issue 82, summer 2020 inparkmagazine.com

Innovation helps smaller attractions stay competitive Thea Awards Masha and the Bear Dive deep with the projects and The Land of Legends (Turkey) turns to a popular Russian cartoon to people that organize the Theas inspire new themed lands built during the pandemic Stoneface Inc. The Sculpted Rock Artisans CA License 1001362 - AZ License 308722 - UT License 10614867-5501

Animal Exhibits Concrete Theming Water Features Wall Finishes Artificial Rock Work Stamped Concrete Decking w2 ww.stonefaceinc.com 949-370-9880 [email protected] inparkmagazine.com issue 82, summer 2020

Ultimate contrast Meet the press 4 20 Christie Eclipse technology transformed the The IPM team interview one other Hayden Planetarium • by Judith Rubin

Popcorn Revenge results Going virtual 5 ’s Jean-Christophe Parent 24 TEA honors Thea Award recipients with Digital by Anja D’Hondt Case Studies event • by Joe Kleiman

Right place, write time On the topic of Theas 6 Screenwriter Bennett Yellin authors a future in 26 Meet Nancy Seruto, Susan Bonds and Wendy themed entertainment • by Martin Palicki Heimann-Nunes • by Clara Rice

Experience for hire The Land of Legends meets Masha and the Bear 8 Consultants offer a vision of leadership for LBE 30 A Russian cartoon inspires a new themed land, and themed entertainment • by Martin Palicki built during a pandemic • by Martin Palicki

Following the leader Diving into the TEA/AECOM Theme Index 10 Smaller attractions stay competitive through 36 What can a decade of industry evolution tell us innovation • by David Paul Green about the future • by Joe Kleiman

Funding, reopening and saving the animals 16 Museums struggle in COVID times • by Joe Kleiman & Judith Rubin

COVER: At Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck team & contributors Challenge at Sesame Street Land, SeaWorld PUBLISHER DESIGN Orlando, Cookie Monster and Chef Gonger need Martin Palicki Martin Palicki your help to find all of the special ingredients EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS needed for their custom digital recipes. At the Judith Rubin Anja D’Hondt end of each game, you become the chef and David Paul Green can add any of the game’s 24 ingredients, from NEWS EDITOR Clara Rice

anchovies to sugar sprinkles, to your very own Joe Kleiman pizza. Photo courtesy of Beaudry Interactive

InPark Magazine (ISSN 1553-1767) is published five times a year by Martin Chronicles Publishing, LLC. 2349 E Ohio Ave. , WI 53207, USA. Shipping address: 2349 E Ohio Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53207, USA. Phone: +1-262-412-7107. Printing by Johnson Press of America. Contents © 2020 InPark Magazine. All rights reserved. Nothing in the magazine may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the magazine. InPark Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Such material must be accompanied by a self-adressed and stamped envelope to be returned. Postmaster: Send address changes to InPark Magazine 2349 E Ohio Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53207, USA. Subscriptions are available annually for $45 per year ($70 international). Opinions expressed in editorial matter are not necessarily those of InPark Magazine or its publishers, Martin Chronicles Publishing, LLC.

3 inparkmagazine.com Meet the press In place of our typical editorials the InPark team checks in to learn more about one another...one question at a time

Joe Kleiman, as into overlapping sectors. Various parts of the industry learn InPark Magazine news editor what various other parts of the industry are doing, with reliable information from a reputable, even prestigious source. That Question from Judith Rubin exchange of information supports collaboration, innovation, best practices and growth. In COVID times, it can help the industry ell us about your extracurricular blogging and how it get back to work. complements your InPark role T Martin Palicki The blogging actually started well before I joined InPark. About InPark Magazine publisher fifteen years ago, I owned a website called WorldEnteractive that reported on the digital transition in home entertainment, cinemas, and attractions. My business partner was a university English Question from Joe Kleiman professor and she made sure we followed the AP Style Book and hat inspired you to publish a trade magazine on the that all sources were vetted. At the time, trade shows did not themed entertainment industry? consider most bloggers as legitimate media. I saw many turned W away from the press office at CES, NAB and ShoWest. Honestly, this is the number one question I get at parties. Fun fact: When I was about 10 years-old I wrote a letter to Ron These days, blogging allows me to approach topics (and approach Toomer of asking how I could become a roller them in ways) that may not fit the mission of InPark or other coaster designer. He responded and told me I needed to start trade publications that I’ve written for. I speak in my own voice studying mechanical engineering. I never had the patience for that but always base my opinions on conscientious research. Whether much math and physics, so in college I turned to the operations it’s an homage to Star Trek attractions long past or showing that side and began working for Great America. I tried to a major travel agency’s commitment to ending dolphinariums get full-time work there, but ended up pursuing other jobs – conflicts with their owner’s opening of a brand new one, I try though I still kept ties to the park. My degree is in English, so I to write in a style where there’s something to be taken away by figured there had to be some way to tie together my passion and everyone. my education. Thus, InPark was born. My blogging has given me great international connections and Professionally speaking, InPark and I grew and improved the skills to conduct deep research. As a result, I’m able to see together, with a lot of help from friends and colleagues who also patterns others may not. I’ve taken these connections and skills love this industry. The core editorial team of Marty, Judy and Joe and applied them to my work at InPark. Likewise, working with evolved, and InPark took flight. the phenomenal editing team at the magazine, my writing has improved substantially on my blogs over the past decade. Judith Rubin, advertisers

InPark Magazine editor Alcorn McBride 9

Lagotronics 25 Question from Martin Palicki Chris Lange 35

ou have an illustrious career with several trade Mycotoo 33 Ypublications, including InPark. Why do you think the industry media is important, particularly now? Oceaneering 15 Polin back cover Professional journalism brings perspective and objectivity to the table. Those are basic to maintaining high editorial standards. Stoneface 2 But we also serve and support a specific industry. That calls for 39 specialized information, put into meaningful context - knowing your industry and helping others to know it too. It also calls Visual Terrain 34 for distribution - a breadth of distribution that helps the story reach a useful cross-section of the business community as well David Weiss 35

4 inparkmagazine.com Popcorn Revenge results Walibi Belgium’s Jean-Christophe Parent on the Thea-honored Popcorn Revenge by Anja D’Hondt, Flower & Feet PR

alibi Belgium is a TEA Thea Award recipient, with WOutstanding Achievement honors for its Popcorn Revenge interactive , developed and installed by neighboring dark ride specialist . With Jean-Christophe Parent, Managing Director of the Belgian park, we look back at the first season and find out why this attraction earned such a prestigious award.

Bonjour et bienvenue, Jean-Christophe! Congratulations to you and the entire team! What does the Thea Award signify for Walibi Belgium park?

Receiving this award is a wonderful international recognition for our park and proves our renovation strategy pays off. We have worked really hard to upgrade Walibi Belgium and reposition it with new attractions and immersive areas, so it comes as a Jean-Christophe Parent great reward to the entire team. Watching all the happy faces and enthusiasm of visitors leaving Popcorn Revenge during the of visitors on a relatively small area, and it is also an indoor first season, we can confirm it has been worth the investment, attraction, important in a rainy country such as Belgium! We are along with the many other awards and nominations we are still very proud of it. receiving! How did visitors respond to the first Why did you choose to add Popcorn Revenge, instead of a seasons of Popcorn Revenge? more classic thrill ride? Popcorn Revenge has certainly proven its value and entertained We always strive to diversify our attraction offering and appeal to a large audience during the first season. It is mostly popular a wide audience. Popcorn Revenge is very innovative as it leads among families with children between 8 and 14 years, which is us into a new digital dimension with a video game type interface. a key audience for us. As there are so many layers in the story As the first dark ride using the non-linear Erratic technology, it and gameplay not everyone immediately grasps everything. But delivers a unique immersive experience, and the gameplay and the we consider this an advantage as it motivates competitive players order of scenes vary per ride. Popcorn Revenge is a multilayered to come back, while others can just enjoy the ride and storyline game with physical and digital thrills. It appeals to all ages, to play and interaction. Visitors are charmed by the popcorn characters, individually or with friends and family. It has a high repeat factor which they can relate to well-known superhero movie characters. with players coming back to discover new elements and improve This is evident in the popularity of the ride’s merchandising shop, their scores. Furthermore, we can accommodate a large number which has significantly increased the park’s income. Alcorn McBride 9

Lagotronics 25 Do you have any advice you can give to other parks who are considering such an attraction? Chris Lange 35

Mycotoo 33 The only advice we can give to anyone who is interested in such ride is to experience it for yourself in our park. Seeing is Oceaneering 15 believing! • • • Polin back cover Popcorn Revenge will be showcased as part of TEA Thea Stoneface 2 Awards Digital Case Studies, on October 22, 2020 (www. Vekoma 39 teaconnect.org). For more information on Popcorn Revenge, see “Kernels of Truth,” InPark issue #79, 2019 (www. Visual Terrain 34 inparkmagazine.com/alterface-kernels-of-truth/)

David Weiss 35 The exterior of the Popcorn Revenge building at Walibi Belgium

5 inparkmagazine.com Right place, write time Hollywood screenwriter Bennett Yellin authors a new future in themed entertainment by Martin Palicki

t’s a scene many industry pros might relate to. A young boy Ivisits , and while the rest of his family enjoys a ride, the child diligently tries to figure out how it was created. Bennett Yellin was one of those kids. Growing up in Southern California, Bennett was fascinated with the innovative attractions being created for the theme park industry, as well as the excitement and theatrics of Hollywood. Yellin was something of a child magician and this gave him the perspective to see that both film and theme parks were ultimately doing the same thing: creating a magical experience for their audiences. Bennett Yellin (center) with “Dumb and Dumber” “I was enthralled with Disneyland and movies and knew early on stars Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey that I wanted to work behind the scenes on both,” says Yellin. All photos courtesy Bennett Yellin The realization gave birth to two “crazy dreams”: to write motion pictures and create theme park attractions. Around this time, one of Yellin’s acquaintances had been posting on social media about the opening of Warner Bros. World Abu Yellin had heard the term ‘Imagineer’ on The Wonderful World Dhabi, where he’d served as senior art director. “I asked him if of Disney but wasn’t sure how to become one, so he turned his it was feasible to pivot from writing for films and television to attention to a more straightforward goal, teaching writing. This theme parks. His response was ‘Absolutely! People do it all the led him to receive a Bachelor’s in Fiction from UCLA and an time.’” Just like that, Bennett’s long-dormant dream was re- MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. ignited.

