Dreaming up and building incredible, themed experiences that will be enjoyed by millions of people all over the world is truly an amazing experience. It’s one that requires the dedicated work of passionate individuals who collaborate as a team to deliver the business goals of a client. It’s important to understand how ‘the presentation’ fits into the project process and how to assemble and deliver one successfully.
ATRAX & THE HAPPY CITIES PLATFORM As the Turkish business platform for a global industry offering huge investment potential and providing solutions for the increasing demand for attraction, game and sports facilities and parks and recreational areas as a result of increasingly active life styles of urban people, ATRAX EXHIBITION will be opening its doors…
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Brandon Kleyla made his mark as a production art director for Universal Creative and Walt Disney Imagineering, bringing his love of spatial storytelling to two of the most detailed and beautiful dive bars on the planet, Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Resort, and Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at Walt Disney World. “Trader…
Join us tomorrow December 2nd @ 12:45pm for the ITTT Showcase featuring Ultraleap. Invitation To Tomorrow Today (ITTT) was founded by TEA Master Roberta Perry, NormaLynn Cutler, Susie Ogihara and Heidi Hirsch. We present monthly virtual series, on Zoom to showcase people and /or companies with innovative market ready solutions targeting known or unknown challenges…
The awarded slide is located at Aquapark Reda in Poland and was put into operation on January 10, 2020.The team of Aquapark Reda named the slide Aquaspinner. The SlideWheel – developed by wiegand.waterrides – is a combination of a Ferris wheel and a water slide offering a unique dimension of sliding which is not comparable to any other existing slide.
Partner PortAventura World Honored by TEA Thea Awards for Dark Ride Sesame Street: Street Mission JACKSONVILLE, FL: Sally Dark Rides, a leading creator of family ride experiences around the globe, today announced its partner PortAventura World was awarded the prestigious Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement for dark ride Sesame Street: Street Mission. Named by the…
The Rise and Fall of Hard Rock Park Jon Binkowski of Renaissance entertainment gives an interesting post mortem of the Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This is a story of the history of the development of the failed theme park. One of the lessons in failure could be that it is hard…
ATRAX 2021 to be held 8-10 April in Istanbul Tureks International Fairs Co. has announced news dates for ATRAX-International Amusement-Attraction, Parks-Recreation Exhibition which will be held on 8-10 April in Istanbul, Turkey. The reason for postpone is in order to offer a healthier and more effective event experience. With this update made with the goal…
Orlando, FL, November 16, 2020 – The newest addition to Falcon’s Creative Group’s expanding portfolio of patented and patent-pending offerings is the GameSuite™ product, an immersive gaming environment for friends and families to play, lounge, and connect. Each GameSuite™ unit combines an enveloping game bay and an adjoining lounge area, where the experience can dynamically…
ITEC Entertainment Contributes to Once-in-a-lifetime Industry Collaboration Highlights Themed Entertainment Strength During Time of Turbulence ORLANDO, Fla. – (November 13, 2020) – ITEC Entertainment Corporation, an industry leader of worldwide entertainment solutions, today announced its contribution and partnership with Give Kids The World Village, a nonprofit resort that brightens the lives of critically ill children…
Cast Member Stories – Disneyland Hotel Days One of my first jobs out of college was doing audio visual work at the Disneyland Hotel. I had already done some lot labor work at a studio in Hollywood, but those stories are for another time (maybe even a book). I worked for an A/V company that…
Mad Systems Inc. Announces Issuance of U.S. Patent Covering Recognition Based Media Delivery Revolutionary Audiovisual Systems Deliver Personalized Content using Color, License Plate, and Facial Recognition Orange, CA: Mad Systems Inc., an audiovisual design and integration company specializing in interactive exhibits, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued U.S.…
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In this episode, Joe Pine is going to help us trace the history and evolution of the world’s economies to what the themed entertainment industry currently knows as the “Experience Economy.” Besides being one of Mel’s thought leadership heroes, Joe Pine’s work has influenced much of his design philosophy and consequently many of the experiences…
Prayer Networking Invitation Friends! Please join us for the annual Prayer Networking Event on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020 at 12 noon EST. This industry event will be both live and in-person as well as virtual and on-line, featuring guest speaker Theron Skees, Portfolio Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering. Although the International Association of Amusement…
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Our guest needs no introduction…because he’s always at the end of the show! Dr. Barry R. Hill, our very own show producer and designer, is the author of Imagineering an American Dreamscape: Genesis, Evolution, and Redemption of the Regional Theme Park. This book tells the long-overdue story of the regionals and the strong-willed individuals behind them—where they came…
Highly specialized, interdisciplinary teams work for years to create and build these experiences with multiple layers of detail. There doesn’t seem to be much discussion on the dynamic, collaborative teams and their culture that is created to foster these amazing achievements.
