IAAPA 2005 Show: A Vendor’s Perspective
By Dan Faupel
For anyone who has not attended the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) show in the past, it can be quite an eye-opening experience! From Roller Coaster manufacturers to makers of nacho cheese dispensers, and everything in between, almost anything related to amusement facilities can be found at this show.
This was our sixth year exhibiting at IAAPA, and even though overall attendance seemed a little down this year, we enjoyed our most successful show ever, in terms of contracts signed at the show, and we came away with several hot qualified leads. I’ll take a handful of qualified leads over a zillion unqualified leads any day! It was great seeing many familiar faces, hanging out with both buyer and exhibitor friends, and meeting new people in the industry.
The Dark Attraction industry was well represented at IAAPA 2005, with many companies that haunters are familiar with. There was of course, ourselves(Creative Visions), IAHA, Halloween Productions Inc., Sally Corp., Gilderfluke, Distortions, Morris Costumes, Scarefactory, Renrok, Lifeformations, Advanced Animations, TBFX, Haunted Attraction Magazine, Haunt X, Characters Unlimited, Tourist Attractions and Parks Magazine, Hotwire, Transworld Exhibits, LaFond FX, National Amusement Parks Historical Association (NAPHA), Oak Island Productions, Robot Country USA, Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), and more that I can’t think of offhand. A full vendor list can be viewed on IAAPA’s website, www.iaapa.org .
The past five IAAPA tradeshows were held in Orlando, FL. This year (and next year) the show returned to Atlanta, GA. I heard some grumbling from a few buyers about it being colder than Florida, and not being in close proximity to all of the amusement parks that Orlando has. Coming from St. Louis, it meant a shorter ride for us! Our only complaint would be how “by the book” the World Congress Center was as opposed to the leniency we had become accustomed to in Orlando. We weren’t the only vendors who were a little miffed at how tight they were with set-up and break down times.
One of the best things about the show returning to Atlanta was the fact that we would be able to visit Netherworld Haunted House (www.fearworld.com ) for the first time in seven years. It was good back then, but we had a feeling that Ben Armstrong and Billy Messina had ratcheted it up a few notches since then, and wow were we right! They had a seminar series Friday, which featured education from some of the top people in the industry, and they were open to the public on Saturday night. The seminar series generously donated 25% of the profits to the IAHA.
We had intended on visiting Netherworld on Saturday, but I didn’t think about the fact that we would be breaking the CV booth down then, since that was the last day of the show. But being the gracious host that he is, Ben let us, and a few other vendors who were stuck by the break down thing, come and hang out on Friday night along with the seminar attendees. The Netherworld show is truly amazing, and in my opinion is one of, if not the best seasonal haunt I have seen.
After giving the Netherworld attractions the once over, it was time to take a short trip to another local haunt, Chamber of Terrors. When pulling up out front, not knowing anything about the history of the place, we jumped the gun anticipating a lame show. Really, after seeing Netherworld, how good could this place be? All I’ve got to say is, man were we wrong! After enjoying some provided beverages and a nice video presentation, they gave a “lights off” tour followed by “lights on” behind the scenes explanations of how the gags were accomplished. They had several scares that definitely pushed the envelope of how close you can get to people, but I was most impressed by their creative “virtual reality” bus ride in the haunt. Unfortunately, this last season was Chamber’s last, and they were selling off most of the things seen on the tour.
On Thursday night Transworld Exhibits hosted a really nice party at a nearby sports bar which included drinks and food. It was attended much better than the one they had at last year’s IAAPA show, and had a really good turnout. The party was followed by the IAHA board meeting, which was nice considering we hadn’t had the opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting since the Midwest Haunter’s Convention.
The last day of the show I was able to put a little time into working the IAHA booth, and assisted with the booth break down and load out. I met several new members I had not had the pleasure of meeting before, like Jessica Sammis, who was working the IAHA booth. IAHA secretary Deanna Morton (witchypoo) put in a ton of hard work, in booth organizing, transport, set up, manning, and break down. She graciously set aside her personal schedule to make the trip out to Atlanta to help out the association.
The Creative Visions crew definitely had a great time at the show, and on the trip home we were already concocting plans for next year’s show. Now we are back at our happy home, working on bids, and longing for the next tradeshow. See everyone at Transworld!
About the author: Dan Faupel is the production designer for the St. Louis based company Creative Visions. They specialize in the fabrication of animated characters and themed environments for amusement facilities worldwide. See his artistry at work on their new website, www.CreativeVisionsOnline.com.
