Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Funworld Magazine
Loved seeing this article in Funworld as I believe it signifies the growing market for faith based destinations. Here's the link to the article.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Noah's Ark Attraction in Hong Kong
Ma Wan Noah's Ark to be New Tourist Attraction
Completion of Full-size Replica on Schedule
18 November 2008
Construction of full-size replica Noah's Ark is nearing completion and should be finished by the end next month as scheduled. The Ark is meant to demonstrate traditional values and spread positive values. It will be equipped with a wide array of amenities and feature activities that offer locals and tourists a new experience in a new attraction.
A preview of Noah's Ark was held today (18 November) hosted by Ma Wan Park General Manager Spencer Lu and Administration Manager Matthew Pine, and Noah's Ark Project Director Clarence Ng. Also on hand were representatives of five organizations that will operate different facilities at the Ark, including YMCA Noah's Ark Operation Chairman Patrick Tam, Media Evangelism General Secretary Andrew Yuen, Angela Luk of Angela Luk's Education Foundation, Boys' Brigade Executive Committee Chairperson Sunny Wu and the Reverend Louis Tsui representing St James' Settlement.
Theme facilities on five floors
The Ark is on a 270,000-square-foot site on Ma Wan Island overlooking the Rambler Channel and Tsing Ma Bridge. There are five levels each with a different theme. The ground floor will have a sea-front restaurant and banquet hall and the first floor will have a large multi-media exhibition hall. The second floor will be devoted to life education and the third floor will house a children’s museum and learning centre. The top floor will be a sea view hotel. The Ark is surrounded by greenery including topiary animals, a huge swing, amphitheatre, cycle paths and the Nature Garden. The backdrop of green hills, traditional village and Ma Wan heritage will make the area a new cultural tourism attraction.
An emblem of love and life
Spencer Lu said, "Noah's Ark represents love and life. The natural landscape and different elements are meant to convey different aspects of love – for oneself and others, for one's body and spirit, for the environment, for learning and taking on challenges, for life and for serving others. The facilities, displays and different activities to be staged on the Ark will promote love and harmony and encourage living to the fullest."
Team working to realizing dream
Ma Wan Park Limited is responsible for operating the Park. It will cooperate with the five experienced organizations running different facilities at the Ark to realize the spirit of the Ark. The operators said they share the mission of Noah's Ark, which is to promote love and life education, and promise to work together and do their best in operating the facilities on the Ark to make sure they meet the needs of people and the community.
Major Noah's Ark facilities
* Ark Garden and Expo
The path leading to the Ark will be lined by 67 pairs of sculptures of endangered or rare wild animals to teach visitors about their characteristics. The sculptures, waterfalls and ponds in the garden surrounding the Ark will remind visitors to love animals and treasure the environment.
The Ark Expo will allow visitors to experience an exciting adventure. They will be able to watch a 180° screen showing the connection between the Ark and the future of mankind, and also feel the flood that covered the earth. There will be models of the ark and a colourful animal kingdom including the only honey-pot ants on display in Asia, allowing visitors to appreciate the wonders of nature and see and understand the challenges the earth is facing in the 4D theatre.
* Noah's Adventureland
Adventure Land will challenge visitors' courage. It will have an eight-metre giant swing, challenging participants to a 'leap of faith' and a rope ladder by the sea will allow people to experience 'walking on air'. A rock climbing wall will test physical and mental strength.
* Treasure House
Treasure House will be a children's museum for training young minds. It will have 15 fun-filled galleries with themes covering life education, development of the mind and liberal education. It will encourage children to think and be creative and learn through interactive games and activities. They will learn to develop character in the global village, build confidence through drama lessons, learn to make music, learn science by observing the earth in action and apply their imaginations to different arts and crafts.
* Ark Life Education House
The Ark Life Education House will provide visitors the chance to explore the true meaning of life in its different stages through innovative, interactive games. People will be able to set personal goals and trace their steps through life; addressing challenges in the interactive forum. They will be able to learn what life means and how to achieve harmony of the body and mind. It will be ideal for school trips, corporate training and visits by individuals and organizations.
* Noah's Resort and Harvest Restaurant
Guests staying in the Noah's Hotel will be able to experience life on the Ark enjoying sunshine and greenery in Ma Wan Park or seeing the historic Ma Wan village within walking distance of the park. They will also be able to have coffee on the coffee lounge. The hotel will offer double / twin rooms and hostel dorms with their own bathroom for groups of four to eight people.
