InPark Magazine Issue #85 (November, 2020)

issue 85, November 2020 inparkmagazine.com

Rovio and Topgolf partner to bring Angry Birds to golfing Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira

Midwestern Magicians

Meet one of the pioneers of VR and interactive visualization

Design firms based in the American Midwest create magic for their clients through a variety of projects

Meet the press

Learn what drives the InPark editorial inner circle in the final installment of this four-part series Joe Kleiman, news editor

Judith Rubin, editor

Question from Judith Rubin

Question from Martin Palicki

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ell us about your adventures in continuing education.

hat is the career path that eventually led you to InPark?

For the past couple of years, I’ve been back in college finishing up a marketing degree. This year’s been quite interesting. The first person to die of Covid in California died at our local University hospital. We were suddenly getting emails from our college that a number of our fellow students worked at that hospital and had come into contact with the patient. They were under voluntary self quarantine at home. Within a month, Covid had spread profusely and our classes were all transitioned online.

So my continuing education adventure is now a remote learning adventure.

Our industry associations have had to step up and create online interactive platforms, helping provide continuity as we all look forward to eventual recovery. As humans, we are very sensorial creatures. We react to the environment with our senses - with the sound of a voice, the direct eye contact we have with a live person, smell (perfume, pheromones, the guy in the seat next to you who didn’t shower after using the gym), and touch - at a conference, a handshake with a speaker or hugging a colleague you haven’t seen for months; in school, a student picking up a graded paper. We can’t experience these in chat rooms.

Humans don’t want to go 100% automatic. We need that human contact. It’s why at Home Depot and Safeway, there are staff overseeing the automatic checkout lane. Airlines have live attendants at the ticketing kiosks. McDonald’s has installed thousands of ordering screens at restaurants around the country, yet they keep open a register in the lobby for those who want to order the old-fashioned way.

It may not be that we’re naive with the new technology so much as we want to be naive. This is not a new phenomenon. Back in 1982, when EPCOT opened, the touchscreen Worldkey Information kiosks put guests on a video call with a live host to reserve a dining time. Look at the thousands of Disney fans who complain whenever the company closes or “updates” an attraction. People don’t like change. As for schools, COVID has probably accelerated the transition to online learning, but I believe that most classes will end up being hybrid once our campuses reopen. That’s a lot of real estate to leave vacant, especially when students want that human connection.

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I’m an artist who loves literature, music and theater and wove it all into what’s called an art-related career. While earning my BFA at Pratt Institute in the 1980s, I spent my evenings sketching live jazz musicians, usually uptown at The West End, which featured Swing era veterans. I started helping with promotions and even had a show of my drawings there. The club was run by Phil Schaap, a great jazz historian who now heads Jazz at Lincoln Center. I am also an accomplished knitwear designer which led to various retail and publishing jobs and gave me a basis for technical writing. I left New York for the San Francisco area and a job at World’s Fair magazine, published by the late Alfred Heller.

There, I honed my editorial skills, sold advertising and took World’s Fair from a scholarly journal to a respected voice and resource in the attractions industry. Eventually I set out as a freelance journalist, editor and publicist. I continued to learn about various overlapping branches of the industry, writing for numerous media outlets and working with multiple industry associations including the Large Format Cinema Association, IMERSA, IAAPA and TEA. In the startup era I put in a stretch in Silicon Valley with Fujitsu Software Corp., writing documentation and promotions for one of the first online virtual worlds. I found the InPark website in its formative years, reached out to Marty to offer my services and things grew from there. Marty’s one of my best friends. I love brainstorming with him. We make such a good team with complementary interests and skills - he’s got business and layout chops and loves iron rides, I like technology and company culture stories. We keep each other going, we keep the business going. We’re both natural connectors, as is our news editor Joe Kleiman, the other core member of the InPark team.

Martin Palicki, publisher Question from Joe Kleiman

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ow has the pandemic impacted InPark’s coverage of the attractions industry?

I don’t think it has changed dramatically. In the spring of 2020 we started doing more stories about companies stepping up to meet the challenges of the pandemic, both the health impacts and the ramifications to the industry. We are still doing that today, with our typical focus on technology and how our vendor community continues to engineer solutions.

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issue 85, november 2020 2

Meet the press Our final installment of having the IPM editors interview one another

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Patently recognizable Could Mad Systems’ new recognition technology “change everything” about experience design? • by Michael Oliver

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Swings and wings, eagles and birdies Angry Birds are teed off in new branded experience at Topgolf venues • by Judith Rubin and Michael Oliver The attraction of photos

13 DNP photo printers help attractions and concessionaires stay competitive on the souvenir photo front • by Joe Kleiman

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Slides of the times Sponsored interview with ProSlide Chief Commercial Officer Ray Smegal A meeting of minds and disciplines

18 UCF Themed Experience program collaborates with VR pioneer Dr. Carolina CruzNeira • by Peter Weishar

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TEA Thea Awards Digital Case Studies showcase, part two TEA maintains its prestigious awards cycle in an online format • by Joe Kleiman Midwestern magic

26 Three design firms in the American heartland make unique contributions to the global attractions industry • by Ben Cober

InPark Magazine (ISSN 1553-1767) is published by Martin Chronicles Publishing, LLC. 2349 E Ohio Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53207, USA. Shipping address: 2349 E Ohio Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53207, USA. Phone: +1-262-412-7107. Printing by Johnson Press of America.

team & contributors PUBLISHER Martin Palicki

DESIGN Martin Palicki

Contents © 2020 InPark Magazine. All rights reserved.

Nothing in the magazine may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the magazine. InPark Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Such material must be accompanied by a self-adressed and stamped envelope to be returned.

EDITOR Judith Rubin

CONTRIBUTORS Ben Cober Michael Oliver Peter Weishar

Postmaster: Send address changes to InPark Magazine 2349 E Ohio Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53207, USA. Subscriptions are available annually for $45 per year ($70 international).

Opinions expressed in editorial matter are not necessarily those of InPark Magazine or its publishers, Martin Chronicles Publishing, LLC.

COVER:

NEWS EDITOR Joe Kleiman

Guests enjoy a Topgolf experience, where they can play a virtual game of Angry Birds.

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Photo courtesy of Rovio and Topgolf

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Patently recognizable

Mad Systems’ Maris Ensing holds a recently awarded US patent. All photos courtesy of Mad Systems.

Could Mad Systems’ new recognition technology “change everything” about experience design?

by Michael Oliver

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ith their second patent awarded in less than 10 months, the team at Mad Systems Inc. - led by company founder and engineer extraordinaire Maris Ensing - have added something new and sophisticated to the tech/creative tool box, bringing with it a flexible menu of new capabilities that can be layered into Mad’s unique AV system, Quicksilver®, or in fact any capable AV, media delivery or digital signage/wayfinding system.

According to Ensing, the new patent covers systems and methods for generating targeted media content through recognition technology. He explains, “It covers any and all applications where we’re using recognition technology to recognize individuals, groups of individuals, cars, colors, colored flags, colored stickers, and use that information to deliver media, to personalize media/information delivery or create interactive or experiential exhibits.”

The suite of technologies that can be delivered through Quicksilver, expanded by the newly patented recognition

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and associated technologies also extends to RFID, barcode readers, QR code solutions, hard-wired components, or a completely wireless AV system and even hybrid systems that use some or most of the above. Mad Systems’ new patented technologies were developed with just a few basic ideas in mind: personalization of experiences, privacy, speed of response, ADA compliance, Covid-19 issues and what Ensing calls “futureproofing.”

We asked Ensing about some details of the new technologies and how they open up new market opportunities and possibilities for experience design.

How does the new patent complement the patent you were awarded in 2019? (inparkmagazine.com/mad-systemslookinglass-patent) The new patent is much more fundamental than the patent granted last year. The new patent covers systems and methods

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for generating targeted media content. The previous patent is for systems and methods for providing location information about registered users. It is again based on facial recognition or color recognition.

How do you use encryption and speed of response to protect individual privacy while allowing this recognition technology to enhance the guest experience?

With regard to privacy and the pictures we use for facial recognition, the technology converts a picture of a person’s face into a vector diagram, and then encrypts the vectors so that the only thing the system needs to keep is that vector diagram. The engine that does the comparison works only in that encrypted domain, so you can’t even get an unencrypted version of that data out once it’s been converted. Even if somehow it were possible to de-encrypt it, you cannot take a vector file and recreate a face from it. Also, with our system, there is no need for an internet link, and if desired the data can be stored in a locked room.

Finally, the system’s back end is capable of running SQL. When you scrub an SQL database, which is done at the end of each day, there is nothing left behind. In other words, this data is entirely secure; the privacy of the individual’s picture complete.

