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Brighton Sea Life Investment continues
Kernels
The Chinese theme park operator Haichang Holdings has raised HK$2.45 billion (US$316 million) in an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In selling 1 billion shares at HK2.45 each, Hainchang raised about the same amount of cash as that generated by the 30% stake of Merlin Entertainments floated last December on the London Stock Exchange. At the time of writing, the shares were trading at HK$1.82.
Europa-Park has delayed the opening of its Arthur – In the Minimoys Kingdom attraction. The elaborate 10,000 sq m (108,00 sq ft) themed undercover world, comprising a dark ride/rollercoaster and various smaller attractions, could not be completed in time for the start of the season on 5 April and will now open later in the spring instead.
Rainforest Adventure – an artist’s impression Merlin Entertainments has pumped another £1 million
($1.6m//€1.2m) into Brighton Sea Life Centre – the UK’s oldest operating aquarium. The investment comes just two years after an extensive £2 million upgrade of the 140-year old facility on the south coast. “The redevelopment two years ago was to some extent forced upon us by the sheer age of the building,” explains general manager Max Leviston, adding that visitors had flooded back in bigger numbers than ever following the facelift, and this had encouraged Merlin bosses to invest again.
After introducing a behind the scenes tour in 2012, new features such as jellyfish and octopus exhibitions were added. Set to launch on 29 March this year was a new attraction called Rainforest Adventure, and with it a host of new and intriguing creatures including a 9ft/3m-long anaconda that weights 1kg. Other species arrayed in tanks nestling amidst jungle foliage and the realistic ruins of an ancient Inca temple, include poison dart frogs, piranhas and Chinese water dragons. Originally known as the Brighton Aquarium, the facility sits on the resort’s sea front, just footsteps from its famous Palace pier, and was acquired by Merlin – then Sea Life Centre Holdings Ltd – in 1990. It is now one of 14 aquariums and animal sanctuaries operated by the group around the the UK. Earlier this year Merlin opened its 100th attraction worldwide – a Sea Life Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina.
visitsealife.com 50 years of Electrosonic
You probably know the name, yet,unlike some industry suppliers, the company’s products and services often go unrecognised by their very nature. Published to mark the firm’s five decades in business, a new book brings Electrosonic out from behind the scenes and into the spotlight.
Authored by company co-founder Robert Simpson,
Electrosonic – 50 Years on the Audio-Visual Front Line traces its roots as a start-up in London’s Greenwich vegetable market to
a multimillion-dollar international business with headquarters in Burbank, California (yes, same place as Disney Imagineering) and offices worldwide. Since its founding in 1964, the company has weathered many technological changes, including the move from analogue to digital, HD and 4K, and many new innovations in display technology. You’re likely to have seen some of Electronsonic’s installations in action, even if you didn’t realise it. Projects as diverse as the multi-image spectaculars in 1970s Iran, the world’s biggest video wall at Expo ’92 in Seville and massive projection displays at Expo 2010 in Shanghai are highlighted here, together with some of its theme park work. See
electrosonic.com/50thbook to get your copy.
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Just one season after its opening, Wet‘n’Wild Las Vegas is adding a Tornado funnel slide by ProSlide Technology. The extreme attraction joins more than 25 others at the park and is set to launch on 24 May. Sat inside four-person rafts, guests slide through a 110ft-long (33.5m) tunnel before being dropped into the 45ft-wide (13.5m) funnel where they oscillate back and forth through swirling water before plummeting into “the eye of the storm.”
The organisation that owns Adventure Island amusement park in Southend-on-Sea has been voted one of Britain’s top companies to work for. The Stockvale Group, which also runs Southend’s SeaLife Adventure and the Radio Essex, Southend and Chelmsford Radio stations, has attainted silver status in the Investors in People awards, putting ot in the top 5% of all UK employers. In 2011 it achieved a bronze award. “In 18 months’ time we will be going for the highest accreditation, the Gold Award,” says operations director Andrew Renton.
The Banshee roller coaster isn’t the only new attraction this year at Kings Island near Cincinnati. Visitors to Ohio amusement park will also be able to enjoy Cirque Imagine, a showcase of strength, balance and athleticism. The 30-minute show opens May 24 in the Kings Island Theater.
Merlin Entertainments has reached agreement with the shopping mall operator Taubman and local authorities in Auburn Hills, Michigan, to develop a 35,000 sq ft (3,252 sq m) Sea Life Michigan aquarium. Merlin’s seventh Sea Life outlet in the USA, it will open in spring 2015 and feature more than 30 displays of diverse marine life.
Siriusware, a division of Accesso, is to provide a variety of “salespoint solutions” to five US attractions: iFLY Virginia Beach, Jasper Tramway Acquisition Corporation, African Lion Safari & Game Farm, the Holocaust Museum in Houston and the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The services include e-commerce, access control, group sales, memberships, kiosks and more.
Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury, Connecticut, will introduce a new payment card this season in its redemption arcade and midway games. Core Cashless will provide the system. Over at Jenkinson’s Aquarium and Jenkinson’s Pavilion at Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, Core will be providing both online and on-site cashless systems, including print-at-home ticketing, access control and data reporting. Meanwhile in Brunei, Jerudong Park selected Core Cashless to provide an extensive array of ticketing and cashless solutions
Theming and Animatronics Industries (TAA) has been awarded a €900,000 European Union (EU) grant to improve its production facilities in Romania. Upon adding new machinery and completing construction of a third workshop, logistics centre and road system, the company will have doubled its facilities to 4,000 sq m (43,000 sq ft). The German-based firm boasts 160 employees in several EU countries.
APRIL 2014
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