Eric Lynch

Professor Thames

ENC 1102

10/11/2020

Theme Parks for the New World: Exploring the Role and Use of Technology within

attractions at the Amusement/Theme Parks

Statement of Significance

What effect does technology have on attraction development within the amusement/theme park

industry?

The amusement/theme park industry is constantly growing and innovating each and every

year(pandemics aside). With this growth, the demand for bigger and better rides that are up to

today's current standards are increasing as well. With new uses of technology being invented and

utilized every single day, it is a good thing to look at what technologies are being used in

attraction development(for example, the use of a trackless ride system like in Antarctica:Empire

of the Penguin at SeaWorld Orlando), in what ways they are excelling, and at what ways they are

lacking and could use improvement. Having the newest and best uses of technology with

attractions at amusement/theme parks may make an attraction significantly better than those that
don’t. Or we may find that other aspects of a ride, like the amount of thrills, are still currently

more important to the guests(or a mixture of both).

Literature Review Section

In some way or another, every single source that I have read and annotated has a connection to

technology use within attraction development in the amusement/theme park industry. While

some sources may be more direct than others, they all tackle and help to grasp the fundamental

concepts and ideas involved in attraction technology. For example, the article “Navigating

Genres” by Kerry Dirk does not mention theme parks or attractions at all without the text, but it

talks about the roles of genres, which theme park attractions fall into. The use of technology in

different ways in order to push and narrative and garner a reaction is critical in making an

attraction fall under a certain genre and therefore potentially improve guest satisfaction as well.

Another article, “Application of supervisory control theory of theme park vehicles” by van de

Mortel-Fronczak, is an extremely detailed example of an analysis of different kinds of

technology that are currently already in use in attractions at theme parks today. With this article,

you can compare current ride technology to technology used in the past and technology that can

be utilized in the future in order to get a board view of the current progress of the application of

technology in theme park attractions. Another article, “Theme Park Selection” by Gordon W.

Mcclung, researches and discusses the type of genres and themes that current theme park patrons

are most interested in. Being able to know what the best theme for an attraction is would

certainly help someone who is designing an attraction know what elements they should include
into the attraction. For example, if the future is a theme that guests are most interested in, then it

would definitely be a good idea to utilize and display a good variety of new and upcoming

technologies. If the most popular theme was history, then it would be a good idea to use new

technology in a way that would help to immerse guests into an historic environment. The article

“Pre-Writing the Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process” by Gordon D Rohman, talks about

the importance of prewriting when it comes to writing a good piece of literature. The same

ideology and mindset can be put into designing attractions for amusement/theme parks.

Designing an attraction requires blueprints, surveys, and many people in order to make sure the

building and execution of a ride is done successfully. Relating the strategies used to produce

good pre-writing can be transferred to the design phase of attractions. The article “Reducing

Perceived Waiting Time in Theme Park Queues via an Augmented Reality Game” by Zambetta,

Fabio, et al, directly related to technology in the amusement/theme park industry as there is an

actual experiment in the article about the introduction of technology in theme parks. The results

of the experiment involving utilizing video game technology within queue lines can be used as

an indicator of how park guests will respond to the ever increasing use of technology within rides

and attractions. Even the article, “An Unexpected Consequence of a Roller Coaster Ride” by Lascelles,

K., Hewes D, Ganesan V shows us how the use of technology might be better than the use of more thrills

as it shows that the use of more thrills might lead to more injuries among riders, which is less likely to

happen on a less forceful rollercoaster or ride.

Methodology

-One method I would use for data collection would be a Youtube video(the exact video is

undetermined yet) of Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I would specifically
use footage of this attraction as it is regarded as one of the best and most technologically

advanced attractions currently available in the entire industry.

-A method I would use for data collection would be a Youtube video(the exact video is

undetermined yet) of the Bourne Stuntacular at Universal Studios Florida. Like Rise of the

Resistance, this show has opened less than a year ago and is one of the pinnacles of technology

use within an attraction at a theme park. Luckily, Universal Orlando Resort has recently a behind

the scenes video for this attraction which allows us to get an even more in-depth look at the

attraction, from a perspective that we would not be able to see as guests.

