Excellence through Experience

This company was the start of Ride Entertainment, which now encompasses divisions that handle not only sales, but leasing and financing, installation, branding, and operations.

Ride Entertainment stands out as unique in the entertainment industry because it is the only place that offers expertise in every facet of the industry sectors. While many of the companies under the Ride Entertainment umbrella have been grown organically in-house, Ed has also overseen the acquisition of innovative companies like Skycoaster®.

With over 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Ed has been involved with many of the largest attractions projects in the world and has overseen the sale and installation of over one billion dollars in new attractions of all types and sizes to amusement parks, zoos, and other recreational facilities worldwide. In building this group of companies, Ed has taken the most pleasure in the team he has assembled that has been instrumental in the company’s growth and the fun that everyone in the company has on a daily basis.

William “Bill” Wright has been involved in the amusement industry since 1975. His first park job was at Six Flags Great Adventure in the mechanical maintenance division. Starting as a mechanic, he was quickly put on the park’s internal installation team. During that time he represented Six Flags Great Adventure as the park’s representative, as his team worked hand-in-hand with ride manufacturers to install, and later troubleshoot, their installations. Throughout his tenure at the park Bill was involved in field analyzing and prototyping many different ride systems.

He also has worked on other large construction projects outside of the amusement industry. While working for one of the largest steel fab and erection companies in Nevada, Bill oversaw major projects on almost every hotel in Las Vegas. He also worked on specialty projects at places like Nuclear Power Plants, Gas Co-Generating plants and Container Cranes in the Ports of New York, Newark and Elizabeth.

In the amusement industry, Bill represented TOGO, installing the majority of their U.S. roller coasters, including their largest at the New York, New York Casino. He also worked for Premier Rides where he oversaw vehicle construction and roller coaster installation. He has been with Ride Entertainment since 2006 and has installed projects across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As one of the industry’s foremost experts on ride installation and trouble-shooting he is a resource for parks and operators around the world. While at Ride Entertainment Bill has worked on over 50 of the amusement industry’s most complex installations, such as:

• Six Flags over Texas: 400-foot StarFlyer Swing Ride
• Wet’n’Wild Sydney: 250-foot Skycoaster®
• New York, New York Casino: Over a dozen custom retrofits

Amanda brings a unique background to Ride Entertainment. While earning her B.S. in Business Management, she worked in the industry in both Operations and Maintenance. After graduation, she continued to work as a mechanic and service technician on amusement rides at Six Flags New England and later S&S-Sansei. Now as the COO of Installations and Business Development,  Amanda is working to grow the installation team as well as working in the field installing, troubleshooting, and rehabbing attractions.

Before coming to Ride, Kris was a radio news anchor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also produced several, award-winning documentaries for the American Coaster Enthusiasts, focused on the history of amusement parks and manufacturers in Northern California.

In addition to his role at Ride, Kris volunteers his social media skills with the National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives. When he’s not chasing the latest thrill on roller coasters around the world, Kris enjoys cycling and working to raise his bowling average.

Mike has served on the Board of Directors for AIMS International for many years before becoming AIMS President in 2014/2015.  

MJ is awesome!

Originally moving to NYC to complete his M.A. in Architecture, Eli decided to dedicate his time to what was then a part-time position as an operations and design consultant for Ride Entertainment. Bringing with him his passion for building community-led and community-driven public spaces, Eli naturally found his footing in overseeing the business development of Ride Entertainment’s operations division, NY Carousel Entertainment, LLC (“NYCE”). With over 15 years of hands-on experience in high-level management, design, sales and marketing, Eli quickly rose to President of Ride’s fastest growing division before expanding his role into overseeing the daily operations of NYCE as COO in 2022. 

While Daeshawn’s interests are wide and eclectic, his greatly enjoys backpacking on his various travels.