Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars A fitting tribute to a theme park pioneer
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2007
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George Millay died on February 6, 2006 but his legacy lives on. Millions have visited Sea World and Wet and Wild. What sparked these two theme parks was George's experiences in the restaurant business. You'll have to read the book to see how he made the leap.
The book describes how George went to various theme parks to get ideas, such as the wave generation machine for Wet and Wild.
Sea World was the first to use an ozone purification system. When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972, Sea World started a captive breeding program to replenish its stock of animals.
George was a visionary and a problem solver; however, even these were not enough. Sometimes he had to depend on luck. On more than one occasion, George came to the brink of financial disaster.
Once I picked up the book, I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended reading even if you're not considering opening a theme park.
Themeparkfanatic
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Biography
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2016
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This is an excellent biography of George Millay, founder of the US based SeaWorld parks and Wet n' Wild Orlando, the grandfather of all modern water parks.
Spooky Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring story that shouldn’t be missed
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 27, 2017
Had the pleasure of meeting and working with George after I read this book. I tracked his email down and before I knew it I was invited over for a “sandwich and a coke”. I really enjoyed meeting George, I think a lot of people kissed George’s ass his who life once he was the boss. I just told him what I really thought. His associate from Wet N Wild, Gary Danning, once told me that George liked me because I told him what I really thought. It was tragic to lose him that next year after I met him. He left his door open if I ever wanted to bounce business ideas off him. He was the next best thing to meeting Walt Disney for me and I’ll always remember the brief yet friendly, mentor like relationship that took place. Much of the history surrounding the beginnings of Sea World that you read on the company website and hear are incorrect. If you want to hear it from the horses mouth get a copy of this book and you’ll get the real story! Any entrepreneur minded reader will be inspired by George’s story and amazed at the challenges that he over came. I’ll share something George told me. He said “a lot of it has to do with luck, and once you do something successful people come find you” he then said, we hit a home run with the Long Beach restaurant and money and opportunity followed. Despite George giving credit to luck, when you read about how he operated you’ll realize he was a brilliant guy.
John
5.0 out of 5 stars The Wave Maker: A Great Read For Any Dream Maker
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 4, 2011
The Wave maker is the story of theme park pioneer George Millay and the creation of SeaWorld, Magic Mountain and Wet'n Wild.
It's a great book about a spirited man that loved the ocean and fun. He really created a life for himself and all his undertakings were original. He lived life by theme and on that note he did it as well as anyone.
There is a lot of outside the box thinking and his life did seem to have a good balance. George was 100 percent winner of the American dream. In fact I would not bet against him under any circumstances yet I find that a lot of his success was uniquely USA. Very enjoyable read that I suggest you put on your night stand soon.
John Halloran
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