Now that another IAAPA Expo has wrapped up, a couple notes and thoughts.
When it comes to the new stuff shown off, the thing that definitely got the biggest buzz was the Five Night's at Freddy's darkride concept from Sally. Personally I'm all for it, and honestly I'd rather see this get built then the TWD ride concept.
The other new attraction concept that got a good amount of buzz was Dynamic Attractions Dynamic Motion Theater, this looks like a fun concept with a moving/spinning theater with a screen that slides to reveal big set pieces/live special effects etc. I could honestly see something like this being used in Universal's 3rd gate.
Other then that, another intruiging new concept was the compact launch coaster proposed by Mack. This looks great for smaller/midsize parks, and it seems to be their equivilant to Premier Ride's Sky Rocket 2 models. Though Mack has a nice advantage in offering forwards/backwards facing trains, a train of spinning cars, and both on the same track thanks to a turntable station option.
General announcement-wise, the main one was definitely TrioTech talking about their Flyer attraction, the Ghostbusters 5-D ride and the Fear the Walking Dead walkthrough. It does seem like the company is taking several steps up, though I hope the quality of their attractions rise as well since so far they haven't impressed me with either Wonder Mountain Guardian or Voyage to the Iron Reef.
Finally, it was hard to miss all the VR stuff at IAAPA. An' I noticed a good amount of people discussing that quite frankly it was too much. While there are applications where VR can work, such as showing off a proof of concept/preview video, or some smaller use for a game...it doesn't have the best track record as a final product for a park attraction, let alone being used in any major theme park. Now family entertainment centers, I can see VR working. But it seems a lot of these companies are aiming for theme park applications and that's just not working.