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Greece Frightening! House of Fear opens in Athens
Alllou! Fun Park in Athens has opened Greece’s first scare attraction. The House of Fear was created by the UK’s AtmosFEAR! Entertainment
Group (AEG), and will open year round. Eleven performers keep intrepid visitors on their toes across 13 individual horror environments. Special effects, illusions, lights, chilling soundtracks and vile smells combine with Hollywood style costumes and make-up to create the chilling House of Fear.
“Creating the first scare attraction for Greece has been an interesting journey for the AEG team,” says creative director Jason Karl. “With no obvious cultural benchmark or point of reference we had to develop a theme which the Greek audience could relate to. After exploring several ideas we decided we would challenge guests to endure a series of disconnected nightmares featuring claustrophobia, total darkness,
demonic possession, blood sacrifice, being burned alive, cannibalism, murder and inanimate objects coming to life.”
This fun for all the family experience was launched this winter with a nationwide media campaign, which generated queues of over three hours on busy nights. Three casts of performers (33 in total) have been recruited and underwent special training at a three- day “Scream School” in Athens. The attraction has been designed with a variable throughput to allow for high to low season operation.
"Each environment is vaguely related to its predecessor which creates cohesion, but we can adapt and add different scares, environments and characters as the attraction evolves to keep it fresh,” adds Karl.
"The AtmosFEAR team worked tirelessly to create the attraction in only a few weeks,” notes Allou commercial director Vaya Klingou. “They did an
Coney Island comeback continues
New York City's new look Coney Island is pulling in the tourists. Central Amusement International (CAI), the Zamperla-backed company that operates Luna Park and Scream Zone, has revealed that the number of out-of-town visitors to these two parks more than doubled in 2011, up from 22,500 to nearly 58,000. “When we opened Luna Park in 2010, we helped to reintroduce the Coney Island brand to the world,” said CAI president Valerio Ferrari. “News has spread that Coney is back, and now people want to experience it firsthand.” Total attendance in 2011 at Luna Park and Scream Zone was 644,000. Over the last two seasons, CAI has invested more than $30 million in the parks, equipping them with a large selection of Zamperla attractions. This summer, the company will introduce more amusements, as well as a revitalised Boardwalk. Additional Coney Island amusement outlets include Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park.
AtmosFEAR’s Jason Karl with Nikos Venierakis, Vaya Klingou and Stratos Drimalitis from Allou Fun Park
excellent job in training the scare actors and making The House of Fear the talk of Athens." Allou! Fun Park welcomes more than three million guests a year. The House of Fear represents the 47th scare project for AtmosFEAR in its 11 year history, but its first outside the UK or Ireland. Its regular Halloween “haunt” is Scare Kingdom in Lancashire, England.
SpongeBob gets wet on Gold Coast
The world of Nickelodeon has arrived at Sea World Resort & Water Park on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
At SpongeBob SplashBash, guests can join everyone’s favourite bright yellow sponge and his nautical friends in a water playground packed with fun features including a giant tipping bucket. A musical fountain show lights up the attraction after dark with special LED effects. Meet and greet opportunities with SpongeBob SquarePants and other Nickelodeon characters are available in the resort’s lobby.
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MARCH 2012
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