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ParkWord August 2013
It’s our annual dark ride round-up this month, and we’ve got a particularly large selection of new
attractions for you this time. There’s traditional ghost trains that have been given a 21st Century makeover, old themes reinterpreted for new audiences, such as Sinbad and Thor’s Hammer, an attraction that fuses a dark ride with a walk-though, plus several interactive rides. I have not generally been a great fan of the latter, because you miss so much when you get too trigger happy with the on-board shooter; which is why I now often don’t bother picking them up. Such protests generally garner indifference from ride operators, whose only concern is what a lousy shot I am. But I do believe it’s possible to create a more immersive experience for guests by allowing them to sit back and take it all in, and I hope some ride designers feel the same. Blame computer games. Few if any dark rides are as violent or as twisted as some of the shoot ’em up games available for consoles such as the PlayStation and X-Box, but nevertheless I know some park owners (and parents) feel uneasy with encouraging young guests to brandish fake weapons. Two of the dark rides covered in this issue acknowledge that.
On Safari Tüneli at Vialand in Istanbul (page 37) it’s made quite clear you are shooting at the poachers, rather than the elephants, while on The School at Etnaland in Sicily (page 42) they’ve done away with the guns altogether in favour of the buttons you press to answer multiple choice questions in a school exam. Spicing up the experience are sarcastic comments from your tutors, and you even get a chance to ease your “nerves” in a toilet scene! Actually, it’s interesting to see more dark rides integrate not just a level of
gaming, but also computer-generated media – a response of course to the vast amount of content consumed on multiple screens throughout many people’s typical day. No longer is the TV the only “box” in our lives. So, whether I like it or not, interactive dark rides are not going to go away any time soon but maybe, like some of the light-hearted games many people now play on their phones and tablets (rather than traditional games consoles), the themes will get more idiosyncratic. For now, Etnaland’s effort will take some beating.
Owen Ralph – Editor
Editor Owen Ralph (+44 161 438 2934)
parkworld@btopenworld.com
North American Editor
Paul Ruben (+1 585 381 1012)
parkw@rochester.rr.com
Contributors this issue Thomas Clarke, Eugene Sloan
Sales Manager Mark Burgess (+44 1622 699124)
parkworld@datateam.co.uk
Publishing Director Paul Ryder
pryder@datateam.co.uk Data Development Manager Alex Wetton
awetton@datateam.co.uk Managing Director Parvez Kayani
p.kayani@datateam.co.uk Publication Secretary
AUGUST 2013 ISSN 1462-4796
Jennifer York (+44 1622 699109)
parkworld@datateam.co.uk
© Copyright 2013. All materials in this publication remain the copyright of Datateam Business Media and no part of it may be reproduced without the written permission of the proprietors. A request to insert an advertisement is deemed to be an acceptance of Datateam Business Media Ltd’s conditions of trading, copies of which are available on request.
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