This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
“ASIANS LIVE IN CONDOS WITH NO OUTDOOR LIVES AND IT’S BEGINNING TO AFFECT OUR SOCIETY. I STARTED TO DREAM ABOUT WHAT I COULD DO TO CHANGE THAT”


DREAM CATCHING Sim started his theme park career work- ing in a local butterfl y park, before getting the job as operations manager at Malaysia’s largest waterpark, Sunway Lagoon. From there, he started his own waterpark consultancy called Sim Leisure, which, he says, created a niche by going into previously unchartered territory, such as post-war zones, to set up and manage attractions. However, it was after he was engaged to provide a complete turnkey service for the large- scale Lost Paradise of Dilmun waterpark in Bahrain, that Sim’s focus turned to building and running his own park. “I realised how satisfying it was to design a whole attraction from start to fi nish and manage something I’d created,” he says. It was also during his frequent trav-


els overseas that the seed of the idea for Escape began to grow. “Each time


AM 1 2013 ©cybertrek 2013


I came back to Asia I was struck by how Asian kids don’t play outside,” he explains. “Asians are gadget people. We live in condos with no outdoor lives and it’s beginning to affect our society.” “I started to dream about what I could


do to change that and how I could create something that would draw on my child- hood and capture the traditional values of our forefathers.” Sim says he also wanted to address some of the problems facing this children’s generation, such as their sedentary lifestyle and “indoor mentality”, by encouraging physical well- ness and a re-connection with nature. The opportunity to realise his dream


came in 2009, when an open tender came up to build a tourist attraction in his childhood home of Penang. The government tender was for a


44-acre brownfi eld site, previously home to the Teluk Bahang reservoir. After win-


Adventureplay, the park’s fi rst phase, is now open and covers seven of the available 44 acres


ning the tender with its Escape theme park concept, Sim Leisure began work on its fi rst phase, Adventureplay, just over 12 months ago.


PLAY AT WORK Adventureplay opened in November 2012 and is built on seven of the 44 acres. It combines physical challenges utilising existing jungle trees, such as rope bridges and climbing walls, with natural play activities including tree climbing and hill rolling. As well as a free fall experience and caving adven- ture, the park includes a Tubby Racer downhill tube ride and human-powered go-kart race called Zoom Bug. For little


Read Attractions Management online attractionsmanagement.com/digital 23


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