Hard Luck Bears
Our restoration of The Hard Luck Bears show at Gullivers World, many improvements where mad to make to this show even better than the original setup.
Pre-Restoration
Our first tests revealed just how far gone this show was. The majority of the air system was in a rough state, characters were missing clothes and had decaying masks. we knew this would be a big undertaking.
Mechanical Restoration
This show required a major mechanical restoration, on the initial test only 3 movements worked per character and when we opened up many of the pneumatic cylinders to re-build it was clear the entire show was in need of a major restoration. Our mission was to rebuild most of these cylinders and replace old air hosing. The band now runs on 2 air pressure sources you can switch between to allow slow and smooth movements and fast and energetic depending on the show/song genre.
To say the air cylinders were in a state of disarray would be an understatement, however despite this our expert mechanical engineers were able to restore every cylinder possible, we ordered exact replacements for any which were too far gone.
We replaced the hosing on the entire pneumatic system, this included replacing the old discontinued (60HZ NTSC) character valves with modern equivalents better for the local power supply (50HZ PAL), not only does this allow the show to run longer with clean valves, but also less energy is used as there is no power conversion needing to be done.
Electrical & Lighting System
We worked with our electrical designers to produce new lighting boards to replace the 40+ year old system which required a power converter as it was rated for American power supply, this allowed us to make a new dynamic light set up which works with the local power supply and is less of a fire risk, this works extraordinary well with our estate of the art control system which replaced their 20+ year old controller which could not handle the type of performances this show acts.
After we installed our new control and light system, our team replaced all of the original NTSC Halogen lights with new PAL LED based lights, not only are these more reliable and will last longer but there is less of a fire risk due to them not heating up to incredible temperatures and old worn out wiring failing. The LEDs also allow for more visible light, where the original halogens were so worn they were hardly noticeable anymore.
To ensure smooth running, we ordered a new state of the art air compressor for this show, the original could not keep up with the air-flow demand this show now required running off energetic orginal and custom programming.
Theming
To revamp the stage we replaced the old decayed grass with new high quality artificial grass, added notable amounts of foliage to the stage to add more life the show and repositioned many props and backdrops so characters will not slam into them anymore, all of this makes the show look fresh and new despite being 30+ years old!
Christmas Theming
The bears perform a special christmas show during the holiday season, we have developed an engaging christmas theme using various lights, foliage, fake snow and special outfits.
Halloween Theme
Results
The show is now a highly regarded attraction by many park goers, giving it plenty of high reviews with its re-opening.