Last month the future of theme parks and attractions from around the globe were featured at the IAAPA Expo 2019 which was held in the Orange County Convention Center. The event featured 1,146 exhibitors over a massive indoor and ourdoor trade show floor (over 585,000… Read More »Inside the biggest theme and amusement park expo of the year – IAAPA Expo 2019
Plus more dining and amenities for Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Walt Disney World has announced the expansion of one of its few convention focused resorts. The Coronado Springs resort is set up around Lake Dorado with the convention center and resort dining and amenities on… Read More »New 15-story tower announced for Disney’s Coronado Springs
Although it’s developed a bit of cult following, Disney’s “Return to Oz” is generally overlooked by both the company and the lionshare of its fans. That’s a shame, because The Walt Disney Company had big plans for an “Oz’ franchise (plans we saw revived with… Read More »Wizard of Oz fan convention to celebrate Disney’s “Return to Oz”
Friend of the blog Onezumi is an organizor of Intervention, a visionary combination of educational conference, art exhibition, and gaming convention that returns to Rockville, MD this Aug. 23-25, 2013 for its fourth year. Its goal? To Intervene and Inspire the whole family to take advantage of what they can do with creativity and technology. Many guest speakers will attend – and, in keeping with the convention’s focus all of the guests are creators who have made a name for themselves by using the Internet to build their fan base. Sounds like something I would love.
This year new guest speakers include Mark Frauenfelder, the founder of the incredibly popular online site BoingBoing and Editor-in-Chief of MAKE magazine; Ex-Disney / Nickelodeon animator Raul Aguirre, Jr. also joins the event from the Man vs. Art podcast; Paul Sabourin of the music group “Paul and Storm” will be on panels and workshops; and Pete Abrams of the popular webcomic Sluggy Freelance returns along with numerous other art and comics professionals.
Read More »Intervention Convention in Rockville, MD
The IAAPA Attractions Expo opened on Monday. But the show doesn’t really get going until the “What’s New” presentation which was yesterday morning. This year the kickoff session featured performances from Universal and The Blues Brothers, dancers from Busch Gardens, and a new song from beautifully performed by a singer from Walt Disney World Resort. All in all a great showcase for central Florida.
Three new IAAPA members were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Arto Monaco (Land of Make Believe) and Edgard “Eddy” Meeus (Walibi Parks) both played key roles in the early days of theme park development and were awarded posthumously. Larry B. Cochran helped open Six Flags over Texas and rose to the top of the company during his 41 years of service and team building. He gave a wonderful speech with a tribute to his family and team members.
The bi-annual Applause Award went to Xetulul a theme park in Retalhuleu, Guatemala. I’ve never heard of this park, but it looked like a lot of fun. San Diego SeaWorld cam in a close second.
After the morning performance everyone heads down to the show floor to make some deals and see what’s hot from vendors old and new. I only managed to cover about 20% of the show floor yesterday but click through the cut to read a few things that caught my eye.