What's the talk in the industry?
The value of intellectual property, how to create a successful attraction model for a variety of new mall projects, expanding leisure markets in Russia and China, and the growing importance of guest-influenced visitor experiences. It’s exciting to see how media, technology and simple human interaction are converging to create personalised visitor experiences where the audience becomes an integral part of the attraction.

What are the challenges ahead?
The industry needs to continue to focus on attracting and cultivating new creative talent – writers, planners, designers and producers. Programmes such as Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, University of Cincinnati's DAAP programme and SCAD’s new Themed Entertainment Design Masters are creating great talent, and initiatives such as TEA’s NextGen and IAAPA's Student Memberships are doing a great job of educating students about the possibilities in the attractions industry.

What are the main issues or trends in your industry currently?
One of the biggest trends is theming. Customers love stories, so they want the parks that they visit to tell them great stories, including the park’s rides. That means we need waterslides to be able to work with the themes and tell those stories too. That’s one of the reasons we created the King Cobra waterslide – the very first waterslide to build theming into its design—into the fibreglass itself.

What new technology are you working on?
On the manufacturing process, we’re focused on our RTM technology (resin transfer molding). This technology doesn’t simply improve the looks of slides, it also creates stronger slides that use less waste in the manufacturing process, which is critical in today’s environmentally conscious world.

The movement toward closed-molded technology will eventually displace conventional, traditional molding methods.

What do you see as the main issues and trends in the current market?
Taking storytelling to the next level is a big industry focus – putting the user in the centre of the story, immersing them completely rather than watching on a flat screen.

Globalisation is another issue, with emerging markets starting to drive the quality agenda for the first time, and looking to create world leading solutions. This is putting pressure on the more established markets to be at the forefront of the visitor experience.

What effect are these issues having on your business?
The industry is in a very exciting place with emerging markets such as China going through a new period of growth. Offering parks one point of contact and a complete turnkey solution is a new business model which the Chinese market in particular is embracing. This has led to a lot of new opportunities and contracts which we will be delivering on in 2014.

What are the current trends?
Interactive dark rides are hot, plus interactivity and digital technology are impacting on the amusement and attractions industry.

An interactive attraction grabs the guest’s attention by involving them in the story, making the experience more rewarding and memorable. This increases positive word-of-mouth and re-playability (guests want to try the experience again). This multiplication of ‘experience ambassadors’ can have a strong impact on the operator’s results.

Digital is further impacting the industry by facilitating greater realism. Operators can expand offers by modifying content more rapidly than on a traditional attraction. 

What do you see as the industry’s challenges?
Coming up with new ideas and products that can perform in the mass entertainment industry is an ongoing challenge. Suppliers from all over the world are always trying to create the next new and exciting attractions. We have great creative thinkers on both manufacturing and the operator sides of the equation.

What are the most exciting things happening right now?
When the buyers are buying, it’s always an exciting time! Plus Disney’s hard at work in China, Universal in Singapore, the Middle East is coming back to life, and Russia’s more serious about leisure.

What are the present challenges in the industry ?
The challenges are intellectual property protection but in this area IAAPA is doing a great job in being very visible in protecting the turf of the ‘creators’ of new attractions. Public liability and tariffs remain an issue in many markets.

What are the most exciting things happening in the industry?
The dial-up of interactive play and the introduction of gaming into both the amusement park and the waterpark sectors are the most exciting trends we’re seeing.

What are the main trends in technology for attractions?
The trends are more towards mobile ticketing technologies – both in terms of being able to purchase tickets via mobile devices and also using the device directly at the access control point of the attraction. Increasing ticket distribution capabilities is another requirement, including the ability to activate remote media to be used as a valid ticket.

More mobile phone manufacturers are now incorporating NFC (Near Field Communications) technology into their handsets. This type of technology allows the phone itself to be activated as an admissions ticket, without the need to download and scan barcodes.