WATER RIDES
cost $500,000 (£452,000, $754,000). ATV’s
WORLD WATERPARK ASSOCIATION
Rainer Klimaschewski believes there’s a
great deal of potential for standing waves, Following a tough year for operators, and “This past year was a particularly
as they give the opportunity of an authentic with association trade shows suffering from challenging one for our operators and
surfi ng experience with less investment dropping attendances, the World Waterpark this year’s educational programme was
than big wave pools. An installation was Association worked especially hard to get designed to address those challenges by
recently completed at the Alpincenter in new faces and increase fi rst time attendees offering new and innovative ideas and solu-
Bottrop, Germany, and more are lined up to its 29th Symposium and Trade Show at tions,” said Aleatha Ezra, director of park
for 2010. The product is also available as a Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort at the member development at WWA.
mobile construction. end of October 2009. As well as 50 breakout sessions, includ-
The Belgian company AFP Technology As a result, attendance matched last ing 30 new topics, attendees had the
only started marketing the Wavesurfer year’s show in Las Vegas and reports sug- chance to experience workshops facilitated
within the last few months, although the gest there was a lot of purchase planning by Disney, which looked at the core princi-
founders have been in the industry much on the fl oor, showing that projects are still ples of Disney’s organisational strength and
longer. Wavesurfer is a wave pool, with a developing and there are active plans for took attendees behind the scenes of some
travelling wave that has speeds of up to 70 park expansions and new projects. of the company’s most innovative areas.
km per hour. According to technical sport
and training academy director, Bart Van
Kralingen, the best feature of the system to 2m (£1.8m, $3m). Two have been placed on any surface, with no construc-
is that it’s modular and easily relocatable. installed in Belgium and more are under- tion work needed. The permanent product
The smallest size is 4m (13ft)-wide, suit- way in other western European countries. is also easy to install. Any board without
able for one surfer or two body boarders, a fi n can be used, including a wave board
but more can be added to create double MOBILE OPTION and a wakeboard and it’s suitable for all
or triple pools. Another selling point is that Another newcomer, only having been in levels, including children. It has one pump,
the strength of the waves and the slippier the market for a year, is The Wave Booster, which runs between 30 and 50km/hr and
base mean it’s easier to ride. It’s made of from Belgium. The USP is its mobility – it prices range from 400,000 (£362,000,
soft materials so can be installed anywhere can be ready for use within four hours and $600,000) to €1m (£900,000, $1.5m).
and doesn’t need to sit in a concrete pit. It can be moved again a few hours after use. Scottish wave supplier, Murphys Waves,
costs from 350,000 (£317,000, $527,000) It can be used indoors and outdoors and has been in the business for 16 years
and has around 100 installations, includ-
ing a Point Break Surf ride at Tenerife’s
new waterpark, Siam Park, which is a
large wave pool with a travelling wave.
The company has also just created a new
surf system using a static wave, called
BoardRider. The price and technology var-
ies according to the product.
Like the sport itself, the artifi cial surfi ng
market looks set to be very competitive,
but Meistrell thinks the market has a huge
amount of untapped potential: “The surf-
ing culture has been admired for many
years and people all over the world wear
surf brand clothing, even though they don’t
surf. I’ve seen many people experience
surfi ng for the fi rst time and get the stoke
[surf-speak for ‘get a buzz from it’]. There
is truly nothing else like riding a surfboard.
I believe we’re on the cusp of an explosion
of the surfi ng experience.”
If these products can create the thrill of
surfi ng, while making this diffi cult sport
easier to learn, there could well be room in
The Wave aims to replicate Munich River’s wave and can be adjusted to suit all levels the market for all the players. ●
70 Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital AM 1 2010
©
cybertrek 2010
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