Legacy Entertainment, a leading theme park and resort design company, has recently unveiled details of two megaprojects totalling more than $500m in investment and also revealed that several of its previously completed projects have hit impressive performance milestones. This unparalleled momentum sets the stage for the firm’s participation in IAAPA Expo 2024.
Eric Carnagey, managing director and co-owner of Legacy Entertainment, says: “With the return of China’s entertainment market to the global community, as well as our strengthening position in both the Middle East and Central Asia, the past few months alone have marked one of Legacy’s most exciting periods of growth in our entire history.”
Major projects worldwide
Legacy Entertainment has established a reputation over the last 10 years as one of the world’s leading aquarium designers. Since 2018, its completed aquatic projects in Vietnam and China have totalled approximately $2bn. The firm is currently working on major projects around the world.
Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent will soon be home to Central Asia’s largest and most luxurious entertainment venue, The Grand Serai. The 287,000 square metre (70-acre) resort, designed by Legacy and inspired by the country’s rich cultural past, will include a next-generation water park, hotel, and immersive retail promenade.
Legacy recently won an international tender to design Beijing Haichang Ocean Park, dubbed “The Aquarium of the Future”. This project will be adjacent to Beijing’s Universal Studios resort in China, traditionally Legacy’s strongest market.
The park will offer more than four hectares (10 acres) of indoor displays and attractions across multiple storeys. Its innovative marine life habitats are currently being designed and planned and will be unlike any other in the world. Construction is expected to begin before the end of 2024.
Additionally, the Legacy team is working on a number of outstanding, as-yet-unannounced, experiences and destinations worldwide, including an IP-based theme park, a sports park, a safari park, and a snow park. Furthermore, the firm is currently pursuing its inaugural project in the cruise market.
Record-breaking successes
Beijing Haichang Ocean Park follows the firm’s previous design project, the hugely successful Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, which opened in 2018.
The renowned Shanghai destination, which includes both an aquarium and theme park attractions, surpassed its own record by welcoming over 4.2 million guests in 2023. The park continued to break records during China’s National Day holiday period in October 2024, when attendance exceeded 50,000 visitors per day and the resort’s hotels reached 95% occupancy for ten days in a row.
Legacy has also recently celebrated the first anniversary of the Chimelong Spaceship’s launch in Zhuhai, China. The Legacy-designed attraction spans 379,000 square metres (4,000,000 square feet) and holds seven Guinness World Records, including both the largest aquarium and largest indoor theme park in the world. The venue also provides a second gate suitable for all weather conditions for the neighbouring Chimelong Ocean Kingdom.
The firm’s other significant 2023 opening, Batavia: The Floating City Mall at Indonesia’s PIK Development, has been extremely successful and a project is now underway to double its size. When completed, the site’s leasable venue count will expand from 53 to over 100 distinct food and retail experiences.
Earlier this year, Legacy announced its plans to launch in Saudi Arabia at the Saudi Entertainment and Amusement (SEA) Expo. Although the firm has been operating in the region for several years, this was its first public presentation in the Kingdom.
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