In a year of ups, downs, loops and scoops, Attractions Management looks back at some of the biggest stories to hit the headlines, giving possible indicators of what’s still to come in the year ahead.

Musical vegetables managed to hit the headlines in October, with an incredibly unique installation in Tokyo. Entering the fourth quarter, a major project in the heart of New York was announced by Parques Reunidos and an industry veteran took the helm at Universal’s multi-billion dollar theme park project in China.

Carrots as trumpets

A brightly lit, rainbow-coloured greenhouse popped up in downtown Tokyo, Japan, during October, inviting guests to step inside and interact with the sights and sounds created by its vegetable inhabitants.

Japanese creative studio Party, which is headed up by Naoko Ito, created the Digital Vegetables installation to run over a three-week period.

Inside the greenhouse, which was covered in LED lights, visitors were invited to “Touch Design. Bathe in Design”, meaning that touching certain vegetables would trigger a particular lighting sequence or a specific series of sounds.

Sound designer Rei Kunimoto created the sounds, rubbing or eating different vegetables and recording the outcome to create a vegetable medley. He then mixed those effects with musical instruments to create his own soundscape.

“Tomatoes are the violin, carrots are the trumpets, cabbages are the oboe, mini radishes are the flute, sweet potatoes are the piano, eggplants are the harp, and pumpkins are the clarinet,” he said.

Veteran leadership

Former Ocean Park CEO Tom Mehrmann will play a lead role in the development of the CN¥50bn (US$7.4bn, €6.65bn, £6bn) Universal Beijing, after being named president and general manager of the upcoming theme park and resort in October.

Mehrmann, who has held senior roles across the attractions industry, led Ocean Park’s HK$5.5bn (US$709m, €672m, £568m) master redevelopment plan during his 13-year stint also increasing attendance from less than three million visitors to more than 7.8 million by 2014/2015.

Due to open in 2020, Universal Beijing will include in its first phase the theme park, the world’s first Universal-themed resort hotel and a retail entertainment complex – all to be completed within five years. A second stage of development in 2021 will include a second theme park, a waterpark and five more resort hotels.

Entertainment City

Parques Reunidos announced a collaboration with film studio Lionsgate, revealing plans to bring new attraction to the heart of New York City.

Coming to Times Square, Lionsgate Entertainment City will feature a variety of Lionsgate IPs when it opens in 2019.

The centre’s attractions will be complemented by branded retail and dining establishments along with the first Lionsgate Studio Store. Rooms for private events and special programming are also part of the development.

According to Parques Reunidos, the Times Square attraction will be the first of a number of Lionsgate-branded indoor entertainment centres that the two companies are planning “for high traffic urban areas in major US and European cities”.

Check back with Attractions Management tomorrow for November's highlights