PW-JAN20-30-33-IAPPA-Review.qxp_Feature 04/02/2020 11:35 Page 31


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and ETF Ride Systems, Zamperla, and SeaWorld Orlando and Premier Rides. “This has been a great show,” commented Jason Mons of


S&S – Sansei. “It’s been very, very exciting since we’ve had some very meaningful meetings with both new and existing parks. There is still a lot of interest in our existing products like the 4D Free Spin, but our new Axis Coaster is catching everyone’s eye.” “We’vebeen extremely busy the entire week,” smiled Len


Soled, Rides-4-U, “and have had a very successful show. We sell to three segments of the market, the parks, carnivals, and FECs, that were all well represented here at the trade show.” “We’re having a very good show,” offered Brad Olson,


Empex Watertoys, “especially for international sales. There has been strong interest in our products, including our Aquatropica interactive watertoy, and we’re generating many


strong leads. “A great show, maybe the best ever,” smiled Chuck


Bingham of Martin & Vleminck Ltd. “But the cost to exhibit here, especially the Freeman charges, are absurd. We’re very confident we will leave this show with two orders, possibly a third.” “The first two days of the show were extremely busy,” reported Dick Chance of Chance Rides, “and day three was


steady. The highlight of day three,” he added tongue-in- cheek, “was my interview with Park World.” “This was the best show ever for us,” confirmed Torsten


Schmidt of Maurer Rides, “because of our press conference with Carnival Cruise Lines with Carnival’s President Christine Duffy and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal. There was so much attention as we unveiled our new coaster, the first coaster on a cruise ship. It’s our Spike coaster, an interactive powered coaster.” “We’ve had some very solid leads,” noted Wyeth Tracy,


Empex Watertoys. “Our display is a real eye-catcher so a lot of people stop. We’ve had people here from Mongolia, Columbia, Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India, a very good international representation.” “So far, so good. We’ve had some tremendous leads,”


echoed Christopher Lee, Zipflyer, “some deals in the works that we hope will lead to final contracts. 2020 is shaping up to be an excellent year.” “Vekoma has been very busy here,” acknowledged Peter


van Bilsen. “We’ve noticed higher attendance. We’ve had 25% more meetings, and more attention from Korea and Latin America. WE hosted the reception for Latin America at Cuba Libre atPointe Orlando. It was one of the largest receptions we ever had. We have new projects in Saudi Arabia, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the U.S, We’re also very busy in China and have opened a new parts center in China six months ago. We’ve signed seven contracts while at the show.” “It’s very clear to Premier Rides that IAAPA had their all-


time record attendance,” observed Jim Seay, “because we had our busiest show to date. One specific trend we noticed was there was a general willingness to execute contracts with much longer lead times due to how busy the major suppliers are at this time.”


Interesting and innovative “Choosing the right mix of attractions for a FEC can be a real challenge,” said Alex Hristove, vice head of marketing at Walltopia, It brings up a dozen of questions. This is why for the IAAPA Expo’19 we’ve decided to go beyond a


WINTER EDITION


Together with Carnival Cruise Line, Maurer Rides


unveiled the ride car for the first-ever roller coaster to operate on a cruise ship.


traditional booth and build a small FEC instead.” On a 5500 ft facility, visitors had the chance to experience all of our famous products - Ropes Course, Ninja Course, Fun Walls, Rollglider and Walltopia artificial cave resulting in a busy stand throughout. LEGOLAND New York Resort, Holovis and ETF Ride


systems revealed the world’s first ride experience featuring technology that turns guests into LEGO Minifigures! When it opens on 4th July 2020, LEGOLAND New York Resort will introduce the LEGO Factory Adventure dark ride featuring a world’s first use of on-ride tracking technology. By identifying the attributes of guests and mapping their position in the virtual space, the ride transforms riders into LEGO Minifigures in real-time. “The LEGO Factory Adventure Minifigure transformation


has been well received,” said Peter Cliff, creative director, Holovis. We think this is for two reasons: firstly, because it was a personal experience for each visitor. Everyone’s Minifigure was an individual representation of them. Personalisation has been a big trend in themed entertainment over recent years, with guests wanting a sense of individuality to make them feel special. “Secondly, we think it was successful because the


experience was frictionless and seemed like real magic. Guests didn’t have to do anything for this to happen. They didn’t have to share any information complete a form in advance and there wasn’t any visible technology making this happen. They simply sat in a box and their Minifigure appeared in front of them.” Reflecting on a successful week with a lot of interest,


Intamin’s Michèle Jehle told Park World: “We showed a vehicle of the LSM Launch Coaster ‘Pantheon’ that will be opened at Busch Gardens Wiliamsburg in 2020. And we showed the vehicle of ‘Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure’ that opened this year at Universal Island of Adventure in Orlando. Reactions on both vehicles were great. Guests were able to try out our comfortable seats on the‘Pantheon’ vehicle.” Intamin was also honoured to receive the 2019 IAAPA


Brass Ring Award for Best New Product in the category ‘Major Ride/Attraction’ with the “unique” duelling LSM triple launch coaster ‘Dueling Dragons’, located at Guangzhou


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