Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Checking in with WhiteWater at AAE 2018

Una de Boer

During the IAAPA Asian Attractions Expo, InPark met with Una de Boer, WhiteWater’s director of global marketing & strategy, for a mid-year update on the company’s activities.

On the personnel front, WhiteWater hired Gavin Smith as vice president of park attractions for southeast Asia and China. Although he is new to this industry, he brings with him extensive experience working in this region.

Jesse Crawford, who has worked for WhiteWater as an engineer, is the company’s new attractions sales manager. His role is to help parks that purchase WhiteWater equipment plan for operational needs and regular maintenance. This is a new position for the company and it is designed to solely focus on educating the client, in order that they properly understand the technical aspects and requirements of their new attractions.

Showcasing the company’s Attractions line of products, WhiteWater highlighted their new Raft Battle attraction. The ride reimagines the typical theme park rafting ride. The circular raft places guests in the center looking out, and features a hand crank pump guests can operate to splash other rafts or those nearby on dry land. “The ride puts control in the guest’s hands,” said de Boer, allowing for a more interactive experience.

The base model can be highly themed. On hand at the expo was a firetruck-themed raft, but Amikoo park in the Riviera Maya is expected to open a jungle themed version next year. The first Raft Battle will be opening at the end of this summer at Gui’an Park in China.

Spinning Rapids Ride

de Boer highlighted how the company is seeing synergies across its different wet and dry play products. For example, WhiteWater now offers a Spinning Rapids Fusion attraction. Traditionally, the Spinning Rapids Ride combines a waterslide trough with a large inflatable raft designed to keep guests inside (mostly) dry. This new fusion attraction adds the Manta element to the waterslide path, providing a zero gravity moment for riders. “This product is a blend of ideas between our wet and dry ride teams,” explained de Boer.

Finally, WhiteWater was busy talking about their lineup of project openings. They are looking forward to a highly-themed version of its No Boundaries attraction opening soon at Warner Bros’ World in Abu Dhabi, a new large park in Dubai, Wet’n’Wild in China and more exciting launches coming throughout the year.

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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