TEA SATE Europe was held from 5 – 7 May 2022 at Liseberg, in the heart of Gothenburg, Sweden. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Celebrations’ exploring insight and trends across the core pillars: Storytelling, Architecture, Technology and Experience (SATE).
Through two days of sessions MC’d by Suzy Griffiths, VP of IMG Events, attendees heard from speakers across the industry. They also enjoyed arguably one of Europe’s most beautiful parks. Delegates could experience several rides exclusively during the event. This included the new mascot-rabbit themed ‘Underlandet’ dark ride created by P&P Projects, Gosotto, Quarry Fold Studio and IMA Score.
The evening dinner was held at the experiential dinner show Mamma Mia! The Party. The entire show was in Swedish. However, this didn’t stop the SATE crowd from dancing on tables and being the last ones standing on the dance floor!
The TEA Europe and Middle Eastern Division also launched the NextGen Showcase at TEA SATE Europe 2022. This year-long programme includes mentorship from top European attraction leaders Pia Adlivankin, Linnanmaki MD and CEO, Andreas Andersen, Liseberg CEO and president, Jaap den Bleaker, Efteling project support team lead, Daniel Kerscher, Europa-Park global art director, and Amanda Thompson OBE, Blackpool Pleasure Beach MD.
Previewing the Grand Hotel Curiosa at TEA SATE Europe 2022
Attendees experienced a hard hat tour of the new Oceana waterpark and onsite Grand Hotel Curiosa. They also heard from Thomas Sjöstrand, chief project officer of the expansion project. Having purchased an old gearbox factory next to the park, the parcel of land opened up a lot of opportunities for development.
“We brought 33 different options to the board on what we could do with that land. We worked with Leisure Development Partners and looked at what was best for the city to bring in tourists. So, we decided on a hotel and waterpark, with room to grow in the future too” said Sjöstrand.
The hotel takes inspiration from the theme of exploration. It centres around characters Mr Dora and his wife Agnes who have brought back an assortment of curiosities from all over the world. It will have 457 rooms, aimed at families with five beds in each room. The hotel has 5 wings around a central hub.
“We didn’t want a backside or a frontside. Every room has a nice view across the park or city,” said Sjöstrand.
The bar will also have a working carousel from 1923, the park’s opening year. The hotel will open in April 2023.
Oceana
The new indoor waterpark will open in Spring 2024 and is aiming for 500,000 visitors a year. The story showcases various harbours Agnes has visited throughout her travels. The park has been developed closely with WhiteWater and includes several firsts for Europe and the world.
“For this project, we needed to deliver world-class attractions and meet the high capacity,” said Grant Poje, executive vice president of WhiteWater.
“Oceana will have the World’s tallest drop in a water coaster, a 14m drop in our Master Blaster which sits right opposite the wave pool,” added Poje.
“The park also will have the first 6-person rides in Europe”.
Both the indoor waterpark and the hotel are part of a wider development of the city. Next door a new brand experience ‘World of Volvo’ is under development, as well as a new tram stop right outside the park’s front door. Neighbouring attraction Universeum is also expanding with a new planetarium in construction.
Keith James – a career comes full circle
Every TEA SATE Europe has an in-depth chat with an industry leader. This year Christine Kerr, principal, Kerr Creative Company, sat down with Keith James, president of JRA – Part of RWS Entertainment Group, to discuss James’ 50 years in the business.
James started out at Kings Island in 1971 as a stage manager. This is where he met Patty, his wife of nearly 45 years.
“There was no industry when I began, we were figuring it out as we went along,” said James. “If you couldn’t do something, you could always find friends who could. The industry really got its legs in the 70s”.
James then moved to Canada’s Wonderland as head of planning and development, before becoming the park manager ’ from 1981-82. Kerr was also at Canada’s Wonderland at that time, starting her career in the costume department.
James worked on the Vancouver World’s Fair in 1986 and then got the opportunity to lead Australia’s Wonderland, living in Sydney for 4 years.
Not long after, he was invited to join the Universal Studios project in Orlando where he worked for 4 years. He was then approached by his good friend Jack Rouse to join him and Amy Merrill at Jack Rouse Associates, where he’s been ever since.
