I'm just back from 5 days in California. And I am theme-parked-out. I took three ten year old girls to both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. I always keep my ticket number in my iphone using passbook. You can find some alternative apps in this reviews.
As I sat on some rides and sat out other rides, I realized that theme parks are still based on a one-way entertainment model. You ride, we'll tell you what to look at and what to do.
They are making moves in the right direction. Universal had a Fear Factor Live that you could audition for and appear in that day. Disney has a Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride where you fire laser cannons as you spin your star cruiser. Unfortunately the lines were too long and we missed it.
I think a lot of the problem is that these attractions take forever to design and build. So they don't stay up-to-date very long. And with the world of entertainment and technology changing so rapidly, I wonder what will happen to the venerable theme park?
What actually made me think about all this was this website (via kottke.org) - Street Wars: Killer. Street Wars is a round-robin, all city, 24/7 water-gun assassination tournament starting next week in New York City. It works like this:
Toward the beginning of the amusement you will get a manila envelope containing the accompanying:
- A photo of your expected target(s)
- The street number of your proposed target(s)
- The street number of your proposed target(s)
- The name of your expected target(s)
- Contact data of your expected target(s)
Endless supply of these things, your (or your team's) mission is to discover and slaughter (by method for water weapon, water inflatable or super soaker) your target(s).
You can chase your objective down any way you see fit; you can act like a conveyance individual and jack them when they open the entryway, mask yourself and take them out in the city, and so forth.
On the off chance that you are effective in your death endeavor, the individual you executed will give you their envelope and the individual they should murder turns into your new target. This proceeds until the point that you work yourself through every one of the players and recover the envelope with your (or your team's) picture(s) and name(s). At that point you win. Money… yet first live in fear.
Interactive- involves a lot of people. Cheap ($10). Most of all FUN. This type of organized activity is the FUTURE OF FUN - and theme parks seem like dinosaurs in comparison.
