Major Theme Park Research Articles

The Impact of Theme Park Experience on Satisfaction and Loyalty

Theme parks have become more successful in recent years. Furthermore, theme parks have grown in popularity as urban leisure destinations and tourist attractions that offer visitors a variety of experiences. Understanding visitors' interactions in the theme park is important because customer satisfaction and loyalty are heavily influenced by their experiences. The study's goal was to determine the impact of theme park experience on satisfaction and loyalty. Specific objectives were to describe the respondents’ demographic profile, determine the respondents’ perceptions toward their theme park visit in terms of theme park experience, theme park satisfaction, and theme park loyalty, establish a significant difference between the respondents’ profile and their perception towards theme park experience, theme park satisfaction, and theme park loyalty, and establish a significant relationship between the respondents’ perception towards their theme park experience and their theme park satisfaction and theme park loyalty. This study adopted the descriptive-correlational method.The survey was completed by 389 visitors who had visited the three major theme parks in the Philippines during the past few years. The research used a combination of convenience and snowball sampling in order to reach all respondents during the pandemic. The statistical tools used were frequency counts, percentages, mean, chi-square, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. It can be gleaned from the study that theme park visitors' satisfaction is based on their happiness with all their experiences in the theme park. The key findings demonstrated that theme park experience, theme park satisfaction, and theme park loyalty are significantly and positively related to respondents’ assessments when visiting theme parks. The results suggest that theme park operators and management should focus on maintaining a good physical setting that will entertain and satisfy theme park visitors.

Scabs Versus Scars: Understanding the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Short- and Long-Term Behaviors.

Scabs Versus Scars: Understanding the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Short- and Long-Term Behaviors.

Impacts of COVID-related capacity constraints on theme park attendance: evidence from Magic Kingdom wait times

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impacts of COVID-related capacity constraints on attendance at the Magic Kingdom theme park. Results – based on analysis of about 325,000 attraction wait times recorded between 2014 and 2020 – show that operating at 25% of the park’s capacity would lead to a 54.1-percent reduction in estimated annual attendance, whereas a constraint of 50-percent capacity would lower annual attendance by 10.6%. COVID-related capacity constraints will likely decrease the revenue generated by theme parks and reduce visitation in regions where major theme parks are located.

The “power of incantation”: A linguistic analysis of European theme parks’ websites

Representing “an instance of highly specialized discourse” (Gotti 2006, p. 21), the language of tourism has become an area of great interest in academia, where its multifaceted essence has been studied from different, but intertwined, perspectives. A common feature that characterizes tourist materials is the shared aim of convincing future clients to choose the tourist attraction they are promoting, implementing specific verbal, visual and multimodal techniques. Amongst the strategies commonly associated with the language of tourism promotion tense and magic can be found (Dann 1996). The first projects the tourist outside of present time, denying the existence of time itself, or by transporting the tourist into a nostalgic past or into a utopic future. Magic, on the other hand, relies on the “power of incantation”, and on the transportation to locations that do not only exist outside of time, but also outside of a physical place. This contribution aims at investigating how such strategies come into play in the promotion of major theme parks across Europe. Looking specifically at the language used in the construction of narratives in the official websites of eight major European theme parks, the data will be analysed through both a qualitative and quantitative approach. The use of keywords and expressions pertaining to these two dimensions will be analysed and commented upon, with the aim of investigating which distinctive promotional strategies are used to “convert [tourists] from potential to actual clients” (Dann 1996, p. 2) in the domain of theme parks.

Green Implementation Water Theme Park in Malaysia

There is growing concern on environmental impacts resulted from building operation system and concern for the environment in people lifestyle. Among questions that has been arose was related to sustainable theme parks destinations-are they even exist? It is evident in few studies indicate that major theme parks are starting to give their inherently unsustainable operations a fresh, green implementation. Environmental footprint matters for theme park as it operations contribute to the increasing of waste generation, water and power used. Thus, this paper aims to study on the green implementation for theme park in Malaysia. Reassuring to achieve the aim, two objectives were established: 1) to identify ways in conserving energy through technical and operational enhancement, 2) to discover the important criteria for green theme park implementation. Literature review and in-depth interviews have been conducted. Experts opinion were employed in getting rich data for the study. The result shows that there was initiative for implementing green concept in Malaysian theme park. Technical aspects that associated with green implementation for Malaysian theme park were consumption of energy, consumption of water, construction, maintenance, management of waste, materials and the design of theme park. Expanding lifespan of theme park, decreasing the use of chemical elements and rate to run the equipment can save a lot of energy contribute to the operational aspects of green theme park. Materials, energy efficiency, water efficiency were among important criteria needed to implement green theme park. Many efforts to discover green implementation have been conferred into green theme park in project management cycle.

