Santa Clara, CA, USA (August 29, 2012) — California’s Great America will open the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Northern California in the spring of 2013.
High-speed twists, turns, drops, station fly-by and the Old West are the top features of Gold Striker, currently under construction at this Northern California’s thrill park and family destination. The ride will stand 108 feet at its highest point with a first drop of 103 feet at a 50-degree angle. Riders will careen along 3,197 feet of track at speeds up to 54 miles per hour. The ride experience on Gold Striker will last more than two heart-pounding minutes.
“Gold Striker reflects our commitment to providing our guests with the best thrills and entertainment value in the region,” California’s Great America Vice-President and General Manager Raul Rehnborg said. “This ride was uniquely designed by melding together the highest performing and most exciting features of the very best wooden roller coasters in the world. Everyone who enjoys the thrills of riding a roller coaster will want to experience Gold Striker.”
The name of the ride was chosen to recognize the pioneering and adventurous spirit of the California gold-seekers who rushed the area in 1849.
Gold Striker will be located in the Celebration Plaza area of California’s Great America and will be the park’s eighth roller coaster. The ride will wrap around the park’s Star Tower attraction.
Gold Striker is custom designed and built for the topography of California’s Great America by Great Coasters International, Inc. (GCI) of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Two trains will accommodate 24 passengers each (four riders per car and six cars per train) with a capacity of 850 riders per hour. Guests must be at least 48 inches tall to ride.
Those who cannot wait until spring may take a virtual ride on Gold Striker at cagreatamerica.com. Visitors of cagreatamerica.com may also access exclusive Gold Striker updates and features, including virtual ride renderings, ride statistics, construction photos and a live construction Web cam.
California’s Great America is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FUN.” In addition to California’s Great America, Cedar Fair owns and operates ten other amusement parks, six water parks, one indoor water park resort and five hotels, including Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, Calif. under a management contract.
Savannah, GA, USA — Due to growth in student enrollment and programming, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) School of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts will separate into two schools – the School of Digital Media and The School of Entertainment Arts. Beginning in September, SCAD’s School of Entertainment Arts will offer a unique themed entertainment design program at the university’s Savannah location.
Themed entertainment design will tap the versatility of SCAD students while enabling them to develop the diverse skill set utilized by the multi-billion dollar themed entertainment industry. The M.F.A. in themed entertainment design will prepare students to become industry professionals who design the unforgettable experiences of entertainment parks, zoos, resorts, hotels, restaurants and museums. The degree program will encompass fields ranging from interior design and animation to exhibit and production design.
The esteemed faculty members leading the themed entertainment design program have vast industry knowledge and experience, having designed experiences for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Orlando, Fla., Hong Kong, Paris and Tokyo, as well as Universal Parks and Resorts in Orlando, California and abroad. Professors include long-term veterans of Walt Disney Imagineering, a recipient of lifetime achievement honors from The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, and a current board member of the Themed Entertainment Association.
“The relevance and quality of SCAD’s themed entertainment design program will prepare graduate students to lead the industry as creative thinkers, storytellers, designers and producers,” said Peter Weishar, SCAD Dean of Entertainment Arts. “With more than 30 theme parks being planned in China alone, the national and international demand for individuals who are highly trained in the disciplines of themed entertainment design will only continue to grow.”
In addition to the graduate degree, the Savannah College of Art and Design will offer a minor in themed entertainment design.
Led by Weishar, the former dean of the School of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts, the School of Entertainment Arts will also oversee dramatic writing, film and television, performing arts, production design, sound design and equestrian studies.
Tina O’Hailey, the former associate dean for the School of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts, will serve as dean for the School of Digital Media. This school will house the departments of animation, interactive design and game development, motion media design, television producing and visual effects.
Given their complementary nature, the new schools will continue to collaborate in order to expose students to a variety of disciplines.
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution conferring bachelor’s and master’s degrees at distinctive locations and online to prepare talented students for professional careers. SCAD offers degrees in more than 40 majors. Visit http://www.scad.edu/themed-entertainment-design/.
Rampton, UK (August 29, 2012) — A theme park in Nottinghamshire has been confirmed as the location of the UK’s first Angry Birds Activity Park.
Sundown Adventureland, a theme park exclusively designed for the under 10s near Retford, placed a £250,000 order with Kettering-based Lappset Group, a designer and manufacturer of playground equipment, which is bringing the Angry Birds parks to the UK.
The new attraction opens today.
Paul Tomlinson, Park Manager at Sundown Adventureland, said: “We were very keen to have an Angry Birds Activity Park at Sundown as the brand is so well known throughout the world. It’s currently one of the most downloaded games and appeals to all ages – something that was very important for us as although the park is designed for under 10s, we are keen to welcome families.
