What I have learned from Theme Park Management course

As I stated in the very first blog posts, I hoped that after finishing this course, I would be able to master the fundamental knowledge and practical experience about Theme Park field in particular and Amusement Park in general. And what I have learned in this course has exceeded my expectation.

Throughout the 18 weeks of the spring semester, I have gained a rather comprehensive knowledge about the Theme Park development history and characteristics. From the origin of European gardens with water fountains, sculptures and ornamental plants, the theme park industry has experienced significant expansion internationally as Disney Land - the first theme park in the history - was built in 1955. Different from amusement park which includes a number of attractions in a small area with many prices, a theme park is designed based on a specific theme in a large-scale area with only one price. Depending on scale and the number of attractions possessed, a theme park can be classified as destination, regional, urban or niche theme park.

I also have a better understanding about two important concepts - McDonaldization and Disneyization - that can be applied for the theme park management process and operation. Including four characteristics: efficiency, quantification, predictability, and control, McDonaldization provides a theme park with a competitive advantage by creating a system catering a large number of people efficiently while Disneyization overlaps commercialization and entertainment at the same time. 

Above all, one thing that interests me the most is the idea of spatial innovation because now, the concept of theme park is not simply limited within a specific theme and amusement facilities anymore but it can be expanded into a leisure complex or applied for a city planning.  I also created a leisure complex for myself which is called the Space Theme Park complex including a wide range of unique attractions never existing before. And I believe that it can be a project for real in the future.

More importantly, I understand that a theme park is a business which means that it must satisfies the guests’ needs and wants in a profitable way by maximizing the revenue and minimizing the costs. Besides, the theme park management level should also examine the challenges which human resource management has to face carefully while consider the safety of not only guests but also the employees and monitor the guests’ satisfaction and maintain its competitiveness. At this point, the information system becomes critically important to facilitate the theme park operation and management process, as well as constant evaluation of its programs and performances.

Furthermore, a theme park has to develop its marketing approach in both tactical and strategic level to make it a famous destination among guests. By dividing the market into different segments according to certain criteria, a theme park can indentify its most potential target market and attract them by constructing a sustainable marketing strategy.

Last but not least, a theme park should not only place its concentration on profit generation but also take good care of social responsibility by practical actions in concerning about the natural environment as well as communities surrounding the theme park, animal’s rights and ethical standards. Since maintaining a public image is absolutely crucial for a service industry like theme park, social responsibility should be seriously considered when you want the support from the society.

In conclusion, through the course of Theme Park Management, I learned that managing a theme park is not an easy task. It includes a great number of steps from before, during, and after the establishment of the attraction. However, as I wrote in the beginning of the semester: “I hope that after finishing this course, I will acquire the ability to contemplate one Theme Park's operation and management not only through one guest's eyes but also a Tourism professional’s.” I think I have possessed that ability now, not very completely, but at least I will never see a theme park as the same way before.

Social responsibility of theme park

A theme park is a business. Taking this fact into account, what do you think is the social responsibility of theme parks?

In the week 16, we watched two documentary films about the social and ethical responsibilities of theme park. The first documentary film called “Black fish” mainly concentrated on Tilikum – a killer whale which was captured from its mother since it was very young and trained for people’s entertainment. During its captivity, Tilikum resulted in the deaths of three individuals. The film then explained the reason why the killer whale had such aggressive behaviors and attitudes which turned out to be the consequences of captivity. At the beginning, the theme park of Sea World was wrong in capturing young killer whale for entertainment performances because this action was illegal, and even after the death of trainer which was caused by Tilikum, they refused to release it to the natural environment due to the profit that the killer whale brought back. That was a very serious ethical problem. After that, people started to protest “Captivity doesn’t work” and demanded the theme park to release the killer whales. At this point, the reputation of theme park was badly damaged as a result of paying their attention only in how to generate more profits.

The second documentary film was about the dolphins which were captured and killed by Japanese. While watching this film, I was shocked by an outrageous fact that “People watch the performances by dolphins and eat dolphin at the same time”. I really couldn’t understand why they would sell dolphin meat in a dolphin theme park? They violated the animal rights and simultaneously poisoned people with mercury. Maybe it is a normal matter for Japanese guests, but I wonder how international visitor would react if they pay a visit to that kind of theme park?