Bennett never made it to that teaching job, though, as early in After some research, Yellin discovered the Themed grad school he met Peter Farrelly, another student in the MFA Entertainment Association. He joined in late 2018 and decided program. The two co-authored a script and managed to get it to to attend the TEA Western Division’s annual holiday party. Yellin Eddie Murphy (credit goes to Peter’s date, who told him the actor “didn’t know a soul” at the event, so while waiting to get in, he lived next door to her parents). Murphy passed it on to execs at nervously struck up a conversation with the woman in front of Paramount Studios, who brought the duo in, kicking off their him, who took him around and introduced him to guests. That writing careers. led to a conversation with Co-Founder, CEO and Executive Producer at Super 78 Dina Benadon, herself a successful Their partnership (with the inclusion of Peter’s brother Bobby) navigator between themed entertainment, film and television. resulted in Bennett’s most notable credit: the 1994 hit “Dumb and Dumber.” The film has become a classic, and has earned a A few months later, Super 78 brought Yellin in to do some work spot in pop culture’s collective conscience. on their project ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: An Interactive Adventure,’ the company’s newest Geppetto-powered interactive Yellin spent the next 30 years writing for Hollywood, working character attraction at Moody Gardens [See “Geppetto Grows,” with the likes of the Zucker Brothers (creators of Airplane!), InPark issue #80, November 2019]. While the script had largely John Hughes, Madonna, Jim Carrey, Paul Reiser, Matt Damon, been written, Yellin was asked to bring more comedic elements Gregg Kinnear, Cher, Kate Hudson, John C. Reilly, and Patrick into the story. Stewart. “20,000 Leagues was the perfect project to allow me to apply all The next step of my screenwriting strengths,” says Yellin. “I had an absolute Fast forward to 2017, when Yellin realized he had successfully blast!” achieved his childhood dream. “I’d done a bit of everything in my screenwriting career, and I was ready for a new challenge even “We were so thrilled to have Bennett work with us on ‘20,000 though I wasn’t quite sure what that would be,” says Yellin. “I’d Leagues Under The Sea: An Interactive Adventure,’” said completely forgotten about the idea of creating attractions for Benadon. “We’re all huge fans of his fantastic movies and he’s theme parks.”

6 inparkmagazine.com just an incredibly fun and talented guy. His comic instincts added Writing the future tremendously to the final product. We can’t wait to work with One year later at the 2019 TEA Western Division holiday party, him again!” Yellin already had a successful project under his belt and walked into the event knowing dozens of people he had met and worked 20,000 Leagues has been well-received since opening in with over the past twelve months. “There is a warmth and November 2019. It was even nominated for the inaugural commonality to this industry that I really appreciate,” says Yellin. Innovation Award by the Producers Guild of America, which “The shared enthusiasm and passion for wanting to provide recognizes projects that are advancing media technology and guests with a wonderful memory really speaks to me.” creativity across a variety of disciplines. “Part of my career success is thanks to being in the right place at Although comedy is Yellin’s specialty, he has experience in the right time, but it’s really about the relationships I have made other genres too, having authored thrillers and sci-fi during his and nurtured through events at TEA and IAAPA that have made Hollywood days. “It’s always about creating an experience in the difference.” the envelope of a story and I don’t think that’s ever really going to change,” says Yellin. “I’m a storyteller at heart – give me a What’s next for Bennett? “Flexibility is the name of the game,” premise and ideas will start popping from my head.” he says. Yellin welcomes freelance gigs but would consider a full- time opportunity as well. Yellin likes to say he thinks outside the box, but always keeps one toe in it. That’s a good match for theme parks and museums, “In hindsight, my career progression seems entirely natural, even which frequently are looking for the next great thing, but still can though I didn’t realize it at the time,” says Yellin. “I’m truly lucky be a little risk-averse. It’s also an industry that values experience to be able to be ‘living the dream’ – both of them!” • • • and accomplishment, which Yellin offers. Bennett Yellin, President of Really Important Guy, Inc. can be “I’ve created original characters for studios as well as written for reached at [email protected] existing characters, ensuring they remained on brand and within strict guidelines,” explains Yellin. With IP oftentimes being the central element of a project, it’s critical to get that component right, especially early in the process.

THEN AND NOW: Bennet Yellin as a child, excited for a visit to the , and today, writing for the themed entertainment industry.

7 inparkmagazine.com Experience for hire The rise of consultants since COVID-19 affords a vision of leadership for the Location Based and Themed Entertainment Industry by Martin Palicki leventh Hour President Jeff Ganter has observed Emarketplace changes through his decades of experience in business, management and human resources facets of the entertainment industry. In 2004, he founded Eleventh Hour, a full-service staffing and recruiting company targeted to the needs of creative industries including themed entertainment. Eleventh Hour’s business model streamlines a variety of placement services, including direct hire, freelance, freelance-to-hire and more.

Partnering directly with corporate leadership teams as well as with individuals seeking work, Ganter has developed a uniquely qualified perspective on industry needs and nuances.

“As we are all experiencing firsthand right now, changes happen constantly and can be a disruptive force to planning. Sometimes, like with COVID-19, the changes happen abruptly, while other times they happen more gradually. In either case, managing those changes within a corporate environment can be challenging.” Jeff Ganter, Eleventh Hour To help companies and teams respond to industry-specific intricacies, Ganter recently expanded Eleventh Hour’s business model to include a mid- to executive-level consultancy service. How does the consulting process work?

How can consultants help executives? Once a client decides to work with us, we begin with a kick-off phase – an initial “let’s get to know one another” intake. We ask The consultants are a resource for companies looking to navigate a lot of questions to understand what the objectives and goals big-picture questions for their business. They can provide are and what capabilities need to be built or focused on. We then vision for leadership while empowering internal teams to push compile and analyze our findings to match the proper executive themselves further in pursuit of the overall, aligned business to meet the client’s needs. In many ways, it’s similar to our strategy. existing recruiting services.

Sometimes a consultant may be called in to create systems and Why does our industry need this now? What changes have a base of knowledge for current employees to execute. In a you seen? case like this, a company might bring in a consultant to help address a challenge, such as employee retention. The consultant Through our work with clients around the world, we have a could advise on a strategy, build new HR programs and create global perspective on where companies are allocating their a structure for the internal team to implement, manage and budgets. What we’re seeing is that, while the need to grow market maintain after the work is complete. share is always present, this is being tempered by a new level of budgetary caution. Even before the effects of the pandemic were Or, as I mentioned before, they may be brought in to help chart clear, we were observing a restraint in the levels of expenditure a course for the company’s future. This group of professionals planned for the coming year. excel at identifying and capitalizing on emerging trends. They function as the spark to ignite and manage change at the Our industry had a very successful decade, buoyed by emerging executive level. This is where the consultants’ experiences in middle classes in international markets and a reasonably stable different markets can be quite beneficial to the company, which global economy. Business models are now forced to change, and otherwise would not have access to the perspective and expertise. the situation for the entertainment marketplace is evolving daily. I think high-level decision makers in companies are strategizing

8 inparkmagazine.com and ideating the best ways for their organization to adapt – on experience and wisdom from outside the organization. The both the supplier and the operator side. timing for engaging a consultant differs for each organization. Change can be uncomfortable, but it frequently is incredibly Who are the consultants? valuable. Often a small adjustment turns into a major benefit and the ROI can be extraordinary. We have assembled a team of professionals from a variety of companies and industries outside of LBE: retail, consumer Who should consider executive consulting services? marketing, branding, and sports, for example, from mid to executive level. They bring decades of experience and knowledge. The ideal client is one who is ready to engage with change. There Most of them came to us over the last year as they sought our is the immediate change required because of COVID-19, but placement services. In varied cases, some were looking for their there are also longer-reaching changes that continually need to be next career move, while others were not ready for retirement and addressed. they wanted to share their skills but were not necessarily looking for a full-time job. Beyond that, Eleventh Hour works with all types of companies, from startups and small businesses to mid/large-sized The consultant creates phases or work steps for the client to help corporations. Our consultants fit into any situation. them reach the goal(s) they have identified. Each platform and package is customized to suit our client’s objectives. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there already is an obvious employment impact as a result of COVID-19 and Why bring in outside voices? Eleventh Hour continues to assist in recruitment and placement It is a smart business practice to engage with voices from outside services for our creative industry. • • • one’s own organization for different perspectives and knowledge. But it’s not always easy for companies to find that expertise. We For more information about Eleventh Hour’s recruiting services developed this service as a direct output of our own company’s or their new consulting program, please reach out directly to Jeff evolution and awareness of a changing marketplace. Ganter at [email protected].

Ultimately, the consultant will help push the corporate leadership team outside of their comfort zone, contributing best-practice

9 inparkmagazine.com Teams from Six Flags and Sally Dark Rides install : Battle for Metropolis attraction at . An Oceaneering ride vehicle is ready to be unwrapped and put into service. Photo courtesy of Sally Dark Rides Following the leader How smaller attractions stay competitive and innovative when big operators raise the bar by David Paul Green

ver time, a familiar cycle has driven the themed the entry of major brands and IP into LBE (location-based Oentertainment industry: Big operators raise the bar with entertainment) and the assistance of suppliers who customize epic, destination attractions (digging into deep pockets and taking products for them. big risks), then smaller operators work to catch up. There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic adds new The new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands at Disney parks in uncertainty to the situation. Parks and attractions of all kinds California and Florida have set the bar very high. Some say that it must now consider not just how to compete but simply survive. will be difficult and take a long time for smaller parks to be able While we wait to see what the “new abnormal” will be, operators to deliver a competitive guest experience. But nowadays, smaller must plan for the unforeseeable: Nobody knows exactly how operators can respond quickly thanks to sophisticated, readily regulations, guest attitudes, safety practices, and other factors will available technology, a trend to smaller/scalable attractions, be affected.

10 inparkmagazine.com For perspective, we spoke to four industry leaders who serve the “Ghost Town Alive!” is described by Beaudry as “a small-cap industry in a variety of ways. Their work with operators of all project that had a huge payoff because Knott’s focused on what sizes gives them insight into the full attractions spectrum. they do best. The added level of engagement and immersion with the live performers, day-long story line, and authentic set and • Greg MacLaurin, Senior Designer, American Scenic Design, costumes made the guests feel they just experienced something a provider of high-end, specialty design services, founded by special and just for them.” industry veteran Phil Bloom • David Beaudry, Principal, Beaudry Interactive (aka b/i), an Beaudry spoke of a regional LBE client with similar goals and award-winning experiential design studio with a focus on restrictions. “The question becomes, ‘What can you provide audience engagement that no one else can? And how can you make that experience • Dave Mauck, VP and GM of Entertainment Systems for more engaging for your guests?’ Getting our client to focus Oceaneering International, an engineered products and on their uniqueness is key. Whether it’s nostalgia, local culture services provider for the offshore energy, entertainment, and history, or a thriving art scene, focus on those experiences materials handling, defense, aerospace, and science and and come up with the ‘handles’ their guests will need to create research industries their own intimate exchanges and immerse themselves in these • Lauren Wood Weaver, VP of Marketing and Business experiences.” Development for Sally Dark Rides, a leading attraction design and fabrication company that also provides Speed to field animatronics and creative services At Oceaneering International, Dave Mauck says the company’s breadth makes it possible to spread out much of the inherent risk Local and unique of development, thus reducing the risk and costs for individual Greg MacLaurin of American Scenic Design takes an historical operators. “For many years, Oceaneering was the go-to company view on smaller operators competing with bigger companies for some of the most complex, high-end ride systems and for guests. “They’ve got to focus on their strengths, and their experiences in the world,” Mauck said. “However, our barrier to strength is community and locality. They understand their specific entry for the regional or mid-tier parks was two-fold: we had to smaller community,” he said. overcome that lack of customer NRE [non-recurring expenses] and their aversion to the risks associated with ‘Serial Number MacLaurin points to Knott’s Berry Farm as an example of a 1.’ As a large company, we could address the NRE and the first smaller park that has thrived, despite being just a stone’s throw article build, but what features would a product have to include?” from Disneyland. “Walt certainly went to Knott’s Berry Farm before he built his park. He talked to Walter Knott, specifically. Oceaneering’s Revolution trackless ride technology, which They actually became friends,” MacLaurin said. “Walter Knott received a Thea Award for breakthrough technology, was one and his wife Cordelia were invited to the Disneyland opening, result of that line of questioning. Mauck asked, “Looking at and they were kind of depressed. They thought, ‘Gosh, look at all the systems-level costs, what, holistically, are the cost drivers for these people. Nobody’s going to come to our little Knott’s Berry an attraction, which may or may not be coming from the ride Stand anymore.’ They drove home, and their park was packed. system, but are affected by the ride system? That was one of the They were packed because not everyone could make it into primary focuses, initially, for our trackless product.” Disneyland, and they wanted to do something fun and Knott’s Berry Farm was local and nearby. It turned out to be copacetic.” The company looked at ways to reduce cost and streamline production while reducing building time, and found that there Knott’s also resonated for Beaudry Interactive’s David Beaudry, were creative benefits as well. “Our trackless products would be who said, “Knott’s Berry Farm’s ‘Ghost Town Alive!’ is a perfect essentially divorced from the infrastructure… we don’t need big example. In the shadows of Universal Studios and Disneyland, tracks, foundations, networks of conduits, etc. Early ‘dust-free’ they created arguably one of the best experiences in recent dates and final integration would be affected and would reduce memory. It received a Thea Award, so I’m not alone in that the overall schedule. That goes to speed to field. Many mid-tier thinking!”

