Many people will mix up amusement park and theme park, because the both of them offer entertainment facilities, play items, and family relax experiences. But in fact, they have some clear differences of the design idea, visitor experience, operational way, and core attraction.
If you used to wonder “what is an amusement park”, or want to know “what is a theme park”, this article will help you quickly know the difference between the two from many angles, and to know which one is suitable for you needs.
What is a Amusement Park
The amusement park takes various mechanical playground facilities and entertainment items as the core, and its main target is that offers a stimulation, fun, short-time, and high-intensity entertainment experience for visitors.
The common facilities include:
Roller Coaster
Ferris Wheel
Merry-go-round
Pirate Ship
Drop Tower
Water Slide
Bumper Cars
Turbo Drop
Most of these facilities exist alone, there is no clear story connection between them.
The core feature of the amusement park
1. Take the stimulating experiences as the center
The amusement park emphasizes speed, altitude, a sense of weightlessness, and challenge, and attracting people who like seeking the adrenaline stimulation.
Such as the design of a large roller coaster：
Acceleration
Number of flips
Track length
Extremely-fast experience
The visitors focus on that “is it fun or not” and “is it exciting enough”, and not the story background.
2. The relevance between facilities is weaker
An area is a spinning facility possibly, and may be a direct connection to the children's area next to the area, and then is a haunted house.
The overall layouts put more and more focus on:
Visitors flow line
Equipment capacity
Space utilization
They not have a unity of worldview.
3. More emphasize the number of equipment and operational efficiency
A traditional playground always focuses on:
Most play items
A higher turnover rate
A shorter equipment maintenance cycle
Passenger flow carrying capacity in the peak period
This is why the update device speed in many local amusement parks is so fast, but its theme packaging is simple.
What is a Theme Park
The theme park is an immersive entertainment space that is built around a story, culture, IP, or concept.
If the amusement park is “play equipment”, and then a theme park is “entering another world”.
The themes may be:
Movie IP(such as a fairy tale, an anime, a science fiction)
History culture
A fantasy world
Adventure civilization
Natural ecology
All of the element will be uniformly designed around the themes, include:
Building style
Landscape decoration
Staff clothing
Music sound effects
A dinning room menu
Performing arts interaction
1. Storytelling is the soul
The biggest charm of the theme park is narration.
The visitors are not simply queuing and playing fun items, and it likes entering a plot.
For example:
The queue area is the intro to this story
The playground equipment is the climax to this story
The exit store is the story continues
This type of the overall experience will let visitors create a emotional connection.
2. An unified immersive environment
The theme park puts more and more focus on “world building”.
Every area likes an independent universe：
Unified architectural language
Unified visual elements
Unified lighting and sound colors
Unified music emotion
This type of design will let visitors forget the real environment for the time being.
3. The play equipment serves the themes
Even if it is a roller coaster, it also must serve the story:
Why launch it?
Why turn?
Why fall?
Every action all needs to add into the plot reasonably.
So the experience of the theme park is always more “complete”, and not purely focuses on the stimulation intensity.
The main differences between Amusement Park and Theme Park