Show Review
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As well as those attraction operators walking the show floor, a handful were also attending as exhibitors. These included several companies from Asia-Pacific keen to get their names known internationally, such as the Wanda Group from China and Malaysia’s Themed Attractions and Resorts (TAR). The latter was hosting the internet lounge next to IAAPA Central, where details were available of new attractions including Legoland Malaysia, Little Big Club and Hello Kitty Town. “We’ve got off to a good start,” TAR CEO Tunku Dato’ Ahmad Burhanuddin informed Park World. “Legoland is getting up to 17,000 guests a day at weekends and the retail is performing even better than we expected at Puteri Harbour. We came to IAAPA last year looking for interactive technology to use in our Lat’s Place restaurant, and we found it.”
Operators exhibit
Meanwhile the Australian operator Village Roadshow Theme Parks teamed up with regular exhibitor Sanderson to showcase its portfolio of attraction brands available for expansion worldwide. “We are happy to work together to explore new opportunities,” Village Roadshow’s Alistair Bennallack revealed. “We are not looking to do tonnes of parks in North America, but are actively looking for sites here. We’ve made some good contacts during the show.” “This year’s show proved the resilience of IAAPA’s [member] base,” contended John Wood of the Sally Corporation. “We had successful Asian and European shows, and yet the buyers still came, and the enthusiasm on the floor has been contagious by both buyers and sellers.” “The show here has been fantastic,” smiled Peter van Bilsen of Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. “Even though the shows in Asia and Europe are getting larger, this show remains the biggest and best.” “The first two days of the show were pretty good,” noted Sascha Czibulka of Intamin. “The third day was quieter than normal. We didn’t see that many European visitors, understandably, with Euro Attractions Show (EAS) just a few weeks ago in Berlin. But we’ve never seen so many Asians here.” “The show has been great, an opportunity to meet many people and have interesting discussions,” stated Walter Bolliger of Bolliger & Mabillard. “It is a great
meeting point to have discussions with park owners and friends.” “We didn’t know what to expect having just come from EAS in Berlin, which was so good, and also because of the storm up on the [US] northeastern coast,” commented Tami Dean of the Ride Development Company. “But it’s been our best IAAPA show for four years; I think it certainly helped having our new LED bumper cars on the booth.” “It became clear during the show that the amusement industry is recovering from the economic crisis,” observed KMG’s Peter Theunisz. “Ride owners understand that they have to invest so they will not lose their edge when better times arrive. IAAPA did a very good job with the organisation but the lack of free WiFi on the exhibition floor is a missed opportunity as the internet has become one of the most important sales tools. IAAPA brought out its own app for the Expo but attendees couldn’t use it because they couldn’t access WiFi.” “This has been a good show,” admitted Fred Miler of American coaster manufacturer E&F Miler Industries. “We’ve made got decent leads. We’re all custom designed rides, so we make contacts here and go home with proposals to prepare.” “We were very busy for the first two days,” revealed
Patrick Lamb from Severn-Lamb, ”and there was also some great networking away from the show. IAAPA’s new Intellectual Property initiative is really encouraging for Western companies like us. I was even stopped taking a photo of my own booth, but that’s great and shows the association is taking this matter seriously.” Back in 2006, the Belgian technology specialist Alterface exhibited its ‘5D’ Interactive Theater at IAAPA for the first time. This year similar products from rival manufacturers were much in evidence on the show floor. “They’re everywhere,” sighed Alterface marketing man Olivier Vincent. “Fortunately, we move on and have developed new innovations including our interactive shooting wall and interactive zombie game.”
Innovative attractions
At the S&S booth, Bill Kitchen of US Thrill Rides unveiled his new PolerCoaster, which S&S will build. The reaction, according to Kitchen was, “Why didn’t we think of that? Everybody loved it. We should have
Seminar
Soundbites Over 100 seminars and education opportunities were staged this November as part of IAAPA Attractions Expo, tackling a wide range of industry topics. Here’s just a snapshot of some of the comments made inside some of the various sessions.
“Mums don’t care so much about a new $20 million rollercoaster, but they do notice if your washrooms aren’t clean”
Palace Entertainment’s Fernando Eiroa (CEO Speak, Tuesday November 13)
“The number one threat to our parks is time poverty. It used to be that if it rained one Saturday, the guests would come back next Saturday, but now they are probably busy next Saturday”
Cedar Fair’s Matt Ouimet (CEO Speak, Tuesday)
“Contrary to popular opinion, the name of the park did not stand for “Every Person Comes Out Tired”
BRC Imagination Arts’ Bob Rogers looks back on 30 years of EPCOT (Legends 2012, Wednesday)
“You can educate people in this business, but don’t tell them you are doing it”
Ex-Walt Disney Imagineering chief Marty Sklar (Legends 2012, Wednesday)
“There’s a new audience out there”
BRC’s Christian Lachel after a session that challenged the traditional perception of a physical attraction (TEA Future Legends, Thursday)
“When we opened in 2001, we thought people were going to come and love it. They didn’t. We didn’t have enough Disney in the park”
Zamperla’s Air Race caught many people’s attention on the show floor
DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013
A general view of the show floor – and this is only about a quarter of it!
Disney California Adventure’s John Nicholson reflects on the park’s early years following its recent $1bn transformation (Generating Buzz, Thursday)
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