Greg MacLaurin David Beaudry Dave Mauck Lauren Wood Weaver

11 inparkmagazine.com parks don’t have a two-and-a-half to three-year capital plan to deliver a ride. You’re trying to deliver a new ride in roughly 12 months from the date of contracting. Speed to field is a real consideration for them.”

Meeting expectations Sally Dark Rides’ Lauren Wood Weaver concurs that designing to smaller budgets is key to bringing destination attraction punch to regional parks. “We’ve - Sally - had a long history of designing to budget, quite often at a regional park level,” said Weaver. “One of our specialties is figuring out certain tricks of the trade that can make budgets stretch. We pinpoint where we need to spend, and where we can afford to pull back, depending on the overall value to the story, and the ride or experience.”

“You can’t deny the inspiration that those major, blockbuster attractions provide,” said Weaver. “And you can’t deny that then they set the bar… and park-goers see that, and that’s their new bar, their new expectation for a great attraction. For the longest time, in the dark ride field, the classic attractions - like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, ET, Monster Plantation, Dreamflight - had set the bar. We helped bring that kind of ride experience to parks in Europe with projects such as Challenge of Tutankhamon at Six Flags Belgium, now Walibi, and Labyrinth of the Minotaur at Terra Mitica, using ‘classic’ dark ride methods: heavy theming, animatronics, lighting, special effects, theatrical Greg MacLaurin in the 90s, suited up to grind down the rough seams elements and a great soundtrack. of a fiberglass rock for an exhibit in Adventure Island at the Los Angeles Zoo. Greg notes, “Art & Technology was small, and everyone “Then [Universal’s The Amazing Adventures of] Spider-Man did everything. Grinding fiberglass is dusty, prickly work and it gets everywhere. It’s also not very healthy. Hence the suit.” set the next bar. And we did have to kind of allow time to get Photo courtesy of Greg MacLaurin us to a point where some of those elements and effects - such as high-end projection and motion-based ride vehicles - that helped set that bar were available, and at a price point that could be affordable for the regional market at that time. But over time, obviously, technology adapts and prices come down. Suppliers and their products also adapt, and then you can bring that magic to a regional park.”

Experience and creativity “In the end, you rely on experience,” said Weaver. “You’ve got to have a grasp on what works and what leaves a lasting impression. We’ve personally put our butts in the seats so many times, all around the world - and sat there and watched other people’s faces, and we’ve taken note of what works. Sure, some new technologies are impressive, and if they’re affordable and fit into budget, let’s consider using them! But certain tricks aren’t the most expensive tricks, and they can be the most effective. At the end of the day, you just have to make sure it’s fun.”

MacLaurin made a similar point. “Museums are really fun to work on, because unlike theme parks, which focus on the immediate experience, and the big movie IP, museums care all about content. They want things to be accurate and true. Truly the thing that’s going to slow down a museum project will be budget. But if you focus on the budget that you have, you can really make anything work well. Smaller operators have to focus The load station with an Oceaneering vehicle at the Pacific Rim: on Intimacy, Immediacy, and Interactivity.” Shatterdome Strike attraction at TranStudio Cibubur in Indonesia. Photo courtesy of TranStudio Cibubur continued on page 14 12 inparkmagazine.com Interactivity in the Age of Covid-19

Shortly after beginning this assignment, the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world. Themed entertainment was hit hard, with parks shutting down worldwide. Now, the industry must consider how operations will have to change after reopening, and possibly, forever. Large parks may be forced to spend like small parks until the economy recovers.

“I’m already seeing the direct impact of all the parks pulling back on their capital spending,” Dave Mauck said. “The impact has been so deep… Whatever budget you thought you had, you don’t have it any more.”

“Interactive devices always provide the most intimate experience, but the technology will (or needs to?) change,” said Greg MacLaurin. “Buttons and touch screens are now problematic. Touchless interface will become the norm, where we use hand gestures and facial recognition to receive responses from the guests.”

David Beaudry notes, “The key is to be ready and focus on those markets most likely to recover the quickest. Regional and local LBEs and FECs - these smaller mid-market experiences - may be best able to pivot and adapt the quickest to our new norms of ‘no touch’ and ‘keep your distance, please.’ A perfect time to re-examine existing experiences in the light of cutting edge, hands-free interactive technology.”

Lauren Wood Weaver adds, “Our design and creative departments have been working on new product development, at both large and smaller scales. Like it or not, we know capital investment plans have most likely been altered. So, what we’d like to emphasize to parks is that we have some really great options, at lower, more cost-effective price points. And that might be an awesome solution right now. Dark rides are great that way. You can create a lot of magic at varying investment levels – as long as you know how to make it fun!” •

The Crayola Experience’s Crayola Adventure Lab (Orlando, FL, Easton, PA, Plano, TX) is an adventure into a very mixed-up reality where guests must solve a variety of creative challenges while straddling the real and virtual worlds of Crayola’s R&D Lab. Photo courtesy of Beaudry Interactive continued on page 14 13 inparkmagazine.com we travel and experience other rides, we take note of, ‘Wow, that really worked!’”

Regional power MacLaurin described how smaller operators can succeed where larger operators may struggle. “Because a smaller park is more community-based and deals with more of the local people, they can also tap into volunteerism that a large park can’t,” he said. “They can even have some fairly prestigious people, some famous people, and ask them to just help, as a donation. I worked with LA Zoo in the 1980s and 1990s, on some interactive exhibits for their children’s zoo. Betty White stepped up and said, ‘Hey, I love The team from Sally Dark Rides enjoys a ride on their newly opened this zoo. I will donate my time, if you want to videotape me, and Sesame Street: Street Mission dark ride at Port Aventura in Spain. Photo courtesy of Sally Dark Rides I’ll be onscreen.’”

To those three I’s, Mauck adds two more, noting that even a small Adventure City in Anaheim was another example MacLaurin child making a fort from a cardboard box may be Immersed in gave. “It’s a couple of miles from Disneyland. They have lots his or her Imagination. “This may be controversial to some: I of children’s parties, and how they stay alive is to focus on the think to some extent,” he said, [that] “having deep pockets is community, to focus on the neighborhood, and events, small sometimes a barrier. I grew up in a rural farming community events that the community will have.” and my family was self-employed. It was drilled into our heads that necessity is the mother of invention. If you don’t have a As examples of other regional events that draw on local dog, learn to hunt with a cat… there is amazing creativity that community and culture, MacLaurin also mentioned Magic emerges when you don’t have the financial wherewithal to throw Mountain’s Magic Pagoda attraction from several decades ago more ‘stuff’ into an attraction; the Team is forced to become and Knott’s Berry Farm’s boysenberry festivals. “A local, little hyper-focused on the guest experience and story. Immersion is theme park, a local mom-and-pop place: they would be able to not automatically granted to a well-funded project. Immersion is have parties, and birthdays, and events, and anniversaries, at their immersion.” facility, that a big park won’t be able to have.”

Connecting with the guest Weaver points out how, with dark rides that are story-driven and For Beaudry, a great immersive experience requires being smart well-imagined, regional parks can compete with big parks on about where, when, and how interaction is designed into an their own turf. “Knoebels [park in Central Pennsylvania] Haunted experience. “We always try to step back and ask why? Why are Mansion is one of the best, ‘old-school’ dark rides that you will we trying to make this particular experience interactive? Who ever ride. There is no new technology. It is ‘old-school’ with a are we trying to engage? What are those connections? What are million exclamation points behind it! And it is one of the most those hooks? Then, and only then, do we figure out the right type memorable attractions I’ve ever ridden, because every single of technology to use. You gain tremendous freedom once you thing - every gag - is timed perfectly. That is why it is so highly become tech-agnostic. It lets us approach interaction design from regarded, and has been maintained in this place for years and many angles. ‘Do I really need a $50K tracking system in order years and years, and has this value… this nostalgic wonderful to accomplish this particular thing, or can I do it with a 50-cent dark ride value. You scream and you yell, and you walk off and sensor?’ Be ready to do either, but let the experience guide us.” you’re like, ‘What the heck just happened?’”

Beaudry added, “When I started the company, interaction design Smaller operators may not have the financial clout or scale of was still so new. It was hard to explain to others what we were bigger operators, but through story-driven attractions - based on trying to accomplish. We were creating these moments… very community, intimacy, and cleverly using just the right technology intimate moments when people really became part of the story with unlimited imagination - they cannot only compete, but and they feel that their presence there mattered. That connection endure and thrive. • • • still drives us today, and you don’t need big budgets to get there.” David Green is COO of President of lighting Personal connection was a theme throughout these interviews: firm Visual Terrain, Inc. He has over 35 years of Weaver said, “Our goal is to make it memorable and enjoyable experience in managing and delivering large and small for the whole family. It’s about using elements wisely, figuring development projects, including user experience out where you want your audience to focus, and making sure you design, creative and technical writing, theme parks, film, website producing, television and animation support, get those moments right. It is story first, and then ‘How can we software development, information architecture, use technology to reach out and touch you with that story?’ But project management, public relations and photography. David holds nine we are always looking at new technologies, and certainly, when U.S. patents for user interface design and is a frequent contributor to InPark. Email him at [email protected].

14 inparkmagazine.com Connecting What’s Needed with What’s Next™

OUR FAMILY. YOUR STORY. Oceaneering thrives on helping storytellers deliver the next big thing in entertainment.

