From simple roundabouts to attraction and entertainment complexes
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
BALPPA Chief Executive Colin Dawson has been elected President of Europarks, the federation of theme and amusement park associations throughout Europe. His two year appointment was confirmed at the Europarks Council meeting held during the Euro Attractions Show in Munich at the end of September.
Dawson, who has over 20 years experience in the attractions sector, had held the Vice President's position prior to taking the President's Chair and commenting on his new responsibilities, he stated his intention to develop the organisation.
- Now more than ever Europarks needs to ensure that our members are kept well informed about developments in Europe that may impact their businesses. I hope that during my tenure we shall add to the existing States in membership and increase our strength as the only European body with sufficient standing in the European Parliament to represent our members. We have addressed some major issues in recent years, such as the introduction of the European Ride Safety Reporting Programme, and will be dealing with a variety of others in the future.
The position of Vice President was also confirmed at the meeting. Mrs Henric Bembom, representing the Dutch parks association Club van Elf, was appointed to the role and Dawson commented further: - Henric is well known for her strong leadership of her business, Attractiepark Slagharen, and the Presidency of Club van Elf. She will be a very worthy partner and I look forward to working with her.
The next Europarks Council Meeting is likely to be held in the UK in March 2009.
A 'magical Christmas' in store for Drayton Manor guests during 2008 winter opening
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
New live show and Thomas Land 'in the snow' are Xmas highlights. Winter opening returns to Drayton Manor Theme Park in Staffordshire, UK, this year when the park opens for an extended Christmas period.
From November 22nd right through to December 23rd and also from December 27th to January 4th , the park will create Drayton's Magical Christmas for visitors when it opens its hugely popular Thomas Land area in addition to offering a major new live show, Santa's Magical Adventure, in the Big Top Theatre, throughout this winter period.
Following a season packed with a variety of newly produced live shows which entertained literally thousands of guests of all ages, Drayton Manor began its winter season with the Spooky Spectacular Halloween show during its late opening half term week, which formed part of the park's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This will be followed by a Fireworks Weekender during the first weekend in November, with the Christmas fun set to begin later in the month.
As well as the live show, however, another major feature of Drayton Manor's Magical Christmas opening will be Thomas Land, the brand new area of the park which debuted at the start of the 2008 season and which has proved an unprecedented success throughout the year. Here guests will be able to enjoy a transformed, festive Thomas Land featuring all the Thomas and Friends themed rides and attractions within this area of the park along with additional features such as reindeer, Santa and all his helpers and real snow to add the finishing touch! Every child aged nine years old and under will also receive a Christmas present.
- We are very much looking forward to Drayton's Magical Christmas this year, - commented Drayton Manor's General Manager Central Services Helen Pawley-Tuft. - When we decided to create Thomas Land we always had it in mind that this would give us an ideal opportunity to do something really special at Christmas time and, coupled with a dedicated live show for the festive period, we will be offering guests a wonderful experience.
- Bookings are going extremely well, - she continued, - and with many other features such as real snow, reindeer, presents for young children and, of course, Santa and his helpers, we are confident it will be another very successful event for Drayton Manor."
Drayton Manor Theme Park celebrates one millionth visitor for 2008 season
UK park reaches key milestone in memorable year of successes. In a year which has turned out to be a phenomenal success, the UK's Drayton Manor Theme Park passed a major milestone in mid-October when the one millionth visitor in 2008 was welcomed to the Staffordshire venue.
Guest Mark Dodsworth visited the park from Nottingham with his family, wife Kaley and children Laura and Nathan, as a half term treat and was delighted to find he was the millionth visitor this season. To celebrate, the family was presented with a season pass for 2009, allowing them unlimited access to the park for the whole year.
- We are delighted to have welcomed our millionth visitor during October, - commented Drayton Manor's general manager park operations Edward Pawley. - This is a tremendous achievement at a time when everyone is suffering so much from the poor economic climate and is a great reflection on what we have to offer the public here at Drayton.