In terms of response speed, our technology is very fast. In comparison, using an internet link to a remote recognition system is not only less secure, it is also very slow. The time from initiating a stream of content and getting back an identifier can be as long as 15-17 seconds. A visitor who must wait 10 seconds or longer for their media to begin will likely move on to the next gallery or attraction before the media can even start. In comparison, by keeping the system local, our response time, including identification and the beginning of media delivery, tends to be between 300-500 milliseconds, occasionally 700 milliseconds but always well under one second. What this means is that some of the same elements that support privacy protection for the customer also enhance the speed of response, which is crucial to maintaining the customer’s engagement.

Does the new technology support ADA compliance?

Yes, it covers such things as modifying the behavior of an interactive. For example, if a visitor is in a wheelchair, and we know that they can’t reach up (and they’ve indicated that when they log in) then the interactive can drop the buttons down and bring them to their level. This is a capability that opens up design possibilities as well as accessibility. There’s great flexibility in where the buttons can be placed, provided that for ADA purposes they bring those buttons down and they are within the zone permitted by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is very well described.

If a visitor has vision problems, the exhibit can deliver a high contrast version of the media. Designers generally encounter so many limitations - as to colors that they shouldn’t combine, as to minimum font sizes, and so on - but when you can adapt the system, adapt the medium to your audience (e.g., changing to

300-500 milliseconds to delivery: A hypothetical recognition scenario A person enters a museum that has been equipped with Mad Systems’ latest facial recognition-driven AV technology. The visitor registers at the ticket counter, or perhaps self-registers at a convenient kiosk near the entrance, or may have registered online in advance. As part of registration the visitor provides a portrait or allows the system to capture a likeness.

During this process the visitor is also presented with the option to enter any of a number of items relating to their needs or preferences.

These could include foreign language subtitles or audio at the various exhibits. Perhaps the visitor is an academic and requests a more advanced level of information at a particular exhibit - or knows little about the subject and desires a more introductory level of content.

Perhaps there are hearing issues, vision issues, or mobility issues to accommodate.

All of these data points are stored and associated with the visitor’s encrypted equivalent of their picture, enabling them to be recognized by the system as they proceed through the exhibits, addressed by name and have media and content delivered that are specifically tailored to the information, preferences and needs inputted in the registration process.

If the visitor is in a wheelchair, touchscreen buttons will automatically lower to within their range of access. If hard of hearing, volume levels will automatically rise. If visually impaired, high-contrast video and stills will replace standard video. The need for foreign-language subtitles or audio will also be answered. And, according to Ensing’s description, the visitor receives all of this personalized content and communication in a transmission that takes well under a second - from 300-500 milliseconds to perform recognition and start personalized media delivery.

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and convergence of AV and IT years ago. Computers are running virtually everything: audio servers, video servers, digital I/O, RFID readers. The platform for computer use is huge now, spanning billions of people. So we’re confident that people will be making computers 10 years from now, 20 years from now; likely they will be faster and smaller but, since our system is designed as modular in many areas, it readily supports replacing old units with new. As long as processing performs as it does now or better - and it will - we can easily adjust, and so can our clients.

In addition, all of our latest hardware is non-proprietary. This makes it easier to acquire and install replacement units well into the future.

How might this new technology change a designer’s approach to experience design, and influence the attractions industry?

Identifying license plates is part of the patented technology.

high contrast for the visually impaired) you’re not only meeting requirements of the ADA, you’re exceeding them. Again, we’re opening up design possibilities and accessibility at the same time.

What is the license plate recognition that is covered by the new patent?

In our search for ideas for personalizing experiences, we came across the idea of recognizing cars, especially if you know who is in those cars. We started to think about the idea of using license plate recognition, and realized how useful it is as a technology.

A basic example is selecting VIP parking at a concert, event, or a theme park. License plate recognition technology can ensure that a customer who has chosen VIP parking will not have to wait in long lines at the gate, but rather be immediately directed to the VIP parking spot.

This new technology opens up new markets with more possibilities, especially for the digital signage market, for marketing and advertising and for customer service purposes.

Have you solved the problem of facial recognition meets Covid mask?

Yes, our facial recognition systems will work with masks, and we are finishing that development work. Stay tuned for an announcement within the next few months.

What do you mean by the term “future-proofing” in this context?

That’s something we talk about as a team, on every project: How do we make sure that this is going to be okay in 10 or 20 years’ time? Well, for one thing, Mad Systems finished the integration

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Let’s look at traveling exhibitions as an example. Traveling shows have become very important in museums and science centers, a primary market for Mad Systems. One of the challenges of traveling shows is that elements have to be reconfigured every time they travel to a new location, because each venue is different. A special challenge can arise when the exhibit depends on an elaborate, electrical harness – as many still do – which must be connected to each venue’s power supply to run the exhibit.

With our system, there are no wires; you just put things where you want to and just make sure there is power. So does it change the way you think about AV when you are designing a traveling show? Of course! And this is just one obvious example. What we are doing is so much more capable and flexible than what we could do in the past, the differences are stunning.

Basically our systems make technology more useable, more friendly, more maintainable, and more affordable, and more long-term stable. With all that, all of a sudden you have a system that is a lot more attractive, so yes, we see it making an enormous difference in the way designers and tech designers will think about a project, which translates into changed expectations all around.

You know, when a designer comes into our lab and sees what we have developed, the usual response is, “This changes everything!” and it does. • • • Visit www.madsystems.com Contributing writer Michael Oliver comes to us by way of academia, as a retired literature and philosophy professor whose teaching career lasted some 28 years.

Prior to the classroom, his early training and work were in engineering, which took him from nuclear missile silos in North Dakota to the Rhine River, where he worked as a ship’s engineer. Michael brings his dual background and range of experience to write about technology and other subjects for InPark.

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AT THE HEART OF IT ALL Located in the themed entertainment capital of the world, the University of Central Florida in Orlando offers a graduate program that prepares students for the creative career of their dreams. Themed Experience at UCF takes an interdisciplinary approach to teaching the necessary skills for industry success. Internships, site visits, and networking events ensure that students connect with the leaders of the industry.

Further your creative career at UCF in Orlando.

Students at UCF receive unique opportunities to make connections with industry leaders.

Pictured at right: UCF class visits Falcon’s Creative Group, February 2020. Below: The Wheel at ICON Park.

Advisory council members include: Peter Weishar, UCF Patrick Brennan, Castle Arts Juliette Feld-Grossman, Feld Entertainment Pat Gallagher, Orlando Magic Basketball Denise Hatcher, AOA Cecil Magpuri, Falcon’s Creative Group

Merrill Puckett Miller, Herschend Enterprises David Stofcik, Walt Disney Imagineering Bob Ward, Robert L. Ward, Inc. Mike West, Universal Creative

www.ucf.edu/degree/theatre-mfa/themed-experience

Swings and wings, eagles and birdies Angry Birds are teed off in new branded experience at Topgolf venues

by Judith Rubin and Michael Oliver

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lthough it is generally not recommended that one play golf angry, it is enthusiastically suggested by both Topgolf Entertainment Group, the global sports and entertainment company, and Rovio Entertainment, creator of the popular Angry Birds franchise, that you combine your next round of Topgolf with a game of Angry Birds for a unique, extended reality playing experience.

In August, Topgolf and Rovio announced the partnership to bring gaming’s “most enraged birds” to Topgolf venues that has since rolled out the new branded experience in 30 locations across the US. The experience applies Topgolf ’s proprietary Toptracer ball-tracing technology to blend the physical act of hitting a golf ball with the digital, physics-based destruction that Angry Birds delivers. Taking on a variety of light-hearted

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challenges, Topgolf guests can partner with much-loved Angry Birds characters Red, Chuck and Bomb to demolish virtual structures placed on the Topgolf targets.

The combination is designed to please the golfers and the gamers and create new audiences for both. “While the Angry Birds brand has a wide global appeal, we’re always looking for ways to provide new experiences for our existing fans, as well as engage those who may not have interacted with our brand in the past,” says Rovio Chief Marketing Officer Ville Heijari. “What we have with Topgolf is a mutually exciting opportunity to offer something fun and fresh to their guests.”

Topgolf venues are large, technology-enabled entertainment centers that combine various games based on the golf swing with

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other amenities including full-service restaurants and bars, event spaces and meeting rooms. Sports entertainment lies at the heart of the experience, although it is not unusual for patrons to come just for the food and atmosphere.

Even if patrons come to Topgolf with no prior knowledge of those pig-defying avian projectiles, after only a few minutes of exposure to the Angry Birds game, it will become abundantly clear why the two work so well together [see sidebar].

