nadroJ
CF Legend
So I've noticed that in the past few years lots of parks have cottoned on to the trend that heavily themed rides with a flowing narrative are popular and impressive to guests. Previously I've noticed that it was only really the 'big' parks that bothered with theming outside of Disney, but in 2012/2013 we've seen some really impressive attempts to go the extra mile and actually create backstory to makes rides more the whole package rather than just a generic amusement park experience. The only parks that are really still stuck in that trend are the Six Flags/Cedar Fair parks. The new/smaller parks all over Europe and the new parks popping up in Asia seem really committed to at least attempting to give the big boys a run for their money.
We've seen Chessington currently going through a massive theming upgrade plan (we hope), The Swarm was actually a really impressive effort and they keep adding to the theming on that and we're seeing some really original ideas going on with The Smiler. But what really caught my attention was the drop tower in Fantasiana, a park which was previously just a generic family style park, now using REAL BRICKS *!* in their theming and attempting to give their new ride a narrative.
I'm really impressed with these advances and it shows that parks are taking into consideration the importance of theme and how big a difference it can play in being a good and a great park.
Just wanted to know people's thoughts on this, whether you agree, disagree, any other trends you may have noticed with regards to theme, or even anything that's just impressed you =]
We've seen Chessington currently going through a massive theming upgrade plan (we hope), The Swarm was actually a really impressive effort and they keep adding to the theming on that and we're seeing some really original ideas going on with The Smiler. But what really caught my attention was the drop tower in Fantasiana, a park which was previously just a generic family style park, now using REAL BRICKS *!* in their theming and attempting to give their new ride a narrative.
I'm really impressed with these advances and it shows that parks are taking into consideration the importance of theme and how big a difference it can play in being a good and a great park.
Just wanted to know people's thoughts on this, whether you agree, disagree, any other trends you may have noticed with regards to theme, or even anything that's just impressed you =]