WEBVTT - How to Build the Ultimate Theme Park! 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.840 Guess what, Mango, what's that will? I'm going to Dollywood? 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:06.200 You what? 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:09.080 I'm going to Dollywood. Our family was at this event 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.400 last week and we won a trip to freaking Dollywood. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.200 I feel like that Powerball winner from last week. And 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:17.200 I do need to warn you about this. I may 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:18.599 never come back to work again, so. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.520 You've got to tell me what happens in Dollywood. 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.680 I actually have no idea. That's part of why I'm 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:25.840 so excited. I mean, of course I've heard of it. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:27.639 I grew up a few hours away from it, but 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:29.440 you know, other than knowing that one of the co 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.519 owners is Dolly Parton and she's great, and that it's 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.400 in this really pretty area of Tennessee, I know nothing 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.160 about it. And I'm actually intentionally avoiding any information about 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:40.800 it because I want to just show up and be 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:42.120 completely surprised. 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.400 Well, I do have one spoiler for you, and this 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:46.960 is something I remember from reading about it a long 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.600 time ago. In the Chasing Rainbow section, they have this 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.680 autograph picture from Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and I think you 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.240 read something like you are so very special. 0:00:57.680 --> 0:00:58.480 Oh how sweet? 0:00:58.680 --> 0:00:58.880 I know. 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.080 I love that he gave her that affirmation, but I 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:02.920 definitely want you to report back. I want to hear 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:04.080 what your kids think about it. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.720 I definitely will. But winning this trip felt like a 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:08.280 sign to me, you know that it was time to 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.319 do this episode on the history and philosophy of theme parks. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.360 And we've been talking about doing this for a while now, 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:34.800 so let's get started. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.440 Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.039 joined by my good friend Mangesha Ticketter and the man 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.760 making funny faces, that is through the soundproof glasses, our 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.640 friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And today we're talking theme parks, 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.600 all the science and imagination and you know, even the 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.480 philosophy that goes into designing and building and running theme parks. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:55.280 So we thought it'd be fun to dig into some 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.760 of the deep thinking behind one of the world's favorite 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.800 forms of escapism. We've also got some great guests on 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.960 the line to help us talk about that. Now, who's 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:03.600 joining us today? 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.640 Mego, yeah, Today we'll be talking to David Younger, author 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.920 of the new book Theme Park Design and the Art 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.520 of the Entertainment. David's guide covers every aspect of the 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:15.360 theme park industry, including interviews with theme park legends and 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.079 Disney imagineers. We'll also be talking with a couple of 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.280 theme park enthusias who've made it their life's work to 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.639 chronicle all the going ons at their favorite parks. 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.480 Very cool, all right, So we're going to dive in 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.519 in just a minute. But before we do that, we've 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.840 heard from so many of you by email or on 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.519 Facebook or Twitter, and even on our twenty four to 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.280 seven Fact hotline, and many of you have asked if 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.120 you can play one of our ridiculous quizzes. So here's 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.359 what we want you to do. Email us at Part 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.360 Time Genius at HowStuffWorks dot com or call us on 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.720 the Fact Hotline one eight four four pt Genius and 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:47.880 tell us why we should have you on to play 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.359 a quiz. Now, be sure to tell us something interesting, 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.760 of course, a true interesting fact about yourself, and maybe, 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.440 just maybe we'll have you on the show to play sometime. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.560 All right, So before we get into the exhilarating rides, 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.880 designs and all that good stuff, we probably need to 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.320 start out by talking a little semantics. 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.919 Semantics, you want to take this to the least fun 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:09.720 place possible. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.040 Yeah, I know, I know, but there is an important 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.520 distinction we should make about today's topic. So if you 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.919 were to ask somebody the difference between an amusement park 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.280 and a theme park, you know, they might think it's 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.560 a trick questions. I mean, you know, both kinds of 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.760 parks are high energy, they're family friendly. You've got all 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.400 the mechanical rides, the colorful designs, the tasty junk food, 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.959 which is probably my favorite part. You know, but there's 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.520 a very real difference between say, a seaside amusement park 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.680 like a Coney Island, and a full blown theme park 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.200 like Universal Studios or Lego Land. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.880 Sure, and I guess by the same token. Amusement parks 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.080 can contain individual rides or areas that are themed to something. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.680 So if you think about something like six Flags in 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.560 their parks, they all have a bunch of un themed 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.560 roller coasters and carnival type rides, But then there are 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:57.240 all those attractions from like Looney Tunes or DC Comics, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.080 So there's some crossover here and there. 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.680 Yeah, that's that's true. But you know, for the most part, 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:03.760 it's enough to know that the goal of an amusement 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.240 park is to, you know, get people a thrill more 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.800 or less through random assortments of exciting rides, And you know, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:11.600 the aim of a theme park, on the other hand, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.480 is to really immerse people in this elaborate storytelling experience, 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.200 and that just happens to use exciting rides as a 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:19.479 way of telling these stories. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.120 So it was interesting to me in doing research for 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.520 this episode, that every aspect of a theme park, or 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.080 at least a really good one, is meticulously crafted to 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.760 support the park's theme. So not just like the architecture, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.520 but things like the smells in the air, the music 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.760 being played, the characters of course, and employees' uniforms, but landscaping, 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.680 the color of the paint, the style of the benches, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.400 even the trash cans. Like everything you see or hear 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.520 or smell or touch like it's carefully selected, all for 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.279 the story that's being told, which just seems like such 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.440 a lofty goal for someplace where kids are like throwing 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.240 tantrums and parents are angry that they're spending nine dollars 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:57.719 for a soda. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.919 Yeah no, I can't wait to be angry at Dollywood. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.880 A lot of us tend to associate these with, you know, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.760 crass commercialism, or think of them as a low brow 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.120 or mindless form of entertainment. But that's something we'll see 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.279 a lot today, is that there's more substance at the 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.240 core of these theme parks than most of us give 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:13.839 them credit for. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:15.760 And speaking of credit, I do want to take a 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.720 minute upfront to recognize Frederick Thompson, the inventor of the 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.120 world's first theme attraction and a true theme park pioneer. 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.520 All right, So just to be sure we're not talking 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.440 the same Fred Thompson, who is the politician and the actor, right. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:29.520 I hope that would have been awesome, like talking about 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.400 politician Fred Thompson and then dropping the line like, oh yeah, 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.000 and he was a theme park pioneer. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.800 Right right, all right. We'll have a separate episode on 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.760 that Fred Thompson one day, but for this episode, this 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.599 seems like a good place to start tell us more 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.080 about him. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.839 Yeah, Thompson designed the first of what we'd categorized today 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.440 as a dark ride, but he hasn't gotten nearly as 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.520 much attention as some of the other theme park titans 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:50.440 we'll talk about today. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.640 And for any listeners who aren't up on their theme 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.479 park lingo, we should note that a dark ride is 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.440 basically just an indoor ride where a vehicle is guided 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.040 along this track and you know, you go from one 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.039 set to another. So you know, think Mister Toad's Wild 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.400 Ride at Disneyland, or Haunted Mansion, or you know, even 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.240 the generic kind of haunted house that you would go 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.520 through if you were at an amusement park exactly. 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.839 And Thompson really helped develop this genre of rides. He 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.120 was an architect who designed buildings for county fairs and 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.479 public exhibitions, and he really wanted to create a ride 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.000 that could dazzle the audience's senses and help them forget 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.159 about their everyday worries. So in nineteen oh one, using 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.560 copious amounts of plaster and modern advances like electric machinery 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.120 and light bulbs, Thompson premiered his masterpiece, which he dubbed 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:35.239 a Trip to the Moon. 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.040 And you were saying, you know, this was nineteen oh one, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.280 so you know, if you think about the timing there, 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.440 not only have we not made it to the moon yet, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:44.960 but even the Wright brothers, you know, their first man 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.239 flight was still a couple years off. So this whole premise, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.040 this whole thing would have been complete science fiction at that. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.760 Point totally, and Thompson chose this theme wisely, which is 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.960 why he was fine forking over eighty five thousand dollars 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.400 to build the attraction, which by the way, is more 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.320 than two million dollars in today's money. 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:03.600 Wow, God, that is so pricey, all right, So what 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:05.479 exactly did you get for that kind of cash? 