Consultant Looks to Design, Run Theme Parks
When Mel Cecil, Thor Degelman and Michael King decided to form LEDO International Inc., a leisure and entertainment consultancy, they started it in Cecil’s garage.
“Walt Disney started in his garage, too,” Degelman joked, “so we have a little common history.”
Actually, the trio’s history with Disney includes working on all of Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks, from Anaheim to Paris. All three are former Disney operations executives.
Six years ago, the three got together and formed Newport Beach-based LEDO, which has provided design, development and park operation services for projects in far-flung places like Bali, Indonesia, Taiwan, Poland, Germany and Vietnam. The firm also worked on portions of Legoland California, the Yosemite Junction entertainment complex and the Seattle Space Needle.
Most recently, LEDO International served as the lead operations consultant for the Mala Bay Waterpark in Taiwan. The $35 million waterpark is the first phase of the $250 million Yamay Resort. Upon completion, Yamay Resort is set to include a 45-acre theme park, hotels and a retail and entertainment complex.
LEDO also works as the primary operations consultant to the Metropolitan Water District on the California Lakes Resort, part of a $2 billion reservoir project in the Inland Empire.
While LEDO has worked on some big projects, the firm itself is small. It had $1.3 million in revenue last year, and the principals say it’s profitable.
LEDO officials say they are targeting small theme parks and entertainment projects that are likely to draw between 500,000 and 2 million annual visitors. Many of those parks are overseas, and are unlikely to attract attention from Disney, Seagram Co.’s Universal Studios or other industry behemoths.
“We’re taking what we learned from Disney, Warner Bros. and (others) and bringing it to a client who normally doesn’t have access to that in developing his product,” Degelman said, calling it “life after Disney.”
Smaller theme parks are a niche that could grow in the next few years, according to industry observers.
A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC report projected annual spending at amusement parks in the U.S., Europe and Asia could hit $21.1 billion by 2004, up from$16.1 billion last year.
Degelman said LEDO’s plan has been to start out as consultants to build the business and then move into operations management and development.
“As long as you’re a consultant, you only build equity in yourself,” he said. “And if you break a leg, that equity stops.”
That transition has taken longer than the partners originally hoped. But they recently signed two contracts to operate theme parks and a couple of others are pending.
“Once the operations contracts are in place, we’ll take significant jumps in revenue,” Cecil said.
Nevertheless, Cecil said LEDO plans to keep its hand in consulting, because it helps keep a fresh perspective on what’s going on in the industry. Besides, the partners believe their ability to take a project from start to finish distinguishes them from other potential competitors.
“When you look at it from start to finish, there really isn’t anyone on the West Coast that does what we do in that niche market we’re looking at,” Degelman said.
International Theme Park Services Inc. probably comes the closest to LEDO, Degelman said. The Cincinnati-based company focuses largely on amusement parks.
Locally, Tustin-based Management Resources also provides consulting to the industry for clients that have included both Disney and Universal, and R & R; Creative Design in Anaheim has done some work for Adventure City in Stanton and for Knott’s Berry Farm. But neither handles projects from start to finish.
Burbank-based BRC Imagination Arts and Lester Creative Inc. in Valencia also cross over into some of LEDO’s realm. BRC is working on the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., a project for which LEDO also is a consultant. Lester, meanwhile, develops large-scale shows and attractions like the pirate battle at Treasure Island in Las Vegas and the Mystery Lodge at Knott’s Berry Farm.
“We think of ourselves as a specialized general contractor,” said Trish Lester, a Lester vice president.
The changing face of themed entertainment has led to a blurring of the lines between retail, entertainment, museums, zoos, parks and other leisure activities. That has meant new types of projects for LEDO, Cecil said.
“We’re taking our expertise and applying it to a lot of other areas,” he said.
Locally, that has meant work for the developers of the planned Pointe Anaheim project and a proposal to The Irvine Company to operate the amusement ride section of the Spectrum Center expansion under way. It has also meant an increasing amount of work for museums and zoos.
“It’s taking the dynamics of a theme park and stretching them to fit other applications,” Cecil said. n