Connect with what’s next at oceaneering.com/OES Copyright © 2020 Oceaneering International, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 inparkmagazine.com The Met in New York City. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Funding, reopening and saving the animals Museums struggle in COVID times By Judith Rubin and Joe Kleiman

he latest edition of the TEA/AECOM Museum Index, Linda Cheu, Vice President – Economics, Americas, writes in Tcovering calendar year 2019, showed that globally, attendance the Museum Index: “Special exhibitions continue to be primary at the top 20 museums had dropped 2.4%. For the top 25 in each drivers of attendance change in our lists and are an important region, North America dropped 13.2% and APAC by 0.6%,, and way that the largest museums invest in the visitor experience to EMEA increased 4.4%. Most of the North American drops were maintain market share and keep pace with population and tourism attributed to a falloff in the year after a blockbuster exhibition. growth.” All of this was pre-COVID, when we might have expected 2020 to play out along similar lines, with a few rises and dips. At this The situation affects producers and distributors of traveling writing in summer 2020, the museum landscape is radically exhibitions as well as the museums that book the shows. A altered. We look at some of the chief factors. number of museums are in fact reopening with restrictions and safeguards in place, and using timed ticketing and advance The biggest museums & the blockbuster model reservations - the tools of blockbuster crowd flow - to regulate attendance levels. Even when COVID-related travel restrictions For decades, the top museums in destination cities have depended ease, attendance restrictions and social distancing requirements on blockbuster exhibitions and tourism to keep attendance levels may remain. high.

16 inparkmagazine.com After a five-month closure (since March 13, 2020) the deployed to local health care workers” and “20,000 square feet of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City welcomed outdoor space for casual seating.” visitors back on Saturday, August 29, unveiling three new exhibitions. Under the circumstances, it seems likely that most With advance reservations required as well as masks for visitors of the returning visitors will be locals. Max Hollein, Director of age five and older, the Minnesota Children’s Museum reopened The Met, said, “So many people have reached out during the time August 1, 2020. Like others there are new cleaning protocols, of closure to express how much they miss being at The Met, and plexiglass barriers and hand sanitizing stations. The museum also we are eager to welcome all back to the galleries. Opening The upgraded its air filtration system. “We look forward to welcoming Met’s doors is an important signal for New York and for all of you back when it feels right for your family to return,” reads the us. This will be a time for New Yorkers to reconnect with their announcement that also indicates the cafe and store will be open. favorite artworks and spaces in their Museum.” The Museum has developed comprehensive safety procedures for its staff and Funding and revenue: Plight of visitors, following guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease US museums is most severe Control (CDC), New York State, and New York City. Closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a hard In London, on July 8 the National Gallery was the first major impact on the museum community everywhere in the world. gallery to reopen, with a host of strict new health and safety Between April 7 and May 7, 2020, the International Council of measures in place and advance booking requirements. On July 27, Museums surveyed 1,600 museums and museum professionals the Tate reopened all four of its galleries – the Tate Britain and in 107 countries on the impact of COVID-related closures. 82% Tate Modern in London, as well as Tate Liverpool and Tate St anticipated a decrease in activities, 30% a downsizing, and 12.8% Ives. feared permanent closure.

Although they will take a hit from reduced tourism and reduced AECOM’s Cheu writes in the 2019 Museum Index: “The capacity, the world’s biggest museums can be expected to set an museum industry is decentralized, with diversity in markets, example for how to move forward - much as the big theme park business models, and financial fitness, which will translate to operators will. Perhaps those with the greatest resources will varied resiliency in regard to COVID challenges.” give new life to struggling smaller museums through acquisitions or partnerships, in keeping with the already growing trend of When compared to the global front, the situation in the United brand expansion - big names such as Guggenheim, Louvre and States - where museums typically receive less government funding Smithsonian as well as newer “popup” brands, and art collectives than their international counterparts - appears much worse. such as Meow Wolf and TeamLab. As pointed out in the On June 8, 2020, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Museum Index, even though it experienced a 5.9% attendance launched a survey of 760 US museums to understand the impact decrease from 2018 to 2019, the Louvre still maintained its of COVID-19 on the museum community. 33% of respondents position as the most-visited museum in the world. reported that without financial relief, they would not survive sixteen months. 16% believed themselves to be at significant risk Theaters, immersive experiences & interactives of permanent closure. 87% had less than 12 months of financial reserves, 56% less than six. Museums have availed themselves of technology to help tell their stories in ways that resonate for modern audiences. This is true for museums of all kinds, but science centers and planetariums especially tend to depend on special venue theaters and hands- on interactives, with heavy traffic from school groups. Children’s museums are also high-touch.

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia reopened on July 8, 2020 with a disclaimer, “By visiting The Franklin Institute, the guest voluntarily assumes all risks related to potential exposure to COVID-19 in or about The Franklin Institute,” an advance ticketing requirement, mask requirement and temperature checks, reduced capacity, no indoor dining. The museum’s high-touch exhibits and the IMAX theater are closed but the Fels Planetarium is running hourly shows, at reduced capacity. The reopening announcement called attention to science events on the floor including “Tech experts discussing 3D printing innovations that have emerged during the pandemic, showing examples of face shield visor bands produced from home and Directional signs for visitor flow and social distancing markings are key for reopening. Photo courtesy of Reina Sofia

17 inparkmagazine.com It comes down to money a zoom conference, and baby showers for pregnant animals, also drive-through zoo experiences. Museums in the US have lived on the edge for several decades as government funding has dried up. They’ve depended on “When COVID struck and San Antonio Zoo shut its gate, we individual and corporate sponsorships and revenue generators were left with no income,” Tim Morrow, President and CEO of such as giant screen theaters, food courts and evening events. the San Antonio Zoo, told InPark. “Unlike most other accredited Some are going to extremes to please corporate givers, such zoos in the country we depend 100% on visitation, grants and as integrating advertising into exhibit signage. Going forward, donations to operate. The Drive Thru Zoo idea was created to museums and other cultural attractions will need to find the offer people a way to continue to visit and help the zoo from balance between earned revenue, such as admissions, pass sales, the comfort and safety of their own cars. We designed a route, and retail, and donated revenue. In August, the Vancouver created an online audio tour and added fun merchandise and Aquarium announced that it would temporarily close to evaluate culinary opportunities along the way. Other zoos around the and transform to a new business model. Our review of the 2018 world soon followed our lead so support of the missions of financial records for the aquarium (the last filed) show that the zoos was magnified beyond our gates. The Drive Thru Zoo not split between earned and donated revenue was an extremely high only helped our zoo through closure it helped our community by 80% to 20%. giving them reprieve from lockdowns, a connection with nature and hope for a return to normalcy.” Saving the animals Voices from AAM: Serving community & mission Zoos and aquariums face particularly steep funding challenges because of the cost of caring for the animals. We’ve seen them Just at the time where their survival is in peril, museums have find creative ways to generate revenue such as rent an animal for an increasingly vital role in the communities they serve - to help

Reopenings among the world’s top 20 museums With a variety of health safeguards, many of the world’s top museums have reopened or are preparing to reopen. These are the world’s top-attended museums per the 2019 TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index.

Louvre Paris July 6, 2020 National Museum of China, Beijing May 1, 2020 Vatican, Vatican City June 1, 2020 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC August 29, 2020 British Museum, London August 27, 2020 Tate Modern, London July 27, 2020 National Gallery, London July 8, 2020 Natural History Museum, London August 5, 2020 American Museum of Natural History, NYC preparing to reopen State Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia July 15, 2020 Science & Technology Museum new visiting policies as of June 25, 2020 Reina Sofia, Madrid June 6, 2020 National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC September 9, 2020 Nanjing Museum, China March 24, 2020 Zhejiang Museum, China March 26, 2020 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC July 20, 2020 Victoria & Albert Museum, London August 6, 2020 China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing July 23, 2020 National Palace Museum, Taipei remained open with reduced hours Musée d’Orsay, Paris June 23, 2020

18 inparkmagazine.com Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary General of the Smithsonian Institution, said at the AAM virtual conference (#AAMvirtual) in June 2020: “This is the time for museums to realize we are integral and integrated to this moment. Museums help the public find tools to live their lives, to understand this. Good museums help people to find reality, and give hope.” But he also said, “This is the opportunity to say we can’t just lay on beautiful strategic visions on old structures,” and “Museums are not built to be community centers but they sure could be at the center of their community. Put community, education, conversation and Lonnie G. Bunch III collaboration at the center.”

AAM’s virtual conference took place June 1-4, 2020. While it was being planned, the world was already several months into the pandemic, with museums closed and an uncertain future, and sessions like “Conversations on Sustainability & Resilience for Museums” on the program. The agenda and the dialogue became even more complex and urgent with the killing of George Floyd on May 25. In a special session, “Racism, Unrest and the Role of the Museum Field,” speaker Dr. Johnnetta Cole, who previously served as President of Spelman College and Director of the Dr. Johnetta Cole Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, said, “Could we imagine that our museums could be of special importance coming out of this pandemic and at this moment when our nation is so torn? What are we called to do, what are we capable of doing?”

Lori Fogarty, Director and CEO, of the Oakland Museum of California, said, “This is the defining time of our lives as a country, as individuals, as museums. Let us not miss this moment.” • • •

Lori Fogarty Resources from museum organizations distinguish fact from fiction, uphold science, get a balanced Associations serving and advocating for the museum viewpoint on the world and its issues, engage in meaningful community have published various resources and discussion on race and inequality. guides for surviving in COVID times. Here is a sampling: Museums, science centers, zoos and aquariums quickly began to leverage their websites and other online platforms to stay AAM connected with their communities during pandemic shutdowns, https://www.aam-us.org/programs/about- but virtual content requires time and labor to produce. In a museums/covid-19-resources-information-for- July 22, 2020 article for the American Alliance of Museums the-museum-field/ (AAM), Brendan Ciecko of Cuseum outlined six possibilities for generating revenue through online content including virtual ASTC (Association of memberships, virtual summer camps and monetizing special Science-Technology Centers) interactions with living collections and staff. https://www.astc.org/coronavirus/

Museums with scientific missions and research teams were NEMO (Network of stopped in their tracks, their teams unable to access collections European Museum Organisations) or travel. Many staff have been furloughed, laid off or taken https://www.ne-mo.org/fileadmin/Dateien/ early retirement. A May 28, 2020 article by Elizabeth Pennisi in public/NEMO_documents/NEMO_COVID19_ sciencemag.org pointed out that that the situation has added new Report_12.05.2020.pdf impetus to the digitizing of collections, and spurred museums and researchers to find creative ways to continue their work using AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) webcams, teams of ‘citizen scientists’ and also refocusing their https://www.aza.org/covid-19-resources research on the pandemic itself.