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.400 Well, the main part of the ride was a thirty 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.600 passenger airship that was suspended from the ceiling by steel cables, 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.240 and you can find pictures of it online. It basically 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.120 looks like a huge canoe with these wide ore like wings, 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.120 and the wings were controlled by this pulley system that 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.800 let the ship rock back and forth. And they're also 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.960 these like small fans that provide the sensation of wind 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.760 rushing by. Like, it was great the feeling of soaring 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.560 in this flying machine. And it's all enhanced by sound 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.400 effects and hundreds of tiny lights, and there's like a 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:38.160 painted canvas backdrop. It's amazing, especially for the time, and 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.680 and it wasn't just that. Like the people rise beyond 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.360 the Earth's atmosphere all the way to the moon, and 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.120 then when the ship reaches its destination, passengers disembark and 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.120 entered this lunar cavern and it's made of plaster, where, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.280 of course they meet a race of moon people called 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:54.320 the Selenite. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.240 Right of course. So it was pretty much the world's 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:59.840 first flight simulator, right and it had, of course this 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.120 added dose of sci fi whimsy. I kind of wish 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:04.960 I could go back and ride this kind of thing 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.280 and see how people would have responded to it initially. 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.240 Yeah, and more than that, he was a visionary, so 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.680 he included a gift shop where visitors could eat green 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:12.239 moon cheese. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.040 Of course. All right, so Frederick Thompson certainly played a 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.840 part in the evolution of amusement parks and that transition 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.640 into two theme parks. And you know, but while we're 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.040 on the subject of credit, we do have to get 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:25.800 this one out of the way. It would definitely be 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.200 impossible to talk about theme parks without referencing their patron saint, 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.960 and that's Walter Elias Disney, or Uncle Walt, as he's 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:34.600 known to those who've drunk the kool aid. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:34.840 You know. 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.760 But no matter what you think of Disney Parks or 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.080 the behemoth parent company that they belonged to, there's really 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.160 no denying that the man behind the mouse revolutionized the 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.280 entertainment industry and of course paved the way for modern 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:48.560 theme parks as we know them. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.360 Absolutely, Disney was responsible for so many technical innovations that 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.520 became staples of the industry. I mean the biggest is 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.680 the audio animatronics, those lifelike robot characters that you see 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.320 at par So the Caribbean and the Enchanted Tiki Room. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.360 But you know, if we really want to give proper credit, 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.680 we should also mention the creator of the world's first 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.600 theme park, which you know, a contrary to popular belief, 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:11.800 was not Walt Disney. 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.240 Yeah, I was reading about that too, So this honor 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.440 actually belongs to a guy named Lewis Coke. He was 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:20.400 this industrialist and he had made it his retirement project 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.520 to create the first ever theme park. Now, you lived 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.600 near a tiny town called Santa Claus, Indiana. I know 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.440 we've talked about Santa Claus, Indiana before, but as you 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.000 can imagine, children from all of the world would visit 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.960 the town in hopes of meeting Santa. Of course, they 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.679 then only leave disappointed when they discovered old Saint Nick 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:39.760 did not, in fact, spend his off season in the 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:41.360 rural Midwest for some reason. 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.400 He doesn't vacation in the Midwest. No, I don't think so, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.679 which is you know that's funny, Like I had heard 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:47.480 of Santa claus Land, and I had heard of Santa 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.080 claus Indiana, but I never knew the two were connected. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.360 But I'm curious, Like, I don't understand why parents would 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.120 make that trek. It seems crazy. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.560 Well either way, Lewis Coke was the father of nine, 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.200 so the thought of all those appointed kids coming to 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.080 town it really got to him. He'd always wanted to 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.840 build an amusement park, and so in nineteen forty six, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.960 this was nine years before Disneyland would open to the public, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.240 Coke introduce the world to Santa claus Land. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.760 I love that the first theme park has like the 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.439 narrowest theme imaginable. 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.560 Yeah, I'd say it was pretty on the nose as 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.240 a theme, but still groundbreaking as a concept. I mean, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.520 there had been tons of amusement parks before, but nothing 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:27.280 quite like Santa claus. 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.520 Land, which also seems a little crazy because the concept 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.000 of like public amusement like that goes back all the 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.200 way to the Renaissance. That's when a pleasure gardens started 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.840 popping up on the grounds of English inns and taverns. 