- Our major new area for 2008, Thomas Land, has obviously played a huge part in increasing our visitor numbers this year and has also been largely responsible for attracting guests from literally throughout the UK. But it is a combination of all the attractions, live shows, special events and other facilities we offer that has also helped us achieve this milestone. And of course we still have our winter opening to look forward to which we are confident will add significantly more to this year's overall visitor numbers.
In addition to the impressive increase in attendance figures for 2008, which are up by a staggering 40 per cent on 2007, Drayton Manor is also celebrating an equally impressive increase in secondary spend on the park, which covers retail, catering and ride photography sales. This figure is up by 37 per cent which, coupled with the increase in visitors, caps off one of the most successful season's in the park's history.
Having begun its winter season with the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party during the latter half of October and into November, which included the Halloween Spooky Spectacular live show, Drayton Manor also held its annual Fireworks Spectacular over the first weekend of November. This will be followed on November 22nd. by the start of Drayton's Magical Christmas which will see the opening of a transformed, festive themed Thomas Land and the commencement of a brand new live show, Santa's Magical Adventure, in the Big Top Theatre.
All the rides and attractions within Thomas Land, carefully created in partnership with rights owner HIT Entertainment, will be available during this period in addition to some festive 'extras' such as reindeer, Santa and his helpers and real snow, to create a very special atmosphere in what has been a massively popular area of the park throughout 2008. Singers will perform to the crowds too and the Fat Controller will of course be meeting and greeting guests as usual. All visitors nine years old and under will also receive a Christmas present to round off their visit.
Santa's Magical Adventure, produced by Hamagination's Paul Hammond, will feature the story of a young girl who has written a very long Christmas list for Santa, but who ends up being taken on a journey to discover the real meaning of Christmas. An ice rink will be centre stage in the show which will also feature white miniature Shetland ponies accompanied by performers, professional ice skaters and dancers. The show lasts for 30 minutes and culminates in all children nine years old and under receiving a present from Santa.
- It is a real Christmas pageant, - commented Paul Hammond, - with an ice rink in the centre of the Big Top Theatre and lots of features to make it a true Christmas spectacular. There will be a snow machine to add a further magical touch and we'll be using special heaters to keep the audience warm!
www.draytonmanor.co.uk
Early signs of high attendance for 2009 International Gaming Expo
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
Buyers' initial response to the 2009 International Gaming Expo, incorporating ICE and ICEi, has been highly encouraging, according to organisers Clarion Gaming, who have released the first wave of pre-registration data.
An analysis of the figures reveals a 34.1 per cent increase in pre-registrations for free entry badges, compared with the same stage last year (11 weeks out).
IGE Marketing Manager, Charlotte Skinner believes that the figures reflect positively on the vision behind the International Gaming Expo. She explained: - Our pre-registration data confirms the value of creating an event which embraces land-based casinos, remote gaming, low stake gaming, iVTs and ancillary products. Visitors to IGE will have access to the universe of gaming equipment systems and platforms all in a single location. The spike in our pre-registration figures reflects IGE's status as the most complete gaming exhibition on the calendar.
The International Gaming Expo takes place across 27-29 January.
www.ige-exhibition.com
Innovative Leisure's newest climbing system provides options for all types of venue
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
UK based interactive family attractions specialist Innovative Leisure has added another new product to its wide range of attractions with the introduction of a flexible, modular panel system that offers a flat climbing wall solution to suit almost any required dimensions.
The first installation of the new panels was completed this summer at Potters Leisure Resort sports hall near Great Yarmouth, in the UK, where a 6 person, 6.5m high climbing wall is now successfully operating.
Each climbing panel measures 1.2 m x 1.2 m and they are ideally suited to creating straight forward climbing features, either as vertical climbing walls with auto belays to a height of 22m or low level traversing walls aimed at giving younger children an initial climbing experience.
