Park News
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Fort Edmonton Park Canadian history comes to life in 4D
Fort Edmonton Park is a new attraction that brings Canadian history to life on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton.
Here visitors are able to gain a better understanding of how the area developed from the ice age onwards. Central to the experience is a recreation of Edmonton’s original Capitol Theatre (pictured left). This 250-seat
auditorium provides the backdrop for Northern Lights, a stunning 4D show courtesy of Artisan Design (Rob Wyatt), with audiovisual from England’s DJ Willrich (DJW).
After the audience has taken its seats, the red curtain opens partially and the film flickers onto the screen in black and white. As winter sets in, the river
begins to freeze over – and the screen appears to freeze and ice begins to spread across the theatre’s walls! The curtains then open fully and additional screens are revealed, increasing the projection area. At this point ‘snow’ falls from above down onto the audience accompanied by the sound and vibration of breaking ice that shakes the seats and can be felt throughout the theatre.
During the film, viewers learn how the river was used by the Cree Indians and French fur trappers. As the story moves on, real life props, such as a boat, wagon and steam train, move across the screen at pre-programmed intervals – a really impressive effect. The show sensitively deals with the First World War and the flu epidemic of 1918-19, but ends on a much happier note, celebrating new year in the early 1920s with Edmonton still very much a boom town. Media producer Doug Yelling of Matilda Entertainment and Production Services led the media production using a stunning faux 3D effect, achieved by the use of a huge rear projection screen filling the
Festive fireworks at Tivoli
Over five days between Christmas and new year, Tivoli in Copenhagen will treat its visitors to an extravagant fireworks festival with huge aerial wheels, Roman candles and intensely coloured starbursts filling the sky, accompanied by musical hits of the day. The five shows will all culminate in bombardments featuring an abundance of powder, crackle and aerial shells 100- metres up in the air.
All this will take place each night at 8.45pm from December 26 to 30. According to Tivoli representatives, it will put even the most ambitious
New Year's party to shame.
The park’s Christmas in Tivoli celebrations, which this year featured for the first time a replica of Moscow’s Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square (as below), came to a close on December 30.
Snow fills the theatre during Northern Exposure!
rear stage, as well as a gauze with front projection across the front of the stage supported by two further side screens (left and right) that appear during the ice breaking scene. “This is one of the best projects we have been privileged to work on,” notes DJW managing director David Willrich, the man who praised its ‘edutainment’ value. “It is unique in that it uses the best of theme park techniques to interpret history honestly and accurately in a heritage park. In our view it gets the balance spot on between education and entertainment.”
www.fortedmontonpark.ca
Germany’s number one …and getting bigger!
Europa-Park attracted over 4 million guests for the first time during the main 2011 season. By the time its winter season finishes on January 8, the total is expected to be considerably higher. The popular park near Freiburg, which beats its nearest German rival (Heide Park) by over 2.5 million guests, has attracted over 4 million for the past few years, but this is the first time in its has achieved that figure within the main season, which came to a close on November 6.
Managing director Roland Mack attributes the growth to a strong number of repeat visitors (85%) and a surge in hotel bookings and corporate events/conferences. The 37th season at Europa-Park will start on March 31. Significant additions are planned with the opening of the park’s first ever wooden coaster, custom 4D film and a fifth hotel, Bell Rock. Together 2011/12 will represent the biggest ever investment period by the Mack family.
Two more Rocky Mountain projects planned
Rocky Mountain Construction, which rebuilt Six Flags Over Texas’s Texas Giant wooden coaster using steel track (as pictured), has sold another replacement track for 2013. The company will also build a brand new coaster from scratch using wood topper track, steel wheels and its own coaster cars. Both rides will be in the US, but their locations have yet to be revealed.
16 DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012
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