After watching these two commentary films, I understood that a successful theme park management is not only about human resource, marketing, or spatial innovation but also about practicing the responsibilities toward the society and surrounding environment. And Walt Disney Company can be seen as a representative example. The Walt Disney Company is very famous for the program of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which concerns about the natural environment, communities, and labor standards. Besides, the company continues to donate for charity for natural disasters victims and practices volunteerism around the world. 

A theme park is a business. Therefore, its ultimate goal is making money. It is an undeniable fact. However, a theme park cannot just focus on profit generation and ignore its social responsibility because society support is the first important factor that it needs to be successful.

Theme Park Marketing

Last week we had the lesson about Marketing in Theme Park and I learned that concentrating on the quality of service, managing theme park operation, or spatial innovation (expanding the concept of theme park into a leisure complex) are not enough to have a healthy and profitable business. Another crucial and indispensable element is making your Theme Park popular among guests, which means developing a structured approach to marketing in both tactical (short term run) and strategic level (long term run). 

My Space Theme Park’s marketing strategy will be started by a marketing plan as a draft about what are we going to do to make our Theme Park a famous destination for guests all around the world. In the beginning, the marketing plan will help us to indentify the target market segmentation which includes people who are potential customers for the Theme Park. Apparently, a trip to Space Theme Park is not for everyone. So basically, our target market is the upper uppers class of the society who are the wealthiest people and very difficult to be pleased. Also, we are going to divide them into different segmentations according to their age, occupation, and income in order to communicate, identify, anticipate, and eventually satisfy their needs and wants. For example, during the Space Theme Park visit, a CEO or a successful entrepreneur values internet connection in the outer space the most because they want to check their business emails every single moment. On the other hand, a young and famous celebrity may place more expectation on luxurious amenities such as spas and gyms.  By acknowledging the difference among market segmentations, Space Theme Park marketing strategy can be developed in a more complete way.

After finishing the marketing plan, we will apply Diversification Marketing Strategy for our Theme Park. Obviously, the Space Theme Park provides the new market (upper uppers social class) with a completely brand new product (the genuine experience of a astronaut). We are not going to spend a lot of money on advertising but we appreciate the importance of word-of-mouth channel of information. Have you ever wondered why Lamborghini doesn’t have any advertisements? Because their customers (the most successful and richest people) don’t have time to watch commercials! The similar thing happens to the Space Theme Park. That’s the reason why we are going to take advantage of the word-of-mouth recommendation to make traveling to the Space Theme Park a trend among the wealthiest layer of the society. And I strongly believe that this marketing strategy will be very effective.

Human Resource Management in my Theme Park

It is a popular belief that employee is the most valuable asset of a business establishment. Consequently, human resource management is an integral part of every company’s operation. And my Space Theme Park is no exception. Finding the right employees and retaining them are the biggest concern of our management system.

The Space Theme Park success heavily depends on the quality of the employees. That is the reason why I will be examining the challenges my Theme Park has to face in term of human resource management in a very careful manner. As far as I am concerned, the most significant challenge we have to face is how to recruit the right people who have suitable specialties and skills to become employees for the Space Theme Park. Because not everyone has both required physical and mental ability to withstand the pressure to work in the vacuum of space. Moreover, the safety issue of the employees is also one challenging issue for our Theme Park. Since working in outer space environment involves potential dangers such as radiation from the sun, space junk or debris, or cosmic rays, the human resource department has to make sure that the staff is going to have the safest working environment possible. Besides, we all also guarantee that every employee has full health insurance as well as life insurance to secure their benefits when unexpected and unfortunate accidents happen.

Because of these above certain challenges, the hiring process of the Space Theme Park is needed to be planned in a sustainable method and long-term run. The hiring process is one the very first phase when we plan to establish the Space Theme Park. The program to prepare for the human resource is going to be launched very early before constructing the establishment. We will indentify every position which is needed to be run by human beings in the Space Theme Park and choosing candidates from all over the world. We aim at young and enthusiastic candidates who are interested in space travel. Then we will have the brightest candidates signed a contract on agreement that they will continue to work at the Space Theme Park for at least 15 years before they make any other decision about changing their career paths. After that, they will be trained thoroughly and professionally in every aspect and prepared to have the skills to react effectively to any circumstances that might happen. As a result, the program will help the Space Theme Park to have a sustainable and well-trained human resource.

