As seen in Theme Park University
The themed entertainment and attractions industry has been expanding at break neck speed. Disney recently announced dozens of new attractions in the works from Star Wars to Epcot and beyond. Universal also has a smorgasbord of new offerings including three new Nintendo lands all with several attractions within. Not to mention the explosion of growth happening in China and Dubai.
What you may not think about is the various vendors who supply the ride vehicles, media and scenic design and how they are keeping up in this high demand environment. One of the top suppliers of theme park ride systems, Dynamic Attractions, has made some skillful moves within their organization to better poise themselves for this growth explosion.
image: http://themeparkuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dynamic-Attractions-new-27Ride-Development-Centre27-825×429.jpg
For example in August 2017, Dynamic Attractions is opening a new 50,000 square foot factory in Vancouver, Canada. This facility will be able to assemble their ride systems before they are shipped out to theme parks and attractions worldwide. To give you an idea of how busy these guys are, Dynamic actually opened double the amount of attractions last year than in previous years. If you think you’re not familiar with Dynamic Attractions ride systems, think again. If you’ve been on a major E-ticket attraction in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (as just one example), you’ve experienced one of many Dynamic rides.
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Dynamic Attractions prides itself in creating what they call “never been done before” attractions, which puts them in a unique and precarious position within the themed entertainment industry. On the one hand, they are credited with the design and engineering of the world’s top attractions. When guests ride Soarin’ at Disney Parks for the first time, they talk about ride system just as much (if not more) than the overall experience itself. On the other hand, to continue to innovate and create even more amazing “never been done befores”, Dynamic Attractions has to put a lot of time and energy into design and engineering to make sure they can deliver these unique rides as specified, safely, and on time.
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Hao Wang – Dynamic Attractions
In another strategic move, Dynamic Attractions is bringing on a new President and Chief Operating Officer, Hao Wang. If you follow the attractions business closely and never heard of Wang, there’s a good reason for that. Wang has spent over 2 decades creating super cars for a company called Multimatic. He’s been involved in the design and production of high-end cars from Aston Martin to Bentleys to Mercedes AMG. As I found out in a recent phone interview, building super cars and “never been done before rides” actually have more similarities than you might think.
“Ride systems are actually not all that different than a car,” said Wang. “They are extremely complex and use similar engineering principals.” Even though he’s a newcomer to the attractions industry, Wang is a fan of Dynamic Attractions. “I’ve been around the globe to experience these rides for years myself from Orlando to Shanghai. I am very familiar with their product and the learning curve is a transition I’m excited about.”
image: http://themeparkuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SFX-Coaster-488×300.jpg
Overall, it seems that Wang wants to help streamline the process for customers looking to work with Dynamic Attractions in the future. “It starts with the end user. What do they expect and what can we bring to the table. Our goal is to try and deliver the next best thing to our clients. My goal is to create an end to end experience for our clients to ensure their needs are met. From the engineering specifications to manufacturing the product and even servicing it.”
At the end of the day, Dynamic Attractions has made some smart strategic moves to ensure fans of their unique rides and attractions will have even more to rave about in the future. I am personally thrilled to see what’s coming in the years ahead from Dynamic and so should you!