attraction technology

Orlando, Monday, 1 December 2025.
IAAPA Expo in Orlando is shaping vendor roadmaps for 2026–2028 capital programmes, with several suppliers using the show floor to signal industry priorities. Most notable: Attractions.io unveiled an AI assistant last Sunday that personalises guest interactions and real-time operations using journey-wide data—promising reduced front-line strain and smarter queuing and F&B decisions. Meanwhile, manufacturers including Brogent and Triotech announced partnership-led turnkey media attractions and large-scale IP projects, underscoring consolidation around packaged, media-heavy experiences. On the hardware side, Reverchon revealed a next-generation flume and new individual restraints designed to improve capacity, compliance and lifecycle costs. Alterface and others demonstrated modular interactive systems aimed at family engagement. For operators and procurement teams, the takeaways are clear: prioritise vendors offering integrated media+technology ecosystems, assess AI’s operational impact on staffing and guest flow, and factor modernised water-ride safety and retrofit options into master-planning and risk-management budgets.

Orlando, Friday, 21 November 2025.
Merlin confirmed on Thursday it will open a standalone Peppa Pig theme park in the United States in 2025, signalling a deliberate shift to convert preschool IP into regional destination assets for family markets. At the same time Triotech, marking its 25th year, unveiled a global expansion and a pipeline of high-capacity interactive dark rides — including its largest-ever attraction for Six Flags Qiddiya City — underscoring operator appetite for media-linked, experience-driven products. For retail and park operators this convergence raises immediate commercial questions: site selection and master-planning must balance family-guest yield against throughput; licensing and revenue-share terms will become more consequential; and procurement competition for turnkey suppliers will intensify. Planning teams should revisit themed-entertainment ROI models, infrastructure scalability and lifecycle support commitments when negotiating projects. The most intriguing fact: large IP holders are now deliberately deploying preschool brands as standalone regional destinations in North America, reshaping franchise valuation and operational priorities.

Orlando, Sunday, 16 November 2025.
At IAAPA Expo 2025 in Orlando, held Friday to Sunday, major suppliers — Brogent, Triotech (with Seven), Attractions.io, Alterface, Reverchon and Embed — unveiled a coordinated wave of products targeting capacity, safety and guest experience. Highlights included next‑generation water flume engineering and novel rider restraints from Reverchon, media‑driven dark rides and modular, faster‑to‑deploy attraction concepts from Triotech and Alterface, and an AI‑driven guest assistant for operational personalization and queue management. Embed showcased cashless and analytics upgrades that materially boost pre‑visit reloads and revenue. For operators and procurement teams, the most intriguing development is the clear pivot to integrated hardware‑software offerings and modular attraction packages designed to shorten timelines and reduce capital strain. That strategy, coupled with renewed investment in ride‑safety engineering, has immediate implications for master planning, lifecycle maintenance budgets and supplier selection—forcing a rethink of procurement criteria away from standalone rides toward interoperable, service‑based partnerships and international expansion implications.

Orlando, Monday, 13 October 2025.
IAAPA Expo in Orlando showcased coordinated unveilings that signal where procurement and operations should focus for 2025. Manufacturers pushed modular attraction systems to shorten installation timelines, while media-driven integrations—most visibly drone spectacles (including a 1,571‑drone aerial image record with Disneyland Paris)—are increasingly stitched into dark rides and night shows. Suppliers highlighted incremental safety upgrades (new restraint designs and flume platforms), waterpark products aimed at throughput and OPEX gains, and platform-level guest-commerce enhancements such as ticketing and access interoperability. Strategic partnerships and confirmed 2025 delivery pipelines were prominent, but so were implied supply‑chain timing risks that could affect scheduled openings. For retail and operator buyers, the Expo frames near-term choices: prioritize modular, interoperable tech to reduce capex/time-to-market; evaluate media/drone IP tie‑ins for guest appeal and OPEX impact; and factor vendor lead times into procurement windows to avoid launch delays.