During our coverage of the Euro Attractions Show that was held in London at the end of September, we had the opportunity to meet Marco Mazzucchi, Marketing Manager at Antonio Zamperla S.p.A . The Italian company is one of the biggest attractions manufacturer today on the market, and delivers each year dozens of installations all over the world.
Zamperla offers a complete range of products, including kiddie, family and major rides, roller coasters and people movers. The company manages all the steps of its projects; from early concepts design to the production and the installation on-site. They also have experienced project engineers who can assist with amusement park design, theming and engineering.
Zamperla's booth was one of the biggest on the trade show, and featured a Moto Coaster car, a Coney Island display, some rides models and a spaces for business meetings.
NewsParcs : What’s the main highlight of Zamperla in 2011 ?
Marco Mazzucchi : Our main highlight for this year is certainly our newest thrill ride "Air Race" that we introduced in 2010 at Coney Island, USA. Air Race is very popular over there and its visual impact has caught the attention of our customers who have visited Coney Island. We already sold the ride to 4 amusement parks : the first has opened in Portugal at Aquashow Park, and 3 will open next year in Asia. We also negotiate with other customers.
NP : Coney Island is now managed by Zamperla, how’s going the activity ?
MM : We are really proud of Coney Island ! We have great feedbacks from the visitors, Luna Park is working perfectly and we opened this year a new area called Scream Zone with several thrill rides, a Moto Coaster and a Volare "flying" rollercoaster. The inaugural season of Luna Park has been an overwhelming success with an attendance of 400.000 visitors, helping to trigger the most active summer in Coney Island in more than four decades !
NP: What are your plans for the future developments of Coney Island ?
MM : We have an agreement with the municipality and we will manage the park for the next 10 years. Coney Island is close to the sea, so it’s not possible to expand it due to the configuration of the place. But around the park, there are places where it’s possible to build something, so we are looking at that... Our activites are growing year after year, we made Luna Park in 2010, Scream Zone in 2011 and we are going to manage all the shops on the Boardwalk next season. Because we have a good cooperation with the authorities, we are also planning novelties for the future in the new areas we could manage.
NP: What’s the impact of Coney Island on the image of your company ?
MM : For Zamperla, it’s a good marketing tool, it’s like a giant show room ! We have a great success because our customers come there, and they see a important portfolio of our rides in the same place, with people on board… At the same time, they can test these rides, see how they operate, what are the reactions of the visitors, and if they are the right choice for their own park.
NP : Zamperla has been very busy this year in the Far East. Could you highlight some of your projects over there ?
MM : We delivered our first Volare rollercoaster in China, at Changzhou Spring and Autumn Park. In Indonesia, Trans Studio has again chosen our company to supply a few attractions for their new indoor park in Bandung, including a Midi Discovery, a Power Surge, a Waver Blaster, 2 dark rides and a monorail. We also sold 4 rides to Pecambaru Park on Sumatra Island, in Western Indonesia : a Family Swinger, a Sky Tower, a Wave Blaster and a Speedy Coaster.
For Changzhou Dinosaur Park in China, we delivered a Moto Coaster with a dinosaur theming. The ride is supposed to be a Launch Coaster, but the park asked us for a very special custom design with a classic lift hill. The track is 530 meters long and is build indoor, so the ride is between a rollercoaster and a dark ride. You have lights, animatronics, animations… they really did a good job and I think Changzhou Dinousaur Park is one of the best theme park in China !
NP : There is a Moto Coaster car displayed on your booth, do you want to promote this product in particular ?
MM : Yes, because we are happy with this product ! Some of our customers came to us after seeing it operating, and we are now negociating for new installations. This kind of vehicules is perfect for families, because everybody can ride it! Children like it a lot, as well as teenagers and parents of course! It’s something new, and we will promote it more and more in the future. One of the strenghts of our Moto Coaster is that you can theme the cars and the seats very easily. This can be horses such as at Knott’s Berry Farm, dinosaurs as in China, or motos - of course - as seen at Darien Lake or Särkänniemi. People love motos !