“Over the past few years we’ve rolled out a number of augmented reality initiatives that blend the physical world with the digital world of Angry Birds,” says Heijari. “However, this experience is on a different level thanks to Topgolf ’s awesome Toptracer technology, which we find highly innovative. Combine that tech with the way Topgolf designs their venues and creates fun opportunities for guests to share their experiences and you have a winning formula. We were able to leverage game code from previous augmented reality and virtual reality projects,

How and why Angry Birds and Topgolf combine so well The Angry Birds game may seem like a stark contrast to the pastoral peacefulness generally associated with golf. After all, the mission of those enraged fowl is to destroy rather eccentric looking fortresses and other structures, “manned” by green pigs, who have stolen bird eggs - hence the “angry” part of Angry Birds. But what connects this odd couple is not so much the what as the how. In terms of play dynamics, Angry Birds is very compatible with the fundamental physics of golf: trajectory, distance and direction.

From a climate-controlled bay, the Topgolf player looks out over a fairway dotted with several large, light-up targets. The player hits golf balls at the various targets, with distances ranging from 50 to 200 yards. The closer one’s ball lands to the center of the target, the more points earned.

Angry Birds Topgolf blends the physical act of golf with the golfer’s action playing out via Angry Birds trademark visuals on a digital screen in the bay, dragging back the pouch of a giant slingshot (which is holding the angry bird) and releasing it to send the bird sailing through the air, aimed at a structure or fortress. The player waits and watches as the fortress (if properly struck) collapses in stages, to the consternation of the green pigs and the great satisfaction of the player.

The player selects a level of difficulty and a bird to use as a golf ball - perhaps “Red” or “Bomb.” The player hits the golf ball (which, on the screen appears as the chosen bird) at the target on the fairway. On the screen, the fairway and the targets become a representation of the Angry Birds screen, including the fortress the player is trying to destroy.

The main difference in this new combination is that you, the player, become the catapult - that is, your golf swing is what sends the bird/golf ball sailing at its target. The graphics in this iteration of Angry Birds are just as realistic and causally complex as in the regular game; a well-placed shot could result in the total collapse of the target, every detail of which would be rendered on the screen for you to enjoy.

Getting back to the discussion of physics, combining the three elements of trajectory, distance and direction (of course, each influences the other two) on each and every shot is key to a good golf game. Likewise, with a good sense of direction, distance and trajectory an Angry Birds player can defeat those green, egg-stealing pigs, knock their many fortresses to rubble and rescue the eggs, earning high points in the game and high praise from the unhatched hatchlings.

If you manage to destroy the structure, you win points and perhaps, eventually, the game. •

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Growing the game of golf: Interview with Lynda Firey-Oldroyd, Chief Customer Officer, Topgolf How will this branded entertainment experience help build upon the way Topgolf positions itself in the market?

As a company that blends technology and entertainment, we’re always looking to create new, fun and dynamic experiences across our eco-system of global businesses for our guests and Topgolf community to enjoy. For us, the launch of Angry Birds at our Toptracer-enabled Topgolf venues is something that evokes the magical experience of having your favorite game and suite of characters come to life through an in-person, interactive environment.

We are bringing Angry Birds to life and think it will be a game-changing addition to our existing gaming collection.

in hopes of causing massive mayhem. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

What is the rollout plan?

The Angry Birds at Topgolf game will be available at venues outfitted with Topgolf’s exclusive Toptracer ball-tracing technology, which as of now is 30 of our U.S. venues. That said, we are always looking to expand our Toptracer technology to more locations across our other brands and network in the future.

Is this collaboration a good fit with the Topgolf customer demographic?

Angry Birds is a fantastic fit with our existing customer base, who tend to be tech savvy, social and into a wide range of sports and games. We are excited for the enjoyment this mutually beneficial partnership will bring to our guests. The variety this game delivers will be a welcome addition for our regular Guests who may be unfamiliar with Angry Birds and allows us to introduce our full suite of technology and entertainment offerings to a new audience in the Angry Birds mobile game fan base.

Has Topgolf entered into other partnerships of this kind?

Angry Birds is the first time we’ve partnered with a popular brand to launch a new Topgolf venue-based game. However, we have previously developed strategic partnerships in our digital Topgolf business, leveraging new technologydriven capabilities and fan bases with companies like Oculus and PhiGolf to build on the unique ways anyone can experience Topgolf. As a result, we launched the virtualreality-enhanced game Pro Putt by Oculus, which digitally brings to life popular Topgolf venue games from anywhere around the world. Additionally, in partnership with PhiGolf, we developed PhiGolf WGT Edition, which is a mobile golf game simulator that generates photorealistic graphics while the user harnesses the power of a real golf swing to play.

Each endeavor brings something new and fun to the table while engaging new fans in the process.

How closely does the guest experience of Angry Birds at Topgolf track with the Angry Birds Mobile game?

The Angry Birds at Topgolf game closely aligns with the traditional Angry Birds game, but instead of using a slingshot to fling birds, players use golf clubs and our golf balls become the birds. The game integrates our proprietary Toptracer ball-tracing technology, which allows Guests to use Angry Birds characters as golf balls to smash down structures, defeat pigs, and earn as many points and stars as possible. Just like the physics-based challenges in the Angry Birds mobile games, once the golf ball is hit and becomes the Angry Birds character Red or Bomb, they will take flight

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How do you accommodate a wide range of skill levels?

It is important to us to grow the game of golf, whether that means creating new ways to experience the game or simply making it easier for people to participate by reducing barriers to play. Angry Birds at Topgolf is both a welcoming and inclusive game for all Guests – golfers and non-golfers alike.

We’ve made it adaptive to all skill levels using three difficulty levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Depending on skillset and ability, the game will adjust the virtual target locations to suit each individual player’s needs. By adjusting the skill level settings, it’s possible for the most novice of players to defeat the pigs, earn points and win against more skilled golfers! The game also features an “auto launch” button that helps boost the chances of success among those who are most challenged in the game.

Tell us about how this is being marketed.

The Angry Birds marketing campaign is an extension of our “Let’s Play” campaign, which is an open invitation for all to come and have a great time. The campaign will air on our owned channels and social media, as well as Rovio’s social and media channels. This will enable us to reach a huge audience.

To further celebrate this partnership, we have released a new, limited-edition “Angry Birds Sauce,” and partnered with former pro football star Roddy White and world-renowned entertainer Ludacris to share a celebratory dance in which Guests can partake while playing the Angry Birds game at Topgolf.

“The Angry Birds Dance” can be viewed by visiting any of our social channels. It is an easy-to-do celebration featuring moves inspired by the actual Angry Birds characters, but with some extra flair and moves woven in. Topgolf Guests are invited to join in on our Angry Birds Dance craze and post videos doing the dance to social media.

The “Angry Birds Sauce” builds on our house ranch, with a hint of garlic and becomes “angry” with the addition of habanero sauce. The sauce – which has just the right amount of heat - is perfect for dipping Topgolf fries, tots or cheesy macaroni bites, and is a great condiment alternative to popular menu items, like our burgers and sandwiches. •

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which was a perfect fit. However, the way it’s been integrated at Topgolf is first of its kind.”

Angry Birds is a hugely popular game series that, since its 2009 introduction, has been downloaded billions of times worldwide, and has extended into movies and animated TV series and even found its way into theme parks. We asked Heijari what Rovio looks for when it considers taking Angry Birds onto an experience platform. He said, “First of all we look at brand fit and whether a potential partnership could make for a fun and wacky user experience that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Then, of course we look at the platform itself, which needs to be super high quality in terms of production values and tech. So, it’s very much about instinctive fit and proven high quality execution.”

Heijari characterized the partnership with Topgolf as furnishing “that perfect blend of technological innovation delivered as a high quality, super fun offering for all the family.” • • •

Ville Heijari Topgolf hitting bays (right photos) are outfitted with technology to allow golfers to use their golf swing to play a game of Angry Birds (photo below) All photos courtesy of Rovio and Topgolf.

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INGENUITY THAT MOVES YOU

FORGED IN STEEL, TEMPERED BY IMAGINATION Family Boomerang ‘Volldampf’ and sensational Suspended Thrill Coaster ‘Hals-über-Kopf’ are two highly themed coasters that feature a unique intertwined layout, crossing each other several times. The spectacular 30 meter high STC features numerous inversions, airtime moments, sharp turns and twists at a top speed of 80km/h – and is a world’s first!

Our dedicated workforce is your partner in co-creating the full ride experience. From designing the tracks and trains that fit your specific wishes to creating themes and complete storylines that are an irresistible magnet for new visitors.

WWW.VEKOMA.COM

Family Boomerang ‘Volldampf’ and Suspended Thrill Coaster ‘Hals-über-Kopf’ Erlebnispark Tripsdrill, Germany 12

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The attraction of photos DNP photo printers help attractions and concessionaires stay competitive on the souvenir photo front

by Joe Kleiman

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ark and attraction photography, whether roaming or staged at a photo spot, is a booming business that enhances the guest experience at visitor attractions of all kinds. But while having your photo taken at a visit to the zoo or park is a classic scenario, the technology has evolved to keep up with guest expectations.