“Angry Birds characters are instantly recognisable and we can’t wait to see them brought to life in the themed play area. Rovio’s Angry Birds theme, coupled with Lappset, one of the world leaders in play equipment, is a powerful combination that fits all our needs.”
The Angry Birds Activity Park at Sundown Adventureland includes several large play units, a mixture of themed swings and roundabouts and a giant dummy catapult to replicate the Angry Birds world. The owners of the park are also looking at Angry Birds themed rides.
Angry Birds Activity Parks are designed to create active meeting places for the whole family, including activity areas for children and adults. In the parks, visitors are encouraged to participate in an active way while experiencing the exciting Angry Birds world.
Lappset teamed up with Rovio Entertainment Ltd, the creator of the popular Angry Birds game, to launch the parks in March but Sundown Adventureland will be home to the first in the UK.
Chris Jones, Managing Director of Lappset in the UK, said: “We are thrilled that we now know where the first park will be. There has been an awful lot of interest since the launch but it will be very exciting to actually see a completed park. My team is working hard on the plans to get it opened as soon as possible.”
Angry Birds Activity Parks, which bring together the digital and the physical world, can include animal spring riders, swings, sandpits and a range of climbing towers with slides, and an Angry Birds arcade game that can be played outdoors in the park.
About Lappset Group Ltd. Lappset Group Ltd. is one of the leading manufacturers of playground equipment worldwide. Our products bring joy to millions of children and adults in more than 50 countries. In addition to the Angry Birds Activity Parks range, the company’s product portfolio includes parkour solutions for teens, outdoor fitness equipment for adults and solutions for seniors that support active ageing.
Fairfax VA, USA — InfoComm International®, the trade association representing the commercial audiovisual and information communications industry, has announced its future rotation plans for its annual InfoComm exposition and conference.
InfoComm 2013 will be held at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center’s West Building, June 12 to 14. InfoComm 2014 will be held at Las Vegas Convention Center’s North and Central Halls, June 18 to 20. The show will rotate between the two cities in the same halls in mid-June thereafter through 2019. InfoComm has signed lease agreements with both facilities.
“InfoComm exhibitors and attendees have been well accommodated in both Orlando and Las Vegas, and we are pleased to continue our rotation between these great convention cities,” said Jason McGraw, CTS, CAE, Senior Vice President, Expositions, InfoComm International. “Our show has experienced phenomenal growth over the past several years based in large part to the well-run convention centers, large hotel selection and premium entertainment options offered by both of these destinations.”
A schedule of future dates appears below:
2013 – Show 6/12-6/14, Conference 6/8-6/14, Orlando 2014 – Show 6/18-6/20, Conference 6/14-6/20, Las Vegas 2015 – Show 6/17-6/19, Conference 6/13-6/19, Orlando 2016 – Show 6/8-6/10, Conference 6/4-6/10, Las Vegas 2017 – Show 6/14-6/16, Conference 6/10-6/16, Orlando 2018 – Show 6/6-6/8, Conference 6/2-6/8, Las Vegas 2019 – Show 6/12-6/14, Conference 6/8-6/14, Orlando
Washington, DC (August 28, 2012) — The AAM has changed its website to a more accessible format, at www.aam-us.org. The newly revised site features a revised job board, and additional resources such as monthly updates on museum accreditation. In addition to the new website and a new logo, the AAM has changed its name from American Assocation of Museums to American Alliance of Museums. An official announcement on the change is scheduled for Sept. 5.
Urayusa, Japan – Goofy’s Paint ‘n’ Play House opened August 24 as the newest Toontown attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.
Groups of guests work together to colorfully paint a room in Goofy’s house using special paint applicators, called Toontone Splat Masters. These tools are easy to use: guests simply aim at the wall or furniture they want to color and activate the applicators. The attraction features beach, jungle and other remodeling themes, as well as various types of Toontone Splat Masters, so guests can enjoy a different experience each time they visit.
Lake Mary, FL, USA — accesso, the leading provider of eCommerce and mobile ticketing solutions for theme parks and entertainment venues in the U.S., has recently completed the rollout of their revolutionary SHOPLAND 4.0 online ticketing and eCommerce platform across 16 of Palace Entertainment’s largest amusement parks and water parks.