Priority Systems at Theme Parks from the Perspective of Managers and Customers

Waiting times are becoming an increasingly important customer-experience challenge in theme parks. The seemingly ever-present problem of long queues for rides and attractions is being tackled by the development of priority systems. These innovations allow customers to join an alternative queue that bypasses the congestion faced by regular customers. In other words, by paying extra, customers can purchase the right to be served sooner. Such systems are becoming prevalent, but there is a lack of empirical research into priority systems at theme parks in the academic and management literature, which suggests that in-depth empirical analysis is necessary in order to understand the consumer decision-making process when making this purchase. This article examines priority systems at theme parks both from the viewpoint of park management and of customers. To address this gap, we surveyed nearly 1,000 customers at a major theme park in Spain and conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 theme park managers to assess both customer and manager attitudes towards waiting generally and priority systems specifically. Our results reveal that these priority systems facilitate market segmentation. When theme parks offer this or option, different groups of customers are identified based on their attitudes: those who wait in regular lines and those who are willing to pay to avoid lines. Thus, this innovative system creates an important source of new revenue while also improving the customer experience by reducing waiting times and minimizing congestion. Following a discussion of our results, we offer practical recommendations to managers who need to address the challenges of waiting times in theme parks and wish to improve both profits and customer experiences by implementing a priority system. People nowadays like to be together not in the oldfashioned way of, say, mingling on the piazza of an Italian Renaissance city, but, instead, huddled together in traffic jams, bus queues, on escalators and so on. It's a new kind of togetherness which may seem totally alien, but it's the togetherness of modern technology.

Weddings and white dresses: Media and sexual citizenship in Japan

Representations of gender and sexuality in mainstream media operate to both shape the contours of, and contest the limits to, sexual citizenship. The ‘citational practices’ of media representations mould contemporary understandings of these limits. In this article, the author examines mainstream and social media reports of two separate same-sex wedding ceremonies in Japan; the first at a queer community event in 2007 and the second at a major theme park in 2013. Through citations and quotations, a multitude of voices are embedded in the media texts. In the 2007 case, increased media visibility is mitigated by citational practices that clearly mark the same-sex wedding as devoid of legal standing. Whereas media reports situate the 2013 ceremony in the context of marriage equality trends internationally, an instance of possible discrimination is emphasised as being a ‘misunderstanding’. Similarly, a microanalysis of a light news documentary of the ceremony uncovers citational practices that highlight the importance of ‘forgiveness’ or ‘tolerance’ for ‘mutual coexistence’ in society. Furthermore, the reporting confines the ceremony to a ‘fairytale’-like ‘foreign’ domain. The process of ‘othering’ issues of sexual citizenship is linked to a cyclical process since the 1950s wherein representations of queerness are posited as ‘new’ forms of being in Japan. Discourse surrounding sexual citizenship is thereby projected into a non-domestic, non-specific future time.

An Intelligent Logistics Management Model in Prefabricated Construction

In recent years, with the increasingly complex fabricated construction environment and increasingly challenging logistics management requirements, this paper proposes a model of intelligent logistics management based on radio frequency identification and building information modeling, which enables monitoring full life cycle of building components and improving construction efficiency through real-time uploading and tracking components and materials logistics information. The empirical model was typically used in the construction of a major theme park with good results achieved.

Employment characteristics and retention predictors among hourly employees in large US theme parks and attractions

Purpose– The aim of this paper is to evaluate and analyze hourly line-level employees' characteristics and their perceptions of their employment experience in large US theme parks and attractions, as well as to explore predictors for their retention.Design/methodology/approach– The research instrument adopted a theoretical framework based on previous retention studies of hourly employees in various industries. Following a qualitative phase with theme park employees, the survey was tailored to the uniqueness of the industry. Since major theme park companies are protective of their employee database, a “snowball” sampling technique was adopted using a variety of Social Networking Sites (SNS). A total of 307 usable responses were attained.Findings– The results indicated that of the 27 employment characteristics studied, the most important were perceived to be advancement opportunities, humane approach to employees, and a fun and challenging job. Importance-Performance analysis revealed that the largest gaps were recorded in the areas of pay, advancement opportunities, and a humane approach to employees. The results also confirmed that hourly employees' retention was predicted by employees' level of satisfaction, better experience with pay, and better experience with employee development training classes. However, hourly employee retention was also predicted by the employees' negative experience with flexible working hours and performance reviews.Research limitations/implications– Data collection through Social Networking Sites (SNS) may not necessarily be as reliable a source for data collection as other methodologies, though some contemporary research justifies its reliability. Utilizing the “snowball” technique and the absence of random sampling may have slanted the responses. Although demographic data on the typical theme park employee is unavailable, the data was skewed towards younger employees who may not necessarily represent other age groups. Due to the US theme park industry's leading presence in Central Florida, the sample primarily represented hourly employees working for the Central Florida theme park industry.Practical implications– As the labor pool continues to decline, employers must adopt new creative strategies to keep their employees and attract new ones at the same time. This may be attained by developing and revising mission statements, values, and corporate visions that may be applicable to hourly employees: the largest labor segment in the theme park and attraction industry.Originality/value– While recent hospitality turnover research focused on its antecedents, this study explores the predictors of why employees stay. Previous retention studies have focused on hotels or restaurants and not on the unique group of theme park hourly employees that work in different settings and employment conditions. Knowing why people stay can help reduce turnover and thus lower the cost of staffing.

