ORLANDO - The major theme parks are only now beginning to get back to their big-spending ways, but a walk down the aisles of the amusement industry's biggest trade show confirms that the hunt for the next big crowd-pleaser lives on.
There's a full-sized model of a NASCAR stock car priced at $80,000 that shakes and lurches in concert with what's on a video screen. Battery-powered toilets on caster wheels that can be raced at speeds up to 8 miles an hour. And an automated cotton candy machine that hands over a wad of pink spun sugar for a $1 bill.
Such items made their debut as about 29,000 amusement industry executives gathered Wednesday for the kickoff of the annual convention of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. The new, the novel and the downright weird were displayed by 5,000 suppliers at this one-stop shopping center for attractions ranging from Walt Disney World to zoos, science museums and local game arcades.
Park executives tried out 22 new stomach-churning carnival rides set up inside and outside the Orange County Convention Center, checked out the latest in fog machines and test-fired confetti cannons (including $4 handheld models that could be in discount stores soon.)
The mood remained subdued at the booths of big ride builders, whose costly machinery has been selling slowly since the terrorist attacks of 2001. Disney, Universal Orlando and Busch Entertainment Corp. all have recently released plans for new attractions, but smaller amusement parks are only beginning to solicit proposals for purchases that are a year or two away.
"It's been a horrible two years, and now the comeback is painfully slow," said Rock Hall, chairman of Technifex Inc., a Valencia, Calif. company building action figures and explosive fire effects for Universal Orlando's new Revenge of the Mummy ride that opens in 2004.
The trade show nonetheless reflected lots of new technology. "A decade ago this show was set up by mechanics whose hands got all greasy," said Scott Towles, the trade association's spokesman. "Now its all laptops and software engineers."
The next generation of rides for game arcades features high-definition video graphics shown on big screens in front of seats that simulate the movements game players control.
Another high-tech attention-getter is Robocoaster. That's an industrial-size robot arm that usually works on an assembly line putting together Mercedes-Benz automobiles. The German makers of the industrial robot stuck a two-seat roller coaster car on the front end of the robotic arm, which spins, lifts and twists the car in as many as six directions at the same time. They are selling it for $300,000 to entertainment centers and amusement parks seeking a relatively affordable new attraction.
"It is quite safe," said Alexis Trumker, an automation technologist with Robocoaster, "But many parks are a bit afraid of the liability because it looks so scary for people to ride heavy-duty industrial equipment."
For $39,000, Innovative Rock Climbing of Orlando will provide a 25-foot-tall rock climbing wall equipped with a waterfall streaming over the climbers.
"It's a bit more challenging to climb," said sales director Annie Buchanan, "but it's a lot cooler than all the other climbing walls out there."
Among the many food items: glow-in-the-dark popsicles; an ice cream sundae served inside a sponge cake the size of a hot dog; and Key Lime Pie covered in chocolate and served on a stick.
"Our neighbor in Key West is a chocolatier and he said, "Why not? There's already cheesecake on a stick,' " said Ross Hadley, vice president of Key West Key Lime LLC, who hopes to generate $4-million in sales this year by becoming a staple at theme park refreshment booths.
The Chocolate Printing Co. of New York is talking with several parks interested in buying its machine that prints people's photos on chocolate bars. Ink jets on an image printer are filled with shades of food coloring.
A couple of Iowa chemists came up with the equipment to make Nitro Ice Cream by accident. Now they are selling their process that freezes ice cream with liquid nitrogen so fast that its flavor is not diluted by ice crystals.
"We could freeze ice cream hard enough you could pound nails with it, but our version is flash-frozen to be way smoother-tasting and creamier than regular ice cream," said T.J. Paskach, a principle in the venture who has a doctorate in chemistry.
