Alcorn McBride
Type of site | Manufacturer site |
|---|---|
| Available in | English, French, Spanish, German and Italian |
| Owner |
 Alcorn McBride Inc. |
| Slogan(s) | The Sights and Sounds Behind the Scenes |
| Website | http://www.alcorn.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | March 1986 |
| Current status | Active |
Alcorn McBride is a manufacturer of show control, audio and video equipment for the theme park industry. Their equipment is also used in museums, restaurants, visitor centers, retail stores, kiosks, and trade shows.
Alcorn McBride was founded in Southern California in 1986 by Steve Alcorn, an engineer who worked on Epcot and served as vice president of engineering for Linn Electronics, an electronic musical instrument manufacturer. As the company grew, Steve gradually brought in other engineers who had worked for him in the past. Most had Disney experience, and many had also worked in the electronic music industry.
Alcorn McBride moved their corporate office from Southern California to Florida in 1989. In 1992 the company purchased an office building in Orlando. The firm also owns a warehouse near the airport.
Alcorn McBride equipment is used in nearly all of the world’s theme parks. Prior to the 1990s, theme parks were reliant on magnetic tape or synchronized laserdiscs for multitrack playback. This entailed a high cost of preventative maintenance, with multitrack tape machines needing nightly lubrication, and laserdiscs requiring frequent dusting. Even with these preventative activities, down times were frequent, leading to guest dissatisfaction. By replacing the moving components in these audio and video sources with CompactFlash media, theme park down times caused by media problems have been dramatically reduced.
Alcorn McBride has been named an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for 2010, and received the Florida Governor’s Award for best new product for its high definition video player.