Thursday, September 22, 2016
IAAPA announces its move to the theme park capital, Orlando
www.themeparkinsider.com: Orlando is the biggest market in the theme park industry, as home to five of the world's most-attended theme parks. So it makes sense that the city also would be the home for the industry's largest trade association.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Honestly, I’m surprised to hear that the IAAPA was ever in northern Virginia to begin with. You’d think that an association for themed entertainment would be near and around themed entertainment. It seems as though it was in Virginia for political reasons which brings up the question, what does the IAAPA lobby for? But I think this move is smart. It makes them more accessible to the people they serve and seems more reasonable. This article really does emphasize the governments role with the IAAPA and their move and explains that there may be some benefits that the IAAPA is getting by moving other than it just being a smart decision. I hope more information comes out about this because I really am curious what the IAAPA wants from the government. Are their regulations on themed environments? Does the IAAPA provide more than what I think? Either way, I think I need to be better educated on the “politics of politics” because I feel like some of the questions I have are things I should know.
I'm from Lakeland, only about 30 minutes from Orlando, and I've heard about this potential move for a few years. This is an exciting change for the community. The move just makes sense. Between Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens, LEGOLAND, and Seaworld, I can't imagine anywhere else they should be. And as the article mentions, Florida is a much cheaper place to live!
I attended the IAAPA Attractions Expo last year and the experience was very fascinating. I attended one particular expo and conference on Park Operations for Entertainment Managers that shared quite a bit of information and offered unique insights into Themepark Administration from the perspective of an Entertainment Team. One big focus was navigating corporate structure and how to avoid letting such a structure bog down the creative process.
I am actually quite curious as to what sparked the move to Orlando from Alexandria, Virginia. Although I don't follow the IAAPA and it's going ons specifically I regularly read ThemeParkInsider.com. Anywho, this decision feels very sudden and seems like it is coming a bit from left field, which make me think there is some underlying major shift happening in the way the IAAPA functions. The lobbying interests based outside of Washington DC tends to make me believe that there was a continuous and concerted effort focused on legal and labor issues surrounding theme parks. With the move away from DC, even while maintaining a satellite office, it could be inferred that the association is shifting its main focus away from legislation and toward being more connected with the big players in the industry. I think it will be interesting to see if the Walt Disney Company reacts to this and moves the bulk of its Imagineering offices out of Anaheim and to central Florida. Regardless, I will likely be keeping a lookout for how the IAAPA defines itself over the next decade.
Post a Comment