Henk Groenen, Efteling, Holland: We are not under pressure, because we accept our responsibilities. The Efteling Nature Foundation is still our one and only shareholder. We are a park as much as a theme park because no more than 10% of our area is built on, the rest is flowers, trees etc. Underneath Vogel Rok, our indoor coaster, there is a water tank that we use in summer for air conditioning in our hotel and in the winter to keep some attractions free of frost. We also buy used domestic water, run it through our natural cleaning systems and use it for our lakes and to water our golf courses. Some years we can even give water back to the system. We also catch rain water and use it to flush toilets. We are doing several other pilots schemes here too, but we don't put signs in the park explaining this, because during the day people just want to have fun.

Pavilion C of Genoa's Fiera di Genova exhibition halls will be turned into a mini amusement park this October for the first combined Technofolies/Interschau trade show.

This autumn (fall), Wild Wadi is due to welcome its five millionth guest, confirming the popularity of this world-class waterpark. Located on the Gulf Coast in Dubai, with its blistering year-round temperatures, its success is not surprising, but its general manager feels it is down to more than just a good location. Like many other facilities in the Emirate, Wild Wadi prides itself on service, as Owen Ralph discovers.

A Huss Topple Tower is the newest family thrill ride at Marineland, Niagara Falls, Ontario. Paul Ruben profiles a first for Canada.

Drayton Manor in Tamworth, England, is putting a renewed emphasis on live entertainment. This season the park invested in a 1,200-seater big top theatre complete with a 30-metre stage - and watched attendances climb. Entertaining audiences inside this new space is London-based show producer Hammond Productions. Here Drayton Manor managing director Colin Bryan and Paul Hammond from Hammond Productions explain why live entertainment is so important to the park mix.

Chance Morgan has been making CP Huntington trains for almost 50 years. The Wichita, Kansas, ride manufacturer turns out between five and 10 of the people-movers every year, and this summer it put the finishing touches to number 350. Park World toasts a stalwart park attraction.

Adrian Fisher created his first maze at the age of 20 in his father's garden and has had a lifelong fascination with puzzle solving and creating a sense of space. Based in Dorset, England, Adrian Fisher Mazes has gone on to create hundreds of mazes in stately homes, shopping malls, amusement parks, aquariums and as standalone attractions, using a variety of materials and techniques. Each year between five and six million people worldwide experience an Adrian Fisher maze, in fact someone is probably lost in one as you read this. Park World speaks to the maze maestro.

Having spent some time this summer travelling in Europe, it has given me chance to reflect upon the differences between the amusement industry there and at home in India.

When Huss unveiled its concept for the Topple Tower at the IAAPA trade show in 2002, I was fascinated. Imagine the Leaning Tower of Pisa run amok. We've all seen observation towers and drop towers, but a 63-foot tower that both spins and sways? Huss rides are good, but this was inspired.

Chinese children will, in a year's time, be able to get a taste of adult working life in a new theme park planned for the city of Hangzhou. Located about two hours from Shanghai in the Zhejiang Province, Kids City will be the first attraction of its kid in China and follows the success of similar ventures in Mexico, the USA and Japan.

Located down the road from Gardaland at Lake Garda, the medium-sized Italian park Movieland Studios this summer opened refurbished Zamperla Windshear and gave it a new theme based around the Tomb Raider movies/computer games.

Since Port Aventura installed a Ridercam DVD system on two of its coasters this summer, the popular Spanish park has witnessed over 200 ride videos make their way onto the YouTube website - a fantastic free marketing tool if ever there was one.

Ocean Park guests have been told to brace themselves for Hong Kong's biggest, scariest themed party of the year - its seventh annual Halloween Bash featuring more than 250 ghosts, zombies and dancing corpses.

Here's how they do Halloween in the Black Forest. Terenzi Horror Nights at Europa-Park near Freiburg fills Germany's biggest theme park with zombies and demons every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from October 4 to November 4 and for a full, fearsome week from October 25 onwards.

Garden Quest is the name of a new extension to the MagiQuest Kingdom adventure game in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and it takes guests outside of the existing facility and on a journey through Broadway at the Beach, a neighbouring 350-acre shopping, dining and entertainment complex.

Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney Resort, will present the keynote address at this year's the General Managers and Owners Breakfast at IAAPA Attracions Expo in Orlando. Her topic will be “Creating The Year of a Million Dreams and the Future Disney Park Experience.” The event takes place at 8.30am on Wednesday, November 14, within the Orange County Convention Center, and space is limited. More details, including how to book, appear at: iaapa.org/expos/attractions/

As from January 2008, Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida will be called Disney's Hollywood Studios. “Now we can say that Hollywood is literally our middle name,” notes Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World Resort. New attractions planned for the park in 2008 include Toy Story Mania!, Block Party Bash, Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage!, Disney High School Musical 2: School's Out!, and Meet and Greet Adds Handy Manny. “This is easily one of the most ambitious attractions rollouts in the 18-year history of the park,” Crofton adds.

