Organization of my Theme Park

To organize my theme park, I will apply the model of McDonaldization. To be honest, this is not the first time I heard about the concept of McDonaldization. I had the first impression of it in Introduction to Tourism class last year. But back then, I didn't really understand what it was. I thought it was the domination of McDonald all over the world, and every single corner of the globe has been covered by the existence of fast food restaurants. Now, I think I have understood what is McDonaldization. It is not only about junk food which affects people's eating pattern. But McDonaldization can be anything, and it even can be applied for a culture or a society. There are four components of McDonaldization which are: efficiency, quantification, predictability, and control.With these four characteristics, McDonaldization is happening all around us as a global phenomenon.

Applied Mcdonaldization, my theme park will be fully equiped with the most innovative technology to control every operation process. There will be cameras at any entrance of the theme park to supervise employees as well as visitors of the park. Managers can easily know how theme park is running through the CCTV system. The number of employees in the park is going to be reduced as many as possible due to the implementation of high technology. Almost every part of the theme park is controlled by machines and computer, so human are only needed for mainternance staff. The tasks  in the theme park are highly repetitive and predictable. Therefore, the amount of work is less than usual and employees are able to perform the tasks faster, so there will be a larger number of visitors who have the chance to try a ride in the theme park.

However, I have some thoughts about De-McDonaldization. There are some traditional values and special characteristics that we need to reserve, and if we apply McDonaldization for everything, the difference will be eleminated. We will only focus on quantity instead of quality, predictability instead of unpredictability, which is the nature of service industry. If so, somehow McDonaldization is contributing to Globalization and one day, every company, society or even political system will all be the same. Therefore, I think we should not only consider the positive sides of McDonaldization but also its negative effects.

The ownership of my Theme Park

Last week we had the discussion about large operators in Theme Park Industry, and I realised that there is no company actually started their business with theme park at the first place. For example, Disney World is owned by The Walt Disney Company which began as a Cartoon Studio. Or a more obvious instance, E-DA Theme Park, known as Taiwan's EPCOT, belongs to E United Group which started from the establishment of Yieh Hsing Enterprise with steel business in 1978. Some other companies just bought the concept from the successful Theme Park owners through some kinds of agreement and with government collaboration. I think this sort of business is very safe as well as efficient due to the fact that you have money and resources, but lack of concepts for new investment plan, franchising Disney World in your own country is a fine choice. 

Come back to my Theme Park project, I own a concept, but don't have the finacial ability to make it become a reality. But I still have several choices. My first plan would be presenting my project to banks' representatives to apeal for loans and potetial investors. If this ways didn't go well because of the big risk constructing a space Theme Park, I would change to plan B which is finding a job, collecting experience, saving money until I am able to set up my own business. Then I wait until I have enough money to establish the Theme Park that I planed before. This sounds very long-term and struggling to me. But the road to success is paved with failures, so I think I just have to move forward no matter how slow I am, just take it step by step.

Globalization of Theme Park
Why do you think Taiwan has not developed a globalized them park industry?

Taiwan has focused on Tourism industry in recent years because of its rapid economic prosperity and socio-cultural benefits. Besides five national parks, Taiwanese government has developed its medium and long term tourism programs to match with the needs of experiencing and discovering the rich culture and history of this beautiful and amazing island. However, somehow Theme parks in Taiwan are not yet joining with the globalization which is happening around the world. The question is why?

As far as I am aware, the possible answer for that question is the political status of Taiwan. For intance, if you go to Google, type in: "Is Taiwan is a country?", you can see a lot of totally different answers. Some people said: "Yes, Taiwan is a country, I am Taiwanese", but there are also people saying "No, It's part of China as a province." Someone also tried to defend Taiwan by listing facts such as: "Taiwan has it own flag, government, national anthem..." But Taiwan is still not able to represent itself in the Olymic. I think it is due to the complexity of Taiwanese political status that leads to a pretty slow speed taking part in globalization of Theme Park industry in particular, and Tourism in general.

