Archives | December 2008 | Bemusement - The Attractions Industry Blog

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 A Happy New Year to all our Readers! Further to our seasonal E cards feature (I know a tree frog isn’t exactly festive but red eyes will be much in evidence come tomorrow morning), I am adding a couple of further messages...

Here also is our own (in holiday red below); a specially designed, non-interactive message utilising the very latest bleeding edge 2D technology, with minimal theming but maximum sincerity: “A Happy New Year from everyone at Blooloop!” Worth looking at BRC Imagination Arts' impressive "Happy Holidays" card too, (click here). Careful with that present guys! on the right is a cork popping image from Amuze Interactive.
Posted By Charles Read -- At 11:58 AM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
Add Comment
Categories Amusements Parks, Attractions Business, FECs Tags cards, holidays
	(What are these?)	Recommend to a Friend

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Amusement Parks : I know What you Did Last Christmas! Saw a pantomime yesterday. Like jellied eels, stiff upper lips and fighting outside chip shops, the pantomime is a peculiarly English experience.

For those of you unfamiliar with this high-water mark of our cultural firmament, it is in fact a kind of play, loosely based around a traditional fairy story such as Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella in which key ingredients include men dressed as unattractive over-made up women, a snarling, hyper-ventilating villain and two people – usually the more junior members of the company - dressed as a cow. The wafer thin plot is packed with ribald, topical humour and the whole, rowdy experience is defined by the constant interaction between the principals and the audience. In this, the panto has much more in common with Shakespeare than with the more chin-stroking earnest playwrights of the last 2 centuries, the constant gurning* and asides to the braying crowd being very Elizabethan. Had Chekov’s Misha wandered on to the stage at Barnstaple’s Queens Theatre last Saturday her lament that she was “in mourning for her life” would have been greeted with a spirited riposte of “Oh no you’re not!”, to which she would have replied, no doubt shaken from her reverie, “Oh yes I am!”, the crowd right back at her with another “Oh no you’re not!” and so on. It was interesting to note that the key players in the show were moonlighting from jobs in shows at some of the UK’s major theme parks. Working the crowds is a vital skill in both environments and so panto is perhaps a natural home for a park’s cast members while the parks are closed midwinter. Unbridled optimism has been the order of the day in the Middle East these last few years, and it will be interesting to see how the region copes with the current crises in the financial sector in ‘09. With a number of major projects seemingly stalling, some of the more positive assessments to come out of the area have seemed like that of one famous German General in the First World War: “I am not retreating, I am just advancing in a different direction”. Will this just be a blip in the continued development of Dubai, or a more serious setback? Will Abu Dhabi, which with more money is seemingly less at risk, become the focal point in the region? Certainly the recent Six Flags agreement for the park in Qatar (see: Six Flags signs Qatar accord ) was a welcome piece of news in a period of bleak news in the markets and indications that the Gulf states were not immune to the problems afflicting both Asia and the West. (* Another peculiarly British pastime : the deliberate pulling of grotesque facial expressions) See also: Amusement Parks: Will Dubai be the new Orlando? Will Abu Dhabi be the new Dubai? Life in Dubai : Cranes, Waterparks and Atlantis..
Posted By Charles Read -- At 5:17 PM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
Add Comment
Categories Amusements Parks, Attractions Business, The Middle East Tags cast members, Dubai, off-season, pantomime, pantomime, performers, Six Flags
	(What are these?)	Recommend to a Friend

Monday, December 08, 2008 A Blog-Dependent Update on Shanghai Expo 2010 The existence of a US Pavilion remains shamefully in doubt for Shanghai Expo 2010 , but there’s plenty of activity from the other international participants (about 200 of them) gearing up for what may be the largest world’s fair of all time in terms of size (1,300 acres) as well as attendance (70 million visits projected).

(see Shanghai Expo 2010 ) According to a Nov. 3 article on GenevaLunch, Switzerland is providing two contributions, in the form of a 4,000 square meter pavilion plus an exhibit on water conservation in a special area reserved for the world’s great cities. A series of photos published on the Oct. 30 Architecture List shows the intriguing “layered” design for the Italian Pavilion by BiCuadro Architects, which at night will be illuminated in the colors of that country’s flag . The Oct. 21 Design Scene shows the Danish Pavilion, designed by Niels Lund Petersen, looking like… a Danish (as in pastry)! The theme of Shanghai Expo 2010 is Better Cities, Better Life. It will run May 1-Oct. 31, 2010. Commissioner General of the Expo is Hua Junduo. Here’s a primer on the Expo overall, published by China Beat Nov. 10 . This won’t be the first time an Expo mascot strongly resembled a Gumby. See also: US Expo Pavilion Team Seeks Champion to Realize Presence at Shanghai 2010 World’s Fair, Rescue the US from Acute International Embarrassment and Prevent Trade Losses with Asia BH&L Group Declares Mission to Make US Expo Pavilion at 2010 Shanghai World’s Fair a Reality Image: Heatherwick Studio, London. British Pavilion Design 2010.
Posted By Judith Rubin -- At 10:15 PM \| Comments (1) \| Trackbacks (0)
Add Comment
Categories Attractions Business Tags architecture, Design, shanghai expo
	(What are these?)	Recommend to a Friend

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 US Expo Pavilion Team Seeks Champion to Realize Presence at Shanghai 2010 World’s Fair, Rescue the US from Acute International Embarrassment and Prevent Trade Losses with Asia If the right things happen, there’s just enough time to create a US Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 world’s fair that is worthy of the name, according to Barry Howard.