An empirical investigation towards Indian consumer's preference over theme parks

The type of theme parks nowadays available in India to the public covers a wide variety of businesses. The ratings for theme parks by consumers give an impetus in makings consumers informed about various travel and tourism products. The paper empirically investigates by studying first the theoretical information of the theme parks in India followed by empirical analysis of the visitor’s choice of the park. The first phase includes the information with respect to five major theme parks in India. The second phase includes survey technique to find why consumers visit a theme park. An empirical application is provided through descriptive and factor analysis, the selection of items is based on researcher’s judgement and focus group discussions. This study examines three factors that consumer’s perceive while visiting theme parks namely ethnic and cultural values; historical and entertainment factor.

Were There Large States in the Coastal Regions of Southeast Africa Before the Rise of the Zulu Kingdom?

The Zulu kingdom holds a special place in both popular culture and historical scholarship. Zulu—a famous name, easy to spell and pronounce—is as recognizably American as gangster rap. The website of the “Universal Zulu Nation” (www.hiphopcity.com/zulu_nation/) explains that as “strong believers in the culture of hiphop, we as Zulus … will strive to do our best to uplift ourselves first, then show others how to uplift themselves mentally, spiritually, physically, economically and socially.” The Zulu Nation lists chapters in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, Miami, Virginia Beach, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Haven, Hartford, New Jersey, and Texas. Mardi Gras in New Orleans has featured a “Zulu Parade” since 1916. The United States Navy underscores its independence from Britain by using “Zulu time” instead of Greenwich Mean Time. Not to be outdone, the Russian Navy built “Zulu Class” submarines in the 1950s and Britain's Royal Navy built a “Tribal Class Destroyer,” HMS Zulu. The common factor linking black pride, Africa, and prowess in war is the Zulu kingdom, a southeast African state that first attained international fame in the 1820s under the conqueror Shaka, “the black Napoleon.” His genius is credited with innovations that reshaped the history of his region. “Rapidly expanding his empire, Shaka conquered all, becoming the undisputed ruler of the peoples between the Pongola and Tugela Rivers … In hand-to-hand combat the short stabbing spear introduced by Shaka, made the Zulus unbeatable.” In South Africa Shaka's fame continues to outshine all other historical figures, including Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger. A major theme park, “Shakaland,” commemorates his life and Zulu culture. A plan was unveiled in 1998 to erect a twenty-story high statue of the Zulu king in Durban Harbor that would surpass the ancient Colossus of Rhodes.

Lake Apopka Restoration

Lake Apopka RestorationLake Apopka is a 31,000-acre lake located in Central Florida. It is one of the headwater regions of the Ocklawaha Chain of Lakes with the Palatlakaha basin being another contributing headwater region. Through the 1940's, Lake Apopka was the second largest Lake in Florida. It was a premier bass fishing lake and, in the days before major theme parks, was known as one of central Florida's major...Author(s)Joan B. BudzynskiNabil A. MuhaisenSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 71: Watershed Nutrient IssuesDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2004ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20040101)2004:9L.1;1-DOI10.2175/193864704784132418Volume / Issue2004 / 9Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)1 - 9Copyright2004Word count565

American Chemical Society meeting. Science invades the Magic Kingdom.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA—With nine major theme parks dominating the landscape here, fantasy reigns supreme. But nearly 14,000 chemists, materials scientists, and physicists tore themselves away from wild roller coaster rides long enough to present some 6500 papers. Among the highlights: a color-switching molecular motor, a novel scheme for improving hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells, and a safer way to make an antismog fuel additive that's more environmentally friendly than the most widely used additive, MTBE.