A gripping, new horror dark ride experience has been unveiled by themed attraction designers Katapult, in collaboration with simulator ride manufacturer, Simworx.
Borrow one of Chandler’s sweaters, because The FRIENDS™ Experience has blown into the Windy City for a limited time! Originally created for the show’s 25th anniversary, fans can celebrate their favorite friends and revisit some of the series’ most iconic moments with this two-story, enhanced experience created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner…
Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood Jr. is the singular definition of an enigma. Few Disney fans have ever heard the name. The ones who have, have read anything from genius, showman, shuckster, to con man. The self-confident kid who got into college on a rope twirling scholarship was pure Texas and a born leader. His friends were…
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Our guests are two of the industry’s leading feasibility experts, the father/son duo Don and Doug Stewart of Economic Consulting Services. In the themed entertainment world, we like to think we build the impossible. But the impossible is not always feasible. The “Walt Disneys” of the world rely on experts like Don and Doug who…
FEC open at Shenzhen OCT Happy Harbor at the end of the year SHENZHEN, CHINA – China Leisure Development Co., (CLDC) and ViacomCBS have inked a deal to develop a Nickelodeon-themed Family Entertainment Center (FEC) in the city of Shenzhen, China. Comprising four attraction zones featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol, Dora the Explorer, and Teenage…
Falcon’s Creative Group Teams with Eric Calderon to Create New Animated Series Based on Katmandu® IP Beloved characters from Katmandu Parks will be brought to life through an animated series developed by two entertainment powerhouses Orlando, Fla., September 22, 2020—Falcon’s Creative Group, a leading experience design and animation company in the world of themed entertainment,…
(Lake Elsinore, CA, September 22, 2020) – Storyland Studios announced today the hiring of three new leaders and promotion of one across multiple disciplines. The announcement comes as Storyland sees continued growth in the experience design business. The four strategic positions will play key roles in supporting the company’s rapidly expanding client portfolio. Storyland…
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Joe Lanzisero is a 30-year Disney veteran who began his career in Disney animation and made the switch to Imagineering where he eventually became known as the theme park land expansion guy—think Critter Country & ToonTown in Anaheim, and Toy StoryLand, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point in Tokyo. Today, Joe is Executive Vice President at Zeitgeist…
Storyland Studios, an experience design firm that helps brands connect their stories in three dimensions, congratulates Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF) for receiving the Themed Entertainment Association’s (TEA) Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement on a Limited Budget for Poverty Encounter, a permanent exhibit, at the non-profit’s Los Angeles headquarters. Storyland Studios contributed concept development and design…
In a year where nothing is going right, it’s hard to find a silver lining to 2020. With dozens of theme parks shut down and even the entertainment behemoths like Universal and Disney struggling, everything seems to be in freefall. As we move closer and closer to October, us at Gilderfluke started wondering, what is…
Water parks are one of themed tourism products that have become more popular in recent years and are easy to attract money. Generally speaking, the construction period of the water park is 6 to 18 months. The first and second years are the payback period, and the third year is the profit period. If the…
1.Investment planning: Investigate the market, economy, and peer competition of the project, determine the market positioning of the project, determine the reasonable investment quota of the project and the investment ratio of each functional module. 2.Brand planning: According to investment planning ideas, based on market positioning and attractiveness, determine the project brand strategy and competition…
Dimensionalizing Brand design by Theron Skees. Theron is the Chief Creative Officer of Designer’s Creative Studio. He also currently oversees Disney Cruise Lines as the Vice President, Creative Portfolio Executive with Walt Disney Imagineering. “Story” as Branding Experience Telling a story is at the heart of every one of our projects. We understand this as…
Why water parks can attract so many tourists? Water park equipment is the key point. In the initial stage of investing in water parks, investors should find water park equipment manufacturers to customize the equipment according to the topography of the scenic area and other relevant geography to achieve the desired effect. The following are…
Senior Thesis: Mike Artwell. Interior Architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Part 1: Crafting a Year-Round Horror Park Most of my peers studying Interior Architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art knew they wanted to craft a senior thesis that tackled hard-hitting, real world issues like re-developing the passenger experience at an airport, creating…
Each year international scholars from a variety of disciplines assemble during the final day of the IAAPA expo to exchange ideas, enhance research, and debate intricacies of the blending of art and science in themed environments and attractions. The Themed Entertainment and Attractions Academic Symposium (TEAAS) includes oral research presentation sessions and poster exhibitions relevant…
