Thea Awards: Spider-Man ride, Disney droids and lands recognized

Universal’s Spider-Man ride, two Disney lands and some droids plus a former Imagineer were among the winners of Thea Awards presented by the Themed Entertainment Association on Tuesday night. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a 3-D dark ride that opened with Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in 1999, was given the Thea Classic Award. BDX Droids of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a product of Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development and Disney Research Zurich, were noted for outstanding achievement in technological innovation.

The Zootopia area at Shanghai Disney and Fantasy Springs of Tokyo DisneySea were recognized for outstanding achievement for a theme park land. Fantasy Springs features attractions based on the films “Peter Pan,” “Frozen” and “Tangled.” Rick Rothschild, founder and chief creative of FAR Out! Creative Direction, was given the Buzz Price Thea Award for a lifetime of outstanding achievement.



Rothschild is also a 30-year veteran of Walt Disney Imagineering. Other outstanding achievement awards included: • Attraction, limited budget: The Ladder – Immersive Gaming, Los Angeles and Adventure Play at Windsor Great Park, United Kingdom. • Attraction: Voltron Nevera, Europa Park, Rust, Germany.

• Children’s museum, limited budget: NEOBIO Museum, Shanghai. • Immersive land: Valley of Witches, Ghibli Park, Nagakute City, Japan. • Immersive show/hotel lobby transformation, limited budget: The Legend of Luna: A Great Wolf Story, Great Wolf Lodge, Perryville, Maryland.

• Immersive technology and production: The Sphere, Las Vegas. • International live spectacular: 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Opening Ceremonies, Paris. • Live event: Kiss of the Sea, Sunset Town, Vietnam.

• Marine theme park: Chimelong Spaceship, Zhuhai, China. • Museum: International African American Museum, Charleston, South Carolina. • Museum attraction: The Priddy Family Foundation Freedom Theater at the National WWII Museum, New Orleans.

• Spectacular show: Chimelong International Circus, Zhuhai, China. • Water park: Aquascope, Futuroscope, Jaunay-Marigny, France. The Thea Awards were announced at a TEA gathering at SeaWorld Orlando.

A gala to celebrate the winners will be held in California in March. [email protected].