The days when real risk lent a frisson of excitement to rides – wherever you rode them – is over. Today’s consumers want fun and thrills, but are looking for zero risk – guaranteed. All attractions must deliver this, even if it means changing the product to make it happen
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2017 issue 2
News of the tragic death of an 11-year-old girl on a rapids ride at Drayton Manor Park has shocked an industry that is still reeling from the death of four people on a similar type of ride in Australia in October.
While both accidents are being investigated, it’s wrong to jump to conclusions about causes, but we know that things must change as a result. Clearly, the risk factor is too high.
Any ride involving ballistic movement or momentum creates forces which – if they are deflected – can cause a catapult effect, hurling riders in ways they find impossible to control. Add water, heavy machinery and people into the equation and another whole set of challenges emerges.
The time has come for such rides – if we continue to install them – to have seat belts or harnesses to avoid accidents occurring which relate to user behaviour. The investigation into the Australian accident, in which the raft tipped, must additionally lead to the introduction of design features which act to prevent that happening again.
This industry has worked hard to improve rider responsibility, and it’s very sensible and valid to encourage guests to follow guidelines while enjoying rides. However, we cannot harness our fortunes – and people’s lives – to the hope that riders will always behave exactly as we would have them do.
If theme parks are going to continue to thrive as an industry sector, then we need to step things up to a new level when it comes to all aspects of safety, from staff training to supervision, from ride design and specification to manufacturing and from ride maintenance to safety checks.
In the days before the internet and social media, some theme park accidents were hushed up. Compensation paid, the ride quietly dismantled and sold to another park on the other side of the world to be rebranded, and then the case closed.
Perhaps a health and safety investigation some time later would throw up a fine and a small flurry of newspaper coverage, but few accidents seriously impacted the business. It was a dark time in the history of our industry.
Today, fortunately, the world has moved on, and this kind of shadowy practice is no longer possible in most countries, nor deemed acceptable by anyone. The industry has grown up and in most places safety inspections and training are now transparent and professionally managed.
And yet as we have seen this May, there is still important work to do to achieve the level of safety which we as an industry and our customers expect.
People’s tolerance of risk has reached a point where any level is deemed totally unacceptable by the public. They want assurances that their time at attractions will be 100 per cent safe. That their children will be safe, no matter what.
So this is what we must make happen. We’re in the era of zero risk, when nothing else will do. It’s not acceptable for there to be any preventable accidents in theme parks.
And if we don’t step up and improve, then our customers will leave in droves and our businesses will fail, and rightly so. If we can’t keep our customers safe, we don’t deserve them.
Liz Terry, editor. Twitter: @elizterry
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2017 issue 2
Promotional feature: IDEATTACK
IDEATTACK is working on a magical destination resort in Hunan Province, China.
Founders Natasha Varnica and Dan Thomas walk us through the fairytale experience
Science centres: Sparks Fly
The Wolf Museum of Exploration +
Innovation (MOXI) is a brand new science
centre in Santa Barbara, with a refreshing
approach. CEO Steve Hinkley tells all
Theme parks: Speed Demons
PortAventura’s COO Mark Robinson on the
company’s latest investment – Ferrari Land
Promotional feature: Simworx
UK-based attractions manufacturer Simworx is building on its global
portfolio with a range of new projects in Dubai, China and Spain
Attractions: That’s the Spirit
Jameson’s visitor experience centre has
been revamped by BRC Imagination
Arts. Tom Anstey went to Dublin and
talked to the team about the project
Promotional feature: FORREC
FORREC has worked with some of the world’s
most recognisable characters and IPs. Here Steven Rhys
shares some tips on bringing those cherished worlds to life
The days when real risk lent a frisson of excitement to rides – wherever you rode them – is over. Today’s consumers want fun and thrills, but are looking for zero risk – guaranteed. All attractions must deliver this, even if it means changing the product to make it happen
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2017 issue 2
News of the tragic death of an 11-year-old girl on a rapids ride at Drayton Manor Park has shocked an industry that is still reeling from the death of four people on a similar type of ride in Australia in October.
While both accidents are being investigated, it’s wrong to jump to conclusions about causes, but we know that things must change as a result. Clearly, the risk factor is too high.
Any ride involving ballistic movement or momentum creates forces which – if they are deflected – can cause a catapult effect, hurling riders in ways they find impossible to control. Add water, heavy machinery and people into the equation and another whole set of challenges emerges.
The time has come for such rides – if we continue to install them – to have seat belts or harnesses to avoid accidents occurring which relate to user behaviour. The investigation into the Australian accident, in which the raft tipped, must additionally lead to the introduction of design features which act to prevent that happening again.
This industry has worked hard to improve rider responsibility, and it’s very sensible and valid to encourage guests to follow guidelines while enjoying rides. However, we cannot harness our fortunes – and people’s lives – to the hope that riders will always behave exactly as we would have them do.
If theme parks are going to continue to thrive as an industry sector, then we need to step things up to a new level when it comes to all aspects of safety, from staff training to supervision, from ride design and specification to manufacturing and from ride maintenance to safety checks.
In the days before the internet and social media, some theme park accidents were hushed up. Compensation paid, the ride quietly dismantled and sold to another park on the other side of the world to be rebranded, and then the case closed.
Perhaps a health and safety investigation some time later would throw up a fine and a small flurry of newspaper coverage, but few accidents seriously impacted the business. It was a dark time in the history of our industry.
Today, fortunately, the world has moved on, and this kind of shadowy practice is no longer possible in most countries, nor deemed acceptable by anyone. The industry has grown up and in most places safety inspections and training are now transparent and professionally managed.
And yet as we have seen this May, there is still important work to do to achieve the level of safety which we as an industry and our customers expect.
People’s tolerance of risk has reached a point where any level is deemed totally unacceptable by the public. They want assurances that their time at attractions will be 100 per cent safe. That their children will be safe, no matter what.
So this is what we must make happen. We’re in the era of zero risk, when nothing else will do. It’s not acceptable for there to be any preventable accidents in theme parks.
And if we don’t step up and improve, then our customers will leave in droves and our businesses will fail, and rightly so. If we can’t keep our customers safe, we don’t deserve them.
Liz Terry, editor. Twitter: @elizterry
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2017 issue 2
Promotional feature: IDEATTACK
IDEATTACK is working on a magical destination resort in Hunan Province, China.
Founders Natasha Varnica and Dan Thomas walk us through the fairytale experience
Science centres: Sparks Fly
The Wolf Museum of Exploration +
Innovation (MOXI) is a brand new science
centre in Santa Barbara, with a refreshing
approach. CEO Steve Hinkley tells all
Theme parks: Speed Demons
PortAventura’s COO Mark Robinson on the
company’s latest investment – Ferrari Land
Promotional feature: Simworx
UK-based attractions manufacturer Simworx is building on its global
portfolio with a range of new projects in Dubai, China and Spain
Attractions: That’s the Spirit
Jameson’s visitor experience centre has
been revamped by BRC Imagination
Arts. Tom Anstey went to Dublin and
talked to the team about the project
Promotional feature: FORREC
FORREC has worked with some of the world’s
most recognisable characters and IPs. Here Steven Rhys
shares some tips on bringing those cherished worlds to life
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Expo 2030 Riyadh is being planned as a permanent visitor destination, with organisers
confirming the six-million-square-metre site will become a Global Village after the event closes.
The owner of one of Australia's best-known waterparks has acquired a major competitor,
creating a new attractions business spanning two of the country's largest visitor destinations.
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
+ More news
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