- September 12, 2024
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Franceen Gonzales was sitting at home one summer day in southern New Mexico when her mom, a teacher, gave the then 14-year-old a nudge: it’s time to get a job.
That first gig was rather unglamorous: Gonzales vacuumed pools and backwashed filters at a KOA Campground and water park in nearby Anthony, Texas, west of El Paso. She got to work at 6 a.m. and got the tasks done by the time the park opened at 10 a.m. Yet that job turned out to be more than a way to get the studious teen out the house and earn some extra cash.
That job was a springboard to what’s now been a 30-year career in aquatics and amusement parks, where Gonzales has been a high-ranking executive for multiple amusement and hospitality entities; a go-to mentor for several up and coming executives; and a sought-after board member and keynote speaker for industry groups and conferences on topics from risk management to handling crises. Her career took another turn in June, when Gonzales was named president of Legoland Florida Resort in Polk County.
The role includes overseeing all operations for Legoland Water Park, Legoland Hotel, Legoland Pirate Island Hotel, Legoland Beach Retreat and Peppa Pig Theme Park. Legoland is in Winter Haven, about 50 miles east of Tampa and 47 miles west of Orlando. Owned by British entertainment giant Merlin Entertainments, Legoland Florida opened in October 2011 and has since become an economic engine in central Polk. "I'm excited to return to my roots in park operations and thrilled to continue the legacy of success at the world-class Legoland Florida Resort,” Gonzales, 52, says in a statement.
The appointment comes at a crossroads in the amusement park industry: up until the past few months, the industry, in general, had seen a post-pandemic surge in guests. Attendance at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, for example, an industry bellwether, increased from 6.94 million people in 2020 to 17.13 million people in 2022 — up 147%. And an early 2024 report from EY projected the industry — valued at more than $30 billion — would be back to pre-pandemic attendance numbers by 2026.
But the industry hit some speed bumps in the most recent financial quarter, at least based on three earnings reports. Disney, Universal and Six Flags, with officials citing higher costs, inflation and the lure of international trips with a stronger dollar overseas, all posted decreases in second-quarter earnings. Theme park revenue was actually up at Disney, 2% year-over-year to $8.4 billion, but operating profit fell 3%, to $2.2 billion.
A secondary crossroads for the industry, something Gonzales has spent considerable time monitoring, is the embrace of technology, from doing more with smartphone apps to utilizing artificial intelligence to internal data systems. “Parks supported by outdated systems face obstacles to keep pace with technology transformation and meet the market demands,” states the February EY report, How Technological Transformation Can Enhance Theme Park Experiences. “In an industry driven by immersive experiences and evolving customer expectations, staying at the forefront of technological advancements is critical.”
On a personal level, the Legoland role validates a counterintuitive choice Gonzales made decades ago — when she first fell in love with the water park industry with that first job. Back then Gonzales intended to go to med school and become a doctor. She graduated from Stanford in 1996 with a degree in biology and was on her way.
But at the KOA job she met someone who would become a mentor, Berry Edwards, a longtime El Paso businessman who earned an undergraduate degree in English from Princeton and a law degree from Harvard. Edwards, according to his 2010 obituary, took his son’s idea of adding a slide to the family’s backyard pool and expanded it to what became Wet 'n' Wild Waterworld, which grew to 25 parks across west Texas.
Edwards hired Gonzales at Wet 'n' Wild during summers at Stanford. He promoted her multiple times and kept mentoring her. “‘I think I want to play out this thing and do more with this,’” Gonzales thought at the time. "‘I can always go back to med school if this doesn’t work out.’”
The decision to forgo a career in medicine stunned her parents as well as her sister, who is a doctor today. Ending up as president of a 1,600-employee amusement park that’s centered on tiny toy bricks? Another stunner.
“We grew up in a poor family,” says Gonzales, whose dad was a carpenter. “We never had Legos growing up, but I’m a builder. I was always trying to make something out of wood.”