Key to customer satisfaction are the speed and quality of the photos that can be purchased onsite, preserving memories for years to come. It’s important that the process and the result are also a positive part of those memories - the process must be convenient and the experience pleasant, and the souvenirs of distinctive quality and lasting value.

dye-sublimation printers allow park managers to offer fast photo prints. Dye-sublimation prints dry quickly, so guests can easily receive their photos and move on to the next attraction without having to worry about smudging or about the image fading throughout the day in the sun.”

Helping to meet these needs is DNP Imagingcomm America Corporation (DNP IAM), a leader in the field with its dyesublimation printers and other photo solution technologies.

Dye-sublimation is a technique for digital printing where heat transfers a dye onto a printing surface. Shinichi Yamashita, President of DNP Imagingcomm America Corporation, explains, “Guests want printed photos to remember their adventure without taking away from their time to enjoy the park. DNP IAM

GTP Corporation: from Polaroid to dye-sublimation

InPark Magazine spoke with two leading park and attractions concessionaires in the US about how DNP products have improved their operations: GTP Corp. and Showtime Pictures.

Both gave high marks to DNP for ease of installation and interface with their current technologies.

When Get the Picture Corporation (GTP Corp.) started providing its photo services at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1987, expediency was a key factor. According to Michael Shearer, GTP Vice President, Systems & Engineering, “We started off with some pre-fabricated scenery – a surf scene,

The Georgia Aquarium has a bank of kiosks where guests can view and purchase their photos. Photo courtesy of Showtime Pictures

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a shark scene, and Hershey’s signature streetlights, which are in the shape of Hershey’s Kisses chocolates. In those days, we shot everything on Polaroid film.”

Over time, GTP expanded its offerings at Hersheypark to include on-ride photos, for which it devised its own system, greenscreen photography, and custom photo wrappers for Hershey’s chocolate bars, which can be purchased globally at Hershey’s Chocolate World locations in Hershey, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, and New York’s Times Square.

Throughout this time, handheld photography has remained the centerpiece of the company’s operation. In one of its first forays outside of Hershey, GTP began offering photo opportunities within the lorikeet enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo. “The automated system on rides is our bread and butter,” says Shearer, “But with the handheld camera, we can really capture moments of pure joy on people’s faces, like when a lorikeet lands on them. We also capture pictures in a dinosaur attraction at Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With children especially, it’s great to see that sense of wonder and joy being captured by a photo.”

When it came time to update its existing fleet of photo printers, GTP decided to make the change to DNP’s dye-sublimation printers, which they’d first learned about at the IAAPA Attractions Expo some years earlier. The changeover took place in March 2020 with the DNP printers scheduled to go online at two theme parks over the summer.

There was a pause when the parks and attractions at which GTP operates shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But business returned. “When the parks started reopening,” said Shearer, “we noticed that customers were taking it slow on returning. But eventually that picked up as people started becoming more comfortable going places over time. We were worried about masks and how they would impact the photos, but we found that it really didn’t have that much of an impact. People are looking for safe, family friendly activities and photography is one way of capturing that for customers. We’re able to record both the moment and that sense of togetherness.”

According to Shearer, “Over the years, we’ve used a variety of printing technologies. The great thing about the dye-sublimation print is that it looks and feels like a real photographic print.

Ink jet gets close, but it’s not quite there. For personalized products, like the chocolate bar wrappers, we still use ink jet, but for everything else, it’s dye-sublimation. Customers love the product.” In many ways, the dye-sublimation process harkens back to GTP’s first days offering instantaneous Polaroids.

Showtime Pictures: Cultural experiences Entering its 30th year of business, Showtime Pictures of Orem, Utah, offers a unique kind of photo opportunity for attraction visitors. The company specializes in large venues that see high attendance – such as the Statue of Liberty and Empire State

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Two of DNP’s photo printers, the DS620A (top) and the DP_SL620 (bottom). Photos courtesy of DNP.

Building in New York City. “We operate in cultural attractions that offer huge content,” says Kemal Arin, Showtime’s President and CEO. “You can find us in places as varied as Space Center Houston and Graceland. We’re also in some of the country’s top aquariums – the Georgia Aquarium, Tennessee Aquarium, and Seattle Aquarium. We find that aquariums do very well for us because they offer a good combination of locals and out-of-town tourists.”

Central to the Showtime model is an entrance portal featuring an LED video wall or a stationary background, which can be removed and replaced with proprietary software. According to Arin, the company does not use greenscreens. For the entrance photo, a live photographer guides the visitors through the process. Showtime also offers a 20-camera option which creates a 180 degree image against a background suitable for both photo and video purchases. The company has used DNP dyesublimation printers for the past decade.

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Speed was a key factor in Showtime selecting DNP. “Dyesublimation is faster and more efficient than other processes,” shares Arin, “The quality is excellent, but the speed of the process is most important to us. We’ve found that there is a very limited window to capture the interest of visitors in purchasing photos.” Showtime handles picture selection through an automated kiosk using Microsoft technology. The kiosk identifies visitors through a face scan and is then able to locate their photos for selection.

“DNP has a system that will enable that” Among DNP’s newer products are the DS620A and Snap Lab SL620A. The DS620A is a compact professional digital photo printer that produces high quality prints that will not smudge.

According to DNP, it can produce 4” x 6” images in less than nine seconds and 5” x 7” images in fifteen seconds. The SL620A adds a high-resolution touchscreen monitor that offers options for editing, creating photobooks, and printing from a smartphone.

DNP’s newest product, introduced in June 2020, is the Wireless Connect Module (WCM). The WCM works with Apple’s AirPrint technology to allow iOS systems (iPhones and iPads) to print directly to attached DNP printers without having to install additional software or apps.

GTP uses DNP equipment for many of their photo attractions, including some Santa meet and greets. Photo courtesy of GTP.

The souvenir photo industry is constantly evolving. Staying up to date absolutely requires awareness of how to differentiate from, complement and augment what guests do with their phones and personal devices. As Showtime’s Arin points out, “Our biggest competition is phones. We need to think of phones as a benefit instead of as competition. All of our printing has been specialized in the past. Now, we show them the photos digitally on their phones then print the pictures. DNP has a system that will enable that. Going forward, all products will have to be socially available or transferable.” • • •

S p o n s o re d F e at u re

Slides of the times An interview with ProSlide Chief Commercial Officer Ray Smegal

W

hy do you choose to brand your slides with specific names (TORNADO, etc…)? Does that provide value to the park owner or the park guest?

In the amusement industry it’s important that a ride has a brand because the name is really the personality of the ride and gives riders a sense of what the ride experience is. Rides like TORNADO, that are synonymous with iconic funnel slides, have an incredibly strong brand that communicates quality, safety, authenticity, and technical innovation. When someone is seeking out the authentic funnel, they know that they can trust the name TORNADO. How important (or why is it important) for the industry to know that a slide is a ProSlide attraction?

Our reputation is a big part of what a park gets when they buy a ProSlide water ride. We’ve been in business for over 34 years, innovating, tooling, and perfecting our water ride designs and experiences. We are fortunate to have earned the trust of our clients who own ProSlide water rides all over the world.

ProSlide is synonymous with quality, technology, and innovation and that lends to our brand’s integrity and reputation. We have worked relentlessly over the years to build a strong, trusted brand that we’re proud of. When you have a ProSlide ride in your park, you also have the strong brand that comes with it.

How does a park ensure that its attractions will remain relevant and not be outdated?

Parks need to focus on rides that are purposefully designed for their demographic and include the latest technology. Those are the rides that will stay relevant for years and decades to come. We like to call this “future-proofing” your park.

ProSlide has been relentless in developing innovations for the waterpark industry. Every year we develop something new; purposeful technology that makes a difference for guest entertainment value, marketability, ride performance, safety, and capacity. By buying an attraction that includes the latest technology, you’re protecting your investment and your parks’ business success in the future. We have great examples of this like Disney’s Blizzard Beach, which has been around for 25 years and is still wildly successful because the designs were incredible on day one and remain relevant today.

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Ray Smegal

Why should a park view buying an authentic water ride as an investment?

Water rides are an essential part of the waterpark business model. Each water ride is a major component of the marketing of the park, serving as the main driver for bringing guests in.

For a park the rides are most of the guest’s entertainment value; their experience from a day at a waterpark is derived from the rides. These rides need to deliver capacity, safety, and guest entertainment value. There’s also an opportunity to exceed your guest’s expectations and to take it beyond what they thought they were going to get before they entered the park. As parks hit their stride with these factors, that’s where they drive their profitability.

Each time you buy a ride, you have the opportunity to increase the ticket price a bit and increase the capacity, which overall creates a return on investment that’s been proven thousands of times around the world. A park’s water rides are critical to their business and that’s why buying authentic, high-quality attractions are your best tool.

