Last November, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), a non-profit representing compelling places and experiences worldwide, announced the recipients of one of the highest honours in the themed experience business. For the 29th Annual Thea Awards, 20 recipients have been recognised for their innovative work. The TEA will celebrate the winners at the Annual Thea Awards Gala in April 2023.
The Thea Awards recognise outstanding individuals, projects, and technologies in the area of themed attractions and experiences each year. The accolades include the Buzz Price Award, the Catalyst Award, the Classic Award and the Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Award.
The TEA created the annual Thea Awards in 1994 to recognise achievement, talent and personal excellence within the themed entertainment industry. They have since become a global symbol of excellence.
The name of the award is a play on three words: Thea, the Greek goddess from whom all light emanates, Theater, which is also derived from the name of the goddess, and TEA, for the Association itself.
Fri Forjindam, Thea Committee Chair, says: “Our field is constantly changing. Honouring these recipients from around the world highlights their success in bringing forth highly engaging visitor attractions and experiences in the leisure and travel sectors. They are everything from problem solvers to specialists that create what our imaginations can only dream of and bring it all to fruition.”
The Buzz Price Award
The recipient of the Buzz Price Award, which honours a lifetime of distinguished achievements, is Roland Mack. Mack is the founder and managing partner at Germany’s popular Europa-Park.
Roland Mack co-founded the park in 1975, along with his late father Franz. He has since developed the property into Europe’s busiest non-Disney theme park. Europa-Park is home to several hotels as well as the second-gate Rulantica water park, which opened in 2019.
Mack is an IAAPA Hall of Fame inductee and former chairman. He is also a qualified engineer and serves as a shareholder and former managing director of the family-owned manufacturer, Mack Rides. The Mack brand, which also includes Mack Animation, a leading animation studio and film production company, features in many of the world’s leading theme parks.
The park broke records in 2022, welcoming more than six million visitors in a season for the first time in its history.
In 2019, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Mack spoke to blooloop about his lifelong career in the business. Friends and colleagues also paid tribute to the industry icon.
The Catalyst Award
The Catalyst Award recognises individual contributions to the advancement of the industry. For the 29th Annual Thea Awards, this went to two recipients. The award-winners were Susana Tubert, creative director of Disney Live Entertainment and Disneyland Parks & Resorts at The Walt Disney Company, and Chevy Humphrey, president & CEO of the Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago, and board chair of the American Alliance of Museums.
Susana Tubert
Tubert has been with Disney since 2013. She has experience in developing immersive experiences, musicals and atmosphere shows, multimedia and fireworks spectaculars, parades, pop-up exhibits, festivals, character celebrations and special events and more. In her current role, Tubert provides creative leadership to live entertainment teams of show directors, writers, designers, choreographers, and composers.
Some of the projects she has worked on at Disneyland include the 2022 refresh of Main Street Electrical Parade, Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular, Tale of the Lion King, Celebrate Gospel, Pixar Fest, Disney Festival of Holidays, Disney ¡Viva Navidad!, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, Plaza de la Familia, A Musical Celebration of Coco, Lunar New Year Celebration, Disney Food and Wine Festival, Mickey’s Pop-Up, Frozen Fun, The Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration, the refresh of the Jungle Cruise attraction.
Tubert has a commitment to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion at Disney. She has participated in and contributed to Disney’s Creative Inclusion Council.
Chevy Humphrey
Chevy Humphrey is a corporate board director, business executive, science educator, and globally recognised industry leader. She is also the first woman and first Black American to lead the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, which is the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere. In 2005, Humphrey became the first Black American to lead a science centre in the US when she became CEO of Arizona Science Center.
Humphrey is the director and chair of the Compensation Committee for Grand Canyon Education and a member of the Board of Governors for the Argonne National Laboratory. She also currently serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, Choose Chicago, Education Forward Arizona, and Helios Education Foundation. Currently, she is chair of the Board of the American Alliance of Museums/
Humphrey is widely known as a compassionate business leader and innovator.
The Thea Classic Award
The Classic Award celebrates a visitor experience that has stood the test of time. Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, received the Classic Award at the 29th Annual Thea Awards.
The Main Street Electrical Parade is a nighttime parade with floats and live performers. It features more than 600,000 electronically controlled LED lights and a synchronised soundtrack. This is triggered by radio control at certain locations along the parade route.