Modular panel climbing walls can be installed onto a number of pre-existing wall structures both indoors and outdoors. In a standard sports hall, for example, where the space and height available lend themselves perfectly to such an installation, this can be a structural steel frame (as hollow breeze blocks will not provide enough strength) fixed to the main structure of the building. However, with the correct steel framework design, the system is suitable for virtually any other venue too due to its great flexibility in both height and width. Each panel is made to look and feel like real rock and with uniform thickness at the edges they fit together perfectly to create a realistic and visually striking climbing feature that protrudes less than 15 cm from the surface of an existing wall or steel framework. There are over 20 handhold attachment points per panel allowing the creation of a range of difficulties for each climbing route. The panels can also be mounted onto a custom built steel framework to allow access to the rear or if the existing wall structure is unsuitable for fixing the panels to.
Vertically orientated walls can be operated either using manual belays (operators require appropriate climbing qualifications) or Innovative Leisure's industry leading Hydraulic Auto Belay System. The Auto Belay System can be positioned either behind the climbing wall if it is not fixed to an existing wall or set off to the side to allow for an exciting yet extremely safe climbing experience.
The new modular panel system joins a wide range of climbing attractions available from Innovative Leisure, which includes climbing walls and towers, motorised climbing simulators, the Coconut Tree Climb and the brand new DigiWall, a computer based climbing wall attraction with a host of interactive features.
www.innovativeleisure.co.uk
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Tootin' kart-toons
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
Nicktoons Nitro Racing is a new family-oriented, fast action video driver fresh from the Raw Thrills studio. Distributed exclusively throughout the UK and Ireland by Brent Sales and in continental Europe by Bandai Namco Games, the game is licensed on the highly popular series of Nicktoons TV characters led by Spongebob Squarepants.
Players choose their favourite driver from Spongebob, Timmy Turner, Avatar Aang, Invader Zim, Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom - plus one further 'secret' racer - to chase around six full-length courses on their way to a climactic showdown with the evil 'Nitro'. The Nicktoons-inspired tracks include Bikini Bottom, Ghost Zone, RetroLand, Fairy World, Irken City, Four Nations and Planet Nitro. Picking up weapons and power-ups along the way, players must negotiate jumps and traps without the assistance of brakes, bringing out all the mayhem and true manic fashion of pure kart racing.
Brent/Namco Product Manager, John Brennan commented: - Nicktoons Nitro Racing's ease of use and action-packed adventure deliver good clean fun for all the family. Even though it has a high profile licence and high quality gameplay and cabinet design from one of the world's leading games developers, the game is extremely cost-effective and ideally suited to a wide variety of multi- and single-site venues".
Nicktoons Nitro Racing features a 27-inch VGA monitor as standard, a powerful sound system and is linkable up to six units.
Suzhou Giant Wheel Theme Park to add Simworx Stargazer 4D motion theatre
№6(60) от 30.12.2008
Brand new Chinese park chooses unique 4D motion theatre. UK based Simworx, a world leader in the design and supply of simulation attraction and effects theatres, has won an order to supply four of its Stargazer Motion Theatres to the new Giant Wheel Theme Park in China.
Located in the city of Suzhou, about two hours from Shanghai, the park is one of a number of new theme parks opening this year in China and is due for completion later this year. The Simworx installation is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Incorporating a total of four Stargazer hydraulic motion base platforms, each seating up to seven riders in two rows of three and four seats, the project will include a variety of 4D effects to provide a fun, exciting and stimulating experience, and will be the third version of the Stargazer theatre to be installed in China, with many more worldwide. Having several other installations from its product range now evident in the Far East, and the benefit of local service offices in Malaysia and Singapore, also helped to ensure Simworx was shortlisted for the supply of a 4D effects theatre at the Suzhou park.
- Simworx continues to enjoy much success with its wide range of simulation and effects theatre attractions around the world, - commented Managing Director Terry Monkton. - In this case, the client was looking for the ultimate 4D effects theatre experience. The Stargazer exceeded their expectations by combining the very latest in 3D and 4D technology with a highly dynamic, 6 DOF motion system.
In addition to the Stargazer motion systems, Simworx will also be supplying 4D effects including wind, aroma, snow, low smoke and leg ticklers, a selection of 3D ride films, 3D projection and special effects lighting within the Suzhou theatre.
www.simworx.co.uk
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