19 inparkmagazine.com Ultimate contrast How Christie Eclipse technology transformed the Hayden Planetarium and earned a Thea Award by Judith Rubin his is the spec we have all had in our heads for quite some Ellen Futter, President of AMNH referred to an “eye dazzling “Ttime,” said Benjy Bernhardt, senior director, Electronic manifestation of what is now possible from a technical Media Engineering and Support at the American Museum of standpoint…the most sophisticated projection system in the Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. It was November world with unprecedented colors and blackest black.” 2019 and the 87-foot diameter, 429-seat digital dome theater of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium was displaying the majesty “It has the punch and color of true [RGB] laser, with true of space on its new, state-of-the-art, custom fulldome system black and high dynamic range, enabling us to visualize these developed with tech partner Christie. Star of the system: the things as though we were really there,” said AMNH Director of array of six new Christie Eclipse 4K, true HDR, RGB pure laser Astrovisualization Carter Emmart. projectors. The Christie Eclipse technology has been named for a TEA Thea Award for Innovative Technology. Live demos are very important to convey what the Christie Eclipse can do, because its color gamut, brightness, contrast and frame rate are beyond the scope of most other display systems. As Larry Paul, Executive Director – Technology and Custom Solutions and Entertainment at Christie, and product manager of the Christie Eclipse says, “You can’t see it until you see it.” And thanks to the Hayden installation at AMNH - one of the world’s top 10 museums by attendance - and a series of demos organized by Christie, many people have now seen it.

Paul described it as “a quantum leap for storytellers to create incredible experiences and shows and to transport audiences.”

“‘Video black’ has become true black,” An illustration of various residual black levels and blend zones. © Copyright 2020 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. wrote the TEA Thea Awards Committee in its official description of Christie Eclipse. “The Eclipse projector has a previously unimaginable contrast ratio of up to 20,000,000:1, immersing audiences in a degree of detail and depth of color never before possible.”

“The Thea Award is well deserved for this unique projector, which has a lot of applications in the special venue world,” says Bernhardt.

On the cutting edge of digital display and immersive experience

Audiovisual technology is highly True HDR RGB laser projection systems produce true blacks without any residual light so competitive in the themed entertainment you cannot see the edge of the frame, nor any blend zones on multi-projector arrays. space, key to a wide array of guest © Copyright 2020 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc.

20 inparkmagazine.com The Christie Eclipse projector experiences including immersive attractions, museum exhibits, Paul is a specialist in “enabling technologies” including simulation corporate brand centers, dark rides, projection mapping, art and visualization for government defense and industrial clients installations, parades, live shows, augmented reality, interactives as well as mainstream cinema (with Christie, two recent, high- and gamification. profile projects with filmmaker Ang Lee, pushing the limits of the medium). His themed entertainment experience dates back to With this new, true HDR RGB laser projection technology, the the 1980s and includes eight years with the late Peter Chernack’s industry at large has gained a new creative tool and Christie has company Metavision and its Spacequest Casino project, a 1997 reinforced its dedication to the themed entertainment vertical. TEA Thea Award recipient. “All these technologies and tools are cool, but they don’t become meaningful until we enable people Over the past 15 years or so, planetarium theaters have become to do things with them, to create experiences and impressions a laboratory for immersive, media-based guest experiences as that last a lifetime,” he says. “That is my focus, my part of the around the world most have upgraded to sophisticated, digital equation that helps drive what we do at Christie.” dome projection (fulldome) systems. Depending on size and complexity, these systems may use a single projector or as many Unpacking the technology as 20 units to fill their dome screens with imagery. They require Christie’s literature lists these as key features of the Christie sophisticated controls and specialized content. Fulldome display Eclipse: True HDR projector, color gamut approaching the full technology and content production have continued to evolve and Rec. 2020 / Rec. 2100 color space, true black without any residual improve and catalyzed a convergence between planetariums, giant light, high frame rate performance in 2D and 3D up to 120 fps screen cinema and themed entertainment. (frames per second), and RGB pure laser illumination.

The converging forces, multiple industry influences and close High Dynamic Range projection, true blacks and expanded color collaboration that produced the Christie Eclipse and the Hayden gamut are interrelated. An HDR video signal provides a wider installation include Benjy Bernhardt and Larry Paul’s own diverse range of brightness and color information, eliminating many backgrounds and experience on pioneering projects. Bernhardt limitations commonly associated with video projection. There has been with AMNH since 1998, which is also when the is simply more data contained in the signal, enabling very bright industry began to see the first permanent fulldome installations. objects and very dark objects to coexist on the same screen, in He brought his background in music, immersive and interactive a fully light-controlled environment, with nothing lost to image media production and sound editing and programming as well processing. as experience working on Douglas Trumbull’s Luxor Pyramid trilogy (Las Vegas), a simulation adventure from the 1990s that “Video black” has for some years been a necessary evil, a utilized multiple special projection formats and theaters. limitation tolerated for the sake of other benefits, now done

21 inparkmagazine.com away by the HDR capability of the Christie Eclipse. The need for optical edge blending is also gone.

“When you have perfect black, you don’t need any optical edge blending; just make sure things don’t brighten up where the edges meet,” says Bernhardt. High-contrast projection lends greater visual range to any content and is of course highly prized in planetarium shows for vivid depictions of space and the night sky. “With the Christie Eclipse we have the brightest brights we could ever want, all the colors we could ever want, we have the blacks, and there’s no edge blend problem. You don’t have this sort-of-gray to kick you out of the experience. It’s all part of the HDR super high contrast. People are blown away,” Bernhardt testifies. If an image on a standard contrast display has limited brightness in the In 2018, Christie rolled out two RGB specular highlights, viewers perceive the image as somewhat “flat.” pure laser projectors, the D4K40-RGB and the Mirage SST, both supporting the expansive Rec. 2020 color palette, already a huge leap beyond the previous high point of Rec. 709 (HDTV is Rec. 709, as are most planetarium display systems; the DCI standard is P3). The Christie Eclipse takes the capability even further, with the ability to work in any color space from P3 on up to near Rec. 2100 - a producer’s dream in visual richness and range and precise color match for branding and IP. When the production team at the Hayden was developing new content in 2019, it was their first time working with the Rec. 2020- 2100 color space instead of Rec. 709.“They realized that they could see things on the dome that they couldn’t see on the monitor,” said Bernhardt. “All the final mastering was done in the theater.”

The term “RGB pure laser” refers to the On an HDR display, the increased brightness is not used to make the bulk of the image use of individual red, green and blue lasers brighter, but mainly kept in reserve to make the specular highlight areas gleam. to generate light. RGB laser is a solid-state technology that employs individual red, green and blue laser diodes as its light source. RGB laser light said Bernhardt. “You’re seeing every frame. Moving through color is scalable, supporting increasing levels of brightness and stars feels a lot more natural than it did in the past, allowing the the expanded color palette, and does not degrade as the projector audience to really feel like they’re out there.” ages. The collaboration The Christie Eclipse has frame rate capability up to 120 fps, It began in earnest in 2014, with a visit by Bernhardt and Jeffrey a welcome benefit for projects involving animation, gaming Gallitzer, Assistant Dir. Rose Center Engineering, AMNH, to engines, data visualization and/or special effects. “Just the Christie headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario, to see an early difference going from 30- to 60 fps allowed us to lower motion prototype. “The prototype did not have all the features yet, but it blur, important in scenes where objects are moving quickly,” showed we could do video black as true black,” said Paul.

22 inparkmagazine.com It was clear that the process would take time. “We knew that themed entertainment world are designed to help clients innovate there was a multi-year roadmap,” said Bernhardt. and create, to make compelling, immersive experiences. Having to work within the constraints of technology is never the ideal Meanwhile, Hayden needed a new system within 12 months. way to design an attraction; we don’t want technology to be the Christie installed a custom interim system in 2015, configured limiting factor. We enable the community to truly bring people to so that it could be upgraded with relative ease when the new a place they have never been before.” projectors were ready. “It included RGB laser, fiber, lenses - everything but the final projector heads,” says Paul. “In February The Christie Eclipse technology will be showcased as part of 2019, we removed the old projectors and mounts, ‘levitated’ the TEA Thea Awards Digital Case Studies, on October 8, 2020 lenses in place, put the new projectors in the same positions, (www.teaconnect.org). For more information about the product upgraded the software and were up and running as anticipated and the technology, visit the Image Matters page on the Christie within a few weeks.” company website at https://www.christiedigital.com/help- center/whitepapers/image-matters/. • • • Bernhardt observed, “We had talked to all major projector manufacturers over the years about a projector that could do what this one does. A couple of them understood the basic engineering needed to achieve it but were not ready to put in the R&D. Christie made that investment and that commitment. It was harder to do than it looked on paper. There were technical hurdles. Those things come up, and they pushed through them.”

“The requirements were lengthy and demanding, and we signed up for them and worked hard to satisfy them,” says Paul. “Where the Hayden goes, the market does follow, in terms of content creation, environment and space and everything else. They know what they are doing, and we had a great working relationship. They stayed on our case to make sure we were getting it all right; we pointed out things to them and they were appreciative.”

Paul continued: “The Christie Eclipse exists because we - the industry - needed better contrast. Everyone is competing for audiences and eyeballs. All of our products targeted for the Christie’s Larry Paul and AMNH’s Benjy Bernhardt

23 inparkmagazine.com Going virtual TEA honors Thea Award recipients with Digital Case Studies event by Joe Kleiman

he annual TEA Thea Awards Case Studies opened August or cancelled and economic uncertainty, within the industry, T6, 2020, showcasing Nancy Seruto (Portfolio Creative the need is greater than ever for networking and professional Executive, Imagineering) the recipient of the Buzz development. These are the factors that led to re-conceiving Price Thea Award for a Lifetime of Distinguished Achievements. Thea Case Studies in an online format. The session was a conversation between Seruto and Phil Hettema of The Hettema Group, with a live, online networking, “TEA is a mission-based organization and our mission is to Q&A and chat session that included some of Seruto’s colleagues. serve members, which includes helping them stay connected and The session was sponsored by The Bezark Company. facilitating networking, education and professional development,” says TEA Chief Operating Officer Jennie Nevin. “Thea Awards Subsequent Thea Case Studies sessions will go on to showcase Digital Case Studies will help do all of that, as well as provide the other projects in the global slate of 26th annual TEA Thea uplift of celebrating some of the greatest global achievements in Awards, with presentations given by the project owner together visitor attractions, and shine a light on industry superstars such as with members of the creative team. But instead of taking Nancy Seruto.” place over the course of a single day with hundreds of people together in a conference room at the Disneyland Hotel, TEA has TEA had already changed to cloud-based, team software systems adopted an online format for its 2020 Thea Awards Case Studies. in mid-2019 and built a robust social media presence over the The sessions will be spread out over several months, available past decade, so was in a good position to take the necessary next sequentially “live” and then on-demand. One ticket buys the full steps when the pandemic hit. “The TEA Headquarters staff were package of seven sessions. able to quickly and effectively transition to working from home,” says Nevin. “We launched TEA Digital in March 2020, rolling With travel restrictions and health concerns due to COVID-19, out a full schedule of mixers, webinars, watch parties and online companies and individuals – and the associations that serve chats, while preparing for the possibility that TEA’s tentpole them, such as TEA – have had to quickly transition to virtual conferences, such as Thea Case Studies, might also need to be meetings and working from home. And with projects postponed part of the package.”