What is the unique value of buying an authentic water ride?

Buying an authentic water ride comes with a pedigree of success by other world-leading parks. The best water rides in the world are sought after by the most experienced operators. Rides like TORNADO, FlyingSAUCER, RocketBLAST have all been mass adopted by brands like Siam Park, Europa-Park, Six Flags, SeaWorld, and others.

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S p o n s o re d F e at u re

The ProSlide RallyRACER at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

We like to look at it like ski racing. If you want to be the best, study what the best skiers in the world are racing on and how they perform on race day. Sports and business both thrive in competition as it brings out the best and leads to innovation.

Buying authentic water rides is what the best waterpark brands do to compete in their markets.

Are there certain rides that park owners should invest in if they want to future-proof their park?

waterparks. There’s been incredible developments in technology that brings world-leading coaster technology – that you’d see at Universal’s Volcano Bay – being brought down to a cost-effective level that any park can afford. You can trust that an authentic ProSlide Water Coaster will have that amazing design that top brands trust, while still being very accessible and something that any waterpark can add. Look to RocketBLAST water propulsion to be featured on over 10 new ProSlide Water Coasters in 2021.

What importance does theming have for an operator?

Theming is a chance to make an experience at a waterpark more immersive and create a distinct personality for the park and its attractions. There are different levels of theming that can be done naturally, with trees and landscape or, that can be applied to the rides and park to create an environment that’s never been seen before. With proper theming, it’s a golden opportunity for operators to elevate their park to another level. • • •

The good news is that over the last 5 years there’s been a massive transformation. Everything has changed. ProSlide has led the industry with investments across all water ride categories, resulting in incredible value for waterpark buyers. All the major water ride categories have been injected with new ride features including FlyingSAUCER highspeed turns, Dueling PIPEline, RocketBLAST Water Coasters, RallyRACER head-first mat racing, and WaterKINGDOM aquatic play. There’s never been a better time to invest in waterparks.

What do you think the trend of attractions will be for the next few years?

Water Coasters are becoming the most sought-after ride in

OCT Nanjing in China hosts the iconic ProSlide FlyingSAUCER 45. All photos courtesy of ProSlide.

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A meeting of minds and disciplines UCF Themed Experience program collaborates with VR pioneer Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira

by Peter Weishar

O

ne of the most exciting and enjoyable aspects of working in a large research university is the myriad opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. I oversee a small Themed Experience graduate program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. We must partner with industry and other academic disciplines in order to provide an educational experience that reflects the breadth of expertise and diversity of experience in themed entertainment.

One of the most important interdisciplinary relationships we have is between Engineering and VR. Virtual reality (VR) has progressed to the point where the tools have become accessible, inexpensive and ubiquitous. The next generation of themed experience professionals will be using computer graphics (CG) and VR not only for previsualization but also as an integral component of the guest experience. At UCF, CG visualization is a required course in the Themed Experience program. We see it as an essential platform for the future of themed entertainment.

The technology has reached a point where it can deliver upon its promise. In education, we prepare students for the future and we see a path with deepening relationships between these technologies and the themed experience.

In 2020 UCF recruited two pioneers of VR and interactive visualization, Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira and Dirk Reiners.

Dr. Cruz-Neira is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She created and deployed a variety of technologies that have become standard tools in industry, government and academia. Dr. Cruz-Neira is known world-wide for being the creator of the CAVE virtual reality system. She has over 100 publications as scientific articles, book chapters, and magazine editorials. She has also founded and led very successful virtual reality research centers, like the Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, and the Emerging Analytics Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has been named one of the top innovators in virtual reality and one of the top three greatest women visionaries in virtual reality. Currently, Dr. Cruz-Neira is the Agere Chair in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida.

Here, I share a discussion that Dr. Cruz-Neira and I had about academic research and the future of VR and themed entertainment, and its importance in academic pursuits. -- P.W.

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Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira

Prof. Peter Weishar: I remember my first exposure to the CAVE at SIGGRAPH - an exciting solution for a shared experience in a virtual environment. Please tell us about the development of the CAVE system and your pioneering work in projected virtual environments.

Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira: My first experience with VR was in 1991 at the ACM SIGGRAPH 1991 conference. There was an exhibit called “Tomorrow’s Realities” where the main technology showcased was virtual reality. Most of the applications were entertainment applications, like surfing, catching floating objects to score points, or exploring beautiful imaginary spaces. Like most people, my first reaction was “wow!” but after that, I put my engineer hat on and started to think about what exactly I had experienced and what it could be helpful for.

There were several aspects that I loved, like the ability to leave the real world and explore new worlds in ways not possible in reality - this opened creative opportunities limited only by our own imaginations. But I also noticed aspects that bothered me, in particular the fact that I was alone in the virtual space and that I lost my body. It was hard to share the experience with others, even in collaborative worlds as I could not see their social cues, such as facial expressions and body language. So when I had the opportunity to pursue a PhD in virtual reality my main motivation was to develop a technology that would allow for multiple participants to share the virtual space in the same

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manner as we do in real life. So, the CAVE was born. The first one was shown at the ACM SIGGRAPH 92, just a year after my first contact with VR. It became an instant success and in the following years many industries adopted the CAVE - from engineering design, to oil & gas exploration, to drug design, to training, to virtual heritage, to art.

The original CAVE required a cluster of workstations and specialized parallel software libraries to integrate and synchronize all the components. Development was, in a sense, reserved to highly advanced computer scientists. Today, a system such as the vDen (vdenvr.com) utilizes a single workstation and other off-the-shelf components and it is compatible with the current development SDKs and engines, bringing developing CAVE applications to the same level of simplicity as developing applications for current headsets. This enables teamwork in a single virtual space, where we can maintain the social interaction needed to carry on conversations and make decisions through consensus.

The CAVE and other related technologies are not a replacement for headsets as well as headsets are not a replacement for CAVEs. VR, in order to be successful, needs to provide a range of platforms that support the context in which the users need to operate.

Since Covid arrived, we have been hearing more about “frictionless VR” where the guest does not need to wear head-mounted displays. Frictionless seems like a safer alternative that will instill more confidence in the guest experience. Do you see this as a lasting trend?

The issues of hygiene and safety when sharing headsets have now become much more relevant with Covid-19. So, when we return to a somewhat normal life, I think many people would be leery of using headsets that are accessible to multiple users, especially in public installations where it is hard to control and trace those users. A possible alternative that we are exploring is the user of room-size VR where only glasses are needed to enter the real world. Since the early days of my career I have been investigating not only new technologies, but also the logistics of deploying, operating and maintaining those technologies. As the individual components to do room-size VR, like CAVEs are simpler and affordable, we are moving away from using polarized glasses, for example. Polarized glasses are inexpensive and disposable, but the logistics of maintaining a dual projection system and the possible complexity of developing the software makes more interesting the use of active shutter glasses and single projectors per display surface. The form factor and affordability of the shutter glasses are now such that it could be possible to, for example, own your own glasses and take them with you to different experiences and installations, where there is still controlled proximity interaction among users but no sharing of the VR gear needed for the experience.

This is a very affordable and simple platform for mainstream VR and AR. For example, visiting an archeological site or other historic location, visitors can use a phone or tablet as their window into the past to see the structures and even the life that may have taken there place centuries ago.

You started at UCF in January 2020, and I know you are planning for a new state-of-the-art research lab. There are exceptional opportunities for collaboration with industry here in Orlando with the themed entertainment and aerospace industries. Can you tell us about your plans for the lab and the focus of your current research?

With the popularity of VR through the rapidly growing consumer and consumer “pro” technologies, our research is focusing on the understanding on where VR (and AR) can be helpful and in what “format” or platform. I do not draw a clear line between VR and AR and other modalities of mixed reality. For me all those technologies are part of a spectrum of technologies to create engaging and useful user experiences targeted to specific tasks, whether those tasks are entertaining the user, or enabling the user to better understand engineering design, or providing a powerful training environment.

The level of immersion, the level of separation or blending into the real world, the interactive richness of the experience, the operational environment in which users need to work with the technology, the need to share the experience with other users colocated or remote are all factors that help determine the specific platform for the experience. This perspective is what drives my current research, which is focused in three main areas: investigate the context of use in which VR/AR/XR can be helpful and in what form; investigate how VR/AR/XR can be helpful for teamwork and collaborative experiences; and investigate alternative platforms that need to be developed and guided by the user, and types of applications.

Another approach to frictionless experiences is “bring your own device” - capitalizing on the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets.