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.680 Yeah, but you know, somehow an amusement park with a 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.560 dedicated theme had it really had never been done before, 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.160 and thankfully the idea proved a huge hit with the public, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.640 and the Koch family was able to expand the park's 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.440 theme in the nineteen eighties, and this allowed them to 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.720 include areas themed around other holidays, so not just Christmas, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.719 but Thanksgiving, Halloween, fourth of July. It's it's like such 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.319 a strange place, to be honest with you. But seventy 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.320 one years later the park is still open for business 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.720 than now it goes by the more inclusive name Holiday World. 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.160 I like that Holiday World. It's so much smarter than 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:13.240 like just hanging out with Santa, which you can do 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.480 at any local mall. By the way, speaking of holidays, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:18.760 do you know that John Dee Rockefeller used to celebrate 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.600 a personal holiday every year called job Day. It was 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.600 the anniversary of the day he got his first job 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.560 at sixteen, and he considered it way more important than 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:28.800 any other day in his calendar. 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.120 Aw Well, I don't think I've seen any job Day 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.800 land theme parks, but I agree with you, it's better 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.840 to have a broad and more universal concept. And you know, 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.600 in thinking about all of this, I'm really curious about 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.360 the decision making that goes into planning a theme park, Like, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:44.280 you know, how do you settle on a theme or 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.640 decide what kind of attraction to use for any of 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:47.720 these given concepts. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:49.839 Well, how about we got David Younger on the line 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.120 and see if you can walk us through that. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.000 Okay, Mangos. So a few weeks ago we did an 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.559 episode on World Records, and I'm not sure if Guinness 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.760 keeps up with a world record on the person who 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.320 has interviewed the most theme park designers in the world, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.800 but if they did, I'm pretty sure we may be 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.640 talking to the person who would take that crown. He's 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.840 the author of really the the Ultimate Guide on designing 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:24.000 theme Parks. He spoke to thousands of designers, engineers, creatives 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.480 and others during the project, and the book is called 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.800 Theme Park Design and the Art of Themed Entertainment. So, 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.080 David Younger, welcome to part time Genius. 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:33.720 Thank you very much for having me. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.680 So, David, I've read this was a massive project and 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.400 it took four years to complete. How did theme park 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:40.800 design become a passion of yours. 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.439 Well, really, for me, it's been something that I've been 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.800 interested in ever since I was a kid. It's like 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.280 I was the kid that was playing roller coaster Tycoon 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.920 non stop, designing all the different things. And so I 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:52.920 knew I wanted to go. 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:53.920 Into tempik design. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.599 The only trouble was that there are design courses, or 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.360 they weren't at the time. And so I went into film, said, 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.520 and I realized that you can get hundreds of books 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.000 on stream writing and directing and editing for film, but 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.360 nothing existed for themepuchs. So I kind of realized if 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.920 I wanted to learn this myself, and I wanted to 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.079 buy this book even though it didn't exist, I thought 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.360 I'd have to write it myself. 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:19.000 Well that's terrific. Now, in the book, you talk about 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.959 three types of theme park guests and describe them as 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:26.800 world travelers, character huggers, and thrill seekers. And I was 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.320 curious to talk first about that that first group. These 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.280 world travelers. Now, these are the ones that you describe 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.280 as liking to be transported to another world that feels 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.280 so convincing that you almost believe you're really there. And 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.360 I'm curious for you, you know what parks stand out 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.240 as the best in the world at doing exactly that. 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.160 Well, if you look at the different themepaxs around the world, 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:50.600 there are actually a number of different styles of design 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:52.960 that the theme park's use. And the best way of 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.960 thinking about this is to compare Epicot, for example, to 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.160 The Magic Kingdom, where at the Magic Kingdom you're asked 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.559 to kind of buy into this idea that you really 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.680 are in the American West, or you really are in 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.640 a fairytale village. Whereas you compare that to Epcot, where 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.760 you'll go on something alike the Universe of Energy, which 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.079 is where you're not really in any time or place, 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.320 you're just being kind of tort about a tort about energy. 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.520 And these parks like the Magic. 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.200 Kingdom that tried to convince you that you're really in 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.080 another entire another time and place. It's called new traditional 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.320 style parks, and really the best at that is definitely 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.600 going to be Disney. I mean, theyu of the people 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.800 that invented it back in the nineteen fifties and they're 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.880 still doing it absolutely brilliantly today. But as well as that, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.960 Universal Studios it was kind of going for a post 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.560 modern type park in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties. 