Future Development of Theme Parks with the Help of a Comparison between SeaWorld, Orlando and Oceanpark, Hongkong

Table of Contents

  page  

1.  Introduction  2

1.1  Definition  2

1.2.  Socio cultural aspects  3

1.3.  Current market situation  3

2.  Comparison Sea World Orlando and  5

  Ocean Park Hongkong  

2.1.  Sea World  5

2.1.1.  General Information  5

2.1.2.  Specials  7

2.1.3.  Future planning  8

2.2.  Ocean Park  10

2.2.1.  General Information  10

2.2.2.  Specials  11

2.2.3.  Future planning  13

2.3.  Comparison  14

2.3.1.  Similarities  14

2.3.2.  Differences  15

2.3.3.  Conclusion  15

3.  Future Development  16

3.1.  General trends  16

3.2.  Criticism and risks  21

3.3.  Summary  22

4.  Bibliography  23

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1. Introduction

1.1. Definition

A theme park is an amusement park in which all the settings and attractions have a

central theme, such as the world of the future. So the question is how an amusement park is defined.

It is a commercially operated park offering various forms of entertainment, such as arcade games, carousels, roller coasters, and performers, as well as food, drink, and souvenirs. Amusement parks differ from circuses, carnivals, and world's fairs (see exposition) in that, parks are permanently located entertainment complexes, open either all year or seasonally every year. Some amusement parks, known as theme parks, are designed to evoke distant or imaginary locales and/or eras, such as the Wild West, an African safari, or medieval Europe. Theme parks usually charge a substantial admission fee, whereas traditional amusement parks, such as those at Coney Island, do not charge entrance to the midway; theme-park admission, however, typically includes the cost of the rides, which are paid for individually in a traditional amusement park (http://www.answers.com/topic/amusement- park).Amusement parks were the historical precursors to modern theme parks as well as the more traditional midway arcades and rides at county and state fairs (in the United States). Today, amusement parks have largely been replaced by theme parks, and the two terms are often used interchangeably (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusement_park). In today’s theme parks more or less exotic worlds which do not exist in reality are staged on a delimited area as a setting for entertainment (cp. Stemshorn 2000, p.9). A huge number of leisure opportunities are packaged within a theme park and serve as a contrast to everyday life (cp. Opaschowski 1998, p.24 et seq.). They are characterized by following features:

• Sophisticated, extensive services for different target groups( families, children, disabled people, seniors);

• Extensive and differentiated gastronomic offers;

• all inclusive entertainment range (normally, an entrance fee enables the consumption of all offered services and their repeated usage, except the gastronomic offer);

• Continuity and change (rule of thumb: two third standard available capacity stay as they are, whereas one third of the range changes for creating a name and an identity as well as bringing variety for repeated consumption and get regular guests);

• Usage of marketing instruments like special prices or special offers, joint venture or special offers for target groups;

• Possibilities for overnight stays by integrated or nearby situated hotels;

• Perfection and professionalism as quality mark; intensive training of staff;

• Attractions: the general range of attractions includes rides with a lot of thrill, nostalgic carousels, clowns, shooting galleries and so on;

• Artists, stunt- shows, music- shows, parades, animal- shows, firework and more.

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(www.kuwi.uni.linz.ac.at/LehreUniLinz.htm)

1.2. Social- cultural aspects

The idea of theme parks is to create an illusory world, a contrast to the reality which is often full of problems, worries, aggressions and conflicts. People are looking for an ideal world, a dream which shows only the beautiful sides of life. They want amusement, entertainment and recreation at the same time. Next to the wish to experience a perfect world with sunshine year round it seems to be a paradox that visitors want the artificial production to be as authentic as possible or even beat the reality.

Furthermore, the modern customer wants to be a part of the show not only a spectator. One wants to participate, to be involved and to get an intensive, sensual buzz from this adventure. Therefore theme parks must create a culture for touch. They try to cover nearly all needs of their customers to have a wider target group. Therefore they install a great variety of gastronomic highlights, rides, shows and other attractions. Today people search for as much experience as possible in less time. This phenomenon is called fast food style. It develops more and more addiction to impulse. It is not anymore the sustainability of life but the arrangement of it (cp. Zellmann 2000, p.29). It implements the new way of life. We are now living in a performance- oriented society and an experience society, how Schulze calls it in his book “Die Erlebnisgesellschaft”. Leisure time has become one of the most important parts of life. Effort and pleasure are no contrasts anymore. The young generation has got a new understanding of life. Values have changed. Emotions shall be integrated in everyday life. Above that, everything is adjusted to experiences and entertainment. In the modern society a central topic is not only preservation of life but also the design of life (cp. Stemshorn 2000, p.28 et seq.).

“Live, personnel, sensual and social: These are the four dimensions of the experience society” (Opaschowski 1998, p.28).

The visitors are not just yearning for amusement but also for education. Another important aspect of the socio- culture is the demographical situation. Nowadays there are more elderly people than before so theme parks have to offer an incentive for them. They are important customers because they have enough time and money to travel but they must have the accessibility.

In addition one has to recognize the ethnic diversity and the increasing interest of people in environment and animal welfare as well as social responsibility. It follows that all these aspects are the reason why theme parks are permanently developing. They have to implement new concepts in order to attune to the new lifestyles.

