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Alton Towers Monorail Gets Dazzling Makeover
ALTON TOWERS RESORT IN STAFFORD, UNITED KINGDOM, commissioned Sarner Ltd., of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, to refurbish its monorail trains, and the results are quite spectacular. The resort’s eight trains ferry up to 100 passengers each between the theme park’s main entrance and two hotels— an eight-minute closed-circuit loop that is popular with guests.
The makeover of the trains involved what the resort called a “360- degree redesign,” with a different creative theme for each train. It consisted of a complete “visual wrap” of the trains’ exteriors with color-coordinated interior designs. The visual transformation has been accompanied by themed audio playing throughout the ride on each train.
“Sarner worked closely with the creative director for Merlin [Entertainments Group, park owner], Candy Holland, and the Alton Towers Resort marketing department to determine a list of possible design themes for the trains that reflected their proposition of being ‘Britain’s Most Fantastical Experience,’” Matthew Ringland, Sarner’s art director, told FUNWORLD. “Of more than 20 ideas tabled, eight were eventually chosen to develop further. While some designs were inspired directly by themes within the resort that guests would understand, it was felt the trains should have a ‘sense of the extraordinary’ and be unlike any trains that have been seen before— something you’d only ever find somewhere like the Alton Towers Resort. On a more practical level, the designs had to be instantly ‘understandable’ from a distance as well as close up.” Ringland added that while the designs are bold, they are also quite detailed, so when viewed close up, some “quirky surprises” are revealed.
“We initially looked at redesigning only a handful of the monorails, but once we saw how amazing the first one looked we felt it was a necessity to revamp the entire fleet,” said Morwenna Angove, sales and marketing director at the Alton Towers Resort, in a statement. “Sarner’s creative talents have surpassed all of our expectations, and we will hopefully be working with them again in the future.”
Some of the themes of the striking 131-foot-long trains were inspired by Alton Towers, and others by nature. The themes are titled “Caribbean,” “Pirates,” “Explorer,” “Moonorail,” “Celebration,” “Daisy,” “Strawberry Fields,” and “Jelly Bean.” The redesign required 31 pieces of artwork for each train.
The “Jelly Bean” and “Strawberry Fields” trains are particularly eye catching because of the explosions of color on their exteriors. The “Explorer” train displays artifacts that reference some of the stories and myths associated with the Alton Towers Resort.
The two-mile-long monorail system was officially opened by famed “Star Trek” actor William Shatner in 1987 and called “The Silver Ride,” with each train being named after a planet in the solar system.
Reversal of Fortune: Elephants Will Stay at Los Angeles Zoo
INACLOSELYWATCHEDBATTLE that has pitted celebrities against the Los Angeles Zoo and its supporters, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11-4 to allow the completion of the zoo’s $42 million new elephant habitat called “Pachyderm Forest.”
 Opponents of the new exhibit included entertainers Lily Tomlin, Cher, and Robert Culp, who said the habitat wouldn’t adequately serve the needs of the animals. In December, the council voted to halt the project. Zoo director John Lewis explained what turned things around.
“Well there were several things,” he said. “One was that part of the funding for the project was a $1.2 million bond debt on the capital bond funding. But our support organization stepped up and said they’d take on that bond debt if the council would let [the project] go forward. Also, there were animal care questions, and we were able to answer those. Finally, the labor union stepped up and said they wanted the job.”
Lewis noted the habitat had a huge amount of public support, and a poll of local voters found they wanted the project to move forward. During the decisive council meeting, the zoo presented the council with sacks containing 12,700 cards from local citizens who supported the new habitat.
The controversy was being closely watched because many zoos are facing pressure from activists to stop housing elephants, and Lewis understood the significance of this decision. “We’ve been fighting with these groups for over four years, the same groups that are fighting zoos all over the country—we really did understand that,” he said. “We came right out and said that not everyone should have elephants, but those that do it right should, and we’re planning for the future.”
Horror-Themed Roller Coaster Coming to Thorpe Park
IF RIDINGA ROLLER COASTER ISN’T SCARY ENOUGH for some park goers, Thorpe Park in Chertsey, Surrey, England, has upped the fright quotient on its new 13.5 million GBP (US$20 million) attraction.
 “Saw—The Ride” is a 2,362-foot-long coaster themed on the popular and horrifying ‘Saw’ motion picture series. The Gerstlauer Amusement Rides creation opened on March 14, the day the park began its daily operating schedule for the 2009 season.
