|
Dining with the Fishes Comes to Central America
 In what is being described as the first modern public aquarium ever to open in Central America, the spectacular Nais Aquarium (www.gruponais.com) at the Oakland Mall in Guatemala City, Guatemala, welcomed its first guests on Dec. 3, 2009. Vice President of Panama Dr. Rafael Espada was on hand for the grand opening of the facility, which boasts some very impressive attributes.
The Nais Aquarium and its 15 tanks are fully integrated with a restaurant that shares the aquarium’s name, and the main tank is the largest FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) aquarium in the world. Francis Yupangco is senior marine biologist and director of business development for Living Color Enterprises Inc. (www.livingcolor.com) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which built the aquarium, and he says constructing the main tank was quite an undertaking.
“Because it was built within an existing structure, no major civil works could be done inside,” Yupangco explains. “So we actually prefabricated the entire 30,000-gallon main aquarium in our factory in Florida using fiberglass-reinforced plastic and acrylic, and then disassembled the whole thing and then reassembled it on site.” The main tank is 40 feet long, 20 feet wide, and seven feet high and contains more than 450 animals representing 38 species, including sharks, stingrays, and eels.
Though admission to the saltwater aquarium comes as part of a dining experience at the restaurant, a fee-added “Back Stage Tour” teaches guests about the aquarium’s marine species and its advanced life support system. “Because the aquarium is inland, far from the seas, all of the saltwater is made using synthetic salt,” says Yupangco. “So we ship them synthetic salt every other month on big pallets, and then they reconstitute it. We send them all the food, all the salt, and all the chemicals they need.”
Another unusual aspect of the aquarium is its coral reefs, which, though they look absolutely real, are actually manmade. “One of our trademark things is replicating coral reefs,” notes Yupangco, “so they look like live natural coral reefs, when actually they are epoxy reef structures.”
Yupangco says most Central Americans aren’t often able to travel to the coast and certainly don’t get the chance to scuba dive and see coral reefs, so the aquarium is a big hit with the public, which has been greeted by long lines to get in. “It’s designed as a destination,” says Yupangco. “I recently talked to someone in Guatemala who didn’t know I had anything to do with the aquarium and I asked them if they’d ever heard of it, and they said it’s the biggest thing that’s hit Guatemala in a long time.” A staff of 130 operate the facility, including marine biologists, technicians, and aqua culturalists.
Living Color Enterprises has created aquariums and themed environments for zoos, aquariums, museums, and amusement parks around the world for 20 years, and Yupangco says the company hopes the Nais Aquarium serves as a successful model for future projects. The Garces, the well-known restaurateur family in Guatemala that owns the Nais Aquarium, reportedly has plans to open similar aquariums in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Mexico.
Thrill-Ride Innovations of the Wettest Kind
When thinking about amusement ride innovations, probably the first examples that come to mind are dryride park attractions—roller coasters, dark rides, and so forth. But exciting innovations are taking place with wet rides as well, and two of the latest examples are AquaLoop and Twist ‘n’ Splash.
 AquaLoop is the first commercial waterslide to take riders through a complete loop, and it was a hit attraction in 2009 at parks in several countries. This year, the ride makes its debut as the first looping water coaster ever installed in North America. Opening Memorial Day weekend at Noah’s Ark (www.noahsark.com) in Wisconsin Dells as the “Scorpion’s Tale,” it will also be the tallest and longest looping waterslide in the world.
Noah’s Ark says the slide will stand 10 stories high and be more than 400 feet long. Riders will plummet down a 40-foot vertical drop, then shoot through a loop at speeds up to 40 miles per hour, experiencing 2.5 Gs in less than two seconds.
 But the appeal of the $1 million slide goes beyond the statistics. Tim Gantz, president and co-owner of Noah’s Ark, explains. “It goes way back to when I was in my mid-20s and rode the ‘Bombay’ at Wet ’n Wild in Orlando, which had a trap door,” he recalls. “Not only does this slide have a trap door, but it has another experience along with it—the loop—and I was intrigued by it right off.” The trap door is a small platform the riders stand on at the top of the slide’s tube. The platform falls away and riders are sent careening down the vertical conduit.
AquaLoop was developed by Aquarena of Austria. WhiteWater West Industries in British Columbia, Canada, has a license agreement with Aquarena to manufacture and sell the slide, according to Julie Zakus, marketing director for WhiteWater West.
The AquaLoop has certainly been a hit; a video on YouTube of riders experiencing the slide at Terme 3000 resort in Slovenia has had more than 24,000 viewings. “We have about 20 of our products on YouTube, and by far, it’s the most viewed,” says Zakus. “It’s the new thing and it just has such a thrill factor— it’s a great spectator ride.”
Park guests looking for a new ride involving some friendly combat may want to give Twist ‘n’ Splash a try. Developed by Mack Rides GmbH & Co. (www.mack-rides.com) of Waldkirch, Germany, it’s an unusual combination of two popular park favorites: the Tea Cups and SplashBattle.
Guests climb aboard round fourseater and six-seater free-floating boats that rotate on their own axes. The boats spin via the flow of water beneath them and are armed with water cannons, one for each passenger. The crafts float out into a round water arena and the mayhem begins as riders blast away at one another with the cannons. To make sure riders get thoroughly soaked, guests in the queue and spectators along the water’s edge are also armed with water cannons, allowing them to blast away at passing boats.