TEA International Board President Michael Blau and TEA COO Jennie Nevin

24 inparkmagazine.com It was important to the community to keep as much continuity editing,” says Nevin, “well beyond your typical webinar or video as possible around the annual TEA Thea Awards. Since their conference. We’ve created this full virtual universe – a realm introduction in 1994, the Theas have become a very prestigious where you can access everything in one place. There will be honor, recognizing both the project owner and the creative team. curated Q&A’s with the project designers, lounges you can visit A key component of the Theas is that the project owner supply based on theme, such as the Christie tech lounge, and lots of cool comprehensive credits, which are published in the official TEA opportunities for networking.” Thea Awards Program. The credits engender better dialogue between owners and creatives as well as a more complete picture Hettema, participating as a moderator of two sessions including of the many disciplines, trades, artists, artisans, technicians and the conversation with Nancy Seruto, shares, “I’m hugely specialists that collaborate to produce a project. impressed with the production team and how organized they are. Jennie and her team of TEA staff working with the presenters The elegant, black-tie TEA Thea Awards Gala presented by and moderators have done a phenomenal job in putting this event Chimelong could not be scheduled to take place in 2020, but together.” new dates have been set for April 2021. And the Thea Awards cycle is being continued in two other ways: 1) a submissions “Providing this continuity to the TEA membership and the period was opened (and closed on July 31, 2020) so that the Thea global attractions industry that TEA serves is especially important Awards Nominating Committee could proceed with judging for in regard to the Thea Awards, which go to the heart of what the 27th annual Thea Awards, and 2) the slate of 26th annual our worldwide association is about: celebrating excellence in the Thea recipients are showcased in the digital case studies opening creation of compelling experiences and places,” says Michael August 6, 2020. “Michael Blau, our International Board President, Blau. “The TEA Thea Awards acknowledge the contributions was a big advocate for finding ways to move forward, and to of our unique industry, and provide a forum for important and celebrate and honor the projects this year,” says Nevin. influential dialogue within our international community. Whether online or in person, TEA and the TEA Thea Awards bring us What are Thea Digital Case Studies like? “This is a professional together to learn, network and celebrate.” • • • online series production with a full production team, including

TEA International Board President Michael Blau and TEA COO Jennie Nevin

25 inparkmagazine.com Wendy Heimann-Nunes, Susan Bonds and Nancy Seruto On the topic of Theas Three industry leaders talk about the TEA Thea Awards: Nancy Seruto, Susan Bonds, and Wendy Heimann-Nunes Interviews for InPark by Clara Rice

he three women interviewed here in connection with the Susan Bonds: “True convergence” is the alignment of social, T26th annual TEA Thea Awards are all entrepreneurs and technology, gaming, and storytelling, giving audiences an innovators. All have owned their own businesses and worked for authentic and validated role in the experience. At WDI we major theme park operators, and all have worked to help foster a constantly talked about the envelope and how to fully immerse more diverse, dynamic, and successful industry. guests. Today, designers have tools to capitalize on immersion: to build shared experiences and engage characters to affect agency Susan Bonds, CEO 42 Entertainment and outcome. and Animal Repair Shop CR: You advocated for TEA to create a Connected Immersion A systems engineer by training, Susan began her career in category for the Thea Awards. How do you see connected aerospace at Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects, then immersion evolving in the next few years, and where does that joined Walt Disney Imagineering, where her projects included leave more traditional experiences? “Indiana Jones Adventure” at Disneyland and “Mission: SPACE” at Epcot. She went on to produce the MMORPG “Uru: Ages SB: Connected Immersion is a category meant to recognize Beyond Myst” before co-founding 42 Entertainment in 2004. experiences that blend the digital and real world. The challenge Susan Bonds chaired the 26th annual TEA Thea Awards early on in our industry was to make something classic that lasts Committee. – 10, 25, 50 or even 100 years. The opportunity now is to make something that can be reprogrammed as the audience evolves. Clara Rice: Your 42 Entertainment bio refers to the term “true convergence.” What is true convergence?

26 inparkmagazine.com This approach expands traditional storytelling into new Nancy Seruto – Portfolio Creative areas, redefining new experiences overlaid onto the familiar, Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering and creating multi-use venues for owners to maximize their investment. We will see these connections become more and Nancy Seruto is the recipient of the Buzz Price Award for a more seamless. Lifetime of Outstanding Achievements. Her inspiring, 30-year journey as supplier, creative, project manager and entrepreneur CR: You’re an entrepreneur, and I have heard you say that you has taken her around the world and touched nearly every vertical would like to see more women in positions of leadership and of themed entertainment, including theater and performing entrepreneurship. How can we as an industry move the dial on arts, touring exhibits, museums, theme parks, retail, restaurants, this issue? live events, and casinos. She oversaw several projects over her past decade with Imagineering, including “Treasure Cove” and SB: There have been women in positions of leadership over “Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure” at multiple decades, but too often they did not get the title or the . recognition. Let’s recognize some of these women NOW – even belatedly. Let’s encourage women-to-women mentorships and Clara Rice: So many of us, myself included, came to the networking. Let’s share the spotlight. Sharing more about what industry from the theater. Why is that? we are individually and collectively accomplishing is key! Nancy Seruto: What we do in theme parks is rooted in theater. CR: What did you enjoy most about being Chair of the 26th For centuries, there have been those who are drawn to the public Thea Awards Nominating Committee and do you have any words form of storytelling that is now theater. This has evolved into of wisdom for your successor in the role, David Cobb? film and many other digital formats, but I think the instincts come from the same place. SB: Being on the Thea Awards Nominating Committee means that you are mixing it up with the true entrepreneurs and The unique pressure of live performance drives a certain innovators of themed entertainment: those pushing the envelope excellence. The pressure of live audience can be unforgiving and, of where the industry is headed, as well as legends who built conversely, applause is addicting. The first time we open a project the industry from the ground up with no roadmap to follow. to a live audience, we draw our breath in the same way, hoping What a great sense of responsibility – to keep the standards and wondering if they will like it. that differentiate us in the market, yet recognize the evolution of entertainment, and the impact of technology and audience CR: You are considered one of the best producers and creative behaviors in our industry. leaders in the industry. What are the essential qualities of a successful producer? Do these qualities differ depending on the My advice to Dave is, “keep your hand on the wheel, look to the size of the project or the vertical? horizon, listen to the wise crew rowing the boat, and have fun!”

Susan Bonds is interviewed by media for the opening of the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland in 1995.

27 inparkmagazine.com Nancy Seruto during the TEA Thea Awards Digital Case study

NS: A producer needs to keep firmly rooted in the business CR: In the last episode of the Disney+ series, “The Imagineering aspects of a project, while understanding and reaching for the Story,” you said, “when you go to a different culture, and you nuance of creative excellence, and what makes something great live in a different country, and you work differently, it changes art. At Walt Disney Imagineering, a producer is a leader of a very you. It changes you forever.” How did the experience of creating qualified, innovative and self-driven team. So, on the soft skills Shanghai Disneyland change you forever? side, a producer at Imagineering does not need to be a manager of tasks, but a conductor of a highly skilled orchestra – also a NS: This is not easy to answer, as there are many layers, but let catalyst for creativity and innovation, a facilitator and connector me try to break it down, because over the course of seven years of groups. in anyone’s life, many things can be transformative.

Empathy and understanding are also key qualities, and conviction At a professional level, the project fundamentally challenged is a word I repeat to myself often. It’s super important: having assumptions around process. It is a shared roadmap you all agree the confidence to stay the course and work through the on and follow, that builds confidence phase by phase. But when challenges as they come up, and trust in your experience, abilities, one works globally, they can’t assume process is shared. So right and instincts. As projects grow in scale, all of these qualities are there, you are thrown off kilter and forced to rethink, and in put to the test, but they are core qualities. doing so, you learn to be flexible, to think on your feet, adapt and find new ways of thinking. CR: Please tell us about your work with Imagineering’s outreach program. At a deeper and more personal level, the journey led me to collaborate creatively with artists and craftspeople from China NS: Imagineering’s outreach program brings Imagineers together over seven years, to create and build something together. And with cultural and nonprofit institutions to collaborate with them because my relationships with them continue, they are now a part in solving their own creative challenges. By doing this work, we of how I see the world… through a different lens, through their are engaging with some of the most brilliant scholars of our eyes as well as my own. times. The exchanges broaden our perspective and often give Imagineers an important platform for exploring and sharing their This was a really tough job. The realization that you could not own histories. Through this interaction, we also demonstrate that control so much of what was going on was challenging for all diverse teams are fertile grounds for creativity, and this in turn of us. Living away from home for so long was difficult and helps influence how we build teams, widening the aperture to lonely. But despite the challenges, we built strong bonds, and include a broader perspective and range of voices. through that shared experience, we made it. The power of what

28 inparkmagazine.com can be achieved through sheer will, and with the force of the whole company behind us, will forever leave a very humbling impression on me.

Wendy Heimann-Nunes, founder and managing partner, Nolan Heimann LLP – Recipient, TEA Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Award

Wendy Heimann-Nunes is receiving the TEA Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Award for her contributions as pro-bono counsel of the Themed Entertainment Association. She spent the early years of her career in the theater. A few years after receiving her law degree, she assumed the role of executive director at The Theater. While negotiating a major theater deal with Disney Development Corporation, she became fascinated by mixed-use development and location-based entertainment, and went on to lead the Business and Legal Affairs Department Wendy Heimann-Nunes at Universal Creative before founding her own law firm, which features a practice area dedicated to LBE and immersive experiences. anyone else. I think our industry is still very male-dominated, which is particularly embarrassing in that it doesn’t reflect our Clara Rice: When you got the call saying you’d be receiving the consumers. I do think that the next generation is very different – award, what was your reaction? what we are dealing with now are some lingering legacy systems that are still creating a hindrance for women to succeed. Is there a Wendy Heimann-Nunes: It was such a cliché reaction. When social zeitgeist happening? Yes. Do I think we are there yet? No. Michael [Mercandante, TEA Immediate Past President] called, I couldn’t process what he was saying. Then it was just gratitude CR: You call yourself a “cheerleader for the themed and total astonishment. My whole career is in this industry, and entertainment industry”? Why is it so important to you? there’s a reason. I will never feel like I’ve done enough. WHN: Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to create – I CR: In a 2016 article on the TEA Blog, you wrote, “I would like wanted to be a part of something that was about creating. I to see us applying our core competencies farther and farther into realized relatively early that my type of creativity was in helping overlapping and relevant industries.” What do you think is the others create - building structures and opportunities for others to next frontier for our industry? create. And that is my flow. It’s not a job for me; it’s my oxygen. It’s like music. I’m a drummer, and the same flow I feel when I’m WHN: The next frontier that I’m committed to penetrating, drumming is how I feel when I help creators create. which I find absent in our industry, is capital sources for mid- tier and lower-tier opportunities, things that are not going to That’s why I care so much about our community and our be funded by investment banks or the huge corporations. We industry. I’m so grateful that the industry has given me the need to free up capital for the growing, mid-market, experiential opportunity to express that. And I have truly marched my developments and their associated technologies – all the things avocation. • • • that emanate from the escape rooms and the smaller FECs. We have beautiful product being created, but there’s not a direct path Clara Rice is the Director of Communications at to capital like there is toward high-tech. It’s a void I’m committed JRA and Vice President of the TEA’s International to filling. Board of Directors. She has written over a dozen articles for InPark Magazine and has been a CR: Has gender equity improved in our industry in recent years? featured speaker at TEA and IAAPA events around the world. Email her at [email protected]. WHN: Anecdotally, I still don’t see a lot of female executives in the market. When female entrepreneurs need to go out to capital markets to raise money, there is still systemic sexism, despite there being more female-run venture funds. InPark 杂志订阅网 You break the glass ceiling by building your own house. Speaking personally, if I was going to pursue my authenticity and ambition, www.inparkmagazine.com especially as a woman, there was no way I was going to work for

