The desire for more and more thrills is fuelling the boom in more daring water rides, as well as more adventure and challenge courses at waterparks
FEC attractions with arcade, bowling, mini-golf, and upscale restaurants. This hybridisation is meant to create some weather-resistance but to also appeal to those who don’t really want to wear a swimming costume.
Hybridisation within rides There’s an interesting phenomenon that occurs in our business. In years with little park development, there is a bit more innovation. Ride manufactur- ers need to come up with rides that set them apart from their competition as the few rides that will be purchased are likely to be iconic to drive the gate. But in park development boom-
ing years, little innovation happens as manufacturers are spending their time on the standard capacity rides going into all those new parks. So it’s no sur- prise to see with booming development in Asia and other parts of the world that, with a few exceptions, we’re see- ing tweaks to existing rides rather than completely new ride concepts. An easy approach is to take aspects
of the best existing rides and combine the experiences. This works to cre- ate iconic rides, but how those ride
AM 1 2014 ©cybertrek 2014
“TODAY, PARKS ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE HYBRIDISED, MAKING IT HARDER TO CLASSIFY A PARK AS STRICTLY A WATERPARK”
elements are combined and operate successfully remains to be seen. These combinations can look good, but how the ride forces work together needs significant engineering and testing. I see this trend sticking around, as there are some really good-looking ride ele- ments that give not only the hero shot as stated earlier, but also offer thrill ele- ments for a heightened ride experience.
Adventure and extreme sport Just as reality TV has become the norm, so has an appetite for adventure and extreme sport. There are any number of survivor shows that highlight the thrill of sport and the adrenalin that comes from perceived risk while pushing one’s body to achieve a goal. It’s this thrill that’s fuelling the boom
in adventure and challenge courses. Take this concept and make it into a
family-friendly, yet challenging attrac- tion, and you could have an instant hit. We’ve seen playgrounds in public settings become bland as there are per- ceived risks municipalities don’t want to take on, but in our FEC environments, with trained supervision to enhance the experience, challenge courses can be great fun and a completely different, safe experience for kids and adults alike. Zip lines, ropes courses, climbing
walls, and other adventure sport ele- ments are becoming ever popular and we’ll likely see advances in the equip- ment and large-scale applications in places like waterparks and theme parks instead of just eco-tourism attractions. This trend will likely endure despite the tendency of novel equipment to lose its appeal after a few years. The difference is the application in high-quality environments with spec-
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