping Group is like peering at a microcosm of the European theme park industry as a whole. The growing company, with headquarters in Merlimont, France, is closely examining what features its parks will require to keep guests consistently returning year after year. And, like the most successful parks around the world-but particularly in Europe right now-that answer involves the expansion or addition of a waterpark.

 

The management team at Looping Group, which owns nine leisure parks in Europe, explains its plan as "combining an organic and dynamic external-growth strategy." The management team isn't shy about letting competitors know what the goal of that strategy is, either: to become one of the leading European management groups in the regional parks sector.

 

Recently, Looping Group proved its commitment to that strategy when-for the second straight year-it inaugurated a new waterpark addition to one of its facilities, this time at Isla Magica in Seville, Spain.

 

Dipping in to the pool of waterslides

The Looping Group kickstarted is focus on aquatic attractions last year when it expanded its Avonturenpark in Hellendoorn, Netherlands, to include the new Aquaventura Slidepark. Designed and installed by Polin Waterparks, the new waterpark features were part of a more than $4 million (€3 million), 16,404-square-foot (5,000-square-meter) expansion of the facility.

 

This year, the Looping Group again partnered with Polin for its $6.5 million (€5 million) expansion of Isla Magica, a facility of which it gained ownership in 2013. Open since 1997, the theme park - which is divided into seven different themes that represent various eras in Spanish history during the 16th century - offers comedy theaters; live entertainment with water, lasers, fire and music; sail-boat rides; and two-story carousels. At the time Looping Group took over, however, the park was in danger of closing. The Looping Group determined that it could revitalize the themepark by adapting some new management techniques, controlling the budget more closely and, most importantly, introducing an innovative waterpark to regain guests' interest.

 

This time, however, CEO Laurent Bruloy decided he wanted to do more than add standard water slides. At the new Aqua Magica waterpark, Bruloy chose to install several of Polin's signature rides.

 

"We wanted to invest in attractions that would not only excite local residents and entice them to come back many times over the summer season," Bruloy says, "but that would also intrigue visitors from outside the area. We know that these waterslides will help build guest loyalty because they are unique and thrilling. Plus, we'll provide an actual beach experience with our wave pool in an area of Span that is far from the coast.

 

"In essence," he added, "we're offering an experience that can't be found anywhere else in Seville."

 

Attractions That Delight and Excite

Aqua Magica features a select group of slides designed to let guests challenge one another and themselves by upping the adrenaline factor. All of the slides feature Polin's exclusive resin-transfer molding (RTM) manufacturing technology, which makes the slides appealing not only to the riders but also to guests on the ground because both the interior and exterior of the tubes are smooth and shiny. Additioanlly, the RTM manufactured slides are also physcilally superior.

 

Set within the parameter of the park's winding 1,476-foot (450-meter) -long leisure river, guests looking for a thrill will find:

• Racer Twin Hybrid
  
• Black Hole + Rafting Slide Combination
  
• Rafting Slide + Flying Boats
  
• Aquatube + Giant Body Slide Combination
  
• Freefall
  
• Multisurf
  
• B6 - Water-Play Structure

 

Guillermo Cruz, general manager of Aqua Magica, says that these types of attractions are key to making a waterpark successful during the short summer seasons that are typical in Europe.

 

"If you give guests slides and other water rides that offer real thrills and excitement - adrenaline-pumping experiences that they can't get anywhere else - then it's definitely possible to keep them coming back again and again," Cruz explains. "And that allows even a short season to be extremely profitable. Plus, waterslides and water play structure are appealing to families who might not otherwise be interested in the 'typical' theme park experience," he adds. "After all, a waterpark allows guests to spend much more time together than most theme parks. They can ride many of the slides as a group. They can splash together in the wave pool or float along in the leisure river. And they can let little ones entertain themselves with the interactive gadgets and gizmos of the kids' water playground.

 

"Those are experiences you just can't get at a dry theme park," he adds.

 

An ocean of waterpark experience

Looping Group's understanding of the benefits that waterpark add to a traditional theme park comes from the expertise provided by several key members of the firm's management team. Pierre Cathala and Arnaud Coste formerly managed other well known waterparks.

 

Their knowledge has come in handy since the waterpark had its inauguration on July 3 and opened to the public on July 10. The park - more than 215,000 square feet (20,000 square meters) in size - has been busy; it can accommodate about 4,000 people daily. (The main park typically sees about 600,000 visitors annually.) And crowds have been steady.

 

Management doesn't expect those numbers to change until the waterpark closes for the season in late September. Nor does Looping Group expect to slow its expansion plans when it comes to adding new waterparks, slide parks as they call at its other properties. After all, next summer is just around the corner.