Fostering employee loyalty is also a very important mission of our human resource management. As I mentioned earlier, every employee will sign a contract on the working time at the Space Theme Park for at least 15 years before any changes. However, we understand that binding employees by laws and agreement is not enough. We also win their loyalty by employee motivation and retention programs which include special incentives and appropriate welfare system. All these programs shows that the Space Theme Park management really understands the fact that happy employees lead to happy customers.

Theme Park Operation Management

In week 13, we had a lesson about how to manage the operations of our theme park. And very clearly we all agreed that managing a theme park operation is not an easy task because it involves many stages which includes before, during, and after the establishment of the theme park operation. I also understand that a successful theme park operation management system is eventually able to satisfy visitor’s needs and wants in a profitable way.

To manage the operations of my Space Theme Park, I will use the logistics system including Production, Procurement and Distribution, Maintenance, and Safety:

1. Production: The experiences which my Space Theme Park brings to visitors are unique in many different ways. We provide visitors with the golden opportunities to become professional astronauts and have memorable journeys which are good values for money. Beside quality, safety is also highly guaranteed with high technology control system and well-trained employees. Moreover, the Space Theme Park always aims to fulfill every guest’s requirements. With a variety of products and services present at every stage of the journeys, visitors have many options for their vacation during their visit to the Space Theme Park.

2. Procurement and Distribution: The supply and distribution process for every unit of the Space Theme Park is a complete circle which is run by itself. This means that the Space Theme Park has its own factories which produce the supply for the Space Theme Park. These factories will be a part of the Space Theme Park Complex and constructed on the Moon surface since the distance is closer that the Earth. As a result, the Theme Park doesn’t have to rely on outside suppliers and become more active with its procurement and distribution.

3. Maintenance: Safety issue is one the highest concerns of guests when they want to pay a visit to the Space Theme Park. Consequently, maintenance department is very important for the Theme Park secure. We will have robots specially designed for easy or dangerous maintenance tasks such as painting the outside of the Theme Park. Human beings are trained and examined carefully before they can become a maintenance employee so that the Space Theme Park facilities are always in the best quality.

4. Safety: As I already discussed above, safety concerns are always seriously considered since the survival of the Theme Park. Safety is stated very clearly in our mission statement for every single employee of the Theme Park to follow and act accordingly.

About the processes of the Space Theme Park which are needed to be documented, we will have specific procedures for every department and the whole Theme Park operation. For example, there is a standard instruction for the task of running the Space Elevator so that the staff at that unit only needs to follow the procedure to get the job done.

Last but not least, to assure the quality of the Space Theme Park, we are going to develop an evaluation system which consists of continuous checks and examinations of achievement and improvement of the Theme Park policies. If one policy is not appropriate or costly, we will remove it from the system and formulate a new one and continue to check for the improvement until it is effective.

Theme Park Management strategies

How you plan to increase income, control costs, and measure the effectiveness of these strategies in your theme park?

The ultimate of every business in general and Theme Park in particular is creating profit. Therefore, strategies to increase income and reduce costs are crucially important for every Theme Park operation. Below are some of my strategies to have a more effective Space Theme Park operation.

1. How to increase income?

The Space Theme Park is completely remarkable that no ordinary Theme Park can compare. As a result, the strategies of increasing the income are different in many aspects.

- Making traveling to Space Theme Park a popular trend among millionaires, upper uppers, and successful businessmen. By defining a clear and suitable target market for the Space Theme Park, there are more business opportunities for creating handsome profits. The upper uppers class of every society always desire new exceptional ways to spend their money. So why don’t we provide them some by designing and marketing Space Theme Park as a luxury kind of travel which is only for successful, and respected people. It is somehow the same way when you want to buy a Lamborghini, you need not only the amount of money that the car costs but also at least 3-4 times that amount in the bank. Likewise, if you want to travel to the Space Theme Park, you need to prove your financial capability is sufficient for your incredible journey.

- Cooperating with insurance companies to have a secure insurance for visitors and special commissions from them. Since traveling into space is possibly dangerous, insurance is one of the fundamental requirements. Visitors will have to pay a large amount of money for insurance, so choosing Insurance Company wisely can have a big influence on the Space Theme Park.

