Sunkid is a leading provider of attractions for the entire family. Founded in 1996, the company offers a broad spectrum of products and services across the global leisure market. These range from single attractions to the complete turnkey implementation of leisure facilities.
The worldwide market leader in ‘person conveyors’ for outdoor use, Sunkid offers a proven range of solutions for ski resorts, water parks, theme parks, museums, and leisure facilities. It has realised more than 9,000 projects on a global basis. It also creates leading rides and attractions, eco-friendly adventure play solutions, and a range of services.
Michael Kalsch, CEO of Sunkid Heege, speaks to blooloop about the history of the company, its future, positioning and customer base. We also talk to Christoph Gastl, product manager of family rides, about some of Sunkid’s latest products and developments.
Sunkid’s mission
Introducing the firm and its vision, Kalsch says:
“With its wide range of products, Sunkid is one of the world’s leading year-round suppliers of leisure attractions for the whole family. We try to live up to our vision to be ‘the first contact for leisure attractions for children and families worldwide’ every day.
“The family rides of the 100 % subsidiary Sunkid Heege have been delighting children and families around the world for more than 40 years. The hallmarks of our products are their ease of use, small footprint, high level of interactivity, and great fun. They are quality Made in Germany and offer the highest reliability and safety. Our customers all over the world have appreciated this for decades.
“Sunkid Heege GmbH, located in Bassenheim, Germany, is also a provider of OEM parts for major intensity players. This includes the production and service of vehicles up to complete roller coaster trains as well as the manufacturing of various components, like undercarriages and spare parts for the leisure industry. Today, a total of 22 employees work at the Bassenheim site. Several of them have been with the company for more than 30 years.”
He outlines Sunkid Heege’s history:
“One of the basic ideas for founding the family company Heege (today Sunkid Heege) in 1975 was to create playground equipment and riding facilities for children, where their adults can play along.”
Safety is paramount
Today, the philosophy and products of the entire Sunkid Group still reflect this Heege focus: 365 days of fun for the whole family. Self-responsible play was another focus of the company’s founders, which later resulted in many rides with extended self-service.
“From the very beginning, the goal and primary requirement was to develop and produce rides that offer a high level of operational safety for operators and passengers. This Sunkid Heege, as a relatively small company, was able to successfully establish itself among the big players in the amusement and theme park world.”
He adds:
“It has always been important that all products are manufactured and delivered type-approved and TÜV-certified. It represents a significant benefit for our customers.”
Identifying further drivers and guarantors of the company’s success, he highlights series production and the innovative potential of the Sunkid Group, with its worldwide distribution network:
“Added to this is the very high vertical production range. We also offer direct support for our customers, from the first day of operation.”
A broad customer base
Looking forward, Kalsch comments:
“Today, with pride, we look at a stable company that has been operating sustainably from the very beginning. Perhaps it is due to the German virtue of thrift, but at Sunkid Heege we have practised the idea of waste avoidance and recycling of production raw materials for more than 40 years.
“Many customers (especially in our early years in Germany) have developed with Heege from a playground to an amusement park. Today, with the product and service range of the Sunkid Group, we can show customers further evolutionary opportunities for the future. And with current developments, we plan to close the gap in our Sunkid-Heege portfolio, between smaller interactive family rides and category 5 roller coaster trains.”
In terms of positioning, he says:
“Our family rides offer ease of use, and often do not require direct supervision. Other special features that differentiate us from other providers are the characteristically generally small footprints of our rides. We also offer a high level of interactivity.”
The customer base is broad and eclectic, featuring iconic names such as Legoland, Looping Group and Compagnie des Alpes. The firm’s clients, he observes, encompass a full range, from small theme parks and playgrounds to large international amusement parks. They range from newcomers in the leisure industry to well-established customers who need to replace trains for an existing rollercoaster.
“Our company has grown internationally out of a core market Germany, where our attractions can be found almost everywhere.”
