www.parkworld-online.com
Show Dates
Dracula’s Haunted House
Not all haunted attractions are seasonal events. The Haunted House Experience in Queensland, Australia, scares guests year-round in the tourist hotspot of Surfer’s Paradise. Sales and marketing manager Robyn Phillips explains how the attraction was developed as a spin-off from a successful dinner show
Newman Entertainments currently operates two creepy cabaret dinner shows in Australia, the original haunt in Melbourne and its dark twin, Dracula’s on the Gold Coast in Queensland. These haunted havens dish out their unique brand of “thrillertainment” to a combined seating capacity of 900 diners – or screamers – each night. They are the longest running and most visited dinner theatre operation in the country. Dracula’s Haunted House, a purpose built, six-storey walk- through attraction, opened in Surfer’s Paradise on the night of Halloween 2008. It combines optical illusions with fun park style “crawl through” tunnels and passages, a mirror maze, vampyre lair, photo lab and a large souvenir shop. We’ve also got some unique and quirky Aussie-style thrills such as the Great White Shark Attack and Deadly Australian Creatures Collection. Let’s face it, Australia has pretty much everything that can sting, bite and maul you to oblivion and the Haunted House has all of them! As opposed to the dinner shows, Dracula’s Haunted House is designed largely for the international market, with less culturally sensitive content (as opposed to comedy satire). Crammed full of hi- tech gadgets and custom-made, animated creatures, it is a product that requires minimum personnel (just six casual employees). Robotic monsters and a few eccentric staff mean we don’t need a whole hoard of costumed characters. An elaborate video surveillance system monitors the progress of all visitors and provides a high level of high customer safety. “Operation of a permanent haunt is a complicated,” explains technical director Paul Newman. “Both the cabaret and the walk- through attraction receive constant and relentless upgrades.” As Dracula’s is a unique attraction with no same-theme competition in the local area, the business doesn’t really conform to any textbook model. We don’t aim to be an extreme fear attraction. We are suitable for the whole family, with optional “Dare Doors” allowing guests to control the thrill factor. We do, however, allow controversial themes to spice things up a notch. A recent example is the new Digestion Tunnel, where visitors crawl through the inside of prime minister Kevin Rudd’s body! Dracula’s venues are an undiluted experience, uniquely Australian, and designed to leave a scar!
www.draculas.com.au
ShowGuide Exhibitions and networking for amusement professionals
• July 13 to 16 Asian Attractions Expo Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia T: +1-703-836-4800 E:
jparsons@iaapa.org W:
www.iaapa.org/expos/asian
• September 21 to 23 Play & Attractions at LIW NEC, Birmingham, UK T: +44 20 7955 3968 E:
chris.brown@
ubm.com W:
www.liw.co.uk
• October 6 to 8 Euro Attractions Show Fiera Roma, Rome, Italy T: +32 240 16161 E:
boni@webamusementexpo.com W:
www.euroattractionsshow.com
• October 6 to 10 WWA Symposium (Trade Show October 8&9) Hyatt Regency River Walk & San Antonio Convention Center, Texas, USA T: +1 913 599 0300 E:
aezra@waterparks.org W:
www.waterparks.org
• November 16 to 19 IAAPA Attractions Expo Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, USA T: +1 703 836 4800 E:
convention@iaapa.org W:
www.iaapaexpo.com
• March 15 to 17, 2011 IAAPI Amusement Expo Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India T: +1 703 836 4800 E:
convention@iaapa.org W:
www.iaapaexpo.com
• March 16 to 18 RAAPA Expo 2011 VVTs (All Russia Exhibition Centre), Moscow T: +7 499 760 38 14/45 or +44 1905 360169 E:
show@raapa.ru or
tsi_ltd@hotmail.com W:
www.raapa.ru
• April 4 to 6 DEAL 2011 Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE T: +971 4 3435777 E:
themeparks@iec.ae W:
www.themeparksdubai.com
More events at
www.parkworld-online.com JUNE 2010 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36