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about the behaviour of sharks and appreciate the importance of maintaining marine biodiversity. The new 2,200 tonne capacity aquarium will house 100 sharks of 15 different species. Other forthcoming developments
The Ocean Hotel will be operated by Marriott
Kernels
include a revamp of the Whiskers Harbour kids’ area and a new exhibit inspired by the Australian outback, which will become home to koala bears gifted by the government of South Australia. In 2015 the park gets its own metro station as part of the new MTR South Island Line, easing accessibility from the more populous parts of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. A projected 1,100 new permanent staff are anticipated as the park develops between now and 2017. Recently several senior Ocean Park team members were promoted. Paul Pei is now the executive director, hotel & hospitality. His former position of director of marketing and sales has been taken by Vivian Lee, previously director of marketing. Former project design director Celine Cheung is now director of design and planning. “With so many exciting projects being readied and in the pipeline, we are confident that we have the best management team to help us deliver the best theme park experience for the present and future needs of our guests,” concludes Ocean Park chief executive Tom Mehrmann.
Rostov’s H2O Aquapark
Dutch amusement park stalwart Henk Bemboom, founder of Slagharen, passed away last month at the age of 93. Bemboom opened the park near the German border in 1963, offering holiday cottages and ponies for guests. Inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame in 2001, he is recognised as one of the original European amusement industry pioneers, being one of the first to introduce all-inclusive park pricing, amongst other innovations. His family went on to operate further attractions in France and the UK, as well establishing a ride rental and leasing business. Slagharen was sold a few years ago to Parques Reunidos.
Merlin Entertainments has debuted its respective 101st and 102nd worldwide attractions. Opened on 23 May in Massachusetts, USA, the 44,000-square- foot (4,088 sq m) Legoland Discovery Center Boston is one of the anchor tenants of the new Outlets at Assembly Row in Somerville and features interactive Lego experiences, Lego-themed rides, a 4D Cinema, “factory” tour, birthday rooms and, of course, a Miniland exhibit featuring replicas of local landmarks made from Lego bricks. This was followed in late May by the opening of Madame Tussauds Beijing – Merlin’s fourth such outlet in China (the others being in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Wuhan).
Great Wolf Resorts has broken ground on its 13th waterpark resort in North America. Great Wolf Lodge Southern California is slated to open in Garden Grove in early 2016 and will feature over 600 themed suites and a 100,000 square foot (9,290 sq m) indoor waterpark.
Attraction designer/producer The Hettema Group (THG) Has promoted Anthony Pruett to become its new senior vice-president, while welcoming two new team members on board. John Polk comes in as vice-president of technical design and development after many years at Walt Disney Imagineering, where his credits included the World of Color nighttime spectacular at Disney’s California Adventure, Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest, park-wide special effects for Tokyo Disney Sea, as well as various projects for SeaWorld. Meanwhile Diane Michioka, another ex-Disney Imagineer, joins THG as a senior show producer. As well as six years as director of the Disneyland design studio, she executed independent projects for Disney’s California Adventure and Universal’s Harry Potter attractions.
S&S Worldwide has signed a contract with Casino Beach Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, to build and install a 120ft (36.6m) Double Shot tower ride, opening during the 2015 season.
“Waterparks are becoming exceptionally popular in Russia, and H2O has truly stood out.” Those are the words of Selim Doguoglu, head of the local office of Polin Waterslides & Pool Systems, a year after the indoor facility you see above debuted as part of the Horizon Megacenter Mall in Rostov-on- Don, Southern Russia. Polin manufactured and supplied all of H20 Aquapark’s waterslides including a multi slide, kamikaze, freefall, giant body slide,tunnel body slide, Magic Hole, Turbo Tunnel + Space Hole, Black Hole, Black Hole + Flying Boats, Tsunami Slide and a pirate-themed water play structure. While the mall offers a wide variety of amenities to patrons-including a multiplex cinema, a family entertainment complex, a bowling alley and a fitness center-owner NGO Gorizont believed the new addition would be an important addition to the mall's success. They invested 1.393 billion rubles (US$45 million) into the all-season complex.
h20park.ru JUNE 2014
British treehouse adventure park Bewilderwood has implemented a Galaxy ticketing and access control system from Gateway, allowing visitors to purchase tickets and annual passes on-site or online. “Sales for our annual passes have skyrocketed since implementing Galaxy,” notes Bewilderwood’s Bob Ottaway. “The children visiting the park think it is so cool to have a pass with their picture on it and showing it at the front gate adds an element of fun for them. For us, it cuts back on potential misuse – parents are now much less likely to hand their pass over to a neighbour who looks nothing like them!”
Visitors wishing to stay overnight at Lake Compounce amusement park, Bristol, Connecticut, will be interested to investigate the new Bear Creek Campground, which opens just a short walk or tram ride away next month, offering 20 fully furnished cabins, 56 RV (recreational vehicle) sites, 30 tent sites and five tee pees.
WhiteWater has restructured its European and Asian offices. Sean Hinton relocates from Barcelona to Shanghai to assume responsibility for the company’s operations in the Asia Pacific region. Replacing Sean in Europe is Grant Poje, previously executive vice-president of business development for Asia, but based out of WhiteWater’s headquarters in Richmond, Canada, for the last two years. Moving to Barcelona, Grant will assume his responsibility for the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia region
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