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.680 Whatever Harry Potter open, They're going for this place you 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:47.160 in the world. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:48.920 Convince you you're really their approach. 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.800 I'm curious to hear you know where you see this 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.560 this industry going. Obviously, there's been incredible evolution over the 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.760 past couple of decades. What do you see changing or 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.920 what do you see emerging the world of theme parks 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.800 and theme park design in the next couple of decades. 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.000 Well, the main thing is how much theme parks are 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.560 willing to commit to fully immersing you within, particularly intellectual 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.000 properties like Star Wars and Avatar and Harry Potter. So, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.120 for example, whereas twenty years ago Disney might get the 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.960 licensed to build a Star Wars to put Star Wars 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.320 into their theme parks, and they'll build one ride, now 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.960 twenty years later they'll build an entire land and put 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.800 four attractions or Star Wars themes into it, as well 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.080 as Star Wars theam's restaurants and Star Wars themes, hotels 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.200 and Star Wars them shops. It's also becoming more personal, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:45.240 particularly with video games kind of threatening its working to 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.120 step into a world. Theme parks have been trying to 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:51.560 find ways of immersing yourself more and more, and one 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.240 of the best ways of doing that is using new 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.960 technology like the ones at the Wisdom World of Harry Popper, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.440 where you actually get to casture and spell within the environment, 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.000 and that's something that hasn't been done before. 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.080 So we did an episode on Ikea a few weeks 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.040 ago and talked about the thought that goes into the 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:09.960 flow of the store, and I was curious if you 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:11.920 could talk a little bit about how that works for 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:12.680 theme parks. 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.960 So with theme parks before seam parks were invented, thereway 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.760 its kind of their state fairs and amusement parks like 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.880 Coney Island. Their typical layout was just a grid layout, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.800 so you have intersection with the rides in the middle, 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.000 and it was a really an interesting layout to walk around. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.280 It wasn't the most efficient way of laying things out, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.000 and so when kissy Land was designed in nineteen fifty five, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.160 they decided, well Disney decided to try something different and 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.040 that's what invented the hubbn spoke layout. So in a 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.240 Hubban spoke layout, you have a plaza at the middle 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.320 with the castle, and then you have radial walkways spanning 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.600 out into the different themed lands, and by doing that 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:54.880 you kind of contain the steamed lands into their particular areas, 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.080 so you can create immersion and everything like that. And 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.960 also it's a much easier way of finding your way 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.639 arount around the park. But then within that you also 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.680 have you've got to get the guests to move around 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.719 within the park, so you have the engines of movement 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:12.840 that Sea Park design is used. And there are two 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.280 main ones. Okay, the first one is the weeni, which 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.159 is an odd term, but basically, a weeni is a 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.680 visual magnate. It's something that you see in the distance 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.639 and you go, wow, that looks interesting. I want to 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.359 know more about that, and so you walk towards it. 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:28.760 And the best example of that is obviously the Castle 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.760 on Main Street UFA. You go through the gates of Disneyland, 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.000 you see the castle and you immediately want to walk 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.960 up to end and see what's see what's down there. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.560 And similarly at disneland Paris. Disland Paris is the first 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.359 part where not only did they use a weenie at 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.240 the end of Main Street USA, but they put weenieds 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:44.560 into every single lap. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:45.600 So when you're in the. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.479 Hub you could look towards Discovery Land and see Space Mountain, 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.240 you can look towards Frontier Land and see Big Thunder Mountain, 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.359 and every which every way you look, you have this 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.280 visual icon pulling you towards it. But then the second term, 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.399 which is the one that's used in shopping walls, is 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.439 the anchor. So in shopping malls, you'll kind of typically 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.480 find that the biggest store of the pace at the 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.280 extremities of the mall, and then all of the smaller 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.560 shops and the boutique shops and the independent shops placed 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.719 in between at the anchor stores. So the guests, we'll 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.600 go to an anchor store, then they'll go to the 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.840 next anchor store, and on the way they'll see these 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:18.359 other shops along the way and go, oh, I'll have 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:19.000