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The Stinger Report #1254 - Orlando Entertainment Extravaganza! - Part 1
Leading investors should note the IAAPA Expo Orlando 2025 highlighted transformative trends in immersive and media-based attractions, including the rise of Flying Theaters, IP-licensed experiences like Cyberpunk, and expanding VR applications across theme parks, FECs, and zoological venues. Notable innovations include next-gen motion platforms, hybrid dark rides, and the integration of XR into edutainment, with key developments from Falcon’s Beyond, DOF, TRIOTECH, and others. The event signals a shift toward phygital experiences, competitive socializing, and high-throughput VR attractions, underpinning significant growth opportunities in location-based entertainment driven by technological advances and IP licensing.
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This is the Stinger Report, issue number 1254, Orlando Entertainment Extravaganza Part 1 by Kevin Williams. We now start the massive coverage of the equally as large Orlando Amusement and Attraction Trade Extravaganza. We start this coverage turning to the media-based attraction development and the resulting new trends reflected. Orlando's IAAPA Exposition. The main event in many executives' calendar gathered the leading industry professionals to the Orange County Convention Center, OCCC, in Orlando, Florida. The Trade Association IAAPA organized event was promoting some 40,000 attendees expected, and 1,100 exhibitors in Orlando for the Expo, Conference Stage, and Educational Five-day Gathering. The 108th International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, IAAPA, Expo Orlando, is also a difficult show, but also an amazing event, and a chance to share ideas, reconnect with those working and steering the sector, and offering a chance to chart trends on and off the show floor. But IARPA 2025 was also a show that was in the middle of upheaval in the current geopolitical environment. While the show organizers split the event into various pavilions: show production and design, Family Entertainment Center Pavilion, Inflatable Pavilion, Water Park Pavilion, Game and Arcade Pavilion, Ride and Equipment Pavilion, Haunted Ground, Street Market, Digital Sage, and Outdoor Pavilion. We who are covering the event for the Stinger Report have also segmentized this extensive and exclusive coverage regarding the immersive entertainment applications on display and the growth of the digital revolution across the location-based, resort, and entertainment landscape. Media attractions. The first aspect of the XR immersive technology on display at IAAPA 25 came from the more established media-based attraction market. The popularity of 4D theaters has been superseded by the explosion in flying theater installations internationally in the park sector. The trend in the latest media-based attractions is also their installation in a new genre of venue. Providers of the essential content for these platforms were represented at IAAPA25 from the likes of the Juice, transforming their digital media expertise into a diverse portfolio of experiences that unlock additional new opportunities for the company. Promoting their new immersive digital zoo, digital aquarium, and digital interactive creature experience, pointing to that new genre of venues outside of traditional theme parks. Exhibitor Simx Eworks, promoting their new operation following the investment and management restructuring, presented their Immersion Theatre Junior, aimed for deployment in theme parks using branded content. Also, their Vision 360, fully LED, 360-degree immersive experience, initially targeting zoo and aquariums, heralded on the company's large LED booth display. Other developers presenting their new range on large booth screens included NWA, who presented examples of their current 4D film library. Across the show floor in the ride and equipment pavilion area, and Brosent unveiled a next generation product lineup with their new V Ride Explorer Plus, offering a high-intensity 360-degree rotational motion platform and panoramic visual design, along with their O-Ride E, comprising a compact flying theater solution ideal for FECs, malls, aquariums, and museums. Other exhibitors in this sphere included SimWorks RoboCoaster, who also promoted their investment in the media attraction and immersive experience scene. Creating compelling immersive attractions has also seen the inclusion of licensed IP into the mix. Falcon's Beyond Global, innovator in immersive storytelling, announced prior to the show an agreement with CD Project Red, the video game development studio known for 30 million selling property, Cyberpunk 2077, to create defined concepts for themed venues based on the game series. Further details on what type of venues will be developed through this partnership to follow. This is the latest transmedia deal for IP from the video game universe into LBE, as seen with Nintendo, Netflix, and Sega. The Cyberpunk property would also be seen on the LAI Games booth. Falcons had a major presence at the show, as well as demonstrations given at their nearby facility, covered later in coming reports. Several exhibitors have turned to the zoological and aquarium sector for new customers. We have already reported on Emotion and their over 140 installations in the Zoological Science Centers, Museum, and Aquarium sector. The