Park News
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The ultimate theme park story? Beyr launches new company
Markus Beyr reckons he’s discovered the perfect back story for a theme park – Chariots of the Gods. His new company Attraktion! GmbH has partnered with author Erik Von Daniken to develop theme parks using his stories. “Operators already have many of these themes, such as Mayan and Aztec, as lands within their parks,” he says, “but this is a great way of bringing them all together.”
Markus Beyr with a plan of the proposed Chariot of Gods theme park
An earlier attempt at a park in Von Daniken’s native Switzerland, Mystery Park in Interlaken (now Jungfrau Park) suffered difficulties, but now Attraktion! Is forging ahead with plans in China and the UK, the first of which should open in 2015. Formerly with the Austrian specialist AV supplier Kraftwerk, Beyr serves as CEO of the new company. Based in Vienna, it will produce high end media-based experiences for the attractions industry, using a “producer-driven” team approach to fulfil clients’ vision.
Attraktion! has already developed an off-the-
Honey, I shrunk the amusement park!
A 1,000 sq ft (93 sq m) replica of Cincinnati’s historic Coney Island Amusement Park has opened as part of the model train exhibit at EnterTRAINment Junction in Cincinnati, Ohio. Built from scratch, the model features
miniature working rides from the park’s past, such as the Shooting Star, Lost River, Ferris Wheel, Flying Rockets, Tumblebug, Wild Mouse, Sky Ride, Lake Como train ride, Turnpike and Carousel. There is even a working trolley line with running trolleys stopping at Coney’s parking lot. Built in 1:24 scale, the Shooting Star rollercoaster alone is 40ft (12m) long, while the Ferris Wheel stands almost 4ft tall.
entertrainmentjunction.com
shelf product called Playoke Dance, said to be the first interactive dance game using motion tracking designed specifically for out-of- home commercial use. The attraction, exhibited recently at IAAPA Asian
Playoke Dance – Attraktion’s interactive dance game
Attractions Expo in Singapore, feature real dancers superimposed in various settings, rather than computer-generated characters. “The first reactions have been good,” says Beyr.
“The product could be operated either on a pay- to-play basis in an FEC, science centre or other leisure facility, or perhaps as a pre-show to an existing attraction in a theme park.”
attraktion.com New theme park for Morocco
The French operator Compagnies des Alpes is to revive Parc Sindibad in Casablanca, Morocco. Set to reopen in December 2014, we are promised the new-look park will include an imposing palace-themed entrance by Theming & Animatronic Industries (TAA). Appointed by CDA to provide the park’s entire theming, TAA will create the “Residence of Sindibad the Sailor” where visitors can see all the treasures brought from his voyages. For less than glamorous pictures of the park in abandoned form two years ago, courtesy of “Theme Park Guy’ Stefan Zwanzger, visit
bit.ly/1bC32CN. CDA’s efforts can only be an improvement.
New Lego models unveiled
at US parks The world’s largest Lego model is now on display at Legoland California Resort. Created from five million Lego bricks, the Star
Wars X-wing Starfighter – pictured above – stands 11 ft tall, stretches 43ft long and has a wingspan of 44ft. Meanwhile New York City’s new One
Entertrainment Junction’s Don Oeters surveys the model with Vic Nolting, president of Cincinnati’s Coney Island
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World Trade Center has been recreated at the nearby Legoland Discovery Center Westchester (left) as part of its Miniland area. The model was painstakingly re- created out of 4,873 Lego bricks. LDC Westchester is located in Yonkers,
New York, about 20 miles north of the World Trade Center site.
AUGUST 2013
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