Wavre, Belgium, 20 October 2016 – Alterface, global champion in interactive ride technology, celebrates its 15th anniversary at IAAPA with a dedicated Anniversary Awards Ceremony and Cocktail at the end of the first day – everyone is invited to join the party!
Another opportunity to celebrate will be at the TEA Mixer, sponsored by Alterface.
Visitors can experience Alterface’s latest technology in an interactive demo unit on their booth. This superior guest experience is offered in ETF’s latest generation dark ride vehicle and driven by Alterface’s unique Salto show control. This collaboration demonstrates how Alterface seamlessly works with leading companies in the market to create more value for its customers. ETF Ride Systems is exhibiting at IAAPA on booth #4809
Alterface CEO and Founder Benoit ‘Ben’ Cornet comments: “Our new tagline ‘Enjoy the ride’ reflects the experiences of our customers during the exciting period of creating their dream ride with our technology and team. Eventually it is our mission and greatest satisfaction to make sure visitors enjoy the ride. They keep us excited and remain at the center of our activities, also for the years to come.”
15 years pioneering upwind
Benoit Cornet reflects on 15 years of Alterface: “We started out with our human interface technology for attractions and have now a full portfolio of advanced technology solutions for interactive rides & theaters. To me those past years of pioneering in the field of on-location entertainment are comparable to sailing a boat upwind. It takes immense efforts and progress can be very slow, yet our goal always remained very clear, our team very strong and our resolution unshakable. We are pleased to see that the market has since grown substantially and Alterface secured a sizable market share. Together with our loyal partners and customers around the globe, we are an unbeatable A-team, and this we celebrate at IAAPA!”
Pointing the right direction
Back in 2002, Alterface started its business with “interface-less” applications. In 2004 the company even installed a complete museum in Spain, using the patented Gesture detection technology as the only way to interact with giant screens. “While this is a great technology for so called “serious venues” (museum, science centers), we are not so fond of it in attractions for the reason that visitor will hardly be able to “master” it and therefore may leave the attraction frustrated. So what those years have taught us is that it is vastly preferable to give the visitors a “tool” they can learn to master than going device-less.”
In Maus au Chocolat (Phantasialand, Germany) a polyester cream pouch is used to chase the little mice away from the bakery. In Splashing UFO (an interactive rapid river in Yomiuriland, near Tokyo, Japan), buttons can be “smashed” to chase the evil “Kettle man”. In Benno’s Great Race, in Ferrari world in Abu Dhabi, a wrench features a “drag and drop” function so the young visitors can help assemble cars, cut spider webs or capture bees…
Etienne Sainton, Head of Software Engineering at Alterface: “Our team is dedicated to creating the most customized experience for each project. We want visitors to enjoy a fun and inspiring experience, and we achieve this through a perfectly blend of our technology with the design of the attraction. The Alterface technology is unique in offering this possibility and provides various interactivity options which are not intrusive to the scenery or storyline. Each improvement and new technology created during the last years provided a better experience for the visitor, more flexibility for the designers, resulting in successful and sustainable attractions for the park.”
Stéphane Battaille, Chief Operations Officer at Alterface: “The patents we are receiving, including the most recent one in the US for our ‘Multi-user pointing apparatus and method’, alongside the Brass Ring Award for Justice League with Sally Corporation, are a great recognition of our team’s daily and on-going efforts. The interactive pointing and show control technologies were originally introduced by us and now lead the market. And there is much more and exciting technology in the pipeline which will render attractions even more thrilling, so stay tuned!”
Timeless attractions powered by Alterface technology
Alterface is proud that many of it’s ‘older’ attractions are still highly successful today. It demonstrates that aging of rides is not an issue if there is a good mix of great content, powerful theming and outstanding quality. This year Alterface celebrates 10 years of the Desperados attraction, which keeps drawing crowds in Fraispertuis, France. After five years Maus-au-Chocolat remains in the top-3 attractions of Phantasialand in Germany. And in Belgium, Mini Europe today hosts Alterface’s first media-based attraction implemented .. some 15 years ago and still reaching a wide and entusiastic public !