company demonstrated at IAAPA25, their immersive edutainment platform, with their mini-theater motion seat VR platform using the PICO headset. This represented the new restructuring of the VR application into the sector, which we report on in detail in our next part. Frontgrid, fresh from the successful installation of their Niagara Falls Visitor Center attraction installation, Niagara Virtual, came to the show promoting their Paradrop VR systems, including the new containerized variant. It was announced prior to the show that Sally Darkrides had launched their new mini dark ride line of attractions towards deployment in the zoo and aquarium scene. The company 3,000 square foot attraction offers a selection of edutainment experiences which are gamified. The line of turnkey interactive dark ride using 4D projection, which incorporates six rider trackless vehicles, looking to achieve a 200-player per hour throughput for these venues. The company revealed at IAAPA 2025 their latest attraction with their Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare that will be installed at Kings Island for a 2026 debut, offering an animatronics and interactive screen-based dark ride shooter. Covering two booths, Triotech presented their new media attraction and amusement developments with their new Super Blaster 2 two-player version, along with their XR Dark Ride theater system running the latest immersive shooting content, Dark Castle. But the big news was that Triotech made three big announcements, revealing their entry into the competitive socializing scene. The company unveiled first their crazy carts concept for an electric cart MR projection mapped racing experience. Second, the company revealed Energize, an immersive cube system, with players competing in mini games represented on the LED floor. And finally, Funfair, a selection of Midway-inspired games enhanced with MR display. These concepts were presented, with the final production version being released in 2026. Triotech also hinted at plans to open their own competitive socializing venue that will apply many of these new releases as well as other products from their catalogue. Expected to open in Canada by the end of 2026. Doaf Robotic was front and center at the show with their evergreen Hurricane 360 VR simulator, featuring four riders equipped with Pico headsets. The company also demonstrated its newest immersive experience, Mars Odyssey, an advanced iteration of DOF's immersive tunnel technology with high-resolution LED media. The attraction places guests inside a custom-themed rover vehicle powered by a six-degree of freedom motion platform, taking riders on a 270-degree expedition across the red planet. A major highlight on the booth was the world premiere of Doff Robotics' new dark ride vehicle. This next generation trackless system features three degrees of freedom motion, an adjustable AGV chassis, customizable bodywork, and optional special effects integration. The reveal marks a significant milestone in DoF's expansion into the dark ride sector. They also showcased new content developed by DoF Studio, the company's new in-house creative division. The headline feature was Phantom City, presented in 8K 3D and offering guests a cinematic race through a mythical environment. Additional DOF Studio titles such as The Smurfs, Gargamel's Tower, and Challenging Gravity were announced as coming soon. Another long-term strategic vision and a trend seen from other manufacturers, DOF revealed their plans to enter the FEC sector with their own facility. The company intends to bring its range of entertainment products and place them in a unique FEC space of their own development. This will be intended to open two in Turkey and are looking at a possible US location. The first site, tentatively called Neoplanet, opening in the next 12 months and is expected to be part of a franchise operation, though information is limited at this point. DOF being a major sponsor of the IAPA event, seen with their involvement with the opening celebrations. Speaking to the thrills of 360 inverted simulation, and a veteran exhibitor at the show was Maxflight, with their range of VR 2000 twin-seater capsule simulators, a proven immersive simulation platform used in entertainment and museum locations over the years. XR and VR, moving from the media attractions with their smattering of VR installations, and we turned to the main VR platforms littering the IAAP, a 25 show space. VR on the show floor at this year's exhibition was there because they offered proven ROI rather than a flood of unproven innovation. Leading the charge was HeroZone VR, who just prior to the show announced they had acquired Phenomena VR's eSport Arena business. This following the recent acquisition of the VR operation from Spree Entertainment, made a few months prior. Hero Zone positioning themselves as the largest operator of free Rome VR arenas through their installed acquisition. On their IAAPE 2025 show booth, they were running on their arena system, Terminator Uprising, the beta final version of the up-to-eight-player robotic apocalypse blaster. The VR game captured the action and excitement of the franchise and a wide selection of weapons and enemies to blast, all running on Pico hardware. Another free roaming platform at the show was from HoloGate, the company showing their range of arena systems based on the HTC Focus 3 platform, offering their