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IAAPA Expo 2023

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
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The annual IAAPA Expo in Orlando is a few weeks away, but I wanted to go ahead and post some details of what to expect from our coverage this year. I'll start with the press events that will be taking place, even though the date and time of each event hasn't been released.
The IAAPA Expo show floor opens Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) and runs through Friday, Nov. 17. With more than 550,000 square feet of exhibition space, this year's trade show features over 1,100 exhibitors.

IAAPA exhibitors holding press conferences include:
  • Cedar Point with Zamperla
  • Sally Dark Rides
  • Holiday World with Vekoma Rides
  • Triotech
  • Falcon’s Creative Group
  • Busch Gardens Williamsburg with Premier Rides
  • Zamperla
  • Sub Sea Systems, Inc.
  • Hersheypark with Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc.
  • Extreme Engineering
  • Silver Dollar City with Rocky Mount Construction
  • The Gravity Group with Six Flags Great Escape
  • Intamin with the Qiddiya Investment Group
  • SeaWorld Orlando with Bolliger & Mabillard Inc.
  • S&S Worldwide with SEVEN
  • Polin Waterparks
  • Inowize
  • WhiteWater
  • LAI Games
  • Embed
  • LeftCoast Entertainment
  • DOF Robotics
  • Hasbro City FEC
  • Aquatic Development Group
  • SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment with Proslide
  • SPREE Interactive
  • Life Floor
  • Immersive GameBox
  • Lane Terralever
I'm expecting Cedar Point/Zamperla to reveal the Top Thrill II train, SWO/B&M the Penguin Trek train, SDC/RMC the Fire In The Hole train, and Great Escape/Gravity Group the Bobcat train. Looks like we'll also get official announcements of SF Qiddiya/Intamin's Falcon's Flight (world's tallest, fastest and longest coaster), and HW/Vekoma's Good Gravy (family boomerang), but I'm not sure what the BGW/Premier nor Hershey/PTC announcements will be. Unfortunately, I signed an NDA with S&S, so I can't give any hints about their announcement, but I'm sure many of you can guess that one.

Also new this year will be daily drone light shows by SkyElements over the convention center.

Best of all, this year's trade show floor will include a new Alcohol, Beverage, and Innovation Pavilion which will feature brands like 375 Park Avenue Spirits, Dogfish Head, Twisted Tea, Liquid I.V., BuzzBallz, Beverage Management, and more. This area will also include a fully operational bar and networking space.
So you'll know where to find Ian, Scott, and myself when we're not busy posting on social media or conducting interviews. Prost!
 
The annual IAAPA Expo in Orlando is a few weeks away, but I wanted to go ahead and post some details of what to expect from our coverage this year. I'll start with the press events that will be taking place, even though the date and time of each event hasn't been released.
The IAAPA Expo show floor opens Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) and runs through Friday, Nov. 17. With more than 550,000 square feet of exhibition space, this year's trade show features over 1,100 exhibitors.

IAAPA exhibitors holding press conferences include:
  • Cedar Point with Zamperla
  • Sally Dark Rides
  • Holiday World with Vekoma Rides
  • Triotech
  • Falcon’s Creative Group
  • Busch Gardens Williamsburg with Premier Rides
  • Zamperla
  • Sub Sea Systems, Inc.
  • Hersheypark with Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc.
  • Extreme Engineering
  • Silver Dollar City with Rocky Mount Construction
  • The Gravity Group with Six Flags Great Escape
  • Intamin with the Qiddiya Investment Group
  • SeaWorld Orlando with Bolliger & Mabillard Inc.
  • S&S Worldwide with SEVEN
  • Polin Waterparks
  • Inowize
  • WhiteWater
  • LAI Games
  • Embed
  • LeftCoast Entertainment
  • DOF Robotics
  • Hasbro City FEC
  • Aquatic Development Group
  • SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment with Proslide
  • SPREE Interactive
  • Life Floor
  • Immersive GameBox
  • Lane Terralever
I'm expecting Cedar Point/Zamperla to reveal the Top Thrill II train, SWO/B&M the Penguin Trek train, SDC/RMC the Fire In The Hole train, and Great Escape/Gravity Group the Bobcat train. Looks like we'll also get official announcements of SF Qiddiya/Intamin's Falcon's Flight (world's tallest, fastest and longest coaster), and HW/Vekoma's Good Gravy (family boomerang), but I'm not sure what the BGW/Premier nor Hershey/PTC announcements will be. Unfortunately, I signed an NDA with S&S, so I can't give any hints about their announcement, but I'm sure many of you can guess that one.

Also new this year will be daily drone light shows by SkyElements over the convention center.