A lifetime in entertainment
James and Rouse had been close for years. James’ mum was Rouse’s secretary, and Rouse had also given James his first opportunity in the theatre world to develop Kings Productions at Taft Broadcasting Co. They had a 10-week motorbike trip across the states and formed a lifelong friendship. Through his time at JRA, he has worked on multi-million dollar projects across the world. He has also been recognised as a Buzz Price Thea Award winner.
JRA was recently acquired by RWS Entertainment Group, a global entertainment group created by Ryan Stana, who was also a close friend. Stana was a dance student of Patty’s and got to know the James family around their kitchen table – which is themed as a 1950s Johnny Rocket style kitchen. On the new partnership with Ryan, Keith says:
“It’s a 20-year relationship, but it all transpired in the last 12 months”.
Always humble, James is also keen to emphasise his success is from the team. “I’ve been propped up by many many many wonderful people. It is not I, but We. Us” said James.
Into the Metaverse at TEA SATE Europe 2022
Moderated by Lesley Morisetti, director of Morisetti Associates, the metaverse session at TEA SATE Europe 2022 brought together three speakers to discuss the potential of the industry. “It’s not about replacing real life,” said Morisetti, “but a blend of the digital and physical worlds”.
David Andrade, co-founder and director of Theory Studios, took attendees through a potted history of game mechanics to the beginnings of the metaverse. Computer games like Everquest and Secondlife in the 1990s introduced a sense of community, customisation and commerce in gaming.
When Fortnite by Epic Games launched, this was a huge game-changer and cultural phenomenon. For the first time, a game had timed events within the platform, like the Travis Scott or Ariana Grande concerts. This created a sense of FOMO. There were partnerships with celebrities and brand collab skins.
Andrade says if we like it or not, we aren’t deciding the future of the metaverse. The kids are, through platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, and loads of new platforms you probably haven’t heard of yet but your ten year old has!
New technology on show
Martin Howe, CEO and co-founder of Dapper Labs, showcased the ‘present’ metaverse with a live demo of his Chaperone technology. Fitting with the ABBA theme, Howe presented the ABBAverse, and how their platform could interact in a hypothetical ABBA dark ride.
With the Chaperone technology, guests could interact with their environment to control the dark ride, control the music, scan photos to link to merchandise and even use the ABBA-grabba feature to pick up an ABBA member from a poster and then drop it into an AR application on their phone.
Louis Alfieri, chief creative officer at Raven Sun Creative looked at wider tech industries impacting the metaverse in themed entertainment, from big tech, web 3.0, game engines and NFTs.
“The metaverse isn’t an impediment,” said Alfieri. “It’s an opportunity to communicate through our experience”.
Alfieri did raise concerns about the rising ticket prices at the parks. This could create a ‘digital divide’, with the wealthy being able to experience the park IRL, and the average guest only able to afford a digital twin/experience.
There was also an agreed need that as an industry we need to be doing more for innovation. “We are kind of reskinning everything at the moment. We need to be at the forefront of tech and adopting and pushing innovations, not waiting for consumers to adopt and then design,” said Alfieri.
Either way, it’s a trend we can’t afford to ignore. According to Morisetti, the metaverse industry will be valued between $1tr and $13tr by 2030.
Can the Berm hold?
TEA EME division board president and co-founder, senior partner at Leisure Development Partners Yael Coifman, spoke with Geoff Thatcher, founder and chief creative officer at Creative Principals as part of TEA SATE Europe 2022, on the power of the berm.
Through interactive surveys with the audience, the pair examined if it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep the outside world out of theme parks. This is through social media and the increasing reliance on phones for ticketing and fast passes distracting guests and interrupting the immersion.
New functionality like Genie+ means guests are using their time more efficiently at the parks. They are doing more experiences in the same amount of time, now two experiences an hour. In effect wanting to get as many attractions squeezed in to justify the high ticket prices.
This translates to a $70-100M investment for a larger park, to keep guests happy and entertained to the same standard as before. Instead, parks can work on more engaging pre-shows and more interesting F&B. This makes non-ride alternatives that guests want to spend their time doing too and help fill the day.
Smells and tastes on show at TEA SATE Europe 2022
Bart Dohmen, partner at TDAC International, and Brad Shelton, VP and creative director at BRC Imagination Arts then led a session on the importance of senses in experience design.
“The key is to create lifelong sensory memories, which in turn create brand loyalty and ROI,” said Shelton. One of the pair’s most memorable experiences was at the Remeker Cheese Farm in the Netherlands.