What can your theme park offer to the Asia-Pacific region?

In my opinion, my space Theme Park can offer the whole Asian-Pacific region the unique experience that no other Theme Park can provide. As I mentioned in earlier blog, my outerspace Theme park will develop a wide range of activities from watching the Earth from an astronaut's view to walking on the Moon like Neil Amstrong! But I think there must be more researches to reduce the cost of visiting the space so that more and more people and afford it.

Theme Park in outerspace

Type: Destination Theme Park

Neil Armstrong , the first man to walk on the Moon, once said: "That's one small step for Man, one giant Leap for Mankind" when he had been giving his hope for all human beings in the adventure of conquering the space. And the presence now does not disappoint him at all. We are trying desperately to explore more the deepest corner of the Galaxy, the farthest star we can reach, and the most mysterious living organism outside the Earth. 

In the future, I strongly believe that it is not an impossible mision that we can establish a Theme Park in outerspace. Needless to say, the Theme Park is going to be in an enormous financial demand from every sources from government body to private enterprises. Every single unit of the Theme Park is in tremedous high level of investment in order to secure the safety of the equipment when they are in the space.

Safety issue is one of the premier concern when people construct the Theme Park. We will have scientists and engineers, teachers and students to do the experiments, collect datas and study questions about the platforms for the spacecarft, material for the space station and the microgravity environments. From all that knowledge, we can be one hundred percent sure about the safety of the space Theme Park for both employees and guests. But not everyone can work and visit the space Theme Park. There will be a heath examination to indicate whether or not you can travel into space. Only people who meet all the health requirements are able to pay a visit to the space Theme Park.

The Theme Park will contain a wide range of activities which are unique from very Theme Park on Earth. How about a trip to visit the Moon like Amstrong? You can walk freely on the surface of the Moon for 15 minutes to experience how different when there is not that much gravity to hold you back. Before coming back, guest can browse one piece of Moon rock to bring home for a boast with your family and friends.

In the presence, we have plenty of fiction movies and novels, like Starstrek and Brave New World, colouring our imagination about the world out there. In the future, I think that it will not be imaginary anymore to have a place for our kids to play in the space!

Theme Parks In The Future
If you ask me how Theme Parks in the future will look like, my answer is: "They will be in outerspace."
For may decades, people have been dreaming about travelling to space to experience weightlessness, set foot on a star, or look at the Earth from a completely different perspective. Thanks to the advanced and innovative technology, space travel is not unreachable anymore. And I think a Theme Park in space is not an idea but a project in the future for real.
Dennis Tito, an American engineer and multimillionaire, is widely known as the first tourist to travel into space. He had to pay nearly 20 million USD for his trip in 2001, when he was 61. After that, space travel industry has sprung up with the participation of many companies since the handsome profit it promises.
Have you ever looked up into the sky and wished that you could be weitghtless up there? If you travel to the Theme Park outer space, your dream will come true. There is no gravity force to hold you stand traight anymore. It's not like the very brief weightlessness you get when you crested the top of the hill in the fastest roller coaster on Earth. But you experience the zero-gravity condition for much longer period. You are actually floating in the air like a hellium balloon without a direction. There is no right or left, up or down. If you are a careless person on Earth, and everything in your hand will be broken the moment you touch them, don't worry, you can drop anything at this Theme Park and it will not be damaged. It sounds really cool, isn't it?
How about viewing at the Earth from the space Theme Park? We walking on this beautiful and giant planet everyday but we may not realize how small we are. From space, we can look at the Earth, a blue marble with swirls, and admire how gorgeous it is. And there are thousands of stars surrounds the Earth wrapping the orange dawn horizon showing that we are not alone in this universe.
We had Disney Land as our first Theme Park in the history. But how Theme Parks will end up like? We are not really sure about it. There are endless posibilities! But I hope that Theme Parks are always ideal reacreational, leisure and resting places for people.