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Inside the VR CAVE

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I think this research is particularly relevant to the themed entertainment industry because it is all about the experiences that visitors have in the parks, museums and other venues. The desired user experience must dictate the VR platform in which each ride is built, incorporating engaging elements like the visuals, to the interaction, to the storytelling as well as some variations that may attract come back visitors. But, what I find The CG image above is a work in progress from “Pegasus Station,” a VR portal collaboration between UCF Themed Experience and Engineering. It is modeled in Autodesk Maya and rendered in the Unity engine by perhaps more critical for Themed Experience MFA candidate Duncan Macpherson. All images courtesy of Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira themed entertainment are the operational parameters, such as ease of entrance/exit from the experience, robustness Our first project with you and your students focuses on the of the technology to operate for many hours each day as well development of a “portal” to all our VR projects. We have many as to be handled by many visitors, hygiene and health safety for groups of visitors that come to our lab to see and experience our repeated use, and costs related to maintenance, replacements, and research in a variety of fields: training, health care, engineering, upgrades. I think my wider view of what VR is opens many more science, and others. For these visits, we tend to lose time possibilities to integrate it in themed entertainment. It offers changing from one demonstration to another, so we may lose the possibilities for new rides, but perhaps even more intriguing to engagement of the visitors during the few minutes that our VR me, the possibility to upgrade and enhance long-existing rides systems go “dark” and the next demonstration is up and running. using AR techniques. For example, visitors can come back to an We had the concept of creating a portal from where all our old ride and discover “hidden” new elements of the ride’s story demonstrations are launched so the experience for the visitors is if they explore it through their cells or tablets. Maybe there is a not interrupted as we change applications. new character that travels with them through the ride, adding a new twist to the story or keeping them engaged by adding some When I found out about you and your program, I got very surprises in unexpected places along the ride. excited, because now the portal concept has evolved to be, in a sense, a “ride” through the different projects in my group.

You teach a graduate class with many of our Themed We have a double benefit because we give your students a Experience MFA candidates and have two exceptionally real environment for the design of the “ride.” It allows us to talented TE grad students as your research assistants who showcase the wide range of expertise and possibilities that a are working on developing a themed virtual environment collaboration among our groups can do and the kind of students that will be a hub for multiple projects. Tell us about the that we are graduating, with engineers and artists working collaboration. together, having a better understanding of each other’s challenges to make the ride design work under each other’s constraint and This research is really exciting for my group and we are looking therefore those students are ready for the workplace. • • • forward to collaborating with you and UCF’s Themed Experience program as well as with the different industries located in Peter Weishar (peter.weishar@ucf.edu) is a Professor Orlando. We are just getting started in this new world defined of Themed Experience and Program Director of

by VR in the entertainment industry, the opportunities for the Themed Experience Graduate track at the innovation in this industry are limitless.

University of Central Florida (https://www.ucf.edu/ This collaboration represents many intersecting interests as well as complimentary skills to open new technology-driven opportunities in the industry and prepare the next generations of themed entertainment designers. The Themed Experience students have been able to bridge their creative side with the technical background of my engineering students. This is an aspect of learning that is hard to convey from classroom work, but a critical skill needed for success in the professional world.

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degree/ theatre-mfa/themed-experience/). He also serves as an Associate Member of the TEA Eastern North America Division Board, and is chair of the steering committee of the Themed Experience and Attractions Academic Society. Previously, Weishar was Dean of Fine Arts at FSU and Director of the Themed Experience Institute. He also served as Dean of Entertainment Arts at SCAD where he founded the first MFA in Themed Entertainment Design. Weishar has authored three books, Digital Space: Designing Virtual Environments; Blue Sky: The Art of Computer Animation; and CGI: The Art of the Computer Generated Image.

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TEA Thea Awards Digital Case Studies showcase technology, service and amazing experiences TEA maintains its prestigious awards cycle in an online format

by Joe Kleiman

I

n our last issue (#84) Joe Kleiman reported on three TEA Thea Awards Digital Case Studies recipients. We continue his coverage here in issue 85. His entire report is available online at inparkmagazine.com

The root of spirituality: The Hebrew Bible Experience When designing The Hebrew Bible Experience for the Museum of the Bible, Matthew Solari, Creative Director of BRC Imagination Arts, found a problem – the design of the historic building itself involved evenly placed columns throughout the floor. Embracing this as a creative limitation, Solari and his team devised a “dark ride without a ride vehicle,” a chronological tale involving five mini-theaters and highly themed, snaking corridors between them.

In order to maintain a steady flow through the exhibit, certain Biblical stories were cut, particularly those that would distract from the main narrative, such as the Garden of Eden, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the sacrifice of Isaac. Because the Hebrew Bible is the root of a number of Western religions, many sections of the exhibit were designed with an artistic license. According to Solari, “Our intention was to provide an experience where people of all faiths, and no faith tradition, can engage with the narratives of the Bible on their own terms. We would do this by emphasizing universal values of faith, home, love, family, and forgiveness. But first we had to be willing to unlearn everything we thought we knew.”

The adventure begins in a small theater where a narrator lays the groundwork leading up to the Great Flood. A wall breaks away and a corridor opens. As guests traverse the exhibit, they

encounter the slavery in Egypt, the burning bush, the Ten Commandments, the stories of Judges and of Ruth. In the finale, projection envelops the walls of the theater as the prophet Ezra, who played a pivotal role in the return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem, unfurls a scroll and the guests learn that he has been their guide from the very beginning.

The birth of a nation: Le Premier Royaume Puy du Fou has been awarded numerous Thea Awards over the years for its innovative approach to attractions telling the history of France. The newest attraction, Le Premier Royame (The First King), tells the story of Clovis, the Fifth Century first king of France. Nicolas de Villiers, Chairman of Puy du Fou, points out that the story of Clovis has a distinct fantasy element. “We always try to create some very realistic shows,” he says, “with scaled decors, with real horses, with real animals on stage, real people, real performers. Everything is real in Puy du Fou.” With Clovis, Puy du Fou designed a surrealistic world, much of it based on the storied legends of Clovis and the fact that he was a polytheistic king. The dreamlike experience tells the story of Clovis’ journey to Christianity. In one scene, guests enter Valhalla, which de Villiers calls something “between Heaven and Hell for the Franks.” While traversing the set, guests notice that water is dripping up, an illusion created by the Puy du Fou team. “We have created total immersion,” de Villiers adds. “One room is upside down, you can see a big battle all around you.

We also produce our own video content. We’re able to make the film exactly as we want with our own performers and our own costumes.”

The reality that never was: Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds According to Andrew McGuinness, CEO of Layered Reality, “We’re in the memory business. We want to create extraordinary experiences that stick in people’s minds and then become part of their memories.” One such experience is the layered reality attraction Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience, based on the 1978 musical album, itself based on the 1898 H.G. Wells novel.

Guests take in The Hebrew Bible Experience at the Museum of the Bible. Photo courtesy of The Museum of the Bible.

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In a five-minute synopsis of the two-hour long adventure, Layered Reality’s Chief Creative Technologist Carl Guyenette shared how various elements overlap to create a multi-textured

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multimedia storytelling,” reported the TEA Thea Awards Committee. “It is outstanding beyond its many technical achievements, in particular its sheer ambition and duration. It even manages to add to the War of the Worlds story, making it feel fresh, with forgotten twists and turns reinterpreted. The unconventional music soundtrack makes the experience unique and consistent. This attraction brings together many aspects of our industry (and touches on some others) on a scale that challenges us to think of other complex stories that could be told on a large scale. It is a trend to encourage.”

Moving the audience: The Legend of the Gods

Le Premier Royaume. Photo courtesy of Puy du Fou.

sensorial story, including projection mapping, digital dome, live sets and actors, virtual reality (with live digital actors), motion simulators, and holographic characters. In true British fashion, the experience begins and ends in a pub. McGuinness pointed out that people want a drink or a bite to eat after going through the attraction. By offering a restaurant and bar on premises, he discovered that people will discuss their experience, thereby continuing their immersion.

“This novel and highly ambitious re-imagining of the classic story pushes past previous limits into the future of seamless

Last year, Huaxia Cultural Tourism Group’s project, The Legend of Camel Bells, was a Thea Award recipient [see “Legends, camels & ACE,” InPark Magazine issue 76]. This year came new honors for a different show, Legend of the Gods, with the Thea Awards Committee making special note of the site’s ecological transformation along with theatrical achievements “on a celestial scale.” The “Legends” series of shows, which also includes the indoor “Legend of Min Nan,” feature enormous sets, stateof-the-art projection, hundreds of actors, stunts, and even live animals to bring local history and legends to life at Huaxia Cultural Tourism properties throughout China.

The Legends sets are massive and elaborate and cannot be switched out, and so it was inherent to the physical production to have a mechanism for delivering the audience to them. Camel

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Bells, which takes place inside a massive domed structure, has a moving grandstand that transports the audience to various enormous stages, each showcasing a different act of the presentation. In Legend of the Gods, the audience is seated in an outdoor “auditorium” themed as a giant boat that travels a manmade lagoon to deliver them to the scenes.