The owner takes guests around the experience explaining how the cows are looked after and showing the special horned variety which they are particularly proud of. This is before ending the tour, and proving the quality of his cows, by sticking his finger in a fresh cow pat and sticking it under the guests’ noses saying “it doesn’t smell!”- and it didn’t (apparently!)
The two are currently working together on the World Food Center project in the Netherlands. This explores how we will feed the world by 2050.
Multisensory
Also focusing on senses at TEA SATE Europe 2022 was Jacob Trevino, founder and CEO of Gorilla Cinema Presents. He examined the role F&B plays in revenue generation and creating memorable experiences:
“Look at the success of Butterbeer at the Universal Parks. They have sold over 20 million units! It’s only mentioned a dozen times in the books but is hugely successful,” said Trevino. “It’s also a cheaper souvenir than the wand.”
Trevino listed other small-high end experiences like Lost Spirits Distillery in Las Vegas. Here, guests have to explore the space to get their rum samples. He also referenced Cahoots in London which started off as a speakeasy in an old tube train and now incorporates an escape room. “I think we’ll see more gameplay mechanics coming into F&B,” said Trevino.
Parks, of course, need to be wary of scale. “Parks want something that is instagrammable. But they can’t do something too complicated. It needs to be scalable for the masses in the parks,” said Trevino.
Through the most beautiful hand-drawn presentation, Daniel Kerscher, global art director at MackNext, the design department of Europa Park, explored the connection between design, people and place and where people feel the most alive. David Debouverie, senior associate, P+A Projects, then spoke on the link between imagination, play and storytelling.
Exploring the importance of sustainability at TEA SATE Europe 2022
We also heard from host Andreas Anderson, CEO and president of Liseberg at TEA SATE Europe 2022, on the steps the park has taken to reduce its carbon footprint. It is the world’s first ISO20121 certified theme park.
“It’s about rethinking value management. Before, the attitude was to try to do good elsewhere to offset the negative impact your business has on the environment. In future, I think businesses will be the tools in creating a better future,” said Anderson.
Through systematic organisational change and communication and involvement with all staff, the park has become the most recognised green brand in Sweden.
Sirko Adler, business development manager at WhiteWater, discussed how the company is committed to its sustainability goals of halving its waste by 2030 and becoming net-zero by 204. This is something the company also discussed recently on a panel at our recent greenloop event.
WhiteWater is taking many approaches across the entire company. These include: designing products with less splash back and smoother glide outs; creating products with a longer life; using more recyclable materials in production and less packaging; designing more shades and green areas for head absorption and less water evaporation; filtration and also using the correct power and volume of water for your attractions.
Dubai Expo 2020, lighting and Disneyland Paris
Electrosonic’s VP and executive consultant, Chris Conte walked us through some of the stand-out pavilions and projects at Dubai’s Expo 2020. The event saw over 20 million visitors over the last year and injected $40 billion into the local economy.
One of the standout projects was the gravity-defying water feature ‘Surreal’ by WET and Christie. Another was the Mobility Pavilion, which had 50-foot hyper-realistic displays of key Arab explorers Al Bakri, Ibn Battuta and Ibn Majid, created by Weta Workshop.
The next expo will be in Osaka, Sansai Japan 2025 with the theme ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’.
Matt Dawson, vice president of business development at Forrec compared Disney’s ‘Its a Small World’, The Musical Instrument Museum and Global Village for common themes in his ‘What in the World?’ Session.
George Lawton, lighting designer, then examined the role light has played in history, religion and future trends including interactivity. The audience also participated in a CrowdGlow party (a warm-up for that evening’s Mamma Mia dancing).
Tracy Eck, TEA Master, blooloop 50 Influencer and art director of Disneyland Paris discussed her career with attendees at TEA SATE Europe 2022.
After seeing It’s A Small World at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York as a child, Eck studied French, before working in theatre. She was recruited for the Disneyland Paris project and has stayed at the park ever since. Eck began as a lighting designer before becoming art director for the entire park.
She most recently worked on a major castle renovation during COVID. “It was harder doing the scaffolding on the castle than doing the actual renovation,” joked Eck.
The next TEA SATE event will be in North America at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. This will take place from 13-16 October 2022. Europa-Park in Germany will host the next European SATE, in 2023.