“We did some research at the park to find out what movie people would like as a theme for a coaster,” said Sarah Morris, the park’s public relations executive, “and the horror genre came out quite high, and “Saw” is one of the genre’s most iconic movie series. We worked really closely with Lion’s Gate, the [movie series’] producers, on all the theming, and it’s very, very accurate.”
The coaster’s signature feature is a 100-degree drop from a height of 100 feet, billed as the steepest free-fall drop in the world. The park said riders, seated in cars with two rows of four passengers, will endure “three death defying inversions” on the one-minute-forty-second-long ride. “Saw—The Ride” is Thorpe Park’s fourth major roller coaster.
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‘Dr. Von Dark’s Tunnel of Terror’ Does Double Duty in 2009
PALACE ENTERTAINMENT OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA, is rolling out “Dr. Von Dark’s Tunnel of Terror” for the 2009 season at two of its waterparks. Long Island’s Splish Splash Water Park and Wet ’n Wild Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, North Carolina, will both debut the new attraction on opening day of the 2009 season, May 23.
 The ride, provided by ProSlide Technology of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, has riders face-to-face on new “WhirlyWheel” tubes, spinning freely while descending four stories in complete darkness and speeding toward a giant funnel. Riders are then suddenly driven skyward into the upper portion of the enclosed “Tornado Flume.” Then there is a series of 360- degree spins preceded by vertical banks.
Brett Petit, the senior vice president of marketing for Palace Entertainment, said two things attracted Palace to the ride. “We wanted to be one of the first to deliver ProSlide’s new attraction,” he said, “and these two parks are the only places in the country that will have it when they open. We also didn’t have a dark attraction at either of these parks.”
Petit says Palace has added a water curtain to each ride, on which they will project all sorts of images. Palace also filmed storyline clips that will be shown on video screens in the queue. Along with additional theming, these extras will bring the ride’s cost to slightly under $1 million each.
Cozumel to Get Its First Waterpark and Theme Park
PLANS ARE UNDER WAY TO BUILD a major new waterpark and theme park on the beautiful island of Cozumel, located off the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Elated Worldwide Group in San Diego, California, is creating Mayan Adventures, a $310million project to be located on 60 acres in one of Mexico’s top tourist destinations.
“We will act aggressively to ensure Mexico’s place in the world market for tourism, while keeping with the tradition of the area,” said Thomas Ford, CEO of Elated Worldwide Group in a statement. “Our focus will be on the future of operating competitively with other world top tourist destinations and ensuring Cozumel’s rich history is put in the forefront of every aspect of this project.”
The first phase of the development will be a waterpark, Cozumel’s first, expected to open by the summer of 2010. It will contain nine attractions ranging from a children’s pirate play structure to a relaxing beach area to waterslides and an aggressive whitewater rapids inner tube ride. The second phase will be a theme park with three high-speed roller coasters, one other thrill ride, one indoor and one outdoor stage show venue, and educational attractions on the Mayan culture. DIY Architects of Irvine, California, is working with Elated to design the park.
Bill Fullwood, Elated’s executive director of operations, told FUNWORLD the inspiration for the park was born when the company’s CEO was on a vacation: “The whole thing started with Thomas Ford taking a cruise with his wife six years ago. They visited Cozumel and loved it, but if you don’t go diving, there’s not a lot else to do. They saw the opportunity to have an attraction that’s more than just the innate beauty of island.” Elated plans to break ground on the project this spring. |
Profitable Porsche Opens $130 Million Museum
IN THE MIDST OF ONE OF THE POOREST CAR-BUYING MARKETS IN YEARS, Porsche SE just opened a new 100 million euro (US$130 million) museum in Stuttgart, Germany, near the company’s headquarters.
 “This is our new visiting card,” said Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO of Porsche, in a statement. “We will welcome our international customers here, as well as many people from around the world who don’t drive a Porsche themselves, but are fascinated by our sports cars.”
The museum, which opened Jan. 31, is a futuristic design by Vienna architects Delugan Meissi and has 60,278 square feet of space for 80 vehicles, such as the 356 Spyder, the car in which actor James Dean died in a 1955 crash, and the new generation of 911 Carrera.
The museum consists of 21,000 Cubic meters of concrete and 6,000 tons of steel. Porsche spokesman Anton Hunger said some of the materials used in building the museum had never before been used in modern construction. The complex design and materials doubled the museum’s original cost and delayed its completion by more than a year. But this didn’t deter Porsche, which posted a record profit of 6.4 billion euros (US$8.2 billion) last year.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is 8 euros (US$10) for guests over age 13. Those 13 and younger get in free. More information is available at www.porsche.com/germany/aboutporsche/porschemuseum.
