The British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (BALPPA) celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 24, 2012. Roland Mack, President of IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) and CEO of Europa-Park in (...) read more
On January 5, 2012 we reported about the takeover of Germany’s amusement park Fort Fun and Grévin Deutschland GmbH by One World Holding GmbH & Co. KG owned by the Baden-Württemberg family business Ziegler. North Rhine-Westphalia (Hochsauerlandkreis) (...) read more
The US-based company Adventure Golf Services (AGS), which has more than 30 years of experience in creating adventure golf venues, recently announced its cooperation with the Dutch theming company Jora Vision. “Our goal is to align core competencies (...) read more
The planning for a new visitor center at the Krombacher Brauerei (brewery) in the North Rhine-Westphalia region began about two years ago. The new “Krombacher Erlebniswelt” (“Krombacher Experience World”) was finally opened this January. While the (...) read more
The two companies Simtec Systems GmbH and Simtec simulation technology GmbH moved into their new buildings at the Hermann-Blenk-Straße in Braunschweig, Germany in last November. The 2,000-square meter large, two-storied building was built on an (...) read more
Amanda Thompson, Managing Director of Pleasure Beach Blackpool, has been awarded the "Order of the British Empire" (OBE) for her services to tourism in the Queen's New Year's Honors list. As one of the few female Managing Directors within the (...) read more
As announced earlier this year, One World Holding GmbH & Co. KG took over operations of Bestwig, Germany's Fort Fun Abenteuerland and Grévin Deutschland GmbH on December 23, 2011. The amusment park, which has belonged to the French operator group (...) read more
„The Wizarding World of Harry Potter“, already known from Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park (opening: 2010) in Orlando, will also be opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in California. Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Parks & (...) read more
Today Nettebad Osnabrück's "Sloop" slide has finally been opened after some days of delay (we reported in the EAP newsletter Dec 2011). Europe's first SuperLoop slide has been inaugurated by Osnabrück's municipal utility's chairman Manfred Hülsmann, (...) read more
Actually the new SuperLoop slide at Germany’s Nettebad in Osnabrück was scheduled to open before Christmas this year (we reported on this in EAP 6/2011). Due to a formal mistake, the official opening of the slide (product from ProSlide, (...) read more
The renovation of the sauna area at Germany’s Spreewelten bath (we reported in EAP 5/2011) also includes the installation of a new relaxation house. A former barn from a Spreewald village has been removed to Lübbenau and is being rebuilt there now. (...) read more
The popular video game Angry Birds, developed by computer game developer Rovio, will be integrated into the leisure park industry during the next year. The manufacturer of playground equipment Lappset and the Finnish developer Rovio Entertainment Oy (...) read more
Jeff Glinter joined the team of rides manufacturer Premier Rides in the position of Director of Engineering at the end of this year. He started his career in the automobile industry with General Motors, where he was involved in many different (...) read more
The world’s first Transformers theme park attraction based on Hasbro’s popular franchise made its debut in Sci-Fi City at Universal Studios Singapore this month. The 3-D attraction is also based on film producer and executive producer Michael Bay’s (...) read more
The German playground equipment manufacturer Kinderland Emsland Spielgeärte supplies playground equipment with a value of 950,000 Euros for a playground area for children of members of the US-army in Wiesbaden. A total of seven playgrounds are being (...) read more
The Dutch theme park Efteling will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2012 presenting its newest attraction called „Aquanura“. According to the park, the 17 million Euro show will be the largest water show in Europe. US-based company WET Design (...) read more
The Leavesden Film Studios, about 30 kilometers north-west of Central London and since 2010 called Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, are the home studio of movies like “GoldenEye”, “Sleepy Hollow” or “Inception”. Also all of the eight “Harry Potter” (...) read more
In May 2012, Legoland Billund will inaugurate the largest expansion in its history: the new, 12,500 square meter large themed-area “Polar Land” with real penguins. The new attraction required a total investment of 75 million kroner (about ten (...) read more
During their recent meeting in London, the IAAPA Board of Directors elected Gerardo Arteaga Third Vice Chairman. Arteaga, General Manager of Fantasilandia in Santiago, Chile, will be at the head of the association as its Chairman in 2015. As (...) read more
The Berlin-based specialists for attractions design flying saucer received this year’s red dot award in the category of communication design for their interactive periodic table of the elements. The award-winning exhibit is part of the chemical (...) read more
