Wednesday, November 19, 2008

IAAPA Attractions Expo, part 2

Hello again from Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center, site of IAAPA Attractions Expo 2008, which is hosted by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions - pronounced "eye-AP-pah" for IAAPA (disclosure: client of my employer, Edelman).

Yesterday we were again in awe of all the creativity on display from more than 1,100 exhibitors filling the convention hall and even part of its parking lot. Back for the Expo are some of our popular favorites, like the triple-decker carousel from Argentina's Felimina Luna Park S.A., and Bob's Space Racers and all their new midway-style games.

New this year (some of which were reported by USA Today and the Orlando Sentinel):

  • Zamperla's "Surf's Up" ride, which is basically a giant surf board-shaped platform on which passengers stand while on blend, frappe or whip speed spin-cycles
  • New from Europe, Haystack Dryers are the coolest and newest full-size (er, family-size) body dryers since the shower scene in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner." When you are at a water park you step inside for a quick session under heat lamps and fans and voila you are dry!
  • Dr. Fish -- those little minnows that gnaw your dead derms while you soak your feet -- is here from Japan (will try that out later in the week)
  • The debut of Guitar Hero Arcade Game (yes, fellow-bloggers and video game gurus, it is here and it is b-b-b-bad to the bone!
Peter Shankman from Help A Reporter Out is still in town and we are about to embark to explore and FlipVideo some more from the show (more to come!).

2 comments:

seriesoftubes said...

Zierer supposedly has something brand new in the works for my local park (Lagoon) with the codename "Jumping Dragon". Anybody who can find the Zierer booth and ask them about "Jumping Dragon" is way awesome.

Nicholas Wolaver said...

Thank you for the heads up about this. We will stop by today to check it out!

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