Ghostbuster licensed property. Amusement products acting as North American distributor of Vex Solutions VR hardware presented their Vex Arena VR free roaming platform in action with the latest selection of their library of experiences for all ages. Vex also came to IAPA 25 with their new platform in the XR sector with their Vex Party Dash. The attendant-free interactive LED wall and floor system proved a striking active entertainment attraction. An interesting pivot by Vex in broadening their product offering. In Orlando, Vex unveiled the third experience available on the machine, a dancing and rhythm game. We will look closer at active entertainment systems trending at the show in later reports. Moving to the other VR applications in the sector, Antalan Simulations celebrated their 10th exhibition presence at IAPA US. The company presented their new VR experience developed in partnership with Enludio, running on their compact 2-degree of freedom motion platform and offering an underwater adventure blasting sea monsters. The two-player experience included wind effects and offered a fun cooperative experience running on Pico headsets. Next to this was their Talon 3 Degree of Freedom Motion Simulator, running the latest racing simulation software showing its VR Sim credentials. Talon 1 of a small group of tech exhibitors at the attractions show that would be returning to the OCCC convention venue a few weeks after IAAPA for the I slash TSEC Commercial Simulation Expo. The Bay Tech Booth had the Hyperdeck Immersive Enclosure Platform, manufactured by Major Mega, with the full selection of software for the Immersive Enclosure Motion Platform, now having been upgraded to DPVR headsets. Sitting next door to this was the previously released Spongebob SquarePants Dynamic Duo, two-player VR Motion Experience, also now fielding DP VR headsets, replacing the previous HTC VIVE systems. Concerning more conventional VR seen at the show included exhibitor Swiss-based Kainoa SA, who showed the latest update to their Coliseum VR Foosball Table platform, the latest version of this system, now using Pico headsets, and new content that is AI adaptive. Rilex came to the show with a selection of their proven VR experiences. Along with the Rilex Coaster VR and Spongebob SquarePants VR Bubble Coaster, there was a new showing with a new version of Rilix Coaster VR that includes a mounted shooting feature. With riders now able to blast at targets while on the virtual coaster, rather than using their hands on the original. All these platforms employ specially protected MetaQuest IIIs headsets, acquiring headsets and a commercial license. Rilix, only one of a handful at the show, using the Quest Beyond Demonstration only units. Back to the major attraction manufacturers who are addressing the future of VR technology. VR Coaster, a family member of the Mac Group, celebrated its 10th anniversary at a separate booth and presented examples of how its VR headset are being used in attractions. The patented XR technology for roller coasters and free roaming is used in many international locations and on various cruise ships, and the technology is also very interesting for upcoming museum content and brand experiences. SimTech Systems announced a partnership with The Void on the development of an interactive motion-based attraction for riders to navigate their virtual vehicle through an VR dark ride experience. The simulator will offer a compact attraction for theme parks. The company presented at the IAAPA spotlight session, though not revealing any product details, highlighted the key considerations for developing a VR dark ride system that skillfully adds a motion-based ride vehicle with the careful blending of an immersive virtual reality and physical environment. While SimTech delivers the immersive motion simulation platform, the Void has crafted the hyper-reality VR experience. The system uses a unique queuing platform that has guests wearing augmented reality headsets to experience the boarding process into their themed ride vehicle before being immersed within the simulator. While exhibiting at the show and a major sponsor of the event, SimTech did not have an example of the new VR dark ride with plans for more information to follow. The development of new shared reality, large throughput VR experiences were represented in kind. Leading ticketing and attraction operator FIVA came to Ayapa 25 for the first time, and the company promoted their ticketing experiences. But the operation is also involved working directly on VR Adventure installations, partnered with Excurio, developer of a multi-user VR platform currently operated internationally across over 20 venues. The operation has now partnered with FEVER to accelerate the rollout of VR venue installations, with Excurio looking to offer an open source development architecture to encourage content developers to work on their platform. Ballast Technologies, fresh from exhibiting at the World Waterpark Association Annual Symposium and Trade Show, WAASTS 2025, the company had their selection of VR Slide Water Flume platform seen at water parks, resorts, and cruise ships, and their DIVR Plus pool experience. The company was also promoting their next experience with RIVR, a lazy river water attraction edition, now with VR using their innovative waterproof headsets. The platform in the final stages of development for a rollout in 2026.
