Carnival & Fair News

The trade show for IAAPA Expo 2023, the largest trade show for the amusement and park industry, kicked off Tuesday, November 14th in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center.  The show is the go-to place for all that is new, plus plenty of tried and true companies exhibiting their wares, old and new.

The show has come to be the place for not just amusement parks anymore, but also waterparks, FECs, Holiday Events, general ride purchases and so much more.  From entertainment producers to parks to concessionaires to carnival owners, the trade show has something for everyone in the industry.  

The first impression you get visiting the floor is that the space is huge!  Over 1,100 exhibitors are displaying products and services across more than 550,000 square feet of exhibit space.  From state of the art new products to services to unusual items you can't find anywhere else, the massive trade show floor truly has something for every attendee.
 

Bold Move Nation

Bold Move Nation is a new attractions company making noise in the industry.  Founded in 2021 in Brussels, Belgium by a seasoned management team, the company creates interactive dark rides and virtual and augmented reality attractions, adding elements of game play in the mix.  

The company came up with the Smash & Reload concept which can be designed to repurpose an existing building or to establish a new attraction at a premium location with high throughput. “Equipped with a high-level sound system and exciting projection technologies, players enjoy a thrilling experience. From their rotatable vehicle they load the pointing device and then turn to play the game, an action repeated across four scenes during a 4-minute ride experience. The intuitive gameplay with fun storyline makes Smash & Reload the perfect choice for an indoor family ride, balancing the skills of all players,” says the company

A version of the Smash and Reload ride, Champ' Follies, was brought to a French park and zoo. The ride and game combination can be experienced by groups together and brought excitement with its compact design to the area of the park where it was installed.

BoldMove's CEO Benoit Cornet has been the driving force behind Smash & Reload, making sure his creative concept shapes up just the way it is intended: "We're thrilled with the result of a close cooperation between our team and expert partners. Together we succeeded in converting an old 4D cinema into a new and dynamic attraction that blends physical and digital worlds. The TooMush characters are brought alive on screen, and by adding Artificial Intelligence we further personalize guest experiences. The rich and smart theming with 3D decoration includes a real car and lots of fun elements that enhance the immersive feeling of the ride.”

At IAAPA, the new interactive FUSION dark ride was introduced, which “blends immersive theming and the highly addictive and fun gameplay of midway style dark rides and adds a super plot twist towards the end,” said company officials.  The dark ride concept blends the highly addictive and fun gameplay of a midway style dark ride with an immersive theming and exciting story line.



In addition, BoldMove's Voodoo Festival was introduced for FEC and park owners in the US and global markets.  This unique attraction works perfectly as stand-alone ticketed indoor attraction or as part of a family entertainment center in parks and city centers. With its compact footprint, it has many versatile uses.  

Voodoo Festival comes in two versions, a daytime one for families and a more scary version for adults in the evenings. The story evolves around voodoo dolls that come back to life by mysterious magic. Players can save the Mardi Gras festival from total takeover by flinging good luck bags at the crazy dolls to break the curse.

Also introduced at the show was an immersive augmented-reality walk through, Raptor Expedition, which gives the experience of being inside a live video game.  Blending real world themes with virtual ones, the company promises an experience like no other.  

Participants meet eye-to-eye with ancient creatures and enjoy multi-sensory special effects that enhance the excitement of their journey. In addition, every experience will be different thanks to AI technology.  The dinosaurs adapt their behavior to different skill levels or even seasonal events.

CEO Benoit Cornet explains: "Visitors want to embark in a fun environment and get fully submersed in an engaging experience they can enjoy together with their friends and family. Our creative process starts with this in mind, designing and synchronizing all required ingredients to create a successful attraction for each venue and audience."

Bold Moves is taking classic dark rides and revisiting them using the latest technologies in interactivity, gameplay, AI, and AV.

 

Showmen Supplies - Semcor Manufacturing - Owen Trailers

 
Showmen Supplies has been busy over the last several years, moving into not just lighting and supplies but generators and with the acquisition of Owen Trailers, amusement rides.  

Here at IAAPA, the team has been busy discussing LED projects with customers.  Their new LED hanging tubes have created a lot of buzz for fun house applications.  They can be hung from the ceilings like punching bags, giving a great look for the ride.

Customers are gravitating toward the next generation of lighting.  Fun LED super strobe Italian lights are a big draw for Showmen's.  They just completed a project for Kyle Wisdom by retrofitting LEDs with the new FUN LEDs on a Starship, which they re-themed as Alien Abduction.  

Showmen's reports there has been substantial interest in retrofitting existing rides with new FUN LEDs.  

Generators have been in demand — both the Gull wing and Semcor designs.  With two distinct offerings,  Showmen's is able to serve two sets of customers, some prefer the original Gull Wing and others prefer the Semcor trailers.  Delivery is currently about 12-14 months out on generators.  There has been concern over the new federal government emissions requirements for off-road engines, tier 4, which is designed to reduce emissions.  Showmen's has been able to allay the fears of customers about the regulation as they are experienced and comfortable with the requirements. 

In the Owen Trailers division of the company, they have sold two glasshouses to NAME, plus four more to shows for 2024 delivery.

The rides were re-engineered from the ground up, starting with the glass houses.  The next project is to re-engineer the fun houses and begin producing them.  Now that glass houses have been re-worked, they can begin manufacturing them in a more timely manner.    The company is currently taking orders for glass houses and fun houses for 2025 delivery.  

The new trailer builds will incorporate some galvanizing of the main structure. The manufacturing process has also been streamlined over the original design, easing production costs and times.

 

Tune in tomorrow for Day 2 of our IAAPA trade show coverage.