Park World - December 06/January 07 - (Page 6)

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Behind the project is the South African company SpacePort Edutainment International, which hopes to have the project open in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, in which Shenyang will also play a part.The capital of the Liaoning Province, the city boasts a population of 7 million, with a further 17 in a 150km radius and 1 million annual tourists. Comprising rides, attractions and educational exhibits, the six zone 20-hectare park will also feature a major 4D and simulation component, developed in association with South Africanbased special effect companies will be backed up with a major ‘edutainment’ internet portal. SpacePort Shenyang will be the first of several planned SpacePort venues worldwide, the next in Africa at the big Africa Theme Park Resort being develop near Johannesburg.Another will be SpacePort Moscow. In total five projects are planned, backed up with significant space-based ‘edutainment’ internet portal. Franchisees are sought for future sites. The creative development of the SpacePort concept is being handled by Dutchman Hans Deuze, whose previous credits include ITEC Entertainment Disneyland Resort Paris. He will serve as senior vice-president of development and operations for SpacePort Edutainment. BRC Imagination Arts, of Burbank, California, is to generate the SpacePort Shenyang masterplan. Following the successful conclusions drawn by the KPMG study, SpacePort Edutainment has embarked on an investor road show as its seeks to find the required funding. NBGS ‘waves’ farewell as waterpark supplier NBGS International, the Texas-based waterpark design and manufacturing firm, has licensed WaterPark Experts Inc to market, sell and manufacture the wellknown NBGS line of themed module slides and Aqua Toys, including Li’l Squirts and Floatables water elements. The deal marks NBGS’ exit from the direct supply of waterpark products and ser vices as it concentrates its efforts on growing sister company Schlitterbahn Waterpar ks, operator of three successful facilities in Texas. WaterPar k Experts, based in Sequin,Texas, designs and manufactures children’s themed soft play areas. In addition to the NBGS themed Aqua Toys and Soft Play Systems, it will continue to offer design and consulting services to the waterpar k industry. Apparently, NBGS chose WaterPark Experts because of its global marketing reach and experience in dealing with the NBGS product line. “The entire team at WaterPark Experts,” explained Jim Stephenson, its president, “is committed to continuing the outstanding reputation of quality and customer ser vice that has made NBGS the leader in the waterpark and entertainment industr y.” Crossroads for KMG Tests were due to take place in December on a new ride at the factory of KMG in Holland. Named the Twistec, the ride combines elements of the company’s existing Afterburner with a new twist. It is hoped a showman customer will sign up soon for the ride, otherwise it will go to a park. KMG sales representative Jack Souilljee of Innorides says that the company is currently at a crossroads when it comes to developing new rides. “It’s a heavy investment and a big risk. Right now we are standing back and taking a good look at the market.The economical situation for most showmen is not good, and they are the ones that but the most high thrill rides. We have plenty of ideas, but if the situation continues we will have to go back to our routes and build more standard low priced attractions.” KMG deliveries already planned for 2007 include a Fun Factory to a showman in Scotland, Freak Outs for parks at Hayling Island in England and Courtown and Por tr ush in Ireland, plus several Speed propeller rides for travelling customers. Bertazzon offers soccer cars Bertazzon is to offer its range of sporty Adidas-branded ‘Predator’ bumper cars to a select range of parks following an agreement with Europa-Park and the German sportswear brand. The unique-looking cars are designed to look like an Adidas football boot and were operated at Europa-Park as part of its World Cup celebrations this summer. Rider s were divided into ‘teams’ by choosing one of two coloured car s and pushing a ball around the track in a mini game of soccer. Europa-Par k is expected to have a say in which other parks will operate the cars in future. Ber tazzon, whose Italian sibling founders were recently recognised with a ‘Golden Pony’ award at the Technofolies trade show in Genoa, has also released a new colour scheme for its existing ‘London’ range of bumper cars. Simworx simulator success Despite concentrating much of its efforts on 4D theatres in the past 12 months, UK supplier Simworx has actually enjoyed great success recently with its range of Morphis Simulators. “We’ve probably sold more simulators in the past year than at any time since 1999,” reveals managing director Terry Monkton. Par t of the reason, he reckons, is a reduction in the number of competitors and the variety of formats Simworx now offers its own simulators in, including 3D/4D, and now interactive. A new mobile Morphis unit is being developed alongside Belgian technology specialist de pinxi. The ride will take riders on a mission as they interact with targets along the way.The simulator is due to be finished by February and will Dreamworld waterpark opens Major Australian park Dreamworld in Queensland was due to open a neighbouring waterpark in December.WhiteWater World is described as “the most technologically advanced‘water ride park on earth.” The AUS$60 million €35m Gold Coast development covers 10 acres and is one of the most water-efficient waterparks in the world. Full report coming soon in Park World. 6 PRESS HERE TO SEND TO A FRIEND  Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://www.parkworld-online.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Park World - December 06/January 07

Park News
Park Hoppin’
Big Question
Spotlight
Networking in Atlanta
Launch Pad
Bob Rogers
Konge Parken
Mondial
WWA Symposium
Technofolies 2006
IAAPA Attractions Expo
Euro Attractions Show
Fun Doctor

Park World - December 06/January 07

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