The original parade ran from 1972 to 1996, and then in limited engagements in 2017 and 2019. There have also been spin-offs at other Disney properties around the world. The parade returned to Disneyland in April 2022. It featured a reimagined To Honor America finale float, designed to be more inclusive.
Speaking to blooloop in 2023 and reflecting on an award-winning season, Shelby Jiggetts-Tivony, VP of creative & advanced development at Disney Live Entertainment, said that the pandemic allowed time to rethink some classic attractions:
“It suddenly came to a stop, and we had a chance to rethink. We never stop. We’re a 24-7, 365 operation. So, the fact that everything did stop gave us a chance to look back on some of our legacy work. We could look at those fan favourites, Main Street Electric Parade and Fantasmic, and think about bringing them a little more up-to-date; making them more inclusive, and a little more relevant, leaning into stories that, when they first opened, didn’t even exist. If you’re a little kid today, do you know Encanto or do you know Pete’s Dragon?”
“As a parent, it’s wonderful to experience a classic piece of entertainment with content that resonated when I was young. To see kids’ eyes light up when they clock these newer characters is the other part of the gift.”
Thea Awards for Outstanding Achievement
Attraction: Chasseurs de Tornades, Futuroscope, France
Chasseurs de Tornades, or Tornado Chasers, is a new attraction at Futuroscope in Paris, France. The story centres on a visit to a new scientific centre dedicated to extreme weather studies. Here, visitors meet a scientist and a tornado chaser and explore their offices. The centre also includes a tornado simulator, workshop, garage and headquarters. Each set recreates the scientists working spaces, including media to help visitors learn more about the research.
While they are in the test centre, which features a holographic installation and a vibrating floor, the visitors hear a Doppler radar alarm. This signifies that a tornado is imminent. Taking shelter in the conference room, guests are strapped into their seats and surrounded by a 470-square-meter circular screen showing live-action scenes, LED projections, and special effects. They also experience motion thanks to a circular platform that goes up and down, and tilts and turns.
The experience combines live-action and virtual reality, as well as special effects such as wind and flashes of lightning. It is powered by the world’s first Dynamic Motion Theater from Dynamic Attractions, a leading creator of cutting-edge theme park rides.
Guy Nelson, CEO of Dynamic Attractions and Dynamic Technologies Group, says: “The Dynamic Motion Theater puts a whole new spin on an immersive attraction. We’ve pioneered new technology to create an experience that has been, until now, impossible. Ride fans need to storm to Futuroscope and experience this great new adventure.”
Attraction: Jurassic World Adventure, Universal Studios Beijing, Beijing, China
The Jurassic World Adventure attraction at Universal Studios Beijing takes animated dinosaurs to a whole new level. Guests have a close encounter with a range of dinos, from an Ankylosaurus that bashes the vehicle and causes it to spin out of control, to a scary overhead battle between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Indominous Rex.
However, the highlight is an industry-first: a full-size walking Indominus Rex that chases the riders. The huge animatronic sits on the same track system as the ride vehicle for a thrilling face-to-face reverse chase.
Universal Creative worked with P&P Projects, a provider of turnkey design-build services for themed entertainment & leisure experiences and Framestore, the visual effects specialist, as well as Creature Technology Co., a company that creates technologically sophisticated, creatively inspired, and lifelike animatronics for arena spectaculars, theme parks, exhibitions, stage shows and events around the world. It also worked with Animax Designs, a specialist in the creation of animatronics and interactive characters. The company’s show sets seamlessly blend with elements such as media and animatronics.
The fact that Jurassic World Adventure does not require experience-enhancing extras like 3D glasses is a significant feature. It combines media elements with intricate show sets, cutting-edge animatronics, and special effects to create an enthralling experience.
Attraction Limited Budget: Underlandet, Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden
The Underland, which opened in 2021, is the first dark ride addition to Liseberg in over 50 years. This new attraction takes families into a magical underground world below the park. This is where its mascots, rabbits Kanina, Kanne, Lisen, Berg, Fixa, and Julius, live. The dark ride expands the story universe of the much-loved green rabbits.
Visitors enter through a themed dining room and kitchen queue. Here, they encounter everyday objects from rabbit life, before stepping into a media-filled elevator for a magical ride to the underground world.
