Shenzhen 5th Asia Theme Park Development Forum
Over 400 participants from various enterprises gathered for two days to share ideas, examine case studies and network with the "who’s who" of theme and amusement park professionals in China. I was fortunate enough to be invited and share the designer's perspective with the friendly group. [ Info on the event in Chinese. ]
Held at the lovely Intercontinental Hotel, adjacent to our client's charming "Splendid China" cultural theme park (China's first theme park), my speech focused on the history of how and why Walt Disney created Disneyland in the early 1950's, and what we can learn from his creation and apply to projects in the 21st Century. Yes, I'm working on a book, "Learning from Walt Disney!" Of course the principles that made Disneyland that success it is can be used by all theme park professionals in today's projects.
My presentation also covered how to choose themes and content for today's audiences, which themes and ride types have been most successful over the years, rules of thumb for theme park planning, how to repeating the mistakes of others, the importance of icons, as well as a comparison between Walt Disney and Wang Jianlin!!
China's professionals make use of WeChat, their messaging app of choice. Fortunately I had it installed, and with a quick scan of a QR code in the app, connecting across borders and languages is a snap.
Looking forward to seeing my new Shenzhen friends at Singapore's IAAPA Asia Expo in June 2017!