NP : Did you have other rollercoasters projects in 2011 ?
MM : Yes, we opened two new rollercoasters in the United Kingdom, one at Adventure Island and another one at Flamingo Land. Both these parks were looking to add family rollercoasters. Adventure Island has choosen a Speedy Coaster and Flamingo Land added a family inverted Air Force 5 with a custom designed layout.
NP : You also had a lot of children and family rides delivered in 2011!
MM : Yes, Zamperla has still a lot of success with children and family rides, it’s our core business! We offer a wide range of rides, and we have a huge success especially in creating attractions designed and themed on popular brands and intellectual properties.
Two years after we worked with Drayton Manor and their Thomas Land area, the park's management decided to add another of our ride this season. Also in the United Kingdom, Blackpool Pleasure Beach added Nickelodeon Land, with five new rides - a Mega Disk’O, a Top Jet, a Crazy Submarine, a Samba Tower and a Jump Around – themed with some of the most famous characters of Nickelodeon. We also delivered 3 themed rides at Parque Warner Madrid in Spain. Finally, we had a huge delivery of themed rides for Cedar Fair, for their revamped Planet Snoopy areas. We delivered 20 children rides at Worlds of Fun, Dorney Park and Valleyfair, USA. We introduced there a brand new ride called "The Arial Ride", where families are seated in a rocket-themed self-propelled gondola that glides along an elevated beam to give them a bird eye view of the surroundings areas.
We also supplied a Demolition Derby at Plopsaland De Panne in Belgium with a Maya the Bee theming, 3 rides to Leolandia in Italia for their new pirates themed area and a Barnyard at Fraispertuis City, France. We sold another Barnyard, a Jump Around, a Jumping Star and a Magic Bikes at Dennlys Park also in France. At EAS, we had contacts with a lot of French amusement parks that are interested especially by our Barnyard and Magic Bikes, two rides that they really love! Magic Bikes is working great this year, 2011 saw no less than 14 installations around the world including 3 in France and 5 for LEGOLAND theme parks.
NP : It means a lot of work for your art department !
MM : We have a lot of rides in our products portfolio and we have a great art department ! Our creative director is well known in the amusement industry. We are able to adapt themes to rides, and there is nothing better than a good ride with a good theming ! This is the simple formula for the success !
NP : Do you introduced new rides or innovations during EAS ?
MM : We present a couple of new rides during this show! We sold our first interactive water ride “Water Fight”, than we introduced a revision of our Z-Racing cars, where people can drive their own vehicules that is fixed on a central powered guide. The cars are equiped with electrical engines, that means no pollution and no noise, so it’s perfect for indoor and outdoor facilities. There is an anti-collision system that cuts the power to avoid the vehicules to bump each others. We have redeveloped this product with the questions we received from our customers and from other amusement parks.
We also have a new family ride called "Happy Swing". The motion is simple but it’s very successful. It has been introduced at Coney Island, and with a system of pay per ride, you pay back the investment within two months! Since that date, I think we sold it 15 times. It’s a simple swing ride, but always with a great success !
NP : And what about your current projects for 2012 ?
MM : We have some main projects undergoing in the Far East. We are working with great groups such as OCT in China or Trans Studio in Indonesia, and we will deliver to them a lot of rides in the future, especially in the first semester of 2012. Next year, we will also introduce others Magic Bikes in France, among many others projects in the world !
NP: How happens the Euro Attractions Show 2011 for Zamperla ?
MM : We have a good success ! Zamperla is a company well known in this industry, we have a lot of customers and we know the market very well. So we are here first to meet our customers and discuss of new projects. I think the European trade show is growing with success ! A lot of European amusement parks prefer to visit this show instead of the IAAPA Attractions Expo in North America. I also think that it is important to change the location of the show every year, because people like to travel around and see different places. We at Zamperla are very happy with EAS !
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