Maximilian Roeser, marketing coordinator for Mack Rides, says the Twist ‘n’ Splash incorporates two patents. “The first [patent] features the liftable platform for loading and unloading,” he explains. “The boats will be placed on top of the loading platform and when the ride starts, the whole platform, will be let down into the water without any motor. The next patent [involves] the mounting suspension of the boats. Each boat is mounted to a free-moving suspension on the inside, so it’s unsinkable but has the opportunity to give maximum freedom for the movements.”
Roeser says the new ride will be shipped to Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, England, in 2011, and Mack is working with several other interested parks.
Owner Explains ‘Members-Only’ FEC Concept
The Space Port family entertainment center (www.spaceportnj.com), open since November in Paterson, New Jersey, has a lot of things in common with many other FECs: It’s in a shopping mall; it features an arcade, bowling alley, laser tag, and playground; and it offers party rooms. But it also has something else that makes it unusual in the world of FECs: a members- only clientele.
 That’s right, if you’re not a paying member, you can’t just walk in and start having fun. “I was told by someone in the [FEC] world that members only wouldn’t work, but members only is our appeal because it allows us to protect the environment,” says Elvira Grau, owner of Space Port, her second FEC. “I just didn’t want it to be overflooded or overcrowded. I guess I’m a control freak, and it allows us to control the environment.”
Grau knows she’s a rarity in the FEC industry—a female owner who is also the decision maker. She says many FECs aren’t inviting enough for women, so she’s making sure her entertainment centers are just that.
 Grau founded her first FEC—Space Odyssey in Englewood, New Jersey— along with her business-partner husband, Jim Grau, who is CFO. They instituted the members-only policy there, and Grau says it’s been a big hit. “It’s the reason for my success today,” she insists. “I’m busier than ever, and I do 30 birthday parties a weekend. We are a quality product, and [guests] feel it’s safe and it’s clean. I wanted to be exclusive and offer the best entertainment available.”
She says another thing appealing to adults, including women, is that her FECs specifically work at making them feel welcome and comfortable. “I have a 1,000-square-foot lounge where parents can lie around and relax,” she remarks. “If a mom is not comfortable somewhere, then she won’t stay. But if she is, if there’s a place she can sit down, relax, make calls, or check email, then she’s going to stay, and she’s going to keep handing money to her kids to play.”
The two-level, 32,000-square-foot Space Port also features an indoor three-level playground, a train ride, basketball court, glow-in-the-dark bowling alleys, and paintless paintball, which doesn’t splatter paint stains everywhere because players fire rounds filled with jelly instead of paint. The center also has premium VIP rooms, including two suites with access to an outside patio and three penthouses available for private parties.
Family memberships at Space Port are $150 annually, though the center offered a special $99 pre-opening rate for early joiners.
Grau isn’t timid about her devotion to the members-only concept at her two centers: “It’s absolutely the way to go, and we now have thousands of members, and we employ 120 workers. It will always be membership only as long as I’m in charge!”
Disney’s Water Coaster Makes History for Cruise Ships
The new mega-cruise ships of recent years have seen the incorporation of a variety of waterpark attractions, including waterplay areas, splash zones, huge waterslides, and surfing simulators. But the latest waterpark attraction is truly a first-of-its-kind marvel.
Disney Cruise Lines (http://disney cruise.disney.go.com) will unveil the first water coaster on a cruise ship when the company’s 128,000-ton Disney Dream sets sail Jan. 26, 2011. Called “AquaDuck,” the new attraction should certainly make a splash. It will be 765 feet long and stand four decks high. Guests will be pushed along the circuit at 20 feet per second by highpowered water jets. The coaster will take riders 13 feet over the side of the ship in a translucent “swing out” loop, allowing them to look straight down at the ocean, 150 feet below, through a 1.5-inch-thick acrylic tube.
“After that, you enter a tunnel that will have some special lighting effects,” says Jason Lasecki, the cruise line’s director of media relations, “and then you come back up high over the ship. The last straightaway is at a river rapids/lazy river pace that lets you look around and appreciate the surrounding scenery— that’s all by design.” After the 335-foot straightaway section, the ride ends in a splashdown on Deck 12. At one point in the journey, “AquaDuck” passes through “Edge,” a tweens lounge with portholes that will allow the kids to see the silhouettes of riders zooming by.
Lasecki recalls where the idea for “AquaDuck” first materialized: “Back when we first developed the design for the ship, Disney Imagineering was brainstorming ideas—things never done in the industry and things our guests would be blown away by. That’s where the ‘AquaDuck’ hatched, probably about three years ago.”
Julie Zakus is marketing manager for WhiteWater West Industries in British Columbia, Canada, which is working with Disney Cruise Lines to make the “AquaDuck” a reality. Zakus comments on why it’s taken until now for a water coaster to appear on a cruise ship: “The logistics of the engineering is an enormous task, and it costs a lot of money. Disney had to work with manufacturers to see what they had to offer, and then they had to work with the boat-building company to see what can actually be done because it’s on a ship that’s moving!”
When asked if we’re going to continue to see waterpark attractions installed on cruise ships, Zakus replies, “I think this definitely opens up the door for other cruise lines to do more waterpark attractions, yes, and it’s like any other market where everyone wants to have the latest and greatest things.”
Contact News Editor Keith Miller at kmiller@IAAPA.org.
CLARIFICATION: In the Nov./ Dec issue article “Seabees Build Anew on a Storied Past,” Lexington is designing, creating, and installing the museum’s galleries and exhibits and also provided the artist’s rendering of the new museum. Also, the museum will now be 36,000 square feet, and the opening date has been pushed back to spring 2011. The correct web site address for the museum is www.history.navy.mil/museums/seabee_museum.htm.
|