29 inparkmagazine.com The Land of Legends meets Masha and the Bear Turkey’s The Land of Legends resort turns to a popular Russian IP to expand its park while dealing with the impact of a pandemic during construction by Martin Palicki

he Land of Legends resort in Antalya, Turkey has been TV series. Masha and the Bear follows the adventures of a young Tattracting guests to its theme park, waterpark, shopping girl and her friend Bear, who has a knack for keeping her out and hotel since it opened in 2016. The park is owned by Rixos of trouble as she interacts with the other animals in the forest. Group, a luxury resort operator based in Turkey. According to Loosely based on a Russian folk tale, the show has been around Hande Tezerdi, Business Development Director for The Land since 2009. The cartoon is lighthearted and features a positive of Legends, over one million guests visited the resort in 2019 lesson in episodes for young viewers. and the park expected nearly two million guests in 2020, prior to the pandemic. The resort features both waterpark attractions The centerpiece of Land of Laughter is A Joyful Journey, a slow- as well as a section of theme-park-style dry rides. It includes a moving boat ride through the four seasons with Masha and the shopping district, an on-site themed hotel, an evening spectacular Bear. Guests enter Masha’s house before boarding boats that take created by Franco Dragone and plenty of room for expansion them in and out of a show building. Indoor and outdoor scenes [See “Turkish Splash,” InPark Magazine issue #64 (2016) and rely on sets, animatronics, media, UV lighting, sound effects, “Defining Polin,” InPark Magazine issue #74 (2018)]. music and projections to bring the four seasons to life. Most of the scenes show Masha interacting with the seasonal weather For 2020, the park assembled an international team of experts conditions and also holidays like Halloween, Christmas and New to help create two new themed areas and two new water rides. Year’s. Over 75 figurines populate the attraction, both static and Masha and the Bear Land of Laughter is the heart of the new animated. While the ride is inspired by the Masha and the Bear additions - a themed land based on the popular animated Russian TV series the storyline is unique to The Land of Legends.

The entrance to A Joyful Journey boat ride at The Land of Legends. All photos courtesy of The Land of Legends

30 inparkmagazine.com The winter scene inside A Joyful Journey’s show building Inside the train-themed restaurant within Land of Laughter.

An indoor play structure called Bear’s Funhouse and a splashpad (Commonwealth of Independent States) and MENA (Middle play area provide other attractions within the land. A quick East & North Africa),” explains Tezerdi. “That is why it made service restaurant features Russian cuisine while the train-themed sense to work with Masha and the Bear - a major brand from Food Station restaurant provides indoor and outdoor sit-down Russia that is also extremely popular here in Turkey and in the options. Windows on one side of the train face the land while Middle East.” “windows” on the opposite side are actually screens that show animated scenes and characters from the TV series. Prior to Rixos, Tezerdi worked for a major studio and had experience dealing with entertainment brands. “I reached out to Connecting the Land of Laughter to the rest of the park is the Animaccord Animation Studio (the IP holder) and though they second new land: Forest Carnival, providing a thematic transition had licensed the brand extensively, they had not worked with any to the rest of the park. The Carnival area took three existing rides theme parks. I explained the concept to them and they loved it,” from elsewhere in the park (a kiddie coaster and two flat rides) says Tezerdi. and rethemed them to the Carnival motif. A series of games and a new small live-show theater round out the land’s offerings. At the same time, The Land of Legends was working with Germany-based MackNeXT, a sister company to , to While the Land of Laughter and Forest Carnival opened on July develop the attractions. They brought on Independent Creative 23, 2020, the park also opened the new WaterMania attraction Consultant Chris Lange to lead the project in the fall of 2019 and a few weeks prior. WaterMania is a splash-battle style boat ride develop the creative concept packages with his team in Berlin. with a steampunk theme. Guests on the ride shoot water cannons at targets throughout the ride and at guests on land, who are Lange worked directly with Tezerdi and Colakoglu making equipped with their own water cannons and devices intended to decisions for the attractions, which helped to expedite the project. get everyone refreshingly wet. The ride replaces a ropes course “We developed two goals: to create a longer ride experience for attraction and is adjacent to the two new areas of the park. guests, and to create a story-driven immersive experience,” says Lange. A Tight Timeframe Lange partnered with Victor Arca from US-headquartered Even before the pandemic hit, The Land of Legends had an Mycotoo Europe to develop the Schematic Design and Show aggressive schedule in mind for the new attractions. Ahmet production. Other industry suppliers included the UK’s Colakoglu, Director of Construction for Rixos Group, oversaw Electrosonic (design and installation supervision of show control, the construction of the new attractions. He worked alongside audio and video system), Denmark’s MK Themed Attractions Hande Tezerdi to manage the design, development, installation (figurine production),Turkey’s Daghan Yururler (production and and promotion of the park additions. The new capital consists of installation of show sets, theming and decoration) and US-based two boat rides from Mack Rides: their Interactive Boat Ride and companies Visual Terrain (lighting design) and Flying Doghouse a slow moving 16-passenger boat system. Both were purchased in Productions (script and ride concept). the fall of 2019 and Colakoglu planned for them to open in May 2020. Stormfront coming: COVID-19

Separately, Tezerdi began work on acquiring IP to accompany The team began working in earnest on the project in December the new land. “80% of our visitors come from Russia, the CIS 2019 and by March 2020 most of the concrete had been poured

31 inparkmagazine.com for the rides and lands. By mid-March the pandemic effects had utilized their own install team. Mack Rides created detailed made their way to Turkey with travel restrictions going into place, documentation and instructions for the local workers to install effectively stopping all travel from outside the country to the both attractions. Once travel restrictions were lifted, Mack was park. able to send an inspector to check the installation and formally turn the rides over to The Land of Legends. Colakoglu approached Rixos’ board and investors with several options: stop construction temporarily, proceed with added On the show production side, Lange and the Mycotoo team safety measures or postpone the expansion for one or two participated in daily teleconference calls and relied on WhatsApp years. The board opted to move forward cautiously with the to field questions from the site immediately. The local team additional safety precautions. Everyone was anxious to have captured and sent hundreds of photos from the site. When it good news and a positive story for the park, region and industry. came time for finishing, workers would complete a small section, Additionally, with so many projects suddenly stopped or on hold, send photos, get feedback and then finish the work. they also hoped to negotiate with vendors for additional savings. According to Colakoglu, the project was completed for roughly Similarly, under normal circumstances an art director would have 10-15% below initial budget projections. traveled to the MK Themed Attractions production facilities in the Philippines to approve the figurine characters during Instead of a site’s usual single health supervisor, Colakoglu fabrication. For the Masha and the Bear project, MK sent videos hired three and installed temperature-detecting cameras for and photos to the design team for review and approval before workers. Even though the Antalya region only had a relatively shipping the figures to the park. small number of cases, masks were required for workers, social distancing was enforced when possible and government Creative Director Chris Lange, Mycotoo Europe Show regulations were followed. Throughout the construction there Producer Victor Arca, along with Art Director Jan Wünsche, were no reported cases of COVID-19. supervised the execution of the Creative Intent maintaining close collaboration with all the international suppliers and the local Even with a site plan in place, the park had to work around the team in Antalya. travel restrictions and supply chain interruptions. That meant Mack Rides would not be able to send a supervisor and team “It was critical to have our team and the local workers on-site in to oversee the installation of the boat rides. Since they were sync,” says Arca. “The Land of Legends leadership stressed the relatively straightforward ride systems, The Land of Legends importance of art direction for the project, which prompted the

This artist rendering of Masha and the Bear Land of Laughter at The Land of Legends shows all the attractions found in the new land. The train- themed restaurant is at the right. A Joyful Journey boat ride is at the top, while Bear’s Funhouse is located in the giant tree stump on the left.

32 inparkmagazine.com 33 inparkmagazine.com local team to rely on the creative team for guidance in the work they were executing. It was a great blending of our expertise with the knowledge and skills from the on-site team. We became an incredibly united front that overcame the challenges of the pandemic, despite the physical distances.”

A new model of project management

Now that travel restrictions are beginning to be lifted, Masha and the Bear Land of Laughter seems likely to offer an enduring, contemporary model of project management. “I don’t think we will entirely return to the old way we knew before,” claims Colakoglu. “I expect that some of the on-site approvals will likely change to virtual, but not all. Daily teleconferences are time consuming, so there is a balance somewhere.”

On the creative production side, Lange agrees it will be a mix of the old and new ways. “There are trade-offs to handling things virtually,” he says. “Checking one theatrical light placement might take an hour between the lighting designer and the onsite team trading photos and corrections back and forth. In person it could be checked in about 10 seconds.”

Lange also foresees a continued trend of using local vendors whenever possible. “Having localized production potentially insulates you from possible supply chain problems. I see that continuing to happen in the future.” While on A Joyful Journey, guests encounter characters from Masha and the Bear as their boat travels through the four seasons.

Visual Terrain congratulates Rixos and The Land of Legends park on their successful opening of Masha and the Bear Land of Laughter and Water Mania.

Congratulations also to Hande Tezerdi, Ahmet Çolakoglu˘ , Fatih Osmancelebioglu, Chris Lange, Flying Doghouse Productions, Mycotoo Europe, Electrosonic, and all their team members. Special thanks to Dave Lascaut for helping to see our vision through to the end.

We are grateful and honored to have been a part of the team for these great new attractions! For example, The Joyful Journey’s artificial trees needed fabricated leaves. Lange says he typically would source that from a company in Europe. Instead, the team contracted with a Turkish fabricator who researched how to create the leaves and produced them.

An optimistic future

Regardless of the project management methodology, it’s clear that The Land of Legends intends to continue growing and enticing visitors to return.

“Our sales team is already seeing reservations pick up,” says Tezerdi. “We rely heavily on tour operators in this region, so that has been challenging with travel restrictions. Now that things are starting to open up, we are optimistic.”

Lange also sees a bright future for the resort, in part thanks to the new additions. “These attractions and lands were designed to extend the dwell time for guests in the park, as well as provide guests with stories and characters that they recognize,” says Lange. “In some respects, The Land of Legends has been a bit of a hidden gem and I’m excited to see them raise their profile in the industry and the marketplace by promoting and expanding their beautiful resort.” • • •

WaterMania is a Mack Rides boat ride with an elaborate steampunk theme.