Just prior to Legoland Gonzales spent a decade at WhiteWater West, a global water park development firm. Her last post there was chief experience officer.
WhiteWater was also where Gonzales honed her reputation in the aquatics industry as a thought leader and mentor. One example of the latter comes from Sabeena Hickman, president and CEO of the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, a trade association. Gonzales was on the PHTA board when Hickman interviewed for the CEO role in 2019. Hickman recalls Gonzales’ questions were focused on team-building and big-picture vision. “I had a natural connection to her,” Hickman says. “I knew that this woman had phenomenal leadership skills and a high emotional IQ. She just gets it.”
Hickman says Gonzales wasn’t a figurehead on the board, but an in-the-trenches advocate to build PHTA into a “source of truth” for the water and pool sector. Projects they worked on closely together, when Gonzales was a board member and later board chair, include merging two organizations — a foundation in Colorado and an association in Virginia — into one group and drowning prevention programs. It was “hours and hours” of work in a conference room, Hickman says, where Gonzales many times was working with people resistant to change.
“She wants to understand the issues and surround herself with other people before she makes a decision. She wants to have all her options,” Hickman says. “She’s (also) a phenomenal consensus builder. She’s not afraid to bring people into the room who don’t agree with her.”
Another PHTA official who worked closely with Gonzales is Joe Laurino, CEO of Sarasota-based material science and water chemical company Periodic Products. Laurino took over as chair of the organization’s board after Gonzales’ term. Laurino says he was impressed with Gonzales’ ability to stay out of the minutia and keep the group’s focus on mission and vision. That, and, like Hickman, her ability to facilitate change. “She’s incredibly intelligent and incredibly humble. She reads people really well,” Laurino says. “She’s one of the top five leaders I’ve ever crossed paths with professionally.”
In late 2023 the PHTA presented Gonzales with the association’s first ever Achievement Award, during a reception in Las Vegas. “I can’t wait to see what she does for Legoland,” says Hickman, who keeps in touch with her mentor through texts and social media and plans to see her at a women’s summit later this year. “They are so lucky to have her.”
Merlin Entertainments doesn’t break out individual attendance or revenue figures for each of its 11 Legoland parks worldwide. Some 62 million people visited Merlin attractions over the past year, say Legoland Florida officials. And the 11 Legoland parks in total welcomed 16.7 million visitors in 2023, according to data from research firm Statista. That’s up 234% from 5 million in 2020.
Gonzales, in an interview inside a quiet conference room during a recent busy and rainy Wednesday morning at Legoland, calls the industry-wide surge in attendance post Covid “revenge travel” that’s since tapered off. “Consumer confidence and consumer spending is not as strong as we would like to see it,” she says.
Another challenge at Legoland Florida is also its strength: location. “The I-4 corridor,” Gonzales says, “is the most competitive entertainment corridor on the planet, so we really have to be able to differentiate ourselves.”
That’s with both hiring people and getting guests to come — and come back, she says. One lesson Gonzales says she’s learned from past theme park experience is lowering rates “just to get more volume” will usually backfire in the long-term.
She instead seeks to enhance the experience for the customers and families who do come to Legoland with more options — in food, rides, technology and more. Asked what her favorite ride is at Legoland, some nine weeks into her tenure, Gonzales says it’s an experience: the kid-centric pajama dance party at the main hotel at night. “I love the energy. I love the family togetherness,” she says. “Seeing that is so much fun. And I love that not one kid is on their phone.”
Gonzales splits her time between Legoland and a home she recently moved into in Pinellas County. She calls her mom most car rides to Pinellas to say hello and during a recent call they chatted about her choice to not be a doctor and instead work at amusement parks. Mom was surprised at first — but not surprised at her daughter’s success. “‘You are exactly where you need to be,” Gonzales says her mom told her. “‘I’m so glad you found your place.’”
