You Can't Win Them All: Why Theme Parks Sometimes Strike Out

You can probably think of a flop or two of an attraction that was neither ' ‘fast nor furious’’ or a show that was more a ‘river of blah’ than a ‘river of light’.?

And these perceived failures are not exclusive to any one company. The more resources you put behind an attraction does not necessarily guarantee a hit so the size of a company does not shield them from the inevitable negative social media commentary.

Many theme park companies have been around for decades and the fact that they continue to stay open inherently means they know how to run a profitable business, right? So in theory they should know how to make great attractions that are winners every time.

And yet, flops still happen. Why?

Let’s take a look at some of the factors that affect the development process for a new ride or show and what can lead to things going not quite so right.

INNOVATE OR DIE

I’m not dropping radically new information when I say that all businesses need to have an innovation mindset or risk being swallowed up by a competitor who does.?

This is no different from a theme park.?

With many things competing for your leisure dollar, including streaming TV, concerts, or even a major sporting team, parks must constantly push to be the hot new ticket in town or risk becoming a second thought.?

This means that parks need to broach the unknown and try out unproven strategies. And whenever you play the odds, you know you can’t always get it right, but you have to keep moving forward or risk falling behind.

The 'not getting it right' is the unfortunate part of the creative process that leads to the flop. It is easy to criticize and point out what a company did wrong but without the failures, you wouldn't have the successes (feel free to get this quote as a tattoo since it's so inspiring).

Not to mention the excessive cost (millions) and long-term nature (years) of an unpopular ride - high risk, high reward baby!

BEHIND THE SCENES?

Given that all the major theme parks are publicly traded companies (with a few part of large conglomerates) there are also corporate factors moving and shaking behind the scenes that we, as consumers, do not see.?

This means a park might make an investment that a guest doesn't think is smart but is part of a larger chess move to help the organization.

For example (cracks knuckles), a few years ago Disney opened the NBA Experience at their Florida property and it was….ok.?

Was kinda part museum, part fancy carnival games where you had to dribble a ball as fast as you could and make as many baskets before the clock ran out.

Given my natural affliction for high school marching band and show choir, suffice to say, was not geared to me.

But many people who went (and probably the people who worked on the project), were also not blown away by the offerings. With so many great things to do at the Central Florida Disney compound, it felt like it tried to fill a void that wasn’t really there.?

Ultimately, it ceased operations and permits have been filed to disassemble it. Which leaves it looking like a failed venture to any outside observer.?

But, a shrewd theme park nerd (or wanna in my case) would take a zoom out for a broader look at Disney and realize the other half of their business is rooted in the media industry. As a part of this business, where live sports remain a bright spot in the ever-shrinking broadcast landscape, their relationship with the NBA is extremely valuable.?

Investing in a basketball-focused attraction could be a goodwill gesture towards the league and while it might not make sense for the stand-alone parks division, it's a small price to pay to ensure one of your major media partners is happy.

These types of decisions are made all the time and are yet another reason why that brand-new attraction could end up being a dud.

TECH IS TRICKY

While the simple physics behind a roller coaster has not changed since the invention of gravity, the technology of amusement attractions continues to become more and more complex to deliver cooler and cooler experiences.

But the more complicated your tech, the more that can go wrong.

Think of it like your car.?

We’ve gone from literal radio buttons that worked every time you pressed them to full-color screen displays that are nice to look at but are more complex to operate. And more importantly, harder to fix when they break. The same goes for a roller coaster.?

One of the parks I worked at had a 40+ year-old coaster that was a workhorse of a ride. No fancy bells or whistles which meant its downtime was minimal and could push people through from park open to close.?

In contrast, the brand-new coaster across the lake, while a better ride overall, was much more finicky. It would be rare that we’d go a day without having an issue that required us to stop running and call maintenance to address it. With a fully moving floor, dozens of on-ride sensors, and an outside temperature threshold, there were many more opportunities for glitches that ultimately led to guest disappointment.

VALUE ENGINEERING

This is a fun term in the business world that refers to the process of reducing the cost of a major project from its original scope by removing offerings and features that add to the overall effect.??

Let me give you a little more color.

Many parks are in a pattern of adding a new attraction every year to drive attendance. This means that once this year’s new ride is all set up the design and engineering team (many times a small internal department) has to jump to next year’s project and the 12-month countdown clock starts.

The attraction for next year is going to be a brand-new ride design, new type of ride system, and have really cool theming that will tie the story together. Remember, you have to take those risks to do something new to stay relevant every year.

And all of this has to be approved 2-3 years in advance of launch (sometimes 10 years if you’re a new theme park) so the company can plan appropriately for the financial, operational, and marketing impacts. This is all done with not much time spent on the precise engineering of the ride, it’s more conceptual in nature.

So when the team gets into the 12-month time crunch, they have to do all of the complicated math and architecture development to actually make it happen. Push a little pen to paper if you will.?

And here is where it gets muddy.?

For example, the team finds that in order to do this new type of inversion for the roller coaster track, the support structure will be substantially more in cost than the approved budget from 3 years ago.?

In a perfect world, the company could move this ride another year when the park has more cash and more time to develop, but summer waits for no one and the design and engineering team has to deliver something at the approved budget and deadline.??

This is when the knives come out to start the slash.?

Would you rather have a working ride that gets people through it or have really nice theming?

Obviously, the ride piece wins out and the company starts to trim back on all of the non-necessary pieces that are not critical to the opening but really added to the experience (RIP really cool queue line).?

The process happens many times over for any unforeseen budgetary or time resource constraints until the final product is presented to the guest with what could be a lackluster reception.

So while intentions were good many years ago, the ritual of value engineering delivers a subpar product.

So next you’re sitting in the audience watching a show and find yourself yawning from boredom, give the team who created the show a little grace. Many factors were happening behind the scenes that made the really cool concept sketched out on paper turn into a head-scratcher of “Why did they build this?”.

What other factors did I miss? Are there any example offerings you were less than thrilled with? Let me know in the comments.

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