-A method of data collection I would use would be to have an interview with someone(a disney

imagineer or someone from Universal creative perhaps) who is involved with attraction

development within theme parks. While this one may be harder to accomplish due to the

pandemic that is currently going on(the International Association of Amusement Parks and

Attractions convention, which had leaders of the industry coming together all in one place, was

cancelled this year) it would provide valuable insight as I would get to ask what goes into

creating an attraction and what challenges arise during the design process.

-A method of data collection that I would hope to be able to use is a survey. By surveying people

that have just or have recently experienced an attraction, I can receive an unbiased view of how

people have felt about the attraction and which elements of the attraction that they enjoyed the

most.

Appendix items are below the Works Cited section

Works Cited(from Literature Review Section)

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, Parlor Press,

2010, pp. 249–262.

Forschelen, S.T.J., van de Mortel-Fronczak, J.M., Su, R. et al. Application of supervisory

control theory to theme park vehicles. Discrete Event Dyn Syst 22, 511–540 (2012).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10626-012-0130-6

Lascelles, K., Hewes D, Ganesan V. “An Unexpected Consequence of a Roller Coaster Ride.”

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, vol. 71, no. 5, 2001, pp. 704–705.,

doi:10.1136/jnnp.71.5.704.

Mcclung, Gordon W. “Theme Park Selection.” Tourism Management, vol. 12, no. 2, 1991, pp.

132–140., doi:10.1016/0261-5177(91)90068-5. Accessed 2002.

Rohman, D. Gordon. “Pre-Writing the Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process.” College

Composition and Communication, vol. 16, no. 2, 1965, pp. 106–112. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/354885. Accessed 18 Sept. 2020.

Zambetta, Fabio, et al. “Reducing Perceived Waiting Time in Theme Park Queues via an

Augmented Reality Game.” ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, vol. 27, no. 1,

2020, pp. 1–30., doi:10.1145/3361524.

Appendix

Timeline:

October 12th: All articles are to be gathered and read

October 21st: All interviews and surveys are to be completed, with the process of reaching out to people

beginning on October 12th to allow for time to get a response and for them to be analyzed. Also, any

videos and text are to be analyzed by this date to allow ample time to include discussion of them within

my first draft.

October 31st: First draft is to be completed to allow for about 3 weeks of time to be built in for editing

and revising.

November 18th: Final draft is to be completed and turned in by this date to allow for any possible

problems with turning in the assignment to be resolved within the days afterwards if necessary.
 Appendix: Informed Consent Form template

Anyone that wants to be interviewed or surveyed will be required to complete the Informed

Consent Form, which the template was provided for us on WebCourses by Professor Thames, a

copy of which is shown below.

 Appendix: Interview Questions

No one will be interviewed unless an informed consent form is completed. Also, interviews

would be conducted virtually through email due to the ongoing pandemic.

Questions for someone involved in designing an attraction:

-How long does it take to develop an attraction?

-Does technology a consideration when designing an attraction?

-If you could go back and change an older/classic attraction, what would you do to it?

-What are the challenges involved in attraction development?

-Is current technology a restraint when it comes to building an attraction?

-What reaction are you trying to get from the audience for this attraction?

-How many people, and/or departments are involved in the creation of an attraction.
 Appendix: Survey Questions

No one will be surveyed unless an informed consent form is completed. Since we are in the

middle of a pandemic, surveys would be completed virtually through SurveyMonkey.com(or

some other specialized survey site, if a better one presents itself)

For guests who have just experienced an attraction:

-How did (insert attraction here) make you feel?

-Would you ride/watch it again?

-Do you prefer new attractions or classic attractions?

-Do you know how the effects in the ride were accomplished?

-What do you want most when you ride an attraction?(thrill/theme/technology)

-Why did you choose to experience this attraction as opposed to others?

 Appendix: CITI Training Certificate

(Some information is blocked out as it is personal info(NID))