Creating enjoyable experiences: parents' perspectives on venue and programming successes and failures

Abstract

Family experiences have become more popular recently as many families are desiring to spend time together and more organisations are attempting to appeal to the family market. The family accessibility conceptual framework was developed by Agate et al. (2011) to help organisations meet families’ needs and facilitate enjoyable experiences for all family members in a variety of settings. The purpose of this study was to test that framework. Qualitative interviews were conducted with parents who had been to the organisations examined when the framework was developed (Disney, IKEA, and Max & Cheese). Results indicated that all three stages of the framework were important to family members’ enjoyment of experiences. The main themes that emerged from the data indicated certain aspects of the framework that were being ignored or should be emphasised to provide enjoyable experiences. This study has important implications for any organisation attempting to facilitate enjoyable family experiences.