Kaatsheuvel, Tuesday, 7 October 2025.
Last Monday at the IAAPA Expo in Barcelona, Efteling and Vekoma unveiled a certified “seat-on-wheels” concept that allows guests to remain in their own wheelchairs while boarding tracked attractions—potentially the single biggest change to on‑ride accessibility in recent years. Developed with social sustainability partners and representatives from de Zonnebloem, the concept covers vehicle adaptation, restraint integration, evacuation procedures and safety compliance, while flagging operational trade‑offs such as throughput, retrofitting complexity, lifecycle maintenance and staff training. For park operators and manufacturers, the immediate takeaway is practical: inclusive engineering will require changes across design, operations and regulatory engagement, and could affect queue management, staffing models and capex planning for existing dark rides and family attractions. The presentation is a call to industry collaboration rather than a finished product; suppliers and parks are invited to co‑develop standards that balance guest experience, safety and operational efficiency.