This article is written by Timo van Boekel and his vision about hybrid zoos: “There has been a lot of discussion about the idea for a rollercoaster at Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen in the Netherlands lately. The main subject in this discussion was about the use of attractions within an environment with living animals. However, the combination between animals and attractions is already well known … Continue reading Zoos & Attractions: Not If, But How?
In today’s plog we have Dierenrijk. Me (Lana), my sister and Mandy visited this zoo during the autumn break. Dierenrijk is a relative new zoo (it opened in 2004) and focuses most on children. This zoo is located in Mierlo near Eindhoven and has around 60 different animal species. The zoo’s slogan is “De kinderdierentuin” (“the child zoo”) and this can be seen throughout the whole … Continue reading Plog #2 • Dierenrijk
ATPM on Tour continues. After hearing and reading wonderful reviews about Pairi Daiza I thought it was time to visit the park. Pairi Daiza is a zoo located in the South of Belgium. The zoo offers eight themed areas which each hosts animals specific for that area. They open new- and are improving older exhibits every year. The zoo is expanding rapidly with 635.000 in … Continue reading ATPM on Tour: Pairi Daiza
Last week, after the study trip to Europa-Park, the 3rd year Attractions & Theme Parks Management students started off their last project within the track: Change Management for Safaripark Beekse Bergen (Libéma). Let’s wish them the best of luck! Continue reading Kicking off: the last project
One of the ATPM lecturers, Goof Lukken, was one of the happy few to have early access to the newly opened Wildlands Adventure Zoo in Emmen. Here’s a summary of his experiences. On Thursday March 24th I was lucky to visit the newest zoo of the Netherlands Wildlands Adventure Zoo as a VIP. Two Dutch news programs asked my expert opinion about this new zoo, … Continue reading Wildlands Adventure Zoo
Today’s economy is an experience economy. A simple product is no longer sufficient for the customers. The inspiration for this article was a visit on the 16th of January. Safaripark Beekse Bergen is trying to follow this movement of creating experience just like many other parks, which was clearly expressed during the visit. One popular way for creating an experience is theming. Africa has been … Continue reading The experience economy at Safaripark Beekse Bergen
Teacher and student were always the connection between zoos and visitors. Nowadays, a shift is visible from education to experience. Storytelling remains a widely used tool in creating experiences in all leisure activities. Zoos worldwide and their stories were the final topics the last project revolved around. Closely involved in the process of concept development were our supervisors, Goof Lukken and Bart Stadhouders, who provided … Continue reading Project 3: storytelling in zoos
One of the last commissioners of the second year students of ATPM was Dierenpark Amersfoort. Here we met zoo designer Erik van Vliet. He has designed almost every enclosure in Dierenpark Amersfoort but also in many of other European zoos. The interview is in Dutch, however, it includes English subtitles. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5DmQWVeFqk] Click here if you cannot see the video Continue reading Interview with Erik van Vliet, Dutch zoo designer