Richard Rodriguez has smashed the Guinness World Record for the longest rollercoaster marathon, riding the Pepsi Max Big One at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, 6,300 miles and nearly 8,000 rollercoaster rides. He broke the record at 00:01 on Monday, August 6 – and then chose to carry on for another week to make his new record a really tough one to beat! Richard was originally going head to head with 2 challengers at Freizeitland Gieselwind in Germany, but they dropped out early on due to medical reasons.

Plans for a new tower attraction in Birmingham, England, are at an advanced stage. Richard Pawley has sold his ‘vertical theme park’ concept to Pettifer Estates and is to work with them as operations director with a view to opening the project by 2010.

It is anticipated that sightseers and adrenaline junkies alike will be attracted to England’s second city to experience the attraction if it gets planning permission next year. Originally named the Birmingham Pinnacle, Pettifer Estates is calling the tower VTP200, the first in a planned series of ‘VerTiPlex’ structures.

The 200-metre leisure and observation tower will be designed by award-winning architects RTKL. External glass lifts will transport visitors from a shimmering gold base, with its hotel, bars and restaurants up the sides of the tower to a series of observation decks offering breathtaking 360° views.

Brighton Pier, on the south coast of England, has a new Ghost Train, and it’s the darkest, scariest most imposing yet.

Dutch ride manufacturer KMG and its 15-year-long sales manager Jack Souilljee (pictured) have parted company. Jack will now concentrate on becoming a freelance ride consultant, while Albert Kroon, son of KMG founder Isje Kroon, takes over sales responsibilities at the family firm.

The most prestigious award within the amusement and theme park industry will be awarded again during next November’s IAAPA Attractions Expo – but nominations must be received before this year's show.

Italian ride manufacturing stalwart Corrado Munari has passed away. The founder of IE Park and owner of the Soli bumper car marque, died on August 22, aged 69.

Schlitterbahn Vacation Village, Kansas City, Missouri, was due to break ground on September 18. The new facility will be a $749 million trend-setting retail entertainment destination comprised of multiple shopping, dining, lodging and entertainment venues connected by a ‘Transportainment’ river system.

Reinhold Spieldiener, CEO of Intamin Transportation Ltd and president of Ride Trade International, passed away peacefully away in his sleep on September 4, 2007.

Born in Austria in 1941, he will be remembered as a loving husband, devoted brother, caring father, and a wonderful mentor and friend to all that had contact with him.

Busch Gardens’ newest adventure in Tampa, Florida, will be an exotic jungle where guests connect with the world around them. Opening spring 2008, Jungala represents a $16 million overhaul of the park's former Congo area.

According to Kent Buescher, the group’s president and CEO, “We have worked with various parties since March to create the best outcome for the estate and balance the needs of the people we serve.”

Astrid Lindgrens Värld (World), a small theme park in Vimmerby, Sweden, themed around the author’s tales such as Pippi Longstocking, reports an 18 per cent increase in attendance during its 110-day 2007 season.

Howl-O-Scream is back for an eighth season of blood-curdling scares this October at Busch Gardens Africa, Tampa, Florida.

Zamperla is known for offering groups of rides to single parks, but for an outlet in Russia it has just put together a particularly cost-effective package of new attractions. The three new rides – Disk ‘O’, Kolobok and Calipso – are all family focused and offer a new twist on some classic concepts. They appear together in a new area of the Sokolniki park in Moscow.

Australian moto-racing legend Mick Doohan is the inspiration for the theme of the world’s first Intamin motorbike launch coaster, which opens this month at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.

The Chimelong resort in Guangzhou, China, has opened Asia’s largest waterpark. The Chimelong Water Park, which debuted May, covers over 30 acres and includes several world-first attractions including a Family Boomerango from Whitewater West Industries.

In May of next year, Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, Ontario, will introduce Behemoth, the country’s biggest, fastest and tallest rollercoaster. The 230-foot-tall, 5,300ft-long ride, from Bolliger & Mabillard, will become the park's 15th rollercoaster.

The TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) has revealed that more than 120 projects are currently under consideration for the 14th Annual Thea Awards, which will be presented March 2008 at a lavish ceremony in California. The potential recipients will be announced as usual this coming November at the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando.

Calipso is an adaptation of the original Calypso/Cobra/Twist concept, accommodating up to 24 riders at a time. Held in by a seatbelt, they turn and spin through two opposite rotations, suspended from above.

Kolobok takes the Rock ‘n’ Roll or Looper once popular in the States and gives it a fresh new theme. The ride has a compact 12 metre footprint and comprises 8 two-seater cars each with over-the-shoulder restraints and an interactive control stick, allowing riders to roll backwards and forwards.

MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, has announced that it has signed to sell Palace Entertainment to European operator Parques Reunidos, itself owned by private equity outfit Candover.