This year's opening ceremony began with a minute of silence in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and featured introductions from IAAPA’s senior leadership including Peter van der Schans, as the new vice president and executive director the IAAPA Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

With this year’s event taking place in the UK for the first time in more than a decade, key representatives were invited to speak during the ceremony including Duncan Phillips, the Chairman of BALPPA; Amanda J Thompson OBE, the CEO of Blackpool Pleasure Beach; and Nick Blofeld, the Divisional Director for Merlin Entertainments.

Taking over around half of ExCeL London, the scale of this year's IAAPA Expo Europe was impressive. With approximately 10,202 registered attendees and 530 exhibiting companies represented on the expansive trade show floor, it's an essential event for anyone working in the UK attractions industry.

Highlights of the IAAPA Expo Europe 2022

It was brilliant to see many of the organisations supporting this year's UK Theme Park Awards represented at the expo, including ADIPS, Attractions.io, BALPPA, BoldMove Nation, Convious, Guinness World Records, Katapult and Semnox.

Triotech were showing off their Best Interactive Ride award for LEGO NINJAGO The Ride at LEGOLAND Windsor, which they won at last year's virtual event. They also announced a new partnership with Puy du Fou to create an experience for an upcoming attraction in Shanghai.

Relative newcomer to the industry Taziker Coasters offered us a fascinating insight into the track replacement project for The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. They told us all about their cost efficient solution to extending the life of steel roller coasters that makes use of the planned maintenance periods to avoid having to close valuable rides for prolonged periods.

Simworx presented an interesting new dark ride concept developed in partnership with with Katapult, where guests role-play as cops and robbers in a police chase. It really showcases the capabilities of their AGV trackless ride system.

The new Spike Fun roller coaster from Maurer Rides is capable of inversions and has rider controllable titling seats. Without trying it out on-ride, we can't tell how much the titling seats would add to the ride experience, but we love to see ride manufacturers continually innovating and trying new ways to entertain riders.

Vekoma are busier than ever, and are looking forward to the opening of a new Tilt Coaster next year, with a working model of the tilt track on display at the expo. They have multiple other projects underway, including the triple-launch coaster Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood in the US, along with Luna at Liseberg and Lightning at Furuvik, both in Sweden, all opening in 2023. Then in 2024, two new Vekoma roller coasters will be opening a Tayto Park in Ireland, a Suspended Thrill Coaster and a Family Boomerang Coaster.

The first Smash & Reload interactive media-based dark ride by BoldMove Nation and Triotech will be opening at French theme park Le PAL next year, and BoldMove Nation were promoting this alongside their AR Hybrid Quest mixed reality game and WaterSlider VR attraction that combines physical thrills with virtual reality.

This year, wooden coaster Tonnerre de Zeus at Parc Astérix has been reborn as Tonnerre 2 Zeus having been updated by The Gravity Group and now features new Gravitykraft trains. It was great hearing from them about their new engineered precut track that's more economical and easy to install, delivers a smoother ride and is more maintenance friendly. They were also displaying their pirate ship themed Timberliner train.

Mack Rides, with a new brand identity, have some very exciting projects underway at Europa-Park, including the Eatrenalin trackless dark ride and fine dining experience opening later this year. In 2023, they will debut a new roller coaster in the upcoming Croatian themed area of the park.

Although unable to confirm any details, Intamin are currently working on two major launch coasters opening in Europe next year, one at Parc Astérix in France and the other at Parque Warner Madrid in Spain.

Bolliger & Mabillard have family wing coasters opening at Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND Deutschland in 2023, the former is part of the new World of Jumanji themed land and the latter in a new LEGO Mythica area.

Great Coasters International, the firm behind the award winning Wicker Man at Alton Towers, were on the show floor with an eye-catching Infinity Flyer train from Skyline Attractions. There are several wooden coasters in the UK and beyond that would benefit from articulated trains like this to improve the ride experience.

In the European Theme Park Legends session, Amanda Thompson OBE, joined  a fascinating panel discussion. In acknowledging the delays to the reopening of Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Amanda said "I'm determined to get it open before the end of the year". She also revealed that her favourite theme parks (aside from Blackpool Pleasure Beach) are Europa-Park and Puy Du Fou.