Friday, March 29, 2024

Alien invasion #412Day at Kennywood

Earlier this year, Kennywood announced the mystery of Area 51 would be moving east with the debut of Area 412. Area 412 is created by the same award-winning creative studio that specializes in the design/build of theming, props, structures, immersive environments, and interactive experiences and produced Area 51, L3DFX.

The park is also adding Spinvasion, a new thrill ride. The Zamperla-designed ride criss crosses sideways, and even parallel with the ground. While Spinvasion is sure to lead guests to the park’s Area 412, they will also linger at the refurbished Cosmic Chaos and in the intergalactic gift shop.  

Today (April 12) is #412Day in Pittsburgh, and while residents proudly celebrate the Iron City, Area 412’s newest neighbors will arrive by spaceship – specifically one that is over 16 feet tall. To be parked permanently at the entrance of the Spinvasion queue, L3DFX created something that is both welcoming and ready for action. 

“This truly is an out-of-this-world project for us,” said Emily Popovich, chief of business development and sales for L3DFX. “2023 is Kennywood’s 125th season, and we wanted to celebrate with the park’s team. We are excited to have helped bring the vision of an alien invasion to life while remaining true to the family fun Kennywood is known for.”

The design team recognized the best way to bring it all together was to go big – or send the aliens home! And along with a giant spaceship, they needed a friendly alien ambassador. Enter Gary. As Gary came to life, the team gave him a silly and friendly look to welcome families into Area 412. His spaceship is a mix of both traditional images inspired by images of UFOs from the 1950s, and fresh, unique touches created exclusively by the L3DFX team. The mix of classic nostalgia with modern design makes Kennywood the perfect place for Gary and his spaceship to touchdown. 

“Working on this project with Kennywood sparked everyone’s imagination,” added Paul Ciesiun, president and creator of L3DFX. “Any time we can take a theme and stretch and mold it to create an immersive experience that’s beyond what our client envisioned, we get extremely excited. For this particular opportunity with the Kennywood team, we used their baseline ideas – cotton-candy-loving aliens, a battle with invading bots – and extended it so much further, bringing personality to the storyline. You could say the results are over the moon and beyond.”

The Spinvasion attraction and new section will be closed at Kennywood on Memorial Day weekend.

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