The Harvest Restaurant will be by the seaside where customers will be able to see both the Tsing Ma and Ting Kau bridges in the distance. It will have international cuisine, and will be suitable for wedding banquets and other gatherings.
Friday, November 28, 2008
FBAA Event at IAAPA
Our 3rd annual event was a huge success - albeit a little cold! We hosted the event outside and it was a beautiful spot. We had snacks, drinks and even some comic relief with Christian comedian Justin Fennell. I managed to take a couple of pictures on my phone and have posted them here...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Bible Park USA update (and FBAA quote)
by GETAHN WARDand BOB SMIETANA
Rutherford County residents will get a closer look at plans for a proposed biblical park starting Monday, as developers try to ease neighbors' concerns about traffic jams and tout their spiritual attraction near Murfreesboro as a quiet place that would create jobs and show how Jesus lived.
Plans for the $175 million Bible Park USA, proposed for the Blackman community on the northwest side of Murfreesboro, are to be submitted to the Rutherford County Planning Department this week.
Residents will get more details at three information sessions planned Monday and Tuesday in La Vergne, Smyrna and Murfreesboro.
Armon Bar-Tur, managing director of sponsor SafeHarbor Holding LLC, said the park wouldn't have any "holy roller coasters" or "log flumes to hell."
"It's not a crazy amusement park," he said. "It's not Six Flags over Jesus."
But the park, which developers say could draw 1.3 million visitors a year to a site northwest of Murfreesboro, would feature Colonial Williamsburg-like re-enactments of ancient life, theaters for Broadway-sized biblical musicals and a Disney-like "Bible Fly-Through Ride," using an IMAX screen and seats suspended in mid-air to give visitors an overview of the Holy Lands.
Some residents in the fast-growing Murfreesboro suburbs are worried a big theme park would snarl highways with traffic and disturb neighbors.
"It's a tight fit trying to squeeze this into a residential area with not enough elbow room for them," said John L. Batey, whose 400-acre farm is roughly half a mile from the proposed site. "I don't think it's going to be successful."
Christian attractions grow Amy-Jill Levine, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, said a Bible park could increase interest "not only in the Bible, but also in history and archaeology."
"The park has the opportunity of presenting what life was like in biblical times and thus of providing a context for the familiar stories," said Levine, a member of the park's academic advisory council.
Reagan Hillier of the Faith Based Amusement Association said biblical projects are the wave of the future. He pointed to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which opened last May, as an example along with a rural Pennsylvania Sight and Sound Theater that packs in 800,000 visitors a year to see epic musicals with religious themes. Such attractions typically don't "entice people by how fast they can go on a ride," Hillier said. Instead, they engage visitors who want a spiritual experience with "sight, sound and emotion."
Area residents who got sneak peeks at the latest ideas from developers, including the use of a new interchange to keep traffic off local roads, say they're not as worried about possible congestion.
Joi Sherrill, who lives about five miles from the proposed site, said she feels more positive after seeing designs to prevent bright lights and noise as well as plans for a buffer between the park and the surrounding neighborhood.
"If what the developers are telling us is correct, the park itself will be very non-invasive to the community," she said. Linda Moore, another Blackman resident, said after seeing some of the specifics she expects less of an impact than she initially thought. She remains concerned about prospects for the park's success but doesn't want to see a bunch of new homes built on the site either.
Rev. Michael O'Bannon, pastor of the 2,500-member First United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, said he met with Bar-Tur "a couple of times" and passed along suggestions to developers. He believes church members and Sunday school classes would visit the park.
"It's a place where you could take kids from vacation bible school," O'Bannon said.
Economic development officials in the area seem to back the park as a way to boost tax revenues and create jobs.
"Anytime you have a growing community such as Rutherford, we're going to have to change in some ways," said Holly Sears, vice president of economic development with the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. "Whatever does happen, land adjacent to the interstate is not going to stay farmland," she said. "That's the reality of the situation." O'Bannon said that he won't take a stance on whether it should be built because he has "church members on both sides" of the debate over the park's value. Besides, he added, First Methodist has more important things to do. "We have a ministry to poor and homeless people in the community," he said. "That's more of what we are about than taking a stand on a Bible park."
Rutherford County residents will get a closer look at plans for a proposed biblical park starting Monday, as developers try to ease neighbors' concerns about traffic jams and tout their spiritual attraction near Murfreesboro as a quiet place that would create jobs and show how Jesus lived.
