World of Jumanji attractions coming to US, Australia
Merlin is bringing World of Jumanji to the United States.
The attractions operator has opened a Jumanji-themed ride at its Gardaland theme park in Italy and a Jumanji-themed land at Chessington World of Adventures in the UK. Today, the company announced plans to bring Jumanji-themed attractions to four locations in the United States and Australia this year.
However, Jumanji will not be coming to Merlin-onwed theme parks in these countries. Merlin is planning to install these Jumanji attractions at its Madame Tussauds locations in New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Sydney.
Merlin is partnering Triotech for the installations, which will feature a new Jumanji-themed movie in Triotech's XD Dark Ride Motion Simulator. That system allows for four to 40 people at a time to participate in an interactive attraction in a 4D theater space, minimizing the needed footprint at the location.
"It’s great to see our collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment diversify into fresh formats in four new locations across Merlin’s global estate," Jonathan Lewis, Vice-President of Global IP at Merlin said. "Having seen the World of Jumanji delight guests with rides and hotel rooms at our resort theme parks in Europe, the opportunity to now work with Triotech to bring it to audiences at Madame Tussauds in the United States and Australia is an exciting new chapter in this journey."
"We’re delighted to be launching this Dark Ride experience in collaboration with Merlin Entertainments through the iconic and globally recognised brand of Madame Tussauds – particularly in city centre destinations in both the United States and Australia," Triotech CEO Ernest Yale said. "Working with Merlin, we have every confidence that these immersive rides will resonate with audiences across the globe. Bringing Jumanji to XD Dark Ride is an exciting step forward and a great example of how interactive attractions can bring beloved worlds to life.”
The Jumanji content will be available to current XD Dark Ride operators worldwide at the end of the summer, after it debuts at the four Madame Tussauds locations in July.
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i.e. - Upcharge
This seems like the way of the world these days, and when Disney started charging guests for Fastpass (in the form of LL), it opened the flood gates to upcharge revenues for themed entertainment. In the not too distant future, what guests actually get for their admission cost to an attraction will be virtually zero as operators force guests to pay for add-ons to avoid lines, add critical features to individual attractions, or to actually experience attractions. I don't think I've been to any themed entertainment complex in the past 2 years where I haven't been upsold. Why do they even bother advertising an admission price if that ticket doesn't actually get you anything of value or is such an annoying, soul-sapping experience that you don't want to do it again?