themeparkinsider: The last time I was at Orlando, visiting both Walt Disney World and the then-brand-new Universal Studios Florida, was in 1991, when I was the tender age of 12. My grand return to the theme park capital of the world wasn’t until this past month, when I took my wife to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for her 30th birthday. Needless to say, a lot had changed.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
The Next Generation of Theming
themeparkinsider: The last time I was at Orlando, visiting both Walt Disney World and the then-brand-new Universal Studios Florida, was in 1991, when I was the tender age of 12. My grand return to the theme park capital of the world wasn’t until this past month, when I took my wife to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for her 30th birthday. Needless to say, a lot had changed.
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6 comments:
This article presents an incredibly complete view of what the future of theme park entertainment should be. I am always a huge fan of the small details that companies include to make a themed area just that much more realistic. Things like guardrails and safety features seem like they are usually written off as being necessary and unchangeable, but it just takes a little bit of time and out-of-the-box thinking to change something into a truly transformed space.
I also love when the smallest details are taken into consideration. The first example that comes to mind is Disneyland. I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, so the (immense) enjoyment I get from a trip to Disneyland comes almost entirely from the incredibly detailed scenery. I love finding all the hidden Mickey Mouse ears in the Main Street architecture and hearing the shaving sound effects come from the barber shop window. Creating that level of visual depth in a theme park is actually one of my dream jobs.
I think that Disneyland does a pretty great job of incorporating legally-mandated elements into the scenery. The Indiana Jones ride (which also just happens to be my favorite) comes to mind. The theme of the ride continues through into the queue flawlessly. In the lind to the Indiana Jones ride, there is even a secret language that you can decode to English written in several places along the walls. It's brilliant.
I agree with certain aspects of this article, such as better incorporating guard rails, security cameras etc. However, emergency exits are a thing that I would NEVER as a park manager change. People identify things such as emergency exits as much from their shape and style as from the words that the signs say. In an emergency, quick identification is absolutely critical, and the extra time it takes to locate an "incorporated" emergency exit sign would spell disaster in a true emergency, where patrons are not thinking clearly and are looking for the distinguishable red lights. I think it's natural to be jarred by the inconsistency of the exit sign to the world around it, but that jarring is absolutely essential to the safety of the public at large.
This is a very interesting future for theme parks. I do agree though that they should try to incorporate every aspect in to whatever world they are trying to create, such as the railings. It undermines all of the work that they have done if the safety features are standing out so obviously. In these situations the small details make a big difference. They are what make you feel like you are truly in Hogwarts.
Hmm. I thought that this was going to be an insightful article about some new direction in which theme parks are going, written by some old and wise theme park designer, but...
Here's somebody with scant knowledge of themed attractions and no experience in designing them (who just joined that site) getting caught up on details that are already being addressed. People spend weeks thinking about queue areas, but at the end of the day the patrons know that they are at a theme park. Should we make the patrons dress in robes and outlaw point and shoot cameras? Should we serve drinks in bronze goblets rather than containers that say Pepsi on them?
And the explanations for railings and security cameras that Mr. Kleinhenz suggests are contrived and turn a small distraction into a fuss.
If Mr. Kleinhenz biggest take away from his theme park trip with his wife was that security cameras are distracting, then he's probably a curmudgeon with marital problems.
I think that this brings up a really cool point and one that really doesn’t fall into our purview very often. I personally think there are a ton of overlaps between our creating a world and the themed environment creating worlds very similar to tv versus theater. But because the closest that our audience usually ever gets to our set is 10 ft where they continually have to deal with the audience actually being in their sets. I think there could be some really cool overlap.
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