TPG’s Edward Marks on combining dining, adventure and theme park thrills

The Producers Group (TPG) has unveiled a turnkey attraction that combines the dark ride with the dining room.
“It’s an absolutely immersive dining attraction, and what I mean by that is you’re on a ride eating dinner,” says Edward Marks, co-CEO at TPG.

The Extraordinary Voyages Adventure Dining (EVAD) experience is centred around a highly themed space where guests buy their tickets, have a drink at the bar, browse in the shop and explore and interact with their surroundings.
“We chose a Jules Verne steampunk theme for the base station. On the ride, guests are taken into space, or on a time travel expedition, or an underwater expedition,” says Marks.

The adventure itself takes place in a 80-seat dining vehicle, the Centurion, manufactured by coaster maker Premier Rides. Looking out of the “windows” passengers feel immersed in destination-inspired scenarios.
“It’s like travelling on an aeroplane or a train ride. It doesn’t exert high levels of movement apart from at very specifi c show moments which we control,” Marks says.

No efforts have been spared in the design and creation of the ride and its theming, with wooden floors and furniture, copper finishing, seamlessly integrated technology, ambient lighting and complete attention to detail.
“If you look in any direction, you are there. There are no clues to say you are anywhere else.”

Scenes and themes can be customised. Passengers could be taken on a whistlestop tour of world cities, back in time or to any imagined – or branded – world. In this turnkey package, which was designed originally for mega-malls, everything is included except the kitchen.