Kalsch attributes this partly, he explains, to simply being part of Sunkid:
“It is also due to fruitful cooperation with some of the industry leaders.”
Sunkid’s family rides
Christoph Gastl is product manager for Sunkid’s family rides. Across the amusement park, playground and tourism destination sector, the broad Sunny Amusement line offers a rich choice of rides, attractions, smart transport solutions and more. Sunkid’s family rides are simple to operate, with a low space demand and high levels of interactivity. They have been inspiring children and families around the world for more than 40 years.
Gastl outlines some of the key products:
“First, there is the very well-known Interactive Tower. It has over 150 installations worldwide.”
The Tower is a unique combination of interactive attraction and a 9 metre + viewing platform with a small footprint. It rotates around its own axis, has seat units that can be pulled to an optimal height even by children, and is the perfect vantage point at any destination. One of its attributes is versatility.
A decades-long success story that is as relevant today as it was in the early years, it exists in numerous iterations: blending with the ‘Grizzly Bay’ theming at the Jaderpark in Jaderberg on the North Sea as a Wild West water reservoir; in a fairy-tale forest design as HUBERTUS at Schwabenpark, located near Kaisersbach in Germany’s Welzheim Forest; with Asian theming at Nagano, Japan; as a lighthouse at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and with an unequivocally Viking look in its double iteration at Asmindrup, Scandinavia’s largest theme park.
Loopster
Then there is the Loopster. This is an ingenious ride featuring eight cabins or pods which can be customised or themed according to taste using sound and lighting effects. There is an element of interactivity. The cabins can spin in circles, do flips or just glide along smoothly at the customer’s touch of a button decrees. This makes for a ride that is as smooth or as riotous as they choose.
As an interactive attraction where passengers can choose on an individual basis whether to experience a leisurely or a wilder ride, the Loopster’s versatility makes it the ideal ride for all tastes.
A popular and interactive family ride, it is in destinations as diverse as Kuwait, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Germany, and more. It has the advantage over, say, a roller coaster, of possessing a compact diameter of less than twelve metres. The fact that there is no need for a static foundation is, according to the company, particularly appreciated by customers who include the Loopster in the planning of their amusement park at a later date.
“The Loopster (which has both indoor and outdoor applications) now has a modern facelift. The team presented the technically and visually revised concept of its characteristic cabins at DEAL Dubai in March, already raising great interest,” says Gastl.
Other popular family rides include Sundancer, Butterfly, Nautic Jet, Skydive, and Sunrider.
Upgrading the Mountain Coaster
The Mountain Coaster showcases Sunkid’s engineering expertise. The summer toboggan runs are among the most popular Mountain Coasters worldwide; there are more than 60 in countries across the globe.
The unique monorail system with its unique riding dynamics is the Mountain Coaster’s trademark. Its sophisticated build makes it particularly cost-efficient, and easy to take down again. Meanwhile, the low weight of the toboggans permits simple mountain transport, even using existing infrastructure such as T-bar and chair lifts, as well as cabin lifts. This not only reduces construction costs but also permits year-round use of existing infrastructure.
The Mountain Coaster has a sustainable and environmentally friendly construction, another consideration that puts it ahead of competitors.
The Mountain Coaster 2.0 celebrated its world premiere in the Spring of this year, when Sunkid unveiled it at INTERALPIN in Innsbruck, Austria. The new design sets new standards in safety, comfort and fun as well as efficiency. At the same time, it meets the increasing demands of Sunkid’s customers in terms of individual theming and year-round operation.
The ergonomically shaped backrest and toboggan shell form a dynamic unit. The team has also increased the seating comfort, with two possible positions for foot support. Added features include LED headlights, taillights, an optional backpack tray, and an easy-folding backrest.
The basic design, including redefined logo areas, also allows for a wide variety of individual customer themes.
A newly integrated intelligent assistance and braking system increases safety by actively controlling the speed and distance between the toboggans. Weight optimisation guarantees ease of handling for operators and personnel. This means new customers can continue to use their existing uphill infrastructure, whether surface lift, chairlift or gondola lift, in a cost-efficient manner.
