BSS Audio™ Soundweb™ London Transforms The Park-Wide Audio System At Orlando’s Wet ‘N Wild

Soundweb™ London components offer more sophisticated programming capability, which is crucial for smooth one-day changeover

Wet ‘n Wild, which was the world’s first water-themed amusement park when it opened in Orlando in 1977, is having its park-wide distributed audio and paging system completely replaced, with BSS Audio™ Soundweb™ London components at the heart of the new system. That system, designed and installed by Orlando’s Techni-Lux, which specializes in theme-park system design and integration, includes a BLU-80 signal processor, eight BLU-32 I/O expanders, six BLU-3 wall-mount controllers and two BLU-10 programmable controllers.

Wet 'n Wild pioneered the concept of the water park and remains one of the area’s most popular destinations. Wet ‘n Wild's world-class thrill ride attractions include The Bomb Bay, Der Stuka, and Blue Niagara water slides, as well as The Storm and Mach 5 water chutes, the Hydra Fighter water swing ride and the Black Hole raft ride. However, the park’s distributed audio and paging system, which dated back to the park’s opening over 30 years ago, needed a complete overhaul, one that would bring it more modern capabilities such as independent zoning. Complicating the project further, local codes and Homeland Security Department regulations dictate that the park’s paging system must remain operational at all times. In a park open 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, that is a major challenge. “It’s one we’ll meet, says Tony Hansen, Head Designer at Techni-Lux, citing the company’s long history of creating sophisticated systems at theme parks. “And the Soundweb London equipment will help us meet that goal.”

When the installation is complete in May, Wet ‘n Wild will have nine “pavilion” zones. Paging and distributed audio can be configured in any manner desired throughout all of them, thanks to Soundweb London’s programming flexibility. “Before, if the park held a special event in one area that required its own audio, they would have to set up a completely separate sound system, which is not cost-effective at all,” says Hansen. “This new system allows for completely independent audio zones, with a BLU-32 in each zone.” The system, which uses fiber-over-Ethernet and a CobraNet™ interface to accommodate the use of digital audio mixing consoles if desired, is designed to be able to grow as the park itself expands. “BSS Audio’s Soundweb London delivers critical things that this project needs:” says Hansen, “flexibility of configuration, ease of use, dependability, cost-effectiveness and of course, audio quality.”