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Rotterdam Port Experience
A new attraction has opened celebrating Europe’s largest seaport. The Rotterdam Port Experience, underneath Erasmus Bridge, allows guests to learn more about one of the world’s largest ports and its contribution to the Dutch city.
Popcorn Pioneer!
JC Evans, chairman of Gold Medal Products, is the first person to receive the new Pioneer Award from the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA), the trade association for the American carnival industry.
Wild WaterDome
Eastern Tennessee’s latest and largest indoor waterpark has opened as part of Wilderness at the Smokies in Sevierville.
Disney spots latest guest trend
Responding to new research shows that families are planning trips with loved ones around life milestones, both Disney’s US resorts are inviting guests to celebrate these special moments with family and friends at their parks. This new trend is dubbed “celebration vacations.”
Knight Valley
Incorporating elements of an eco-park and modern theme park, Knight Valley is the final part of the OCT East resort to open outside Shenzhen in China’s Guangdong province. Park World takes a look at this ambitious new development.
Harbin Polar Aquarium
Harbin Polar Aquarium, located in the architecturally-noted Northeastern Chinese city of the same name, is one of the largest attractions of its kind anywhere in the world, offering a magical trip to the crystal ice snow of the polar regions all year long.
Riding Astride
After more than a century of starts and stops, rollercoasters in which riders sit astride mounted seating, usually a horse or a motorbike, have finally caught on with the thrill-seeking public. Paul Ruben saddles up to explore the trend.
Tower of Terror - Johannesburg
Located on the site of a former goldmine in Johannesburg, South Africa, Gold Reef City features a number of attractions that pay tribute to its mining roots – but none are as fearsome and spectacular as Tower of Terror. Following the ride’s relaunch last summer, Park World talks to the man that helped engineer it.
Mission Admission
There was a time when tickets were simply a proof of purchase, used for getting into the park or onto your favourite ride or attraction. Now, coupled with a variety of software applications, admission systems have become the front line in intelligence for the savvy amusement park operator. Park World talks to a handful of suppliers to discover what today’s ticketing products can do for parks and their guests.
HauNTcon 2009
The Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention –or HauNTcon – takes place in just over two months in the USA. Here we take the first of two peaks and what visitors can expect at this event by haunters for haunters.
Controlling Food Costs
The instability of the market in today’s economy is causing food prices to be unstable and unpredictable, and this scares many of us with food concessions at parks and attractions. In the past three months alone, I watched our vendors increase our rates by over 10%. We cannot allow this to continue.
You Can Bank On This
Because parks try to differentiate their rollercoasters from similar rides for marketing purposes, they often establish a new record for height, speed, number of loops and so on. We call these bragging rights, and I for one take them very seriously. Or as seriously as one can for something intended primarily for entertainment. When new bragging rights are established, we have the making of a Roller Coaster Arms Race.
Flying Fury for Tivoli
Danish amusement institution Tivoli is to install a Flying Fury interactive plane ride from the Italian manufacturer Technical Park for the 2009 season.
IAAPA Connections
IAAPA has pulled the plug on its planned “educational” event in the Bahamas, blaming the economy and its impact on members’ ability to participate in the three-day get-together.
Shanghai Disneyland
After years of speculation, Disney executives have confirmed that a report has been submitted to the Shanghai government regarding a possible theme park project in Mainland China. Park World has since learned, however, that “no deal has been agreed to, no project has been approved.”
ETC and Disney settle
According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Environmental Tectonics Corp (ETC) and the Walt Disney World Company have reached a confidential settlement in a legal dispute over the Mission: Space ride at Epcot in Florida.
Hard Rock Park to liquidate
Hard Rock Park, the 55-acre, $400 million in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, opened last April with much excitement, hoping to attract visitors who love roller coasters and rock music – but soon it could be pulled apart.
Mummy goes to Singapore
Premier Rides has announced that it has been awarded a contract to build another Revenge of the Mummy attraction for Universal Studios, this time at the new park in Singapore, which is scheduled to open at the end of 2009.
Goodbye Golden Nugget
Despite its best intentions and efforts to try to preserve the Golden Nugget Mine Ride, a classic boardwalk attraction, the Morey Organization has decided to remove it from the former Hunt’s Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey.
Drayton Manor’s winter wonder
Drayton Manor’s first Magical Christmas has been hailed a success. The winter season – which ran from November 22, 2008, to January 4, 2009 – was focused around he British park’s new Thomas Land children’s area, zoo and the Big Top Theatre, which hosted a special seasonal show.
Gröna Lund grows
Gröna Lund, the waterfront amusement park in the city of Stockholm, has applied for planning permission to develop its “Skeppsholmsviken” parking area into a new area of the park housing additional rides.
Home needed for Coney Island icon
A new home is being sought for the famed Astroland Rocket Ship on Coney Island’s Boardwalk, one of the first and only surviving early amusement park simulators.