35 inparkmagazine.com Diving into the TEA/ AECOM Theme Index:

What can a decade of industry evolution tell us about the future? by Joe Kleiman, IPM News Editor

he Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM have Regional and destination parks have always taken cues from one Tjointly published the 14th edition of the TEA/AECOM another. And in downturns and crises, industries learn, then apply Theme Index and Museum Index, showing global attendance the lessons to benefit in the recovery. Between 2009 and 2019, trends for calendar year 2019 in the world’s top theme parks, we saw destination parks work to get closer to local audiences, waterparks, and museums. InPark dives into a decade’s worth and regional parks adopt season extensions, resort models and of the report (2009-2019) to find patterns that point to future multiple gates. trends. Around the world, regional parks that previously were open only Shared strategies between during peak summer season have been extending their operating destination and regional parks calendars with seasonal events such as Halloween and the winter holidays, often adding significantly to yearly attendance totals. The year 2009 was the final year of the three-year Great Recession, marked by a real estate bubble burst and global In the 2019 Theme Index, every one of the top 25 theme parks economic crisis. During this period, people vacationed closer worldwide - whether traditionally considered destination or to home. As the 2009 TEA/AECOM report pointed out, regional - featured at least one attached hotel. With hotels being lower-cost regional parks and attractions, including museums built at regional parks, what once was considered a single- and zoos, tend to fare better as discretionary spending declines day outing now becomes a multi-day visit. The desire to keep during tighter economic periods. During the Great Recession, guests on property has resulted in parks transitioning into fully travel destinations felt the pinch and worked to cultivate their integrated resorts, with the addition of retail and dining districts, regional markets. As stated in the 2009 TEA/AECOM Theme sporting facilities, waterparks, and, in some instances, additional Index: “Destination parks rely on a combination of tourists and theme parks. locals, but in 2009 had fewer of the former coming through the turnstiles: total visitation to Orlando in 2009, for instance, was A new era of branded and IP-based attractions down 9 percent. Destination parks endeavored to offset the lower levels of tourism by encouraging regional attendance and repeat Throughout the Great Recession, Universal Parks and Resorts visits through special programs, passes and discounts.” continued construction on what became a major game-changer for the industry. Originally scheduled for 2009 and finally opened in 2010, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure heralded the beginning of an emphasis on new themed lands and attractions centered around existing and custom brands. The use of brands and IP in themed entertainment has attained new levels on both regional and destination platforms around the world. Disney’s Cars Land, Pandora, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, along with global expansions of Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, were joined by SeaWorld’s Antarctica, Six Flags’ Justice League, and new parks in Dubai with lands themed to a variety of licensed studio franchises. The 2019 TEA/AECOM Theme Index cover. Photo courtesy Disney

36 inparkmagazine.com Vehicles pass through projected and animated scenes, like this city streetscape. Photo ©Disney

10 years of growth in the five top-attended parks (Source: TEA/AECOM Theme Index)

2009 2019 1. Magic Kingdom, FL 17,233,000 Magic Kingdom, FL 20,963,000 2. Disneyland, CA 15,900,000 Disneyland, CA 18,666,000 3. Tokyo Disneyland, JP 13,646,000 Tokyo Disneyland, JP 17,910,000 4. Disneyland Park, FR 12,740,000 Tokyo DisneySea, JP 14,650,000 5. Tokyo DisneySea, JP 12,004,000 Universal Studios Japan, JP 14,500,000

From WWOHP in 2010 to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019, the Universal’s Volcano Bay have also seen and sustained strong decade represented a grand new era of branded attractions. What attendance. does the IP crystal ball hold for the next decade? Getting back to business Within the themed entertainment community, the term “LBE” is again a buzzword. Location Based Entertainment refers to It should be noted that 2019 marks the last year of a growth out-of-home entertainment experiences usually of a scale smaller curve, mitigated by the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. than a theme park – waterparks, family entertainment centers, Although the virus was first reported to the World Health virtual arcades, pop-ups of various kinds, themed hospitality... Organization in late December, 2019, it was on January 20, 2020, LBE-scale concepts have been popular in recent years as more when the Chinese government declared coronavirus to be a Class and more IP owners set up verticals to explore opportunities 1 mass outbreak, that the first wave of venue closures began. in the space. The popularity of the smaller, scalable, LBE-style approach may well increase as theme parks hit a fiscal setback Prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009, the industry over the next few years due to a combination of COVID-19 experienced a major downturn in the months after the September closures and attendance reduction mandates. Instead of large- 11 terrorist attacks of 2001. It took time before people were scale lands, it may be more common to see mini-themed lands, comfortable getting out of their homes and into attractions with a single ride, retail store, and eatery. Working from another again. Two decades later in the worldwide pandemic of 2020, the facet of LBEs, theme parks might also install thematic overlays situation is different, because the type of safety threat is different. of existing attractions, reducing the costs necessary for a Those able to re-open are now operating with attendance caps complete infrastructure overhaul. and limited offerings.

Over the decade, as IP holders have become more cognizant In the current edition of the TEA/AECOM Theme Index, of the value of their holdings and their potential in themed John Robinett, Senior Vice President, Economics, AECOM entertainment platforms, a holistic model has emerged. Those writes: “The general sentiment is that with new health and safety theme parks attached to a studio have a ready-made base of measures, many attractions will be able to get back to business IP to work with, one that has continually grown as the studios this year (although at a different level). Some are predicting 30.0% acquired new production companies and franchises. Others will to 50.0% of normal business volume for the coming months, continue to license from outside sources, resulting in the sharing and surveys show positive demand from the market. However, it of a single franchise over a number of parks in varying global may take one to several years to return to pre-COVID operating markets. This approach has proven successful for IP holders such levels, and the investment horizon of many owners may be as Peanuts Worldwide, , Warner Bros., Ferrari, altered due to cash flow loss.” Lionsgate Entertainment and others. Regional and destination theme parks will move toward recovery In 2009, attendance for the top 25 theme parks worldwide as best they can, looking for ways to welcome guests and enable was 185.6 million. By 2019, the top 25 parks saw attendance them to gather safely, while maximizing revenue opportunities. of 253.7 million, an increase of 68 million, or 73% over the As major new attractions, rides, and museum exhibits are pushed decade. Attendance at the top 20 waterparks worldwide in 2009 back or cancelled, we are seeing short-term replacements such was 20.7 million. In 2019, it was 31.1 million, a growth of 10.4 as food festivals and other low-cost special events where social million or 67%. While attendance has fluctuated over the years distancing can be maintained. This increased reliance on festivals primarily due to global and regional economic factors, continued has already become a mainstay for both regional and destination investment in large scale attractions and theme lands has paid theme parks as the emphasis has transitioned from daily ticket off for the highest attended parks. New blockbuster branded sales to annual and season pass holders, with a need to ensure parks, such as Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai China and passholder retention.

37 inparkmagazine.com Led by China, growth spurt continues in Asia 20-30% over 2018. This offset losses at Shanghai Disney, due to the first full year of yield pricing, and the Hong Kong parks, In 2009, nine of the top 25 theme parks worldwide were in Asia. which suffered lower attendance due to political turmoil in the By 2019, 12 Asian parks had made the list. All of the top 20 region. Asian parks listed within the 2019 Theme Index lie within four countries – Japan, China (including Hong Kong), South Korea, The next few years and Singapore. The two parks of the occupy the top two positions, Universal Studios Japan sits in David Rosenberg, Vice President of Guest Experience at the third. A dramatic change is the ascension of Chimelong Ocean Monterey Bay Aquarium and the 2019 Chair of IAAPA, told Kingdom, now the top-attended theme park in all of China. InPark that he expects operations to eventually return to normal in the global attractions industry. “People like to be together in Chris Yoshii, Vice President – Economics, Asia Pacific and large groups,” he said in an April interview. “And attractions help Beth Chang, Executive Director – Economics, Asia Pacific for bring us together to create memories.” AECOM have been the APAC voices in the Theme Index for many years. In the current report, they write of Chimelong AECOM’s Robinett expresses a similar thought in the 2019 Ocean Kingdom, “Its 11.7 million visits in 2019 reflect an 8.4% TEA/AECOM Theme Index, writing, “… the industry has increase from the prior year, coming in about 500,000 higher undergone major disruptions before — related to health, safety, than Shanghai Disneyland, which saw a slight attendance drop as economic and security issues. While acknowledging the serious it focuses on implementing a yield strategy.” nature and consequences of the current pandemic, history shows us that people’s behavior, with some exceptions, largely returns Another dramatic rise is that of OCT Group, which in 2019 to normal once the threat is removed. The attractions industry became the third-largest theme park operator in the world, is resilient, creative, and responsive to the needs of its guests. bumping Universal to fourth place on the top 10 list in the This - combined with the industry’s lasting value of producing 2019 TEA/AECOM Theme Index. Regional park attendance family fun, shared experiences, and escape - points to a future of in China, the world’s most populous nation, continues to grow, recovery and new innovations as it has in the past.” where over one hundred Chinese cities have urban populations of one million or more. One of the great issues with determining the future post-COVID is the uncertainty of what might come. Globally, guidance On the top 20 list of Asian parks, four slots were held by OCT for reopening operations vary on a national and local level, group in 2009. As of 2019, seven slots are held by OCT Group eliminating standardization in the procedures. What may work and Fantawild, both of which continue to open parks in new in one country due to political or cultural structure, may not in regional markets. another. For example, while theme park visitors in China must show a QR code on their phone tied in with the national health This trend was anticipated in the 2009 Theme Index, which database to gain entry, such a policy might violate health privacy presented Asia as “the major growth region now and in the laws in other parts of the world. future” although in 2009, a year of recession, total attendance for the Asian top 15 parks was 77.6 million, down frm just As with security procedures implemented after Sept 11 that under 80 million the previous year. The report cited numerous are still in place, some of the procedures implemented during new parks in the pipeline and the expectation “that Asia will COVID-19 may become standard. Among them – cashless rebound quickly and continue as the main growth engine for the transactions, virtual queuing, and the elimination of the preshow industry led by China.” Beijing and Shanghai in particular as well as we know it. as Southern China were cited as key strategic markets and it was anticipated that the region could support multiple theme park In the short term, expect more festivals, more licensed branding destination developments. for parks big and small, and an increased emphasis on hospitality offerings, retail and expansions that support multi-day visits and These forecasts have been borne out. Total attendance for Asia’s increased per cap spending. Ten years after the Great Recession, top 15 in 2019 was 141.2 million, nearly double the 2009 figure. worldwide theme park attendance at the top parks increased Yoshii and Chang write in the 2019 Theme Index: “The most by 68 million visits. It might take as long for a similar rebound dramatic increases were in China. Theme parks, water parks after the COVID-19 pandemic. Then again, it might not. The and park operators in China showed strong attendance growth attractions industry is a growth industry and whenever it dives, it across the board, with some dramatic shifts in rank, globally and resurges on a scale larger than before. • • • regionally.”

Growth factors included promotional ticketing and the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Communist China. Contradictory to losses in 2009, the majority of parks in mainland China saw year-over-year attendance growth spurts of

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