Howard ( Barry Howard Limited), a renowned designer of educational exhibits for museums and world expos, is, with fellow designer Leonard Levitan, heading up the BH&L Group, a coalition that has been lobbying long and hard to get the US government to participate at Shanghai. Howard’s and Levitan’s combined credentials include dozens of world expo pavilions over the past 40 years. Their team of world’s fair experts, designers, technologists, China specialists and advisors is coordinated by Dr. Robert Jacobson, based in Santa Monica, Calif. In a statement titled “The Shanghai 2010 World Expo: Another Potential US Diplomatic Blunder?” Howard and his colleagues write: “We need a private sector champion…a ‘CEO’ with a love of country, the imagination to collaborate in a cutting-edge creative adventure, and the courage to underwrite the initial costs of generating the visual presentation materials necessary to illustrate our current vision. With a fully articulated plan in hand, we will secure Congressional support and White House designation as the official United States Pavilion. We will aggressively seek sponsorship from US corporations, foundations, prominent philanthropists, and the American People to fund the design, construction, and operation of the Pavilion.” The statement goes on to outline sponsorship plans, as well as the core educational message envisioned for the exhibits. So far, the right things have not been happening. The Shanghai Expo opens May 1, 2010 and as of yet the US has made no commitment to participate. In addition to being for public enjoyment, world’s fairs traditionally function as venues for the expression of international goodwill at the highest government levels, and for the fostering of trade relationships between the international business community. It seems unthinkable that the US would today snub a world’s fair hosted by China. Being in the throes of a recession makes it more difficult to fund such an enterprise - yet not to do so could further damage our country’s economic health and global standing. How can the US ignore a rising world power such as China? As Howard declares, “Without immediate and decisive action on the part of American industry leaders the United States of America will be glaringly absent from this global celebration. The result will be an insult to the Chinese government, global humiliation for the American people, and a serious blow to the sale of US products and services in the vast Chinese market. The repercussions could reverberate for decades.” For more information or a copy of the BH&L Group’s statement, contact Dr Robert Jacobson at the BH&L Group, bluefire@well.com. See also: BH&L Group Declares Mission to Make US Expo Pavilion at 2010 Shanghai World’s Fair a Reality Spain’s Expo Zaragoza 2008: A Guide to the Best Pavilions and Shows The Eye, the Dome, and the Expo: International Events and Attractions Abroad As Nations around the Globe Pursue the Expo Dream, US Should Get Back in the Game Images: Top: The US pavilion at Osaka Expo 70 was noted for its inflatable roof Middle:Buckminster Fuller's famous geodesic dome pavilion for Montreal Expo 67 Bottom: Expo promotions on public transit in Shanghai
Posted By Judith Rubin -- At 9:22 PM \| Comments (1) \| Trackbacks (0)
Add Comment
Categories Attractions Business Tags China, Shanghai, World Expo
	(What are these?)	Recommend to a Friend

Monday, December 01, 2008 Themed Entertainment: Riding Shuttle Launch Experience One of the perks of having the IAAPA show in Orlando is getting to tour the local attractions and bring along family members. Boaz Rubin, husband of Blooloop editor Judith Rubin, wrote his impressions of Shuttle Launch Experience at Kennedy Space Center.

To Not Be an Astronaut - Before we board the launch vehicle at Kennedy Space Center, we are told by our on-video host, veteran astronaut Charlie Bolden, that Shuttle Launch Experience is the best simulation of the real event yet devised (for public consumption) and I easily believe it. We get all the roar of the real thing as the ride shakes, rattles, and even rolls just enough. I, for one, am glad that Jane & Joe (don’t call me six-pack) Public have this window into the launch experience. I’m not fooled, nor is anybody else likely to be fooled, that the ride is really like going into space. The simple knowledge that one can step outside afterwards and find sunny Florida waiting makes a world of difference. The ride goers all know that the real shuttle experience is far more dangerous and demanding than any simulator ride and we don’t really want to see our lives flashing before our eyes as we sit perched atop more explosive power than we dare to imagine. But then real astronauts are not Jane & Joe Public. They all have advanced degrees. By contrast, according to the US Census Bureau, in 2005 less than 30% of Americans aged 25 or older had even a Bachelor’s degree. Astronauts are also in top physical condition, and it takes years of special training on top of those advanced degrees before an astronaut gets the thumbs-up to actually visit space. Our spacemen and women are among the top mental and physical athletes America has to offer. They operate in the most demanding and dangerous environment that humans have ever entered successfully on a sustained basis. And, based on some of the footage that comes back, they have fun! In fact, they get downright silly, chasing their food around in zero gravity like goldfish, or doing weight lifting tricks. I admire all astronauts for their courage, for their abilities and their determination - and I was mildly horrified to learn that the US shuttle program is currently underfunded. That mysterious, glorious, star-filled vacuum we call outer space is no place for most of us to actually visit, and that’s why we have Shuttle Launch Experience. And for me, it’s enough. I’m content to have my fun down here – but I also wish to know that those who are best qualified will continue to pursue goals and reap rewards in the unforgiving and merciless environment of space. See also: We Can Just Leave Right Now ... Theming, Presidential Libraries and Space Shuttles Nexxus Lighting the Shuttle Launch Experience Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Launch Experience Continues to Thrill Space Enthusiasts
Posted By Judith Rubin -- At 8:05 PM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
Add Comment
Categories Attractions Business, Museums, Planetariums, Science Centres , Trade Shows Tags IAAPA, kennedy space centre, shuttle launch experience
	(What are these?)	Recommend to a Friend