In a year of ups, downs, loops and scoops, Attractions Management looks back at some of the biggest stories to hit the headlines, giving indicators of what’s still to come in the year ahead.

With cetacean controversies a running theme through 2016, 2017 was no different, with orca captivity at the top of the agenda for many. March also saw plans emerge for an anime theme park, while one proposal even suggested building a visitor attraction on the moon.

Chimelong sparks controversy by opening China's first orca breeding facility

While many have taken a step back from keeping captive cetaceans, orcas and belugas a particularly hot button subject, China’s Chimelong Group opened the country’s first breeding centre for killer whales in the city of Zhuhai.

Nine whales aged between five to 13 were introduced to the facility, which Chimelong said would “help cultivate the public’s awareness of whale protection, develop related studies and progress toward killer whale breeding”.

The base employs a team of 30 people to provide round-the-clock care to the orcas.

Anime dreams

March brought news that work was underway to open an anime and manga theme park on an island in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, with the attraction based on popular titles Hi no Tori (Phoenix) and Crayon Shin-chan.

Opened in July, Nijigen No Mori – which translates to ‘Anime Forest’ – utilises the area’s natural beauty, along with the latest visual technologies, to take visitors into their favourite anime titles, creating what has been described as “the first immersive entertainment anime park”.

The park is split into three distinctive zones. The first, called Mori no Zone (The Forest Zone), features a 1.2km-long (0.74 miles) walking trail, dubbed Night Walk Hi no Tori and based on the popular manga title’s 12 books, which generally involve a search for immortality, embodied by the bird of fire.

Along the trail, which visitors explore from sunset to around 10pm each night, visitors experience a visual show created by Tezuka Productions using projection mapping, with sounds and sights beamed into the forest as they explore its depths.

The second and third zones are based on Crayon Shin-chan – an anime and manga production which follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara and his parents, baby sister, dog, neighbours, and friends.

An out of this world proposal

Those eagerly anticipating the colonisation of the Moon will be delighted to know they’ll be able to get a dose of culture 384,400km away from Earth’s atmosphere, after artists Julio Orto and Joey Cannizzaro proposed The Museum of Contemporary Art on the Moon, or MoCAM as it would be known.

Offering fantastic views of Earth, the duo purchased a 20-acre plot of land on the Moon, located in Area D 6 Quadrant Charlie – the extreme northwest corner of the recognised Lunar Chart.

Working in conjunction with the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (IMOCA), MoCAM has begun a process “dedicated to displaying the most interesting, cutting-edge, relevant art from the world, Moon habitats, or in the case of future encounters, any other form of intelligent life we may meet.”

Check back with Attractions Management tomorrow for the highlights from April