“We were attracted to Accesso’s revenue-focused expertise, industry reputation and fully-hosted service model,” said Fernando Eiroa, Palace Entertainment’s President & CEO. “With the SHOPLAND platform in place, we have an upgraded eCommerce experience for our valued customers, while presenting new opportunities for us to drive top line revenue growth.”
accesso’s eCommerce technology optimizes revenue through a highly-flexible, user-friendly design which seamlessly incorporates a wide range of dynamic revenue features including product up-sells and cross-sells as well as flexibility to support a range of unique promotional concepts. accesso leverages an agile programming methodology supported by a fully U.S. based development staff which allows for frequent, ongoing software updates to ensure the solutions include the most advanced features available and to quickly deploy client-requested enhancements.
“Developing a customizable eCommerce solution is an expensive proposition for most organizations,” said Steve Brown, accesso CEO. “Accesso’s breakthrough software and approach to managing high-volume online sales operations, allows organizations like Palace Entertainment to meet rapidly growing consumer demand for online sales through a world-class, highly secure, buying experience for their guests.”
About accesso accesso delivers powerful ticketing and commerce solutions that help customers increase sales without adding expensive infrastructure costs. accesso products and services support top attractions across North America from theme parks and water parks to concerts, live events and sporting events. accesso’s proprietary solutions are noted for a streamlined, easy-to-use design with seamlessly integrated revenue driving features. All accesso solutions are fully supported 24/7 to ensure continual focus on client service levels and sales results. About Palace Entertainment Palace Entertainment is one of the leading leisure park operators in the United States, with 40 parks located across 11 states. Palace Entertainment’s parks provide a wide range of family oriented attractions to visitors of all ages, such as roller coasters, Ferris wheels, live shows, thrill rides, wave pools, water slides, animal shows, miniature golf courses, go-karts and arcade games. Palace Entertainment serves over 13 million visitors annually.
New Orleans, LA, USA (August 28, 2012) — Audubon Nature Institute personnel are preparing for inclement weather associated with Tropical Storm Isaac. Therefore, Audubon Zoo, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, Entergy IMAX® Theatre and Audubon Park Golf Course will be closed on Tuesday, August 28 and Wednesday, August 29, 2012.
Audubon attractions are scheduled to reopen on Thursday, August 30 at 10:00 am conditions permitting.
Looking at his body of work, you might imagine Yves Pépin studied choreography, performing arts, and stage design along with mythology and history – then perhaps became a filmmaker. In fact, Pépin applied himself to economics and politics, then Arabic studies – then worked as a journalist. But all along that academic path he kept his hand in the arts – painting, music, theater. “Art was a way of life in my family,” he says. His father, an engineer by trade, was a violinist and painter. His mother, a homemaker, also painted. Six-year-old Yves took up the violin, intending to be a concert performer. But in adolescence, “I realized I was not good enough.” He switched to guitar and “started to play rock ‘n’ roll like a normal teenager. It opened up my mind.”
The academic world attracted him, but ultimately failed to satisfy – in Lebanon, he halted his post-grad Arabic studies and went off to be a journalist. “I was trapped by the real world.” He acquired the “tools of expression” through two years’ work in radio and television, followed by four years with a communications company. ECA2 was founded in Paris in 1974. It was named after an earlier company, Etudes Creation d’Ambiances, an important innovator in large scale, sound-and-light shows. Pierre Arnaud of the original ECA was Pépin’s mentor.“We were very ambitious: we intended to integrate light, sound and architecture to express something in a global context for the modern world,” says Pépin. When human imagery and human performance were brought into the mix, the toolset was complete.
Songs of the Sea
Defining the nighttime spectacular
It was in the 1980s and 1990s that Pépin, with ECA2, conclusively defined the nighttime spectacular. Employing gigantic cinematic images projected onto the sides of buildings and other structures, and onto sheets of water or mist, enhanced by lasers, lighting, special effects and sound, Pépin’s team created shows that transformed outdoor environments and transported audiences.
Disney and Universal both adopted Pépin’s proprietary AQUASCAN® water screen projection system, developed in 1989. According to Pépin, the night he first tested the system, a tourist couple showed up, captivated by the image of a human face appearing in a fountain, seemingly out of nowhere. After blustering his way through an attempt to explain it to his wife, the husband turned to Pépin, who gently corrected him. “I pointed to the guy working at the pump and said he was putting a special powder in the water, and the powder was what made the image appear.”
Songs of the Sea
The world stage
Pépin has consistently worked on a world stage, unfurling epic-scale, multimedia productions at international sports competitions, world expositions, special events, corporate events and theme parks. His millennial Fireworks Spectacular at the Eiffel Tower in 2000 captivated the public and the media, made the covers of both Time and Newsweek, and brought him global celebrity and acclaim.
