June is here, and with it has come vacation and theme park
season. Now that school is out for the summer, more and more families are going
to be traveling. And of course, many families travel to theme parks.
Theme parks have a lot of fun things to offer. There are
rides for kids and adults alike, good food, and great shopping. A day at the
theme park makes for a great memory. The one part of a theme park that is not pleasant
is the lines.
It’s the one part of theme parks that people try not to think
about. Lines are not fun. They’re long, it’s usually hot, and the amount of
people in lines means that most people only have time to go on a few rides in
their entire visit. Lines can ruin a person’s experience at a theme park and
encourage them not to come back.
This is why more and more theme parks are trying to make
waiting in line tolerable…and sometimes even fun! Some parks are now sending
costumed characters to walk up and down the line. Others are creating
interactive games along the lines for children and sometimes adults. Some rides
have TV displays that will play videos. The goal is to entertain those people
who are in line to lower the perceived wait time and have them leaving happy.
This form of crowd control is less about keeping crowds
calm, and more about keeping them happy. Theme parks are attempting to keep
crowds entertained, as well as cool. Universal Studios in Orlando, for example,
often have fans and water misters along lines to keep people cool during the
hot wait.
After all, if customers have a miserable experience in line,
they may simply skip the crowds next year and find something else to do. It is
smart of theme parks to realize this and try to find a solution.