Down below, they start to learn more about the secret workings of how the rabbits operate Liseberg. The rabbits around them are hard at work growing vegetables, making ice cream, filling balloons, and powering the rides above. However, the rabbits’ antagonist, Måns Tråk, tries to foil their progress at every turn.
Working with Liseberg and Quarry Fold Studios, P&P Projects developed the initial concept for the attraction into a schematic, detailed and technical design package. This provided a base from which the firm could produce all show sets, props, show action equipment, AV and special effects in its workshops. P&P Projects spent just over a year producing and installing show sets, props and thematic elements in the attractions queue and the ride itself.
CL Corp, the European division of Triotech, an award-winning creator of media-based attractions, designed the preshow and supplied its Dynamic Explorer motion cabin. The ride system is by Gosotto and LifeFormations, a major player in the themed entertainment and museum space, also worked on this project.
Connected Immersion: JUMP by Limitless Flight, Bluffdale, Utah, USA
JUMP, a virtual reality wingsuit simulator, opened in Bluffdale Utah in May 2022. The brainchild of James Jensen, creator of The VOID, the experience uses cutting-edge technology to create hyper-detailed 3D landscapes of some of the most breathtaking BASE jumps in the world.
At the start of this Thea Award-winning attraction, guests watch a pre-flight video and then don their wingsuits and helmets. This features an integrated VR display designed by Value Index in conjunction with Optimal Design & Engineering. Thanks to adjustable Pupillary Distance, the headset offers crisp and clear visuals. Once they take the leap, visitors enjoy a free-fall sensation before the Navigator system “catches” them.
The ride system allows guests to control their direction, steering through cliff tops and tree lines as they enjoy a digital landscape. This was captured by a 180-degree-megapixel camera array. Eventually, they deploy the parachute and feel the pull of the chute release, thanks to IR tracking integration and the quick response of the game and mechanical systems, before slowly gliding to the ground by toggling the handles on the parachute. Visitors can also enjoy a playback of the flight afterwards.
Immersive Dining Experience Limited Budget: Absurdities Vol. 1, Andsoforth, Singapore
During the day, the Asylum Coffeehouse is a regular cafe in Farrer Park. But at night it transforms into the first scene of the Absurdities dining experience. Every half an hour, each group of eight visitors begins their journey, which lasts around two hours and sees them enjoy six different courses and a variety of different scenes with live performers.
From this first scene, they go through a hidden door to discover the next space, the Tree of Old., whose large roots act as tables, while a zebra-suited comedian invites them to guest the unusual ingredients of their dish. The experience then takes them through a desert tent and into a pink 50’s American kitchen. The fifth course takes place in the mysterious Potions Library. After this, another hidden door takes them to the final course, set in the First Class Lounge of a 70’s airliner.
Absurdities takes diners on a journey of surprises. It appeals to all the senses, keeping them entertained while also stimulating their minds. Actors deliver a story for each course as small groups of diners rotate through the different sets, with elements of an escape room experience.
Immersive Live Experience: Particle Ink: Speed of Dark, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The Thea Award-winning Particle Ink experience in Las Vegas immerses visitors in the engrossing tale of an artist and his wife who lost a child and have to confront their personal demons in order to find joy again via their art.
Located in an industrial area off the Strip, a garage door opening signals the start of the hour-long show. As visitors enter, they discover a variety of areas featuring custom sculptures and artwork. The father, the primary character, is first introduced at the cot of his missing child. Then, a spark of magic appears and transforms into the sprite of a child, in what the show’s creators call the “2.5th dimension”.
From this point on, the experience uses projections, deft handoffs, and interactivity to tell the story on every available surface. Scenes including acrobatics, performances, puppets, and hip-hop dancing move from room to room and walls to floors as the pair tries to recapture the four keys of joy.
A new, larger room is introduced midway through the performance. Here, the show’s darker elements, a major conflict, and the triumphant conclusion take place. The audience can explore the area and participate with interactive artworks, such as digital spray paints on the walls, a digital mirror dance, and AR secrets in a container, during two brief interludes.
Live Event: How to Train Your Dragon: Untrainable, Universal Beijing Resort, Beijing, China
Untrainable is a new stage production at Universal Beijing Resort, based on DreamWorks Animation How to Train Your Dragon series. It immerses the audience in the world of Vikings and Dragons where they learn about shared moral values, the importance of cooperation and empathy, and the importance of putting family first. This imaginative production transports viewers to the Isle of Berk and the brand-new Hatchery where young dragons are born.
