IAAPA, the theme and amusement park industry's largest trade association, has announced a new annual awards ceremony, to be held in Las Vegas next year.
The IAAPA Honors 2024 will happen March 3, 2024 at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. The awards program will include the induction of the year's new class of IAAPA Hall of Fame members, as well as the presentation of IAAPA's Service and Young Professional honorees, the Brass Ring Awards, and the Applause Award.
The Applause Award is transitioning to an annual honor, instead of being presented every two years, as it has been pretty much since its inception in 1980. Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom won the initial award, with Tokyo DisneySea taking the most recent honor, in 2022. Swedish theme park Liseberg gives out the award, which will expand to include water parks, zoos, and resorts that meet the criteria of having "management, operations and creative accomplishments [that] have inspired the industry with foresight, originality, and sound business development."
"The Applause Award was one of the first awards celebrating the amusement and theme park industry," Andreas Veilstrup Andersen, President and CEO, Liseberg Group and Chairman of The Applause Award Board of Governors, said. "With the transition into an annual award, and with a somewhat broader definition of what an amusement or theme park can look like in the 21st century, the award will continue to stay relevant and even better reflect the ever-evolving attractions industry."
These awards previously have been presented during the annual IAAPA Expo in Orlando. However, by creating a new event in Las Vegas, IAAPA is returning to one of the cities that used to host the Expo on a regular basis, before IAAPA signed its exclusivity deal with Orlando. Tickets for the Las Vegas event start at $329 for IAAPA members are available on the IAAPA website.
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So long as they don't hold the Legends panel at 2:30am and close it to the public, I wouldn't mind going to Vegas instead of Orlando. Shorter flight for me.
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Terrible choice. Was a big part of the expo in Orlando, and its absence significantly degrades the experience.
Now let's hope they don't bribe Bob to move the legends panel to move to Vegas as well...