Plans for the $175 million Bible Park USA, proposed for the Blackman community on the northwest side of Murfreesboro, are to be submitted to the Rutherford County Planning Department this week.
Residents will get more details at three information sessions planned Monday and Tuesday in La Vergne, Smyrna and Murfreesboro.
Armon Bar-Tur, managing director of sponsor SafeHarbor Holding LLC, said the park wouldn't have any "holy roller coasters" or "log flumes to hell."
"It's not a crazy amusement park," he said. "It's not Six Flags over Jesus."
But the park, which developers say could draw 1.3 million visitors a year to a site northwest of Murfreesboro, would feature Colonial Williamsburg-like re-enactments of ancient life, theaters for Broadway-sized biblical musicals and a Disney-like "Bible Fly-Through Ride," using an IMAX screen and seats suspended in mid-air to give visitors an overview of the Holy Lands.
Some residents in the fast-growing Murfreesboro suburbs are worried a big theme park would snarl highways with traffic and disturb neighbors.
"It's a tight fit trying to squeeze this into a residential area with not enough elbow room for them," said John L. Batey, whose 400-acre farm is roughly half a mile from the proposed site. "I don't think it's going to be successful."
Christian attractions grow Amy-Jill Levine, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, said a Bible park could increase interest "not only in the Bible, but also in history and archaeology."
"The park has the opportunity of presenting what life was like in biblical times and thus of providing a context for the familiar stories," said Levine, a member of the park's academic advisory council.
Reagan Hillier of the Faith Based Amusement Association said biblical projects are the wave of the future. He pointed to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which opened last May, as an example along with a rural Pennsylvania Sight and Sound Theater that packs in 800,000 visitors a year to see epic musicals with religious themes. Such attractions typically don't "entice people by how fast they can go on a ride," Hillier said. Instead, they engage visitors who want a spiritual experience with "sight, sound and emotion."
Area residents who got sneak peeks at the latest ideas from developers, including the use of a new interchange to keep traffic off local roads, say they're not as worried about possible congestion.
Joi Sherrill, who lives about five miles from the proposed site, said she feels more positive after seeing designs to prevent bright lights and noise as well as plans for a buffer between the park and the surrounding neighborhood.
"If what the developers are telling us is correct, the park itself will be very non-invasive to the community," she said. Linda Moore, another Blackman resident, said after seeing some of the specifics she expects less of an impact than she initially thought. She remains concerned about prospects for the park's success but doesn't want to see a bunch of new homes built on the site either.
Rev. Michael O'Bannon, pastor of the 2,500-member First United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, said he met with Bar-Tur "a couple of times" and passed along suggestions to developers. He believes church members and Sunday school classes would visit the park.
"It's a place where you could take kids from vacation bible school," O'Bannon said.
Economic development officials in the area seem to back the park as a way to boost tax revenues and create jobs.
"Anytime you have a growing community such as Rutherford, we're going to have to change in some ways," said Holly Sears, vice president of economic development with the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. "Whatever does happen, land adjacent to the interstate is not going to stay farmland," she said. "That's the reality of the situation." O'Bannon said that he won't take a stance on whether it should be built because he has "church members on both sides" of the debate over the park's value. Besides, he added, First Methodist has more important things to do. "We have a ministry to poor and homeless people in the community," he said. "That's more of what we are about than taking a stand on a Bible park."
Monday, February 4, 2008
The God Experience
I recently learned about a brand new project that everyone should know about: The God Experience. Please visit www.thegodexperience.org to see details about this planned faith based entertainment attraction.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Vision & Goals
Develop nationwide network of Christians in the amusement industry who share a common goal
Share proven business initiatives that have spiritual impact
Apply biblical wisdom in the marketplace
Profile individuals and facilities to share their success stories and personal testimonies
Encourage members to use their business to make a spiritual change in the lives of others
Organize regional and national evangelistic events to be held in amusement facilities
Partner with local churches and other faith based community groups
Provide a prayerful intercessory network for members personal and business life
Share proven business initiatives that have spiritual impact
Apply biblical wisdom in the marketplace
Profile individuals and facilities to share their success stories and personal testimonies
Encourage members to use their business to make a spiritual change in the lives of others
Organize regional and national evangelistic events to be held in amusement facilities
Partner with local churches and other faith based community groups
Provide a prayerful intercessory network for members personal and business life
New Blog Site
We moved the blog site over to this new platform. Therefore, all of the previous posts are gone so we are starting fresh!
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