Technology and humanity
High-tech media is inherent to the kind of epic story Pépin tells, and to the vividness and vast scope of his productions. “We use technology and humanity to express the relationship between technology and humanity – the connection between the cold and the warm. Scenography and technology are part of the working context, not just the means. I don’t design the story, then look for the technology to express it. I refuse that way of working.” He likens it to sculpture: “The stone is as important as the subject. And by working on a highly precise, technical level, we make the audience forget that they’re looking at technology.”
Toyota Motor Corp.’s violinist robot (“Life is Movement,” Expo 2005, Aichi Japan)
Pépin has been consistently drawn to the exotic, to search within it for the universal, the common human elements – and find them. Traveling a great deal with his family as a youth, and on his own as a teen, Pépin was an avid museum-goer. “I absorbed symbols. I tried to find in other cultures the codes – the language they express.”
He produces events that speak in timeless, wordless tongues to global audiences. “I tell my people to be very open to the culture in front of us, to listen. It must be instinctive. When you reach into yourself to find what is common beyond the codes and signs, you find the answer in yourself. You don’t ‘adapt,’ you don’t ‘translate.’ You don’t masquerade as someone of another culture.
Multiple honors and awards
“We must never forget we are making shows,” says the former student of political science. “We are not the UN. We are in the field of entertainment.”
Yves Pépin ran ECA2 for more than 25 years (the company is still doing business and garnering awards, now headed by Jean-Christophe Canizares). He is now an independent show producer and creative director for major projects. His
“Life is Movement” – Expo 2005, Aichi Japan
achievements have been honored with many awards over the years, including multiple Thea Awards from the Themed Entertainment Association. Awarded projects include the Lisbon Expo 98 night show, the Millennium Show at the Eiffel Tower, the historical multimedia show in El Tajin in Mexico, the Toyota “Life is Movement” show at Aichi Expo 2005 in Japan, and “Songs of the Sea” at Sentosa Island in Singapore. The Beijing 2008 Olympics Ceremonies were honored with a Thea Award as well as the Artistic Directors Club Prize.
In 2006, Yves Pépin also received the Thea Lifetime Achievement Award honor, in recognition of his entire work and career.
This article was originally published in the annual Thea Awards Program, by the Themed Entertainment Association.
“Losing the Dark” is tentatively scheduled for distribution to the international fulldome and planetarium theater community in autumn, 2012.
Attendees of the International Astronomical Union Congress in Beijing are being treated to a special “sneak preview” of a fulldome video on light pollution called “Losing the Dark”. The five and a half minute public service announcement showing at the Beijing Planetarum on August 29th, 2012 is a joint collaboration between the International Dark-Sky Association and Loch Ness Productions, a U.S.-based fulldome video production company. Science and technical advisor for the production is Dr. Connie Walker, National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s Senior Science Education Specialist and chair of the IDA Education Committee.
According to producer Carolyn Collins Petersen, CEO of Loch Ness Productions, the presentation is a public service announcement that brings the important facts about light pollution to a wide audience.
Copyright 2012, Dome 3D
Copyright 2012 Loch Ness Productions
“Our team designed the show to emphasize some of the most important problems and effects of light pollution,” she said. “Light pollution is ubiquitous, it affects our ability to see the night sky. In addition, it turns out that light pollution has effects on human health, and we’ve known for a long time that it affects plant and animal life. On top of all that, it costs us money and wastes scarce fuel resources.”
The show presents these problems, but also suggests ways for individuals and communities to work together to combat light pollution. “We wanted to keep it very easy for people to help solve the problem,” said Petersen. “So, we suggest that they turn off unneeded lights and use shielded lights — full cutoff-lighting fixtures.”
Scott Kardel, Managing Director at IDA, said: “We hope that families, school groups, and everyone coming to their local planetarium will see ‘Losing the Dark’ and realize that it is not too late to save the stars. They can help to restore the night sky outside of the dome to its full glory.” Production of “Losing the Dark” is being made possible by a seed grant from the International Planetarium Society, and through on-going donations to the International Dark-Sky Association. “We’re raising funds to bring this show to planetariums around the world,” said Kardel. “In addition, if sufficient funding is raised, we’ll be working with Loch Ness Productions to translate the show into many languages and to create a ‘flat screen’ HD version for use in classrooms and by educational outreach professionals who want to bring the message of dark skies to their classrooms, science centers and communities.”
IDA is the only non-profit working to address light pollution around the world. Among its efforts, the organization provides information brochures, workshops, a model lighting ordinance, manages a night sky conservation program, and awards the distinguished IDA Fixture Seal of Approval to applicants with lighting fixtures that are dark-sky friendly.
Santa Clara, CA, USA (August 29, 2012) — California’s Great America will open the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Northern California in the spring of 2013.