- Simulating secondary visitors’ expenditure. With the luxurious resorts on Earth when visitors start their training, the Space Theme Park, Moon Restaurant, and Moon Hotel visitors have so many opportunities to spend their money that they can never imagine. For example, having a walk on the Moon surface with a personal experienced guide with the price of USD 100,000 is one of the many ways that visitor can enlarge their expenditure when having vacation in the Theme Park.

- International Underground Space Academy is also one of the ways to increase the profit of the Theme Park. The Academy will provide an outstanding studying environment for children coming rich family who wish to become astronauts or space scientists. And once in a while, these Academy students may take the Space elevator to visit the Theme Park and have their weekend their as a rest after a hard semester.

2. How to control costs?

- The Space Theme Park is going to apply McDonaldization as I mentioned in the earlier posts. Therefore, high technology will be used at the maximum. There are robots instead of human personnel to operate the Space Theme Park. Humans are only needed for maintenance staff and high level of management. This means that the human resources are managed at the highest productivity.

- Solar energy will be used at the Space Theme Park because it is boundless and renewable. The energy system is also highly secure and sustainable by the implementation of new technology. As a result, the Space Theme Park only needs to invest once and the maintenance fees instead of high energy bills every year.

- Rescheduling the loan payment. Because before constructing the Space Theme Park, we had to borrow a lot of money from banks. Consequently, the loans and interests the Theme Park must be paid have a huge impact on the annual revenue. If we can reschedule the payment and use the profit we created to invest in more innovative project, the operation will be much more efficient.

3. How to measure the effectiveness of these strategies?

The Accounting Department and Marketing Department are responsible for measuring if these strategies are effective or not. They need to provide annual income statement and customer satisfaction feedbacks to prove the credibility and sustainability of the strategies we have formulated. There would be bi-annually meetings of the highest management level to discuss about the new mission statements and development of the Space Theme Park. This will secure the effectiveness of any strategies the Theme Park implemented.

Area outside my Theme Park

In week 10, we had the discussions about how can the theme park concept be expanded into a leisure complex and how are ideas from theme parks translated into urban planning. And I started to like this idea very much because now the concept of Theme Park is not limited within a certain theme and amusement facilities, but it can reach beyond that by expanding with a great number of other things such as: hotels, shopping malls, transportation, parking lots, restaurants, resorts, another famous attractions (Formosa Aboriginal Culture Village with Sun Moon Lake), and even university (E-Da Theme Park with I-Shou University is a vivid example). With careful and innovative spatial planning and investment, many theme parks have expanded themselves as the perfect complexes for family holidays and relaxing trips.

My Space Theme Park is going to be the exceptional complex for guests who want to have the extraordinary experiences that no Theme Park on Earth can provide. As I mentioned in earlier blog posts, before any guest wish to pay a visit to the Space Theme Park, they must be trained through many stages to guarantee the health condition for space traveling. And the experience of the Space Theme Park will start to be perceived from this stage. Due to the long time of training period, we have luxurious resorts with high-tech facilities, spas, staff service… to serve every need of trainee. So that guests will not feel that the training section is tiring and unnecessary but a joyful time with initial touch with their special trips.

Since the Theme Park is in outer space, constructing a complex expanded from the Theme Park concept is highly expensive and insecure. Therefore, I decided to have the complex built on the Moon surface and underground. The complex will include: Space Theme Park, Moon Hotel, Moon Restaurant, and Underground Space Academy. The whole complex will be using solar energy which is renewable and boundless. We can generate the electricity from solar panels to restore for the night time. To move from the Space Theme Park to the Moon Hotel, guests can take the Space elevators, which are a special Space Roller Coaster, connecting the Space with the Moon surface. Besides, Moon Restaurant is the place that guests can taste cuisines from not only all over the world but also from “outer space”, which is unique and superb.

Underground Space Academy is an indispensable part of my complex of Space Theme Park. This Academy serves the purpose of investigating and exploring the mysterious Galaxy. This is also a meeting destination for all astronauts from all the countries in NASA, and the International Space Station (ISS)… to discuss about every hottest issue in Space science. Students will be taught about many subjects related to the space technology and implementation.

With all the above characteristics, I strongly believe that my Space Theme Park complex will be the first innovative leading idea for future Theme Park trend.