Kim Possible Adventure Game Playing Out at Epcot
After almost three years in development, Walt Disney World near Orlando has rolled out the new “Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure” at Epcot. The game is an electronic scavenger hunt that takes place in seven of the park’s nation pavilions—Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom.
 During the adventure game, participants are issued mission instructions. Each country features specific missions, music, and villains. If participants follow the instructions, they can cause certain special effect surprises to take place in each country, and it all happens without disrupting the normal operational flow of the park. The missions in each country are random and ever-changing, so if a guest does a mission twice in a certain country, the objectives will be different. Participants can play as individuals or as part of a group and do so at their own pace, so they can pause for a meal or a ride on an attraction. Playing the game carries no additional cost to park guests.
The game was first tested for four weeks in September 2006. Marilyn Waters, director of media relations for Walt Disney Imagineering, explained the two-and-ahalf- year development time. “One of the unique aspects of bringing an experience to the park is the amount of play-testing we do,” she said. “Here, the guest is in control, so we learned a lot from that first test. Some people want to play for 30minutes and some for four hours, so we had to determine just the right play time. Also, we had to figure out how to make it challenging enough for everyone, and then determine how to make the technology that creates the experience and where to install it. Then we have to test it again.We also expanded the experience greatly from two to seven pavilions.”
As to whether Disney plans more park adventure experiences like “Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, ”Waters said, “We will absolutely continue down this path of interaction and experiences.”
The adventure is based on the internationally popular Emmy Award-winning animated hit series, “Disney’s Kim Possible,” about a high school cheerleader who works to save the world from villains. |
Dramatic New Night Show Electrifies Jerusalem’s Tower of David
THE TOWER OF DAVID MUSEUM IN JERUSALEM, Israel, which showcases the history of the famous city, has unveiled a spectacular new night show that highlights Jerusalem and its historical significance through a unique multisensory experience.
 Medialon, headquartered in Chatillon, France, with an office in Miami, Florida, was selected to provide multimedia control for the Tower of David night show, which contains characters projected onto walls, bridges, archeological ruins, and hidden pathways of the Tower of David. The show runs four times a week, regardless of weather conditions. Medialon Manager, the company’s primary show control system, manages the entire audio/visual system, including 20 high-definition projectors and Alesis hard-disk audio players used for the multichannel sound track. Medialon Manager is also used to maintain the system, including correction of projector errors, lamp life issues, etc.
“I would say the technical challenge for setting up the show control was that most of the story board and final creative design actually had to be done on the fly, during installation,” said Benjamin Saint Girons, sales manager for Medialon. “The project was tied up in employment delays and needed fast reaction, and this caused us to have to program very fast, which is just part of the live event business.” Sensitive electronic equipment had to be installed in open spaces under severe and changing climate conditions, and the work was being done in a historic archeological site.
Medialon has also done show control work for theme parks in Europe, Asia, and North America. “In general, deploying massive attractions to amaze public audiences is what theme parks are looking for,” said Girons. “As per usual, shows are getting more and more complex and creative, and involving more technologies, and it all needs to be controlled and synchronized, and it has to be accessible to operators who are controlling [the] shows. Multimedia big projections are now used to shape the environment of shows, so show control is no longer an option, but a must-have.” More information on Medialon Manager and the Tower of David project can be found at www.medialon.com.
Bunker Beach Water Park Set to Expand
ANOKA COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION IN ANOKA, MINNESOTA, has announced a $3.5 million expansion of the Bunker Beach Water Park and has retained Aquatic Design Solutions LLC of Lakeville, Minnesota, to design and engineer the project.
Several attractions will comprise the new expansion, including an 880-footlong, 12-foot-wide lazy river, a new slide tower with two tube slides that empty into a plunge pool attached to the lazy river, and a small leisure splash pool in the center island of the lazy river.
 “The lazy river is the main part of the expansion,” said Jennifer Frink, marketing and visitors manager of Anoka County Parks and Recreation. “There will also be a slide tower with two tube slides—one enclosed and one open— that will empty into the splash pool. The two water slides will be approximately 200 feet long.”
The expansion of the 6.6-acre park will be funded with revenue bonds. No tax dollars are being used, and revenues from Bunker Beach will pay off the bonds. Construction will begin in May, and all work will be completed on the expansion by spring 2010, with the lazy river scheduled to open in June of that year. www.bunkerbeach.com
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