Kings Dominion GM Pat Jones: ‘I like to be successful’

Abroom and a long-handled sweeping pan lean up against the wall in a corner of Pat Jones' office at Kings Dominion.

"When I do the afternoon rounds," she said, "I take them. It's everybody's responsibility to keep the park clean."

And that includes Jones, the park's vice president and general manager. Her broom and pan show the scratches and wear of frequent use.

That kind of top-down attention to detail -- every day -- is critical to the success of a multimillion-dollar entertainment business like Kings Dominion.

"The job is meant for my personality," the 47-year-old Petersburg native said."I like to plan. I like to get people involved. I like to see the implementation -- and I don't have the patience to wait for things 20 years out."

"Part of my success is that I do demand a quick reaction and planning -- and success. I just like to win. I just like to be successful."

Jones' results at Kings Dominion matter not just for her and the park, but for the Richmond region and the state.

Jones "is a huge asset for the region," said Jack Berry, president and CEO of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "She knows every aspect of running the amusement park, and it all boils down to customer service. She's built one of the best products on the East Coast."

The Hanover County theme park, which opened in 1975, is "a huge magnet for Virginia," he said. "It's a world-class attraction in central Virginia . . . bringing in over 2 million visitors."

According to a survey by the Virginia Tourism Corp., Kings Dominion is one of the top 25 destinations for travelers in the state.

Tourism is a foundation of Virginia's economic well-being.

In 2007, travelers to the state spent $18.7 billion, supported 210,000 jobs, paid $1.2 billion in state and local taxes, and produced $4.3 billion in payroll and salaries, the state tourism agency said.

"Anytime you've got a business like Kings Dominion that attracts people from other parts of the country and puts money into the local economy," said Kim Scheeler, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Chamber, "that's highly beneficial."

He has personal experience with the power of Kings Dominion to lure visitors. "I've got a sister-in-law who lives down in North Carolina who comes up here a couple of times a year to ride the roller coasters," Scheeler said.

. . .

Jones' results are built on the bedrock of experience.

"She's grown up in the theme-park industry," said Wilson H. Flohr Jr., the park's general manager from 1984 to 1998. "She climbed up the ladder from a games operator to vice president."

She began her career by running the park's Tin Can Alley game in 1979 while in high school.

In the game, park guests try to win a prize by throwing a leather bag at a stack of cans.

"People can't throw worth a darn," Jones learned, but when they did hit the cans right, "it would make this awful racket, which was part of the game," attracting attention to the winner and the game.

And Jones also learned that she had a knack for coaxing guests to pony up their money to play. "I could talk guys into it -- 'You've got to win for your girl.'"

Dressed in gray slacks and a peach and white striped blouse with French cuffs, her hair up, Jones radiated energy during a recent interview -- a will to get to work, to get the job done, to do it better.

"Pat is incredibly dynamic," Scheeler said.

She credits her late father, Charles Jones, a tobacco company manager and businessman, with shaping her work ethic. He set high standards, taught her business and life skills, and then encouraged her to follow her dreams.

"'If you want to try something,'" she said her father told her, "'stretch your wings and try and do it.' He was always one of the ones who thought I could do anything."

In fact, she said, "you were expected to do things, to be responsible, and you didn't want to let him down."

Along the way, she developed a flair for entrepreneurship and creative problem solving.

When Jones started working at Kings Dominion, she earned money by setting up a carpool using the family's orange-and-white van -- "We called it 'Orange Juice'" -- to take fellow park employees to work.

Early in her time at the park, running out of prizes and having to restock them in the middle of the park day became an issue. Jones suggested storing extra prizes in the game buildings' attics.

"The problem was solved," she said. "I was a hero and I could go back to doing what I like to do best: spend more time making people feel good and spending money."

. . .

Only half of a theme park's revenue comes from admission fees. The other half comes from what the industry calls resale: spending merchandise, games, foods and beverages.

Jones introduced the popular larger plush-toy prizes for games at Kings Dominion, Flohr recalled, and she created fruit-juice stands to sell fresh-squeezed fruit drinks for people sated with traditional park fare of hot dogs and hamburgers.

"She had one of the most creative and successful resale businesses in the regional theme park industry," Flohr said. "She understood the pulse of the consumer."

Kings Dominion's GM takes her customers pulse every day.

"I like to make six rounds in the park in the day, especially on Saturdays," Jones said, checking, talking, following up and seeing opportunities. "A mediocre round is an hour, a good round is an hour and a half."

At the park, with its thundering, towering rides -- a lot of heavy machinery moving excitingly fast and high -- "the No. 1 goal always and always is safety," she said.

Despite the recession, "we're happy with the season so far. It could always be better," she said.

"Our job is entertainment. If people are saying good things about the park, that's a job well-done. That usually translates into the bottom line."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .