Yale in Hollywood: Theme Park Panel

Join/Membership  - Member Login  Join Now  - Forgot Password About Us Contact Us Board Newsletter President's Message AYA Assembly Reports Past Events   Interest Groups Young Alum Yale in Hollywood Community Service Sports Adventure   ASC Interview Applicants Yale Book Award     Student Job/Internship Summer Fellow	Theme parks are a thrill ride October 21 2004 PASADENA-  Alums and friends learned about the magic of making theme parks at our Yale in Hollywood Theme Park panel. Our distinguished panel has dozens of years of experience in building theme parks for Disney, Universal and others: Craig Hanna, Executive Creative Director of Thinkwell Design & Production, Inc., Previously a Creative Director of Universal Creative, working on “Men in Black” and “Twister” Attraction for Universal Studio Florida and Templo Del Fuego for Universal Studios Port Aventura in Spain Lee Lanselle (Yale), Independent Contractor represents several themed entertainment companies for the Asia market. Lee was a member of the Disney Team setting up the deals for Tokyo Disneyland, Paris Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Steve Kirk, Partner of Kirk Design, Inc., Previously the Creative Vice President of Walt Disney Interactive for the Tokyo Disney Sea Park. Steve was a Creative Director for WDI for over 25 years working on Epcot, Tomorrowland at Disneyland and many more. Kirk Design just completed the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle Washington for Paul Allen and is currently working on a museum for DWP. Michael Silver (Harvard) is Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, for Universal Parks & Resorts, which has responsibility for all NBC Universal's theme parks, hotels and CityWalks (located in Universal City, California; Orlando, Florida; Osaka, Japan; and Salou (near Barcelona), Spain). He was part of the team that negotiated for a Universal Studios theme park in Shanghai, China. Cliff Warner, moderator and host, (Yale) is the co-founder of Thinkwell Design, which has created entertainment and attractions worldwide for DreamWorks, MGM, Paramount, Nike, Mastercard, the LA Dodgers and Anaheim Angels. Topics included: Development:  When deciding to open a theme park domestically or internationally, there are several factors.  Ideally, theme parks are located near big cities (not vacation towns) with good public transportation (freeways, rail, etc) in a politically and economically stable environment.  Key is the ability of the local population to have enough income for a family to do a theme park as leisure activity.  From the greenlight decision, it takes about 5 years to design, build, and open a park. Know your audience, from development to merchandising.  Don't build kiddie rides for a teen-oriented park- the teens may spit at your attractions!   Families expect Disney parks to have the Disney magic.  That's why attractions were added to the initially adult-oriented Disney California Adventure in Anaheim.  In Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, the Japanese are big gift-givers of generic gifts like cookie and cakes in pretty tins, so those do well.  Character logo T-shirts do not.   In Disneyland Paris, the French like good French bread.  AND they also like hamburgers and hot dogs for the American experience. Competition and the future.  In the 1950s when Disneyland opened, a theme park was a unique "another world" experience.   Now, today's audiences are used to CGI movies and special effects to transport them to another world.  Theme parks also face competition not just from other theme parks, but from cheaper leisure alternatives.  That includes movies, video games, the Internet, and even themed retail, like the Grove in LA.   In fact, many malls and even museums are borrowing theme park's themed entertainment and edutainment to attract customers.   But many of the panelists agreed, none of these alternatives can match the magic of seeing a family explore a theme park on Opening Day. Thanks to all of our panelists for spending the evening sharing their experience with us.  And thanks to Cliff Warner and his staff at Thinkwell for hosting us!	Lee Lanselle Michael Silver Craig Hanna Steve Kirk Cliff Warner
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