032 REPORT
THEME PARKS & ATTRACTIONS
David Gray is the Architainment Division Manager for Oasis Enterprises, part of the Al Shirawi Group. Oasis Enterprises was established in 1985 and its services include distribution, system integration, project manage- ment and consultancy for innovative AV projects in the UAE and beyond. David talked mondo*dr through the importance of audio, lighting and visual technology in a theme park environment.
THEME PARKS - ESCAPISM AND FUN “What attracts the crowd is the wearied mind’s demand for relief in unconsidered muscular action. We Americans either want to be thrilled or amused, and we are ready to pay well for either sensation.” - George Tilyou. That was the simple, timeless philosophy of the industry’s first true showman, the one who, over 100 years ago, perfected the business model used by nearly every theme park since. (extract:
www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201303/3421/)
We really have to define the modern age of theme parks from earlier examples of themed spaces that were created for the enjoyment and surprise of visitors. One of the first experiences in my life as a 10-year-old was visitng the amazing Peterhof Fountain Gardens in St Petersburg created by Peter the Great in 1723. Techno- logical solutions features heavily but in a very cool way. Peterhof Park has a unique fountain system, which uses absolutely no pumping hardware. A network of more than 20km of pipes was designed around the natural contours of the land and it supplies an entirely gravity-fed water system providing adequate water to feed the fountains and cascades of Peterhof Park for up to 10 hours a day.
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This has kept Russian royalty and nobility amused over the years through soaking guests with the ‘trick’ fountains - the staccato musical fountains shoot up at unpre- dictable intervals. Nowadays, during the warmer months children drench themselves running in and out of the fountains while trying to guess which one will go off next. The modern era to a certain extent can be credited to world fairs and expos. One in particular that included a recurring theme dating back 170 years before the event took place was World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It featured the world’s biggest fountain and was the first world exhibition to feature the use of electric light.
About 70 years later several Disneyland attractions - Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, It’s a Small World, and Dinosaurs of the Primeval World - were built by Disney’s in-house manufacturing department (Walt Disney Imagineering) for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. When the fair closed, Disney relocated the shows to a permanent home at Disneyland. This home - where Disney brought life to his animated characters with the support of technology - officially opened as Disney- land, Anaheim, California in 1955 and arguably could be described as the park that changed the themed entertainment industry forever.
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION Technology which is integrated to produce a themed ride may be cutting edge and create an amazing guest experience upon inauguration, but does it have a limited life span? Lets look at an example… IMAX cinema premiered in the 1970 World Expo as a direct result of Canadian film maker Graeme Ferguson’s mounting frustration at having to use several cameras to
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