The anniversary coincides with a true explosion of interactive dark rides powered by Alterface all over the world. This includes most recently Justice League: Battle for Metropolis at Six Flags, US, Plants Vs Zombies duelling theater at Carowinds, US, and Benno’s Great Race at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. 16 installations took place already at Lego Discovery Centers across the world. In January the brand new Ghostbuster attraction opens at MotionGate in Dubai, a close cooperation with ETF Group.
The proof is in the ride!
Christian Diekmann, Vice President Strategic Growth, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
“Alterface did a great job in developing and building our attraction. They brought a ton of enthusiasm to the project and really immersed themselves in the world of Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. This dedication was apparent in how the gameplay, animation, scenic and ride design all came together. Finally this attraction was an important addition to our family product at Carowinds. It’s something that mom and dad can experience together with their kids and the competitive gaming aspect helps make it repeatable. Once you’ve fought on the Plants side, you want to do the Zombies side right after, and vice versa. At the end of the day, you know you’ve gotten it right when you see the smiles on family’s faces on their way out.”
John Wood, CEO of Sally Corporation – Booth #2254
“Over the last few years we have worked together with Alterface to create pure magic when it comes to interactive experiences. On our first project, both companies were somewhat guarded of our technologies and our experience in the industry. Benoit and I had discussed a potential collaboration on numerous occasions but nothing came to fruition until Justice League: Alien Invasion in Australia. From that initial experience we learned we were of like minds and like purpose...both companies were dedicated to creating the best possible experience with the tools we had available. Since that time it has been a wonderful collaboration of creativity and technology that helped us create what was acclaimed to be the ‘best new major attraction’ in the amusement park industry. We hope to do many more together in the future.”
Sebastian Jonas , Quality Manager Phantasialand
“The Maus-au-Chocolat dark ride was developed a few years ago and is still a top attraction at Phantasialand, Germany’s largest theme park” confirms Mr Jonas: “The content is very funny with sharp ideas to make the game even more entertaining. Maus-au-Chocolat remains after these years still the visitors top choice as it is a total and special experience with 100% reliability regarding theme, technique, games features & quality. Alterface is always keen to find a solution together. They deliver what we need, turning our ideas into real-time quality projects.”
Ruud Koppens, President of ETF Group – Booth #4809
ETF Group, the leading developer of ride concepts, had such confidence in Alterface that they invested in the company as a shareholder during a financially difficult period a few years ago. Ruud Koppens, ETF President, comments: “We always enjoyed a great partnership, the Alterface team has a no-nonsense but very creative approach, all team members are very reliable, approachable and dedicated. Their ride technology is state of the art and it’s always a great pleasure to work together. We recently finished a new ride with Alterface at IMG in Dubai, The Amazing Ride of Gumball, and I’m very proud of the result!”
Community engagement
Ben Cornet concludes:“My greatest satisfaction is to see our customers coming back to us with increasingly ambitious projects, which proves the success of our collaboration. We celebrate this with a party at IAAPA and an Awards Ceremony where we want to thank and acknowledge our community for their on-going support, friendship and confidence. It’s been a bumpy but joyful ride and we truly look forward to many more years together!”
About Alterface – Enjoy the Ride
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Belgium, Europe, Alterface operates globally with US office and Asian branch in Taiwan, China. Together with a worldwide network of partners, the Alterface team develops end-to-end interactive attractions for dark rides, spinning & dueling theaters and walkthroughs. These are customized to fit local cultures and traditions, offering high quality standards and an unrivalled support system. Alterface champions the market with advanced technologies including their patented interactive show control system Salto!, and multi-user & device-free pointing solutions. Visitors can enjoy the thrilling Alterface rides in Phantasialand, Six Flags, Lego Discovery Centers, Cedar Fair, Carowinds, Ferrari World, Lotte World. Recent successful projects include Justice League: Battle for Metropolis, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare: 3Z Arena and Benno’s Great Race.
For more information visit www.alterface.com
Press contacts
Anja D’Hondt – Public Relations, Flower & Feet
anja@flowerandfeet.com +32 468 231005
Arnaud De Visscher – Community & Friends Manager, Alterface
adv@alterface.com +32 10 480060