July 27, 2007

Secret Fun Park: IAAPA

It occurred to me that I should follow up about the IAAPA tradeshow which I mentioned in the last post. IAAPA stands for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. They typically have a yearly tradeshow that moves around to various cities.

The cool thing about the tradeshow is that it’s like visiting a theme park or carnival on the cheap, no screaming kids, and very little waiting in line! Back when it was in Atlanta, several of my friends and I went and had a lot of fun. It was open to the public and we didn’t have any trouble with the fact that we were just a bunch of college guys and not bigwigs with a bankroll to buy any of the games/rides/cooking equipment on display. I can only imagine that the reason we got in so easily is because not enough people know enough about it for the show to get overrun with non-industry folks. I think the trade show entry fee was like $25 which was probably on par with the cost of a Six Flags ticket at the time. However, we got to eat all the carnival food we could hold down so it was actually cheaper than the typical Six Flags visit. Plus, I would say it was a much more unique experience and A LOT less waiting in line.

During our experience, we got to play all kinds of arcade games for free and rarely did we have to wait to play anything. We also rode on a few small-sized carnival rides that could fit in the Georgia World Congress Center. Additionally, there were some quite big rides in the Georgia Dome next door. I remember we rode on a giant Ferris wheel type thing, only it was two arms instead of a complete wheel. We almost went up in the rafters of the Dome it was so big! There was also a free fall type ride and a human slingshot. Some other cool things included motion platform games and a really cool Apache helicopter simulation game that was actually built from the same hardware used in military training. Another area of the show that was fun to check out was the special effects section for haunted houses.

I mentioned the food earlier. Part of the show floor is covered by food vendors and fast food cooking equipment. Of course, all of them have food samples. I think we ate hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, Dippin’ Dots, funnel cake, cotton candy, cookies, you name it! It’s a miracle we survived such gluttony. Probably the only reason we did make it out of there is that we showed some restraint so as not to get sick on the rides.

I can definitely recommend being on the lookout for when and where the tradeshow is going each year. If it comes by your area and the tradeshow entry fee is still cheap enough, get a bunch of friends together and head over. I think it’s in Orlando, FL this year.