Paul Borchardt, Wonderland Park, USA (pictured): We saw more plush lines with better design and better grade materials. Overall it’s of higher quality, a great improvement over the toys we’ve had the past 20 years. The lighting and types of lighting is also getting much better. It’s better flash, using LEDs with lower voltages and higher brightness. I also see an improved quality and resurgence of video games and redemption games. There are better display screens and better flash surrounding them.
Dato’ Richard Koh, Only World Group, Malaysia: I think the humanoid animatronic from Kokoro at IAAPA in Orlando was very advanced. It can follow real human movements and answer questions from humans too, it’s so artistic, realistic and sophisticated that you think you are talking to a real person. I think it is a great promotional product and the new generation of robots. The other product that caught my attention was the Flogos machine, which produces a snowflake that floats and fills the sky with your logo or any shapes. Now the sky really is the limit when it comes to advertising!
Scott Simpson, Playland’s Castaway Cove, USA: Wisdom took an old concept, that of the Flying Scooter, and put a new spin on it. They call it the Wind Surfer, it’s a two-seater, surfboard and there’s a wind sail in front of you that allows you to control the flying action. Len Soled and Mark Blumhagen came up with the idea and presented it to Wisdom, who brought a prototype seat to the IAAPA show.