1.3. Current market situation

There are round about 190 larger theme parks worldwide today and their number increases.

Theme parks have different catchment areas. Most attract up to 90% of visitors from within a 2-hour drive zone and many have populations of more than 15 million within this zone. Only a few attract visitors from a national or international catchment area, most have mainly regional appeal. The theme park market is highly seasonal with most parks only opening between Easter and October (cp. Swarbrooke, 1998, p. 75

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et seq.). The most important factor is to have a growing market which is determined by the changing tastes of the consumers.

This is why the socio- cultural aspects listed above should be mentioned here again:

• more older people with disposable income as well as leisure time

• desire to learn a skill or gain knowledge

• become an active part in the attraction

• find attractions for children

• interest in green issues and healthy lifestyles

• interest in ‘leisure’, rather than utilitarian, shopping

The quality of the attraction product is as much important as the other aspects for guaranteeing a positive word-of-mouth recommendation. This is at least a relevant consideration of consumers whether to visit an attraction or not.

(cp., Swarbrooke, 1998, p.117) Economic factors play an important role at the attraction market as well. Its success depends on the disposable income of the people and their willingness to spend, and leisure time. Actual disposable income is affected by the other calls such as accommodation and food. Therefore mortgage interest rates and inflation are important factors for attraction operators.

The aspect how the income is distributed throughout society as a whole is relevant, too.

The distribution of income is determined by several factors. The most important ones to be listed here are for example unemployment, taxation policy, relative wage levels, the differences between social classes, the number of people on pensions and social security benefits (cp., Swarbrooke, 1998, p. 87).

When talking about the market situation the financial structure of a theme park should be pointed out. Important for the new dimension of modern theme parks is the joint venture business. By this term we understand the cooperation of two companies to a new autonomous enterprise. Their sponsors often are multinational enterprises of different branches which try to benefit from advertisement by high financial investment. Revenues mainly arise from five fields: the entrance fee, the gastronomy, consumption products (souvenirs, media, clothing), integrated hotels and at least sponsoring and merchandising. Considering all these possibilities of creating revenue you can state that theme parks are really profitable. To underline this let us give you an example. The whole attraction industry of theme parks makes

4 billion $ per year in the USA by 235 million customers and an application of

275,000 employees. Furthermore the question of the owners and administrators is a quite interesting fact. The biggest theme parks are parts of chains like Six Flags, Kings or Disney. In some countries operators syndicated for example “The British Association Leisure Parks, Piers & Attractions”, the “International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, IAAPA” or the “Association of German Leisure Enterprises” (cp. http://www.alpenforschung.de/skripte/ET_II_IBR_1.pdf).

Finally we have to state that it is difficult to give an overview of the theme park’s market situation because of the great diversity of theme parks. Although being based on some general industrial impacts most theme parks belong to different kinds of organizations.

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2. Comparison between SeaWorld, Orlando and Ocean Park, Hong Kong

2.1. SeaWorld

2.1.1. General Information

SeaWorld is a chain of marine theme parks, a combination of a marine zoo and a leisure park. It has its operations in Orlando, San Diego, San Antonio and previously Cleveland.

The parks offer a variety of animals living in the sea like killer whales, sea lions, dolphins and so on which are making stunts and shows for the visitors. The icon is a killer whale named Shamu, which was the first killer whale ever in a SeaWorld park. Today these animals are still the main attraction in Shamu Stadium, a 7-million gallon habitat.

The parks were founded by George Millay, an Irish entrepreneur who was also the inventor of Wet’n Wild Orlando, the World’s First Waterpark. Today SeaWorld is owned by Bush Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment division of Anheuser- Bush, a famous brewery but also owner of nine theme parks with 15,000 employees. SeaWorld get involved with wildlife conservations through rescue of beached whales, dolphins and other marine animals as well as through many contributions. Staff members participate in research and wildlife preservation.

SeaWorld has even created an own non-profit foundation called SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.

Furthermore, SeaWorld has the best killer whale breeding program worldwide which gave birth to 23 whales since 1985.

SeaWorld Orlando covers a 200 acre area which has already about 80 million people visited up to now. The wide range of services allows all people to join SeaWorld. Visitors can get wheel chairs, strollers and climate-controlled pet kennels for rental. Diaper-changing and baby-nursing areas, first-aid, foreign currency exchange, 24- hour automated teller machine, taxi and bus parking may be found on-site. An additional service is to offer facilities for meetings and conventions. SeaWorld organizes more than 400 parties a year on average. With a capacity ranging from 30 to 25,000 people it is particularly suitable for holding big events. (cp.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=SeaWorld&cur tab=2222_1&linktext=SeaWorld).

Till now SeaWorld has gained positive feedback in most cases. Nevertheless, it has also made some negative headlines. In the history of SeaWorld there have been some mortal accidents. One was among the animals because of a fight; the second was because of orcas drag a person under. However, these were just accidents not wilful killing.

SeaWorld Orlando is considered to be one of the most famous and diverse theme parks in the world.

One has the choice between eleven different animal shows. SeaWorld covers all water habitats around the globe, no matter if Arctic, Antarctic, Rainforest, Caribbean Lagoons or Mediterranean Sea. The visitor can explore these multi-level ecosystems by a simulated jet helicopter or on foot. On their journey visitors observe polar bears,

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