Giving the presentation on behalf of Huaxia Cultural Tourism, Bingo Tso says, “This is not the kind of show you can develop like theater.” Speaking of one set featuring massive waterfalls, Tso adds, “You cannot just move five thousand tons of water.”

Legend of the Gods is one of the cultural tourism attractions located in the Huaxia scenic spot, in the mountains above Weihai, Shandong province [see “Moving Mountains,” InPark Magazine issue 79.5]. Within an area ecologically devastated by mining, Huaxia Cultural Tourism implemented a massive environmental transformation that included the planting of more than eleven million trees.

Illuminating the darkness: The Christie Eclipse Projector

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Larry Paul, Executive Director, Technology & Custom Solutions Enterprise & Entertainment at Christie, pointed out that the six chips within the projector work together to meet Rec. 2020 color gamut, currently the highest level color gamut available on the market. “Rec. 2020,” he said, “is closest to what we see as humans. The six chips working together provide the largest contrast in the industry. “No other projector on the market has this,” Paul added.

The Eclipse isn’t designed for every environment. For example, it would not work well outside as it requires a dark space to perform at its full potential of ultra high contrast, expansive color gamut and the darkest of darks. Paul remarked, that with the Eclipse, “You can create a dark ride where the darks are so dark that people don’t even realize there’s a projector present.”

According to Bryan Boehme, Executive Director of Americas Enterprise Sales & Global Business Development for Christie, “The Christie Eclipse allows us to walk into that 3D environment without having to wear 3D glasses. Before we talked about looking through a window. Now it’s like looking through a window with the glass taken out.” • • •

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During the “Special Segments” session of the TEA Thea Awards Digital Case Studies, Christie discussed its revolutionary Eclipse 4K RGB Pure Laser Projector, recipient of a Thea Award for Technical Innovation. The Eclipse was introduced in 2019 at the

American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium [see “Ultimate Contrast,” InPark Magazine Issue 82], where the planetarium designed a new show to take full advantage of the projector’s abilities.

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Midwestern magic Three design firms in the American heartland make unique contributions to the global attractions industry

by Ben Cober

I

n the United States, the attractions industry is sometimes perceived as a coastal industry because of the theme park destination hubs of Orlando and Los Angeles (with attendant creative/vendor communities) and the many venerable design firms in New England. This is an oversimplification, of course. The industry is culturally and geographically varied and diverse. Its regional riches span a wide range of attractions, and numerous world-class design firms call the American Midwest home while serving a regional, national and global clientele.

Here, we explore three such design companies: JRA in Cincinnati, Ohio; Weber Group in Sellersburg, Indiana; and Sage Creative Group, in Chicago; with a view to understanding the unique “Midwest magic” each brings to the industry and their craft.

JRA: Valuing people In his nearly 30 years overseeing Cincinnati-based JRA, Keith James has lost count of how many times he’s been asked about moving the company to a coast. Most of these conversations begin with highlighting the hypothetical advantages associated with a single project or potential client, and they all end with the confident affirmation that the company is already located where it should be.

“Home is our people. If we opened on the coast, we’d have to move 45 people with us, because JRA is our team,” says James, who is a past president of the Themed Entertainment Association as well as recipient of TEA’s lifetime honor, the Buzz Price Thea Award for a Lifetime of Distinguished Achievements.

(Company founder Jack Rouse, from whom James acquired

The FRIENDS™ Experience empowers superfans to find themselves in the iconic scenes of one of history’s most successful sitcoms.

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Chloe Hausfeld

Keith James

Dan Schultz

the company several years ago on Rouse’s retirement, has also received Thea lifetime honors.) “If we can do what we need to do and be successful from Cincinnati, why would I want to go anywhere else?”

And JRA has certainly been successful from Cincinnati as a provider of master planning, attraction planning and design, content development, and project management to numerous attraction markets. Those in search of a versatile collaborator may knock on JRA’s doors, having seen Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s largest indoor theme parks, on which JRA served as master planner, designer, and project manager.

The park recently marked its 10th anniversary. Turning from speed and adrenaline to comedy and unique interactive exhibits, JRA is a professional funny bone-tickler. TIME magazine named the JRA-designed National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York as one of the “World’s Greatest Places of 2019,” while The FRIENDS™ Experience, also a JRA project, empowers superfans to find themselves in the iconic scenes of one of history’s most successful sitcoms.

As a young man, Keith James started out at then recently opened Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Subsequently, he worked with Canada’s Wonderland, Australia’s Wonderland, and Universal Studios Florida. He talked about the value of gaining experience on both the operations and the creative supplier sides. “Certainly, there’s the objective benefit of simply understanding how an attraction operates, having been on the inside for so many years,” reflects James. “But more importantly, there’s an empathy that accompanies it. You understand what their teams have been through, what they’re going through, and what they hope for – because you’ve been in that seat yourself. When collaborating on a new attraction, the only person not in the room is the most important one – the guest.”

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Sports culture - also closely tied to family - permeates the Midwest. Cincinnati made a landmark contribution to baseball culture with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly professional baseball club and dating back to the 1860s. JRA’s portfolio includes numerous sports-related projects in the region, including the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, Steelers Country at Kennywood Park, the Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena; the Indiana Pacers’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the Mascot Hall of Fame in Whiting, IN. Empathy with families may be one of the key ingredients to making JRA a pre-eminent designer of children’s museums in the US and internationally, including Lao Niu Children’s Discovery Museum (Beijing), Imaginosity (Dublin), El Museo de los Niños (Guatemala), Enginuity (UK) and the Children’s Museum of Atlanta. “Of course, children’s museums start with a focus on kids,” says James, “but parents have to be engaged as well, or the museums simply won’t work.”

The JRA-designed National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.

Photos on this page and previous page courtesy of JRA.

JRA Director of Marketing and Business Development, Chloe Hausfeld, noted that a lot of their current talent has roots in the theater world, and the collaborative mentality of a performing arts team is apparent in JRA’s cultural terroir. From Keith James serving as Universal Studios Florida’s VP of Show Production, to Director of Communications Clara Rice’s career with Yale Repertory Theatre and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, from Executive Producer Anita Daugherty’s work in commercial advertising production, to Senior Project Manager Rebecca Parnell’s work at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as well, one finds a great deal of performing arts culture in the JRA ranks.

The city itself boasts two best-in-class art schools within the University of Cincinnati: the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), and the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). “Everyone pulls together,” says Dan Schultz, Chief Operating Officer. “And despite whatever egos may come and go, the director doesn’t rule: the audience rules.”

“We operate like a family here. It’s an office full of aunts, uncles, and cousins,” says James. Looking around Cincinnati, it’s almost immediately obvious to see the city’s roots in family. Many of the Queen City’s Fortune 500s find their humble roots in family beginnings, and their core products and services are targeted at families today, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank and more. Even the doorbell – a worldwide sign of “hello family” - was developed in Cincinnati by the Corbetts, whose resulting wealth would go on to fund the University of Cincinnati’s CCM. “The Midwest gives us a unique perspective on the family guest, the core attraction visitor demographic,” says Hausfeld. “Midwest families are tight-knit; even if you grew up in the Midwest and you move away for a time, the majority come back – it’s the way of life here, our values, and that family-centric mindset and lifestyle.”

JRA maintains that its team, that team’s culture, and its ability to empathize with attraction-going families have been critical to its success. “It’s said that none of us is as smart as all of us,” says James, “and that’s absolutely true.”

Sage Creative Group: Recognizing opportunity Burning sage, or “smudging,” is a Native American ritual for purging negative energies - which is sometimes what a museum exhibit design (or redesign) needs, along with sagacity on the part of its creators. Faith Griggs and John Beckman, founders of the Chicago-based, boutique design firm Sage Creative, feel the analogies to their museum work.

Sage’s outstanding achievement so far has been managing the production and design of “Hamilton: The Exhibition” in 2019.

This immersive, multimedia exhibit of massive scope, installed in a custom building on Chicago park land, took visitors through 14 galleries over 25,000 square feet. It utilized interactive games and displays, lifelike projections, full-scale statues, art installations, music and theater to explore Alexander Hamilton’s life, the American Revolution and the creation of the USA in ways that complemented and celebrated the blockbuster musical.

In addition to exhibition management and coordination, the Sage toolbox also includes concept development, brainstorming, design, and many other services which flex as needed for their

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Sage Creative’s Faith Griggs and John Beckman on a site tour in Iowa during the 2020 pandemic.

inspired by seeing a robot in their town will then turn out to be a scientific powerhouse later in life,” says Griggs. “And there’s much for the museum world to learn from pop-ups, LBE and other non-traditional formats.”

clients. Throughout his career, Beckman has straddled the operations and the creative side of museums. While continuing as coprincipal of Sage, his “day job” is Director of Exhibit Design and Production with the venerable Adler Planetarium, which marked its 90th anniversary earlier thie year. He previously spent 16 years with the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI), one of the 20 top-attended museums in North America.

