Theme Park Concepts

Something a little bit different, been slowly working on a personal project to make a physical model of Efteling’s Pagode attraction. I’ve always been obsessed with the flying island ride system for reasons I can’t really explain and it’s been nice to flex that creative muscle.

Going to make HEAVY use of 3d printing to do all this and the core ride vehicle model is finally more or less done (though I’m sure there’s plenty to keep tweaking and clean up)

Don’t really have time to go in depth but

1. I’d want them as individual attractions in otherwise original lands.

2. Personally I’d like the majority to not be “greatest hits” IP - but more obscure ones, and ones that specifically have elements that lend themselves to an experiential story. (There’s no way this would ever actually happen from a business perspective)

3. I’ve loved the idea of a fantasia/sorcerers apprentice attraction surrounding the castle/moat/dungeon. Also love the idea of a hunchback dark ride and I’ve always fantasized about an Alice in wonderland/bedknobs and broomsticks crossover attraction because why not it’d be fun.

4. Was part of a group project on wdwmagic centuries ago when I was a mere child where we brainstormed this. This was the map. I’d probably do it differently today but thought it was worth bringing up.

My hope is that either 1. More companies come onto the field that aren’t so sensitive to the need for maximum returns or 2. the big companies realize there are more broad ways to attach IP to a project (does it have to be the centerpiece of a project) or interpret what IP means (does it have to be a specific story? Can it be something public domain and broadly known? Can it be a certain creative person?)

Disneyland: Queer AF

California Adventure: Straight

Magic Kingdom: Gay, but has conservative relatives

Epcot: TRANS

Hollywood Studios: Straight, but experimented in college

Animal Kingdom: lesbian, obviously

Disneyland Paris: Bi

If you look at wait times across popular attractions you’ll notice they usually plateau and then hang out at a certain level the majority of the time - this is an indication that the instantaneous capacity at one point early could not accommodate the rush, but that since then it’s reached equilibrium.

So in a sense the problem of solving waits really is just about preventing those rushes of people all showing up at the same time.

Fastpass, fastpass +, and lightning lane and all those systems are one way of doing that but with the consequence of only really working if there’s a large dearth of capacity elsewhere - otherwise they’re making lines longer. And also they’ve contributed to an increasing unequal sense.

I think maybe though you could achieve a widespread reduction or wait times largely by just limiting attendance at rides for the first hour or two after park open or at peak times.

So like rather than reserving things in advance or or a virtual queue. Imagine a system where there’s none of that, the only caveat is that if you’re arriving before 11 you need to choose in advance your first ride - or one gets assigned to you when you enter. Otherwise the rest of the day the park is open access.

Or one could imagine a virtual queue system that turns on and off throughout the day - but for all attractions - generally is only on in the mornings but turns on like after parades end.

In my mind this kind of gives you the best of everything - you create a largely egalitarian system that prioritizes minimizing waits for everyone rather than for the individual. And you still preserve free choice most of the time, just with a little bit of suggestion at the head of the day.

Obviously this system still requires that a park have enough instantaneous capacity at the beginning of the day, and enough diversity of attractions to naturally spread interest, but idk I think it could work.