IAAPA: Seeking the ‘Big Stinka’
The trade show is full of fun, but a giant poo steals the show.
ORLANDO — I am walking through a sea of bumper cars, scary clowns, singing penguins and flashing lights.
It’s an intoxicating sensory overload.
But I am on a mission to find a single thing: A giant poo.
A giant, plastic poo you can climb inside, to be more precise.
Why? Because I’ve heard this poo — an 18-foot-tall bounce house shaped like a poop emoji — is one of the top attractions at this year’s International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
“The poo has been the buzz,” confirmed the Sentinel’s chief Theme Park Ranger, Dewayne Bevil.
Dewayne knows his … um … stuff. So I am determined to find it.
The IAAPA event is the largest attractions trade show of its kind — 10 miles of aisles of rides and
exhibits stretching through the Orange County Convention Center. I'd never been. And after weeks of nasty elections, I figured we could all use a break from politics.
Inside the center, there are roller coasters, Ferris wheels, haunted houses, arcade games and much more.
But people are talking about the poo. So it's poo I seek. And I will not be distracted.
Ooh, look! Jamaican beef patties!
OK, I was slightly distracted. But now I'm more focused. And less hungry.
So I resume my laserlike focus on …
I climb inside. Obviously, you can't try a waterless water slide.
As I zip dryly down the virtual chute, I wonder who might want a waterslide without water. Maybe someone who owns a theme park in Fargo, S.D., where summer lasts about 18 minutes.
That is, in fact, why IAAPA exists — to let attraction owners from all over the planet sample rides, experiences and decide what they might like to take home. At the 100th installment of the experience, you can buy anything from a multimillion-dollar roller coaster to a multilevel ball pit.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. (Which you can also buy in sturdy plastic if you happen to own an arctic- or Titanicthemed attraction.)
You can find go-karts, bowling alleys, trampolines, mascots, merry-gorounds, playgrounds, rock-climbing walls, haunted houses and zip lines.
There was a ninja zone, a toddler zone, even a “Toddler Ninja Zone.” For stealthy 2-year-olds, I guess.
On one aisle, a man named Don was sitting next to something called The Vortex. It's a spinning, LED-lit tunnel that makes you dizzy as you walk through. It costs $12,000 — “shipping not included.”
Don said they'd already sold a few. So I walked through, wanted to puke and thanked Don for his time.
Own an arcade? Well, at IAAPA, sure, you can buy video games and pinball machines. But that's just the start. You can also get the tokens that go in the games, the card-swiping devices that have replaced tokens, the tickets that come out of the games, the prizes you get with the tickets, the carpet that the games sit on and contraptions to clean the carpet.
Virtual reality is big these days. There are virtual coasters, virtual parachuting, virtually every virtual experience.
I'm watching a couple of attendees battle a virtual dragon when, finally, I spot it: the Big Stinka.
That's the name of the giant poo.
Krista Ayala, a representative of Californiabased i2k Inflatables, says the Big Stinka has been her company's biggest hit.
“Everyone wants to be near it,” she says. “Even if they don't want to buy it, they want to touch it.”
“People are weird,” I responded while running my hands over its smooth, brown curves.
“Look,” Ayala interjects. “Here's the poo owner now.”
The poo owner? “Yeah, he's the guy who bought this one.”
Dean Yaukey paid $1,595 for the floor model (vs. $1,995 for a factoryfresh one).
I ask him why. “Everybody loves it,” he responded. “It was my No. 2 decision.”
Very funny, Dean. Dean runs a mobileattraction business in southern Pennsylvania where he transports attractions to events and parties. For two days, he watched crowds gather around the giant poo and knew it was special. So he had to have it.
I asked Dean if I could try out his poo.
“Of course,” he said. As I sat in the smiling poo's mouth, I thought: Now I can tell hate-mailers:
So I snapped a picture, which is precisely what Dean knows paying customers will want to do as well … and why he'll probably be back at IAAPA next year.