For Spring Semester 2024, Dr. Martin Lewison’s Theme Parks and Attractions Management
course in the School of Business had a very special guest speaker, Mr. Chip Cleary
of Port Jefferson and Rust, Germany. Mr. Cleary is a rock star in the theme park industry,
and he has touched many lives, both on Long Island and around the world, during his
long and successful career in the area of attractions and amusements.
Long Islanders would probably know Mr. Cleary’s work best through his role as the
original founder, builder, and co-owner/operator of the largest water park in the
tri-state area, Splish Splash Water Park in Calverton, where he served as Park President
from 1991-2011, and the Long Island connection runs even deeper: Cleary cut his industry
teeth across the street from Farmingdale State College as a senior manager at Adventureland.
Cleary served as Chairman of the Board and President and CEO of IAAPA, the International
Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, and he has been recognized for his
service to the attractions industry. In 2017, he won IAAPA’s Lifetime Service Award.
The Theme Parks class listened with rapt attention as Cleary told of first catching
the theme park fever as an eight-year-old when he visited the 1964-1965 World’s Fair
in Flushing Meadows, where Walt Disney’s WED Enterprises developed attractions for
the Ford Pavilion (Ford’s Magic Skyway), the Pepsi/UNICEF Pavilion (It’s a Small World),
the State of Illinois Pavilion (Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln), and the General Electric
Pavilion (Carousel of Progress), all of which still live on in some form at Disney
theme parks today. Cleary also told the class of his visits to Freedomland U.S.A.,
an enormous American history-themed amusement park that operated in the Bronx from
1960-1964. Built by C.V. Wood, who also worked on Disneyland and the first Six Flags
park in Texas, the Bronx site is now that of Co-Op City and its adjoining shopping
center.
After graduating from NYIT and working in TV lighting and set design, Cleary eventually
shifted careers to work full-time at Adventureland, and subsequently, Splish Splash.
In 1999, he sold Splish Splash to Palace Entertainment, America’s largest water park
operator, becoming a Senior Vice-President and working to build and manage water parks
across the country.
In 2013, Chip Cleary started on his latest great adventure, when he joined the Mack
family in Rust, Germany as a Senior Consultant. Beginning as stagecoach builders in
1780, the Mack family company is now one of the largest manufacturers of rides and
attractions in the world. They also own and operate Europa-Park, a European-themed
park which has the second highest attendance of any theme park in Europe, surpassed
only by Disneyland Paris. Europa-Park has the 19th highest attendance of any theme
park on Earth, and would have the tenth-highest attendance of any park in the U.S.
by comparison.
Cleary has spent the the last 11 years dreaming up new developments with the Mack
family, the most notable of which is Rulantica, Europa-Park’s massive new detailed
and immersive water park. Mr. Cleary showed images that followed the project from
concept art, to models, to actual construction. The water park was announced in 2014,
with construction beginning in 2017. The park first opened in 2019. Rulantica includes
dining, entertainment, and spa facilities, and the Europa-Park resort includes 6 hotels.
Recently the resort won awards for its unique award-winning restaurant concept, Eatrenaline,
a restaurant and ride where your table physically carries you to each of your courses.
The students loved having Chip Cleary visit, and they peppered him with personal and
professional questions. It was a great experience for everyone. And then Chip (and
his wife, Kathy, who tagged along), went across the street to visit their friends
at Adventureland! It was a great homecoming for a theme park wizard and for Farmingdale
students!
