The theme park ecosystem is fascinating to study, because what affects one theme park can often have a cascading effect throughout the entire industry. One change at a major park can beget hundreds of smaller changes at more secondary parks lower on the theme park food chain.
Of course, the greatest agents of change in this ecosystem are Disney and Universal, whose theme park wars of the 1990s began a complete reformation of the industry from the top down. Now, the attractions and concepts Disney and Universal debut tend to filter down to the regional parks, like Six Flags and Cedar Fair, slowly over time.
We’ve seen innovations like Fastpass get copied by the regional competitors and turned into upcharge skip-the-line passes — a simpler and less technologically savvy remix of the concept Disney pioneered. Similarly, we’ve seen video game-style dark ride shooters pop up at nearly ever Six Flags park across the country.
So, if the things Disney and Universal invent trickle down to the regional amusement parks as time goes by, what are some of the trends we’d expect to see at our local thrill park in the near future? Let’s look at a few:
Mobile Food Ordering
Image: harshlight, Flickr (license)
While it’s not for everyone, the convenience and simplicity of mobile ordering quick serve food at the Disney Parks cannot be overstated. No longer are guests required to wait in a lengthy line to place their orders, before waiting again for their food to be prepared once the order has been placed.
Disney spotted an inefficiency in their food service operations and decided to fix it by having guests place their food orders in advance on their phones, thereby eliminating the first part of the counter service wait. Disney benefits by saving on cast member salaries and by moving more food across the counter per hour. Guests benefit by having a reduced wait time and no need to stand in yet another line.
At some point, this technology will make its way down to the regional amusement parks and we will all be much better off for it. With local parks operating at much slimmer margins than the Orlando megaparks, any edge can spell the difference between a successful summer and a sub par summer. Keeping guests happy while reducing bottlenecks at traditionally busy lunch hours can dramatically increase satisfaction and help keep guests coming back year after year.
With businesses as common as Starbucks making mobile ordering feel commmonplace, it’s only a matter of time until you see it at a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park near you.
Advance Ride Reservations
Image: harshlight, Flickr (license)
Disney changed the game yet again when it introduced MyDisneyExperience and the revamped Fastpass+. While the learning curve got dramatically steeper for the redesigned ride queuing system, the results have been spectacular. Guests are now able to book up to three attractions in advance of their day in the park, giving them more flexibility to enjoy other attractions without sprinting across the park to collect Fastpasses. Then, when the reserved time arrives, guests can make their way to each attraction and board with a minimal wait.
Universal, for its part, has tried to revamp its queuing systems as well. In addition to the Express Pass, which allows guests at Universal to skip the line for major attractions, the company also experimented with an entirely new form of queueing for Race Through New York starring Jimmy Fallon. In this system, guests return to the attraction at specifically assigned times to then wait in an interior lounge space before finally boarding the ride.
In the regional parks, lines are still based around the same systems developed 15 years ago, with the skip-the-line passes representing the only innovation they’ve seen in that time. But eventually, you have to think we’ll start to see the introduction of reserved ride times at these parks — particularly for major attractions like Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point or the forthcoming West Coast Racers at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Giving guests the ability to pre-book ride times before they arrive in the park increases guest satisfaction, helps ride operations space riders evenly throughout the day, and keeps guests in the park longer — thereby making the park more money.
Limited edition foods
Image: aloha75, Flickr (license)
The Orlando megaparks developed the concept of annual festivals as a way of encouraging guests to visit during traditionally slow times of the year. Disney’s Epcot Food and Wine Festival and Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights both had humble beginnings, but they’ve grown into international destinations that must be seen to be believed.
Regional parks have started adopting these kinds of special events, throwing Halloween haunts or Christmas celebrations, and even holding their own food and wine festivals. But, they’re neglecting a key part of the special event experience: The special, limited edition foods.
Disney loves to create special cupcakes or meals for its Star Wars-themed events or Frozen celebrations. Universal creates special drinks that can only be enjoyed during Halloween Horror Nights itself. These kinds of unique food and drink options aren’t just great premium options, they also represent a kind of collectible fun that keeps guests coming back.
The regional parks can and should supplement their growing special events with these kinds of unique and memorable food and drink offerings. And, much like Universal has taken to offering themed food items like Butterbeer in the Wizarding World or the Flaming Moe in Springfield, regional parks should also look to create unique items like these within their boundaries.
Themed roller coasters
For a long time, the extent to which you could theme a roller coaster was limited. Space Mountain – a totally enclosed boardwalk-style roller coaster – represented the peak of theming for these types of rides. Even more modern attempts, like Expedition Everest, were beautiful, but still ultimately roller coaster experiences. The thrills remained the main attraction, despite the great lengths that went into the architecture and design.
Regional parks, unable to spend excess money on things that weren’t integral to the ride experience, opted to save on theming and instead go all out on thrills. That’s how you wound up with concrete slabs for queues and plywood sheds for station houses.
That is, until Disney and Universal once again upped the ante, showing that theming actually can elevate a roller coaster into something new … provided that theming is good enough.
Escape from Gringotts, the Harry Potter attraction at Universal’s Diagon Alley expansion, is a magnificent roller coaster, yes. But more than that, it is a true themed attraction, telling a story and transporting guests to the mysterious wizarding bank. Seven Dwarfs Mine Trine, while a simpler and more family-friendly roller coaster, similarly uses animatronics and intricate design work to elevate the roller coaster into a story-driven experience.
It’s time for the regional parks to meet Universal and Disney in this space. There have been some misguided attempts to elevate roller coaster theming by simply enclosing roller coasters in show buildings, but they do not go far enough. A real, full-on, theatrically designed roller coaster could do wonders for an American regional park. Who will be the first to do it?
Themed Resorts
Image: aloha75, Flickr (license)
Disney, obviously, is the father of themed resort hotels, with its dozens of amazing wonders gracing the property at the Walt Disney World Resort. Then, in the early 21st century, Universal joined the party adding their highly-themed hotels (and, recently, enjoying a wonderful boom of such properties). Now, Disney is poised to transcend even this genre after it announced the construction of a Star Wars-themed hotel that will put guests right into the action of their favorite sci-fi franchise. Universal, likely, will respond in kind.
But where are the regional parks? Disney has been building themed hotels for decades, and yet the regional iterations of these ideas have yet to trickle down. Legoland’s parks has built a couple of themed hotels, but Six Flags and Cedar Fair are nowhere to be found in this space.
Resorts are expensive to build and operate, and Disney had a lot of trial and error before figuring out how to do it themselves, but whether these parks want to use the Disney method of operation or the Universal method of corporate partnership, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before one of these parks uses the intellectual property they’ve licensed to build a stunning, yet affordable, regional themed resort.
In all, the path of technology and ideas from Disney and Universal downward through the amusement park ecosystem is important. Yet, it usually only flows in one direction. So, while we’re all awaiting a Fastpass+ iteration to come to Six Flags, don’t hold your breath for a Larson Superloop coming to the Magic Kingdom anytime soon.
