Friday, March 29, 2024

Success in Singapore

Notes from the show floor at AAE 2017

by Martin Palicki

IAAPA’s 2017 Asian Attractions Expo held a successful conference in Singapore last month. 7,500 participants gathered over the three-day show for networking events, product announcements and education.

IAAPA Chairman of the Board Greg Hale began the event by saying, “We are a community that provides experiences and each one begins with an idea: What if?”

RELATED: InPark interviews IAAPA Asia Pacific leadership

Since IAAPA was in Singapore last, the show floor is 50% larger and features 30% more exhibiting companies. The week included 17 education opportunities including 11 sessions, a lunch and learn program and more.

Before next year’s show in Hong Kong, IAAPA will be spending more time in Asia by hosting the Leadership Conference in Japan, March 6-9, 2018.

Science Centre Singapore
Leaders from IAAPA meet at the JRA booth for their press conference on Science Centre Singapore

Just in time for AAE, The Science Centre Singapore opened “The Mind’s Eye Exhibition” as part of the Center’s 40th Anniversary celebration.

Vendors working on the project included Adrian Fischer, Space Logic and JRA.

“We have worked with Science Center for 25 years, possibly our longest client,” said Shawn McCoy, Vice President at JRA.

The new exhibit opened June 13th and was designed to completely engage all of a guest’s senses. Included is a 270 square meter maze. The exhibit refurbished an existing area of the Center and is designed for all ages.

Jeju Shinhwah

Triotech announced two new attractions they are developing for Jeju Shinhwah in South Korea. Based on the Larva animated series popular in over 40 countries, the two attractions will feature the two Red and Yellow larva characters.

The first is an interactive dark ride, taking guests to iconic sites from the series where guests will use devices to interact with onscreen characters.

Triotech’s Christian Martin prepares to talk abut the new attractions at Jeju Shinhwah

The second is a walk through attraction taking guests through different rooms that highlight the history of humankind and South Korea, while being guided by the charming Larva characters.

The attractions are part of the park, currently under construction. It covers 280,000 square meters and will include seven zones.

nWave

Goedele Gillis from nWave reported that the company is working on two new attractions they will display at the IAAPA Orlando Expo this fall. “Return to the Lost World” (a sequel to “The Lost World”) and “Son of Big Foot,” a feature length film set for a summer release that will also be available in a ride film format.

Goedele Gillis from nWave

“VR is a good supplemental technology, “said Gillis, when asked about other media based trends. “Flying theaters are also very popular, but the challenge is in finding good, appropriate content.”

“I think technology is always in a state of ebb and flow. Things will come and go, but I expect 3D/4D to always be around,” explained Gillis.

R3ex

Holovis partnered with Kuka Robotics to create a new VR experience combining VR, gesture activity and a robotic arm for the latest in immersive experiences.

Holovis’ Emily Burrows joined IPM Publisher Martin Palicki on a sample ride. The control interface sits on top of a game engine, carefully ensuring the ride movements are synchronized to the action. The system includes gesture tracking, allowing riders to see their entire virtual hands as they point and eventually interact with objects.

The R3ex demo from Holovis and Kuka

Although the sample ride was a demo only, a gaming element will be available for the system and initial installations will offer a four-seat ride.

The next generation plans allow for a multi-robot arena that will include both on-board and off-board components to create a kind of robot wars scenario.

Spinning Interactive Dark Ride

Alterface debuted its new concept Spinning Interactive Dark Ride. The new attraction puts riders on a carrousel. In blocks of 40 seconds, the platform rotates to move each group of 8 players through an immersive series of scenes.  The theatre includes themed scenery, large integrated screens, custom media, projection mapping, sounds, dynamic lighting and special effects. These are all managed by Alterface Show control FX studio™.

The Alterface booth where they were debuting the new Spinning Interactive Dark Ride

“The beauty of the system is that it is extremely space savvy,” says Alterface CEO Benoit Cornet. “It was designed from the start to be a highly themed dark ride, even though it isn’t on a traditional track.” The attraction still allows for detailed storytelling, but in a much smaller space.

The attraction will get its first rollout soon as a refurbishment of an existing space in Europe.

Cornet also indicated Alterface is preparing additional announcements for IAAPA’s EAS show in Berlin and the IAAPA Expo in Orlando.

RELATED: 60 seconds on the AAE show floor in pictures: Part 1

RELATED: 60 seconds on the AAE show floor in pictures: Part 2

Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki owns and publishes InPark Magazine. Started in 2004, InPark Magazine provides owners and operators the perspective from "in"side the "park." Martin has also written for publications like Sound & Communications, Lighting & Sound America, Attractions Management and others. Martin has been featured in Time Magazine, CNN.com and Folio. Martin lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

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