As Director of Exhibit Design and Development, Beckman had a hand in creating and/or presenting some of MSI’s most popular and celebrated exhibitions, including “Action! An Adventure in Moviemaking;” “Leonardo da Vinci: Man, Inventor, Genius”; and the renovation of MSI’s Henry Crown Space Center.

Many of these projects were traveling or temporary exhibits, which have become key offerings for many museums and science centers to drive attendance, attract new audiences and showcase content that their own budgets or missions may not support in a permanent setting. “You never know when the next kid who gets

For her part, Griggs was an Exhibit Project Manager for five years at MSI, a role she took on after 11 years managing Broadway theater tours. Exhibits on which both Beckman and Griggs worked at MSI included “Brick by Brick,” which used LEGO® brick replicas of architectural icons to teach principles of building; “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives;” “Numbers in Nature,” showing mathematical patterns in the natural world; and “Robot Revolution.”

A boutique firm relies on a dependable network to build its project teams. For Griggs, it’s an echo of her origins growing up on a small family farm in Southeastern Iowa. “If something broke, or stopped working, or you needed help, or an animal was sick, you called your neighbor. It created a strong community, bonded through honesty, handshakes, and reliability, and that couldn’t be truer of Midwestern culture today.”

Over the course of many years in the attractions industry, you begin to build your own reliable village around you; not just clients, but electricians, plumbers, city departments, unions, scene shops, audio shops, musicians, and more. “When you hire Sage, you’re not just hiring the two of us – you’re getting our entire village,” says Griggs.

MSI wanted to base “Robot Revolution” in real, tangible science that was being developed in the modern world. Griggs took on the title of “robot wrangler” as she sourced, negotiated with,

Hamilton: The Exhibition in Chicago took guests through 25,000 square feet of interactive galleries. Photo © 2019 David Korins

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and traveled to over 30 different universities, Fortune 500s, and laboratories to bring these robots to roost in their exhibit hall, constantly reassuring and signing paperwork to take care of them as if they were her own. “You do whatever it takes to get the job done, and you have to learn quickly what you don’t already know as you go along, or else you miss the opportunity.”

In 2018, Griggs and Beckman eagerly embraced the opportunity to join the team for “Hamilton: The Exhibition” when the call came from IMG, project manager for the exhibition. In a three-week whirlwind, the two put in a proposal, won the work, traveled to New York City and Atlanta to meet the other teams, and founded Sage Creative Group.

The resulting success was testament to their bringing the right combination of skills and experience to the job, the value of their professional network and their ability to pull off a warpspeed project. The pre-selected Chicago site for “Hamilton: The Exhibition” sat on a barren peninsula stretching out into Lake Michigan, void of utilities and structures, and completely open to the elements. Over the next several months of production and design managing the exhibition, Sage would build a road, set up an electricity infrastructure, locate a water main, work around a railroad strike, and protect their on-site team from a Polar Vortex – all while assembling temperature sensitive exhibit equipment in the nearby underground parking garage at Soldier Field. As guests moved throughout the space, audiotour devices would automatically trigger narration by the show’s author and star, LinManuel Miranda and others. The exhibition opened on time to universal praise. Griggs and Beckman, persistent to the end, laugh as only the survivors of a Herculean labor can: “After that, we feel like we can do anything!”

Donny Weber

Jim Doiron

Adam McIntyre

Max Weber

Paul Ohlin

The Weber Group: Authenticity Fabrication and design specialist Weber Group, Inc. was ahead of its time when it was founded in 1983, long before design-build firms were popular. Brothers and architects Donny and Tom Weber started the company fabricating thematic props for Kings Island (owned at the time by Paramount). Thanks in part to their work expanding the popular Louisville theme park Kentucky Kingdom, the Webers quickly grew the company, capitalizing on their architectural skills and fabrication know-how. That blend of art and technique, design and fabrication, can be found in countless examples within the Weber portfolio, including theme parks, waterparks, zoos, museums and more. From Great Wolf Lodge to Six Flags, NASA to Nickelodeon, and Disney to The Crayola Experience (multiple iterations), it’s hard to throw a crayon and not hit a Weber project.

After founder Tom Weber passed away in 2016, four partners joined owner Donny Weber to help the company better approach evolving trends and markets. Max Weber heads up business development, Adam McIntyre oversees creative design, Jim Doiron leads fabrication and Paul Ohlin holds COO and CFO responsibilities.

In addition to theming, Weber is respected for their residential and commercial construction, including resorts, mixed-use developments, and multi-family housing. Located in Sellersburg, Indiana (near Louisville, Kentucky) the company has expanded its services beyond its design-build core to also offer signage/ graphics, rockwork, technology integration and interactive wet/ dry play areas.

Hamilton: The Exhibition rises out of the ground on a peninsula stretching into Lake Michigan. Photo courtesy of Sage Creative.

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The Frazier History Museum’s welcome lobby showcases the barrels used in the bourbon-making process.

All photos this page and the next courtesy of Weber Group.

Although Weber’s work can be seen throughout the USA, their specialty seems to center around creative placemaking, particularly in the Midwest.

“Every town in the Midwest is trying to figure out what they’re known for, what puts them on the map,” says Adam McIntyre, Weber Group’s Creative Director. “We get to work on those kinds of projects a lot, and we love them – helping people discover who they are. It’s important to be authentic to who you are, because people are sharp – they can sniff out inauthenticity.”

Each region, town, or destination has their own elements and stories that are authentic to them, “and every good experience is driven by a good story,” says McIntyre.

In Weber’s backyard of Louisville, that story has been driven in large part by bourbon. Weber is recognized for their work on the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. and most recently on the Frazier History Museum, the launchpad for the legendary Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The Weber team insists that bourbon is one of the most authentically American things that the country has, and authenticity matters. “Bourbon is authentically American culture,” says Jim Doiron, Weber Group’s Partner and Director of Specialty Fabrication.

“Settlers moved to this region and used their ingenuity and a get-it-done attitude to see what they could do with their natural environment. They saw fresh water, what grains grew well, and had big, strong horses to help work the distilleries, and a

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booming bourbon industry was born,” says Max Weber, Director of Business Development.

“We approach our projects with that same work ethic,” explains Doiron. “Whether it’s fabricating a rock waterfall or designing an apartment building, our can-do approach means the sky’s the limit.”

Though those smaller corporate projects are near and dear to Weber, the group is equally as comfortable working on larger destination attractions, like a zoo or theme park. With major zoos in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Louisville and theme park owners like Cedar Fair, Herschend and Six Flags utilizing Weber’s services, it’s no surprise the company is well regarded in the industry.

Given Weber’s understanding of the importance of the land and agriculture on the development of the Midwest, the team has placed a renewed focus on addressing the environmental impact of attractions. Through a recent joint venture with Infinite Kingdoms, Weber is a partner on what has been billed as “the world’s first sustainable play attraction,” combining solar, wind, hydro, and play power. The patent-pending design of Impact Attractions was developed to have a net-zero energy impact, and to empower guests to literally play with the Earth.

“Just as our fabrication tools have improved over time with added technology, our understanding of how design impacts the people and environment around it has evolved,” says Doiron.

“Design is really an iterative process that benefits from our decades of experience.”

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When thinking of the guests who frequent these regional theme parks and innovative play structures, Max Weber notes, “These are real people who are looking for an authentic experience they can relate to – whether that’s via adrenaline, learning about science or history, or enjoying foods authentically made from our local resources. There are few - and maybe no – experience elements more important than authenticity – being true to yourself and where you came from. That’s been true for our team, and it’s been the core of what’s made our clients succeed.”

Weber fabricated animals and props for the Kalahari Resort indoor waterpark, located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

It’s this process of growth and improvement that empowers Weber Group in their own shop, in turn delivering uniquely authentic experiences for their clients. “The theory around here is that things should go from good to great every time they get passed down the line,” says McIntyre. “I’ll do a drawing, and it’ll pass on to shop drawings, a carver, or another artist, and they’re encouraged to put themselves into it as much as they can.

They’re empowered to speak up, to make it better than what they received, and that’s how we exceed expectations.”

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From Ohio to Nebraska, North Dakota to Missouri, Midwestbased attraction design talent and design companies have grown and matured, with collaborators and creatives from all corners of the globe. They are behind some of the most remarkable, tourism-defining destinations in their backyards, as well as alluring icons of culture and fun on nearly every continent. • • • Ben Cober combines his passions of adventure travel and experiential education to serve the tourism industry. Having worked in education, development, and marketing with Cincinnati Museum Center and the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, he most recently executed business development, marketing, and public relations strategy with PGAV Destinations. Today he resides in Seattle, WA with his family, where he has published three books and volunteers his time with the City, conservation organizations, and social causes. https://www.linkedin. com/in/bencober/

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