USA: IAAPA Announces Brass Ring Award Winners
As usual, the IAAPA presented the “Brass Ring Awards“ to outstanding players in the theme park industry at this year‘s show in Orlando. “There’s something special about coming together as an industry and cheering each other on when this year’s finalists were so strong in each category – celebrating industry-wide innovations and successes is a win for all of us“, said Jim Pattison, President of Ripley Entertainment, and IAAPA’s 2023 Chairman of the Board.
Two awards were presented to Disneyland Paris in the “Live Entertainment Excellence“ category this year: One for “Most Creative Property Wide Event (Attendance More Than 1 Million)“ and the other for “Most Creative Christmas/Holiday Show“. The “Best Theatrical Production (Attendance Less Than 1 Million)“ award, on the other hand, goes to Spain to the Puy du Fou Park for the evening show “El Sueño de Toledo“.
In the “Product“ category, no fewer than seven prizes are awarded to European companies. Of these, two go to the Wiegand group in Germany. 2nd place in “Major Ride/Attraction (less than $2 million)“ for the “U-Drop Dry Slide“. Taking the 1st place is the Swiss company ABC Rides with its “Ultrashot“ (see also our cover story of EAP issue 4/2022). Also making 2nd place is Wiegand Waterrides for the “Water Park Ride ($2 million or less)“ award for the slide elements “BigBang“ and “Lotus“. Here, 1st place goes to the Canadian company White Water West for its attraction “Blasterango Battle“. Also belonging to White Water, the firm Vantage wins 1st place in “Product or Service used by Customers“ as well as the “IMPACT Award“ with their “Virtual Pass Processing“. Also to Canada, 2nd place “Water Park Ride ($2 million or less)“ goes to ProSlide Technology for “Switchback“. A 1st place in the “Family Ride/Attraction“ goes to the Zamperla Group with “Big WaveZ“. As well as Valo Motion from Finland with their “ValoArena“ in the “Virtual and Argumented Reality“ category. Also, the company Triotech takes 2nd place in the “Major Ride/Attraction ($2 to $5 million)“ award with their “Double Walkthrough Hive Break“. Finally, two more awards in the “Best New Product Concept Award, Attraction“ category go to Europe. The first place goes to Wibit Sports for their new product line “Wibit Peakz“ and the second one to the Polin Group for “Cosmos“.
In addition, ten prizes were again presented for the best exhibition booth at the trade fair with the title “Best Exhibit Awards“. Here, too, Wibit Sports picked up an award in the “900-1,200 Square Feet“ sub-category. Congratulations to all winners! (eap)
