Theme Park Field Tools

Plussing

Rerideability

  • Placemaking
  • Detailing
  • Content
  • Interchangeability
  • Dynamics
  • Skill-Based Attraction
  • Competition Attractions
  • Collectability
  • Interactivity
  • Point of View
  • Plussing
  • Overlays
  • Elements to Avoid
    • Dialogue
    • Humor
    • Something Goes Wrong

Sponsorship

Ride Types

  • Dark Rides
  • Animal Attractions
  • Atmosphere Attractions
  • Backstage Attractions
  • Competition Attractions
  • Excursion Rides
  • Flagship Attractions
  • Kiddie Attractions
  • Production Attractions
  • Scare Attractions
  • Spiel Attractions
  • Thrill Rides
    • Physical Thrill
    • Psychological Thrill
    • Pacing
  • Transportation Attractions
  • Upcharge Attractions
  • Water Attractions
  • Attraction Archetypes
    • Big Bad Attractions
    • Dark Coasters
    • Disaster Attractions
    • Fairy Tale Attractions
    • Flying Attractions
    • Medley Attractions
    • Laff-in-the-Darks
    • Liliputian and Brobdingnagian Attractions
    • Runaway Mine Trains
    • Spook Houses
    • Toy Attractions
    • Tunnels of Love

Ride System

  • Real World Transportations
  • Tracked Ride System
  • Water Ride Systems
  • Roller Coasters
  • Flat Rides
  • Alternative Attractions
  • Show Attractions

Attraction Entrance

  • Venue
  • Height Check
  • Decision Space
  • Safety Information
  • VQ Kiosks
  • Wait Time
  • Attraction Logo
  • Marquee
  • Greeters
  • Static Vehicles
  • Lockers

Self-Selection

  • Nomenclature
  • Greeters
  • Signage
  • Glimpsing
  • Depictions
  • Static Vehicles
  • Theming

Queues

  • Avoiding Queues
  • Queue Types
    • Standby Queue
    • Accessible Queue
    • Fast Lane Queue
    • Single Rider Queue
    • Child Swap
  • Queue Design
    • Layout
      • Queue Splits
      • Queue Stages
      • Receding
      • Suggestion
      • Previewing
      • Spectatorship
      • Media
      • Interactives
  • Virtual Queues
  • Preshows
  • Station Design

Starting Attractions

  • Introduction Openings
  • Slow Builds
  • Strong Starts

Lift Hills

On-Ride Photos

Attraction Layout

  • Radius
  • Duration
  • Pacing
  • Snaking
  • Circling
  • Attraction Layout Archetypes
    • Loop Layout
    • Spaghetti Layout
    • Twister Layout
    • Cavern Layout
    • Out & Back Layout
    • Up & Down Layout
    • Multi-Track Layouts
  • Space Management
  • Scene Length
  • Disorientation
  • Spectatorship
  • Glimpsing
  • Withholding

Attraction Experience

Individual vs. Group Experience

  • Proximity
    • Dispatch Interval
    • Scene Design and Layout
    • Directed Viewing

Ride Vehicles

  • Aesthetics
    • Scale and Form
    • Decoration
    • Individuality
    • Suggestion
    • Seating
    • Sound
    • Interactivity
  • Practicality
    • Capacity
    • Access
    • Ergonomics
    • Sightlines
    • Ride Envelope
    • Restraints
    • Weight

Vehicle Dynamics

Augmented Dynamics

Track Design

  • Texture
  • Supports

Interchangeability

  • Scenic Disguise
  • Alternate Scenes
  • Dynamics Profiles

Show Scene Design

Show Action

Sightlines

  • Corners
  • Barriers
  • Bridges and Tunnels
  • Hills
  • Show Action Doors

Through, Not Past

Show Set Design

  • Flats
  • Black Light
  • Access
  • Lighting and Sound
  • Anti-Focus

Creating Space

  • Forced Perspective
  • Negative Space
  • Haze
  • Infinity Walls
  • Mirror Walls
  • Open-Plan Layouts
  • Artificial Skylights
  • Stratification
  • Trompe L’Oeil
  • Windowing
  • Video Screens
  • Inside-for-Outside
    • Night Time
    • Daytime
  • Dry-for-Wet
    • Lighting
    • Color
    • Kinetics
    • Haze
    • Ceilings
    • Supplementary Effects
  • Horizontal-for-Vertical
  • Liliputian and Brobdingnagian Spaces

Staging

Show Scene Kinetics

Characters

  • Static Figures
  • Mechanical Figures
  • Animatronics

Props

Attraction Music

  • Diegesis
  • On-Board / Off-Board Audio
  • Synchronization
  • Theme Music
  • Songs

Show Scene Lighting

  • Cued Lighting
  • Simulated Lighting
  • Eye Physiology

Video

  • Televisions
  • Projection-Mapping
  • Deep Video
  • 3D
  • Seamlessness
  • Synchronization
  • Virtual Reality

Ending Attractions

Postshows

Return to Park

  • Recollection Space
  • Photo Pick-Up
  • Attraction Store

Dennis Cheatham

Associate Professor, Communication Design

Miami University

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