The first projects to see the new iteration built are Trysil, Norway, France and Poland.
Sustainability is key for Sunkid
Sunkid’s Wood’n’Fun range encapsulates sustainability as a core value.
For more than 25 years, Sunkid has been supporting alpine tourism and recreational destinations with innovative solutions and sustainable products. Working with trusted partners, the company designs and creates play equipment and adventure scenes from sustainable, locally produced wood to clients’ specifications.
Sunkid highlights several outstanding projects created with the Wood’n’Fun range. One is a modern children’s play park embedded in nature on the Mariazeller Bürgeralpe. Here, attractions include a water play area with a raft race, a gold panning facility and beaver dominos. There is also a giant slide and ‘Eagle’s Nest’ climbing facility with ropes, suspended ladders and climbing nets at heights of up to 3 metres.
Another experience was created alongside the Streif, perhaps the most famous downhill Alpine ski run in the world. Of the nine stations set up along the most important sections of the route to teach children about the history and significance of the Streif, the team at Sunkid & their partners Almholz implemented four. In addition to the 20-metre tunnel slides and various climbing stations, the name STREIF was spelt out in giant, playable wooden letters.
People movers
Another product area that Gastl highlights is the line of waterpark tyre and boat conveyors. The latest generation comprises a modular system for inclines of up to 90°.
Based on Sunkid’s years of expertise in the construction of conveyor belts in all outdoor conditions, including snow, rain, and temperature fluctuations, the system has been adapted and optimised as sliding aids in water parks, featuring worldwide sale, a comprehensive service network, project-related, individual planning, and a selection of various proven concepts depending on the task at hand.
The conveyors can be adapted to work either with or without passengers. Sunkid offers comprehensive support in conception, implementation, and operation as standard, alongside relevant documentation according to respective national requirements. The equipment can, if necessary, be retrofitted to existing installations, and is suitable for all types of chutes. An incline angle of up to 90° is possible.
The all-purpose, weatherproof outdoor Moving Carpet conveyor belt for people and goods is a transport solution that was originally developed for the toughest outdoor conditions in ski resorts. As a result, its properties are unrivalled on the market where load-bearing capacity and reliability are key requirements.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the Moving Carpet is now increasingly used by amusement parks and shopping centres to transport people to and from large parking lots and sees just as much demand as a feeder for catering areas in winter as it does as an ascent aid for steep sections of the path. It has multiple applications in cities, municipalities and anywhere there are crowds of people, as well as in waterparks, on golf courses and at ski resorts.
Again, versatility is at its heart.
New developments at Sunkid
Sunkid-Heege comprises several fields of work. In terms of amusement technology, one focus is the production of components, spare parts and assembly groups for the leisure industry. Here, Gastl explains, Sunkid regards itself mainly as a service provider and supplier to the providers of complete systems.
Another core competence is the production and commissioning of vehicles – including complete trains – for roller coasters or similar systems. Inspection, maintenance, partial renewal and recertification of existing installations and rides are also key competencies:
“Last but not least, Sunkid also takes over the assembly of amusement rides or component groups from our own or third-party production.”
Sunkid boasts several USPs in terms of amusement technology. This includes state-of-the-art production facilities and machinery, highly qualified employees, and years of know-how in leisure technology:
“These enable us to manufacture everything from individual or spare parts to entire assemblies, as well as roller coaster vehicles and complete trains for the leisure industry.”
Concerning new developments, Kalsch comments in closing:
“Currently, we are developing a new roller coaster train for one customer in Europe, and another one in Asia. We are fortunate to be able to realise such a great project within the Sunkid Group, with its strong network and long-standing partners. And to carry out prototyping, testing and certification directly at our facility in Bassenheim.”
Sunkid will be exhibiting at IAAPA Expo 2023 in Orlando from 14 – 17 November, at booth #3813