The production became a worldwide success due to the collaboration between the Universal Beijing Resort staff on-site and Universal Creative, located more than 7,500 miles away.
Located inside the 1500-seat, two-story Majestic Theater at Universal Studios Beijing, the 20-minute immersive storytelling performance involves a cast of talented artists, including live actors, dancers, musicians, and vocalists, as well as cutting-edge technologies, spectacular automated scenery, surround projection mapping, stunning lighting, extraordinary costumes, special effects, breathtaking stunts, and an original musical score.
Creature Technology Co. was responsible for the show’s spectacular flying dragon, as well as several smaller dragon puppets and animatronics. LF Studios also worked on this project.
Science Center: Shanghai Astronomy Museum, Shanghai, China
Shanghai Astronomy Museum is a brand-new, internationally recognised planetarium in the Pudong District. It is the world’s largest astronomy museum, covering an area of 38,164 square metres. The building’s facade is made up of winding architectural ribbons, no straight lines, and three distinctive design elements: the sphere, the inverted dome, and the Oculus.
Inside, immersive spaces and experiences bring the science of astronomy to life for visitors of all ages. In one exhibit, guests can lie on comfortable seating on the floor while the ceiling and surrounding mimic the night sky for a unique stargazing experience. The guest experience was created around three key questions: ‘where are we?’, ‘where did we come from?’, and ‘where are we going?’. The museum then explores the answers across 300 exhibits in three galleries: ‘Home’, ‘Universe’, and ‘Journey’.
The Thea Award-winning new museum also features a 720-degree spiralling ramp, an IMAX theatre, an 18-meter optical planetarium, and a 24-meter-high solar telescope. Cosm, a global technology company that builds end-to-end solutions for immersive experiences, worked on this project.
Museum Limited Budget: The Irish Racehorse Experience, Irish National Stud & Gardens Co.; Kildare, Ireland
The Irish Racehorse Experience in Kildare, Ireland, takes guests on a customised tour that follows an Irish thoroughbred horse’s development from a yearling through adulthood. Visitors interact with industry specialists for an insider’s guide. During the experience, they learn what it takes to be an owner, manager, or internationally renowned thoroughbred trainer.
This is a low-budget endeavour inside a 6500-square-foot building. It is tucked away in garden surroundings, where guests can observe yearlings and famous horses up close in the Living Legends paddock. The goal is to engage both expert and non-expert visitors by exposing them to the thrill and excitement of horse ownership and competitive horse racing.
Visitors from all around the world are audio guided in their native languages as they move through the many exhibitions, engaging in individualised multi-sensory technology and hands-on, interactive experiences.
Groups of eight visitors can test their competitive spirit and determine whether their horse is a victorious thoroughbred in the “Big Race” as the visit’s culmination. In this interactive, which combines an actual mechanical horse with a large-curved computer game, they take on the role of a jockey, riding their own chosen horse in a simulated race with reciprocating motions of the horse’s head, hand grips, and seat.
Historical Experience Limited Budget: QUAKE, Lisbon Earthquake Center, Lisbon, Portugal
The 18,000-square-foot Quake historical experience in Lisbon brings to life the city’s devastating earthquake of 1755. This was one of the most destructive earthquakes in history. The event destroyed most of the buildings within the city, as well as many of its streets and squares. It was also followed by a tsunami, and fires raged across Lisbon, changing the city beyond recognition.
Quake features a 90-minute walk-through experience. It features nine timed and show-controlled scenes, inviting guests to learn more about the earthquake and put themselves in the shows of the city’s inhabitants 265 years ago. Starting in an abandoned lab, they meet a professor who asks them to travel back in time and find important missing documents. They then walk through the streets of the lost city and watch the drama unfold around them.
With cutting-edge projection mapping, integrated media screens, interactive exhibitions, special effects such as smoke and fragrances, immersive show lighting, highly themed locations, simulator effects, and a masterfully crafted soundtrack, the Quake adventure is brought to life on a limited budget.
