Wild Island freshens product despite economic downturn

Executives of Wild Island Family Adventure Park thought hard before they invested $325,000 in an indoor, black-light miniature golf course at the Sparks amusement facility.

Wild Island's revenues sagged as recession-weary parents watch their discretionary spending, says Craig Buster, general manager of the Coconut Bowl facilities at Wild Island. Like other businesses, Wild Island watches its costs closely these days.

But a conservative approach by Wild Island, Buster says, could prove dangerous to the company's long-term health.

"In this type of business, you have to put in a new attraction every two or three years downturn or not," he says.

Business at the new nine-hole miniature golf course dubbed "Pirate's Cove" is beginning to hit projections about five weeks after its opening.

The course, which fills 2,800 square feet previously occupied by a restaurant at Coconut Bowl, was designed by a Missouri company that packed the space with three-dimension effects, animation and video.

The addition of the indoor golf course comes about 30 months after Wild Island completed a 27,000-square-foot addition to Coconut Bowl. The 72,000-square-foot facility now includes 40 bowling lanes, a three-story interactive play facility, a snack bar, an arcade and other amusements.

Outside, on about 20 acres at the northeast corner of Sparks Boulevard and Interstate 80, Wild Island operates the only water park in Nevada as well as two mini-golf courses and a go-cart racing track.

The combination of indoor and outdoor attractions, corporate events and private parties, allows Wild Island to maintain fairly consistent streams of revenue throughout the year, Buster says.

Employment, however, spikes sharply during the summer months when Wild Island's payroll tops 400 many of them youngsters learning customer-service and other job skills in their first paying positions.

About two-thirds of the summer staff, Buster says, are workers who from previous seasons who return for another stint. While such loyalty is unusual in the amusements business, it's reflected in the company's management ranks as well. Average tenure among managers is more than 10 years.

(The company's annual job fair is scheduled on March 28 and April 3. The fair runs from 10 to 4 both days at its waterpark admissions building.)

Year-round employment runs about 125.

Wild Island got its start in 1989 when founders Gary Nelson and Tony Harrah observed that families with kids in the Truckee Meadows had few entertainment options.

Even during a recession, that observation remains the bedrock of Wild Island's business.

"You still have to take your kids someplace," says Buster. "And you want it to be someplace that's clean and nice."