Best of all, this year's trade show floor will include a new Alcohol, Beverage, and Innovation Pavilion which will feature brands like 375 Park Avenue Spirits, Dogfish Head, Twisted Tea, Liquid I.V., BuzzBallz, Beverage Management, and more. This area will also include a fully operational bar and networking space.
So you'll know where to find Ian, Scott, and myself when we're not busy posting on social media or conducting interviews. Prost!
Wow, hope good gravy is an amazingly themed coaster, which isn't as badly themed as gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble
 
Here are what some of the vendors not on the list I posted above have shared so far about what's new that they will be featuring on show floor later this month:

LAI Games - Three new games to be featured include: Air Strike, where players test their flying skills as they take to the skies to fight for victory! Asphalt Moto Blitz the new motorcycle game in the extraordinarily successful Asphalt series of racers, and Dragon's Bane, LAI's newest and most attractive pusher yet!

BoldMove Nation - The new interactive FUSION dark ride blends immersive theming and the highly addictive and fun gameplay of midway style dark rides and adds a super plot twist towards the end. A classic dark ride hit is being revisited using the latest technologies in interactivity, gameplay, AI, and AV.

Easy RFID Pro - Easy RFID Pro was designed and developed by a party rental company for party rental companies. It serves as an easy to use and low-cost asset tracking system for party and amusement rental companies who may not have had access to such systems in the past.

Martin Aquatic Design & Engineering - Martin Aquatic will be displaying its patent-pending technology, Blue Mar Basins, which are large-scale, man-made swimming amenities that can include inland surf or watersports.

Eldorado Climbing - Eldorado Climbing will be showcasing the latest additions to their line of Kinetix Action Towers. These structures of active entertainment blend the fun and excitement of a Family Entertainment Center (FEC), the thrill and community of a climbing gym, and the challenge of a ninja course.

Bleni Blends - This Shark Tank-featured product will be on full display. Company leaders will feature the new Bleni Smoothie Automated Kiosk, which makes all natural fruit smoothies and coffee frappes in 60 seconds.

Attractions.io - Attractions.io will display an immersive mapping experience featuring dynamic lighting that adjusts in real time to mirror the ambient light within your park. Also on display will be Attraction.io's first SDK, MapLayr, which gives attractions with a bespoke mobile app the opportunity to leverage the maps & wayfinding engine already powering incredible experiences at Merlin Entertainments, San Diego Zoo and more.
 
Attractions.io - Attractions.io will display an immersive mapping experience featuring dynamic lighting that adjusts in real time to mirror the ambient light within your park. Also on display will be Attraction.io's first SDK, MapLayr, which gives attractions with a bespoke mobile app the opportunity to leverage the maps & wayfinding engine already powering incredible experiences at Merlin Entertainments, San Diego Zoo and more.

More info about our dynamic lighting in app here if anyone is interested! https://attractions.io/learn/night-time-maps
 
Sorry for seeming dim, but who are 'SEVEN'?

A bit more in depth. Seven are a new venture from the Saudi Investment Fund to build 20+ Entertainment Centers in the country. These centers will include everything from FEC's and Indoor SKi Slopes to Play Doh centers and Go Kart Tracks.

From what I remember there's 2 large scale parks that are yet to be announced location wise. A ton of FECs, 3 of which are in partnership with Hasbro and themed to Transformers. These are expected to get the S&S Axis Coasters as seen here.
Seven3.JPGSeven4.JPGSeven5.JPG


The first of these entertainment is Riyadh - Al Hamra which has its building is half way up already) for which the artwork showed the axis coaster
Seven1.JPG

Al Hamra is a huge site and has......
Transformers Park
Discovery Adventure Park
Indoor Water Park
Indoor Ski Park
Indoor Go Karting (seems to be those Mack go kart things that can loop)
Play Doh Park
Another yet unnamed kids FEC
Cinema
Hubless Ferris Wheel center piece
Climbing center
Indoor skydiving
Bowling alley
Aquarium
Crazy golf
Indoor Surfing
Another unnamed FEC
Shopping center
And some kind of dining experience
Just as an idea as how the bigger projects are ridiculous

Al Hamra has as mentioned above the first of 12 (or maybe 13) "Discovery Adventure" FECs from Warner Brothers and the DIscovery Channel, Some conceper art here. (one piece of concept art i currently cant find had a Hampster Wheel Coaster)

SevenD1.jpgSevenD2.jpg

The Mack indoor go karts with loops
SevenGOs.JPG

The Play Doh park
SEVEN-brings-world-s-first-Play-Doh-attraction-to-KSA-2.png

And just some concept art images for some of the 20+ centers on the list

Sev6.jpgSev4.jpgSev3.jpgSev1.jpgSev2.png

In short these will be 20 huge entertainment centers with a variety of options. the 2 outdoor parks are as yet unnamed as far as i can tell but i imagine maybe Riyadh and Jeddah eventually?

Anyway sorry thats a way more in depth reply than i planned. Hope it helps though
 
There's a whole lot of the Play Doh/Nerf/Hasbro experiences to be built in this region, as well as the overall UAE, too. It's astonishing just how big entertainment is becoming in that part of the word.
 
interesting, wonder if PTC will build a new rollercoaster for the first time in god knows howmany years (though i highly HIGHLY doubt that will happen)
I think it's new trains for Comet, but that would be amaze balls!
 
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