Jora Vision, a leading design and production company, was responsible for the full design development and turn-key production realisation. Painting with Light, a lighting and multimedia expert, worked on cutting-edge projection mapping, imaginative lighting design, and other AV systems. Kraftwerk Living Technologies (KLT), a leading-edge AV systems integrator, also worked on this project.
As well as its Thea Award, Quake was also rewarded with a number of blooloop Innovation Award recognitions. It won first place in the Themed Environment category, sponsored by Lumsden, and third place in the Storytelling category, sponsored by Storyland Studios.
Brand Experience: Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is an immersive two-night hotel experience where visitors become the hero of their own Star Wars adventure. Described as ‘storyliving’ rather than storytelling, guests are taken deeper into the Star Wars universe than ever before.
It is set on board the Halcyon Starcruiser, famed for its impeccable service, comfortable cabins, thrilling entertainment and delicious F&B. The experience allows passengers to impact their own storyline as they interact with characters, crew and other guests. State-of-the-art technology is combined with captivating storytelling to create an entirely new experience.
“Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser is a first-of-its-kind experience where we’re inviting guests to step into a galaxy far, far away, and live out a Star Wars story over two days and two nights,” said Ann Morrow Johnson, executive producer and creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI).
“For the first time, we’re going to invite guests to become the hero of their own Star Wars adventure. When guests arrive at Walt Disney World, they will go to this terminal. You and your family will then be ushered into a Launch Pod. This is a small capsule where you will then simulate the experience of blasting off into space. There will be a window overhead until you eventually see our ship, the Halcyon, in the distance.”
Theme Park: Universal Studios Beijing, Beijing, China
The eagerly awaited Universal Studios Beijing Theme Park Resort debuted in October 2021, despite the pandemic and arguably one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
Its ambition, size, and uniform degree of excellence raise the bar for theme park destination development globally in terms of the guest experience. The principles of “global vision, international standards, distinctive Chinese features, and future-oriented goals” served as the foundation for the creation of Universal Beijing Resort.
The main Universal Studios Beijing resort spans 400 hectares. It is part of a bigger (1,200-hectare) cultural tourist destination in the Tongzhou Cultural Tourism Zone of east Beijing. The Universal Studios Beijing theme park, the Universal City Walk Beijing shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, and two hotels are all part of the Universal Beijing Resort. The Universal Studios Grand Hotel is the first NUO-branded resort hotel from the Beijing Tourism Group. It is also the first resort hotel with a Universal theme.
The Thea Award-winning park has seven highly themed, immersive lands. These include more than 37 state-of-the-art attractions, rides, and landmarks, 24 shows and performances, 60 dining and drinking establishments, 30 shops, and uniquely crafted experiences that commemorate and represent China’s rich cultural heritage. It is also the first theme park resort in the world to receive LEED Gold certification.
A number of partners helped make the creation of this new theme park a reality, including LF Studios.
Technology: Beaudry Interactive, Los Angeles, California, USA
Beaudry Interactive’s Diva control suite of tools enables a performer or puppeteer to control and interact with the elements in a scene in real time, including puppets, lights, media elements, scenic elements, and more.
Depending on what the narrative or the controlled item requires, performers have been able to use Diva to exercise control through gestures or positions. For instance, dancers in Diavolo Dance Theater’s Transit Space have employed the tools.
The Big Bird puppeteers at SeaWorld San Diego can now select their voice choices while performing the character in front of live audiences thanks to Beaudry International’s new pose-based control. The system is aware of the closeness of land elements and can use this to automatically suggest appropriate choices for the performer. These are then shown on a control display inside the costume. This allowed the puppeteers to make a more genuine connection with guests.
The Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Thea Awards
Kevin Murphy
Kraftwerk Living Technologies’ senior VP of sales and business development, Kevin Murphy, has been awarded the Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Award. This recognises his longstanding contributions to the industry and his support of the TEA, its EME Division, and global members.
Peter Weishar
Peter Weishar is director of the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) themed experience graduate programs. He received the Peter Chernak Distinguished Service Award for his promotion of the industry through education, program development and support of the TEA NextGen members.
“I share this recognition with all of the individuals at UCF that have partnered and supported the Themed Experience programs and our students,” says Weishar. “While the award is for many years of service, I believe it was given now due to the tremendous impact being made on industry by the programs at UCF.”
The official award ceremony for all Thea Awards winners will take place in Anaheim, California, on 15 April 2023.