Storyland Studios Opens UK Branch, Hires Former Disney Leaders Spatial storytelling design firm Storyland Studios announced Thursday that they are expanding their availability to clients by opening an international branch in London. Disney alumnus Ben Thompson will run the office just outside of London, England as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of International, effective August…
Offering exclusive insight, education and rarely-found, direct accessibility to a senior level creative leader. Florida July 30, 2020: The founder of The Designer’s Creative Studio, Theron Skees, announced today the addition of learning content to the company’s recently launched website and gave a sneak peek of the many offerings in development. These expanded features will…
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Eddie Sotto is a fixture in the themed entertainment industry best known for his contributions at Walt Disney Imagineering. He creative directed dozens of attractions at Disney Parks, including Main Street USA at Disneyland Paris, Mission: Space at Epcot, and the first ever trackless dark ride, “Pooh’s Hunny Hunt” at Tokyo Disneyland. Eddie’s work extends…
July 17 is such a special day. Disneyland opened 65 years ago…and Imagineering an American Dreamscape went on sale, well, a little less than that. It’s finally done, and what a fun journey it’s been putting it together. The book traces the evolution from the grand world expositions to Disneyland, laying the groundwork for…
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Our guest this episode is Jesse Crawford from WhiteWater West in beautiful Vancouver BC, the award-winning slide and water ride design firm responsible for many of the most incredible “immersive” (pun intended) attractions on the planet. Jesse is a sales engineer which means his work has taken him around the world to help theme parks…
Well, they finally made it. After several weeks of wondering if they’d be able to open at all, Hershey unveiled the brand new expansion we’ve been anticipating for so long. And who was worried? It was only the largest expansion project in park history, adding twenty-three acres and clocking in at $150 million. It’s a…
In the early years, regional theme parks offered souvenir maps for sale. These were beautifully illustrated works of art with lots of fun details to discover. One of the ideas for the park history book was to include excerpts from these opening/early season maps to help visualize the walk-through descriptions. That would have made the…
As legend has it, in 1896, when the Lumière Brothers premiered their short film The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, audiences were so shocked by the locomotive moving towards them on the screen that they screamed and leapt out of their seats. Whether this is entirely true or not, Auguste and Louis…
Two of the four Busch Gardens properties live on to this day. The first, in Tampa, started out in 1959 as a free, fun thing to do while touring the brewery; it was intended to promote the brand. But it became so popular the company decided it was worth more as a gated park, and…
One of the great stories of conservation and animal advocacy in the past century is Jane Goodall’s action to protect chimpanzees and inspire action to preserve the natural world. And that story continues as Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall, an exhibition for National Geographic Museum has been named an overall winner of…
Themed entertainment industry professionals from all backgrounds gathered May 29th on a public ZOOM call to listen as entrepreneurs, industry veterans and newcomers pitched their new concepts and ideas for potential investment. Organized by Cary Jardin and Lexington Blood, the event’s goal was to offer creatives and innovators an opportunity to present their ideas before…
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Our guests today have thought hard on how to tell great stories within a museum context and have the battle scars to prove it. John Kelton and Jon Taylor are veteran museum exhibit designers leading creative projects that educate while they entertain. They’re also buddies in real life so that means they’re a lot of…
One of the chapters in the upcoming park history book focuses on entrepreneurs who took Walt’s concept and found a way to make it happen in their own part of the country. These individuals had the drive, determination, resources, and sheer guts to jump head-first into waters they knew little about. Storms loomed ahead, threatening…
The regional theme park history book keeps pushing right along toward completion (hint…it’s close). To hold you over in the meantime, I’ll be sharing bits and pieces from the book and my research while tossing in other interesting items along the way. Three of them, in fact. I’m extremely pleased to have some wonderful folks…
Bring The Fun! Themed Attraction zoom Pitchfest will happen Friday, May 29th @11am to 1pm PST. (2 PM Eastern until 4pm Eastern) All are welcome to watch, pitch, participate, and join in the show! It’s “Imagineering” meets Sharktank – without the heartbreak! What happens? Our open minded forum will allow YOU the people with ideas…
(Stevensville, Maryland): As parks around the world examine the ways to safely re-open their properties Ride Entertainment has services to help. Two key areas are Skycoaster® and attraction maintenance. “We know that things will look different as properties start to open,” said Adam Sandy, President of Business Development. “We want to do our part to…