Feature Simulators


licensed product, is hot,” explains Martin. “It’s a balance for the operator, the park, because they have to pay for the IP without selling a single ticket. On the other hand, their marketing is that much easier because you don’t have to explain to consumers what the story of the ride is. If it’s Ghostbusters, people know it already, it has huge brand recognition and it’s a lot easier to get people to try the attraction. If you were creating your own story – for example, we did Voyage to the Iron Reef for Knott’s Berry Farm in California. The story is completely invented by the creative people, so there is no license fee but on the other hand in marketing, you have to explain it to customers to get them there. It’s a choice the park has to make and we have seen in the last couple of years a lot more IP used to bring in customers.


you create your own experience every time you go in; you might do something different every time.”


Cup of tea Of course, a flight simulator might not be everyone’s cup of tea – though the networked dogfight experience sounds fantastic – but there are many other products out there. Triotech’s VP of marketing, Christian


Martin, explains that adding some interactivity can really help bring the punters in. He told GAP: “It’s all about interactive media-based attractions. Some of our attractions are not interactive but are immersive, but most are interactive. We just opened Ghostbusters at Heide Park in Germany, and recently opened our fifth Ninjago The Ride at a Legoland in Germany. Interactive is really our bread and butter.” The Ghostbusters ride is 5D, so one has to ask what the Ds actually do; Martin explains: “As a company we have kind of dropped the ‘d’s; the media is in 3D, then 4D means a simulator with special effects like motion, wind, light. What happened a few years ago is well, if that’s 4D then mine is 5D because I added some special effects. Someone else then says well, mine is 6D; it goes up to 13D and


16 www.globalamusementsandplay.com


stops making sense. For our position, we decided one day when we sold a 7D interactive simulator and our client called us in some alarm because someone had opened a 13D ride down the road, that we would drop the ‘d’s. Your movie is in 3D, 4D is accepted industry-wide, it makes sense. But in the case of Ghostbusters, that was the park’s decision. The park is going to name an attraction the way they can market it best.” Of course, Ghostbusters is a major licensed property and intellectual property is a growth sector in simulators, says Martin – alongside interactivity.


“There are two or three things we have seen. Intellectual property,


“There is also a push from the license holders – it used to be, let’s do a t-shirt, a hat, some toys, but now it’s let’s add a ride, or even a –land to leverage their asset, they know they can do more now. “The other significant trend, and it’s been going on for a few years, is interactivity. It’s nice to be immersed, and you see fantastic new technology to place a guest into the middle of incredible environments, but they remain passive experiences and if you can have a truly interactive experience where you are actually participating, it brings the guest into the story. It’s not only more fun, we strongly believe that interactivity increases re-playability so people, because they acted and interacted and influenced proceedings, want to do it again or do it better or differently.”


Licenses are not just from the world of entertainment though – given the transport nature of many simulators, vehicle marques are also key. Reinder Holtkamp, general manager, CESYS tells GAP how it can work with vehicle manufacturers, and about its installation at Ferrari World. He says: “We do some custom work, for example marque-branded, but mostly we sell what we have in our product range. We can work together with automotive manufacturers, it is a lot easier if we do that; it means we don’t have to go out and buy a Lamborghini to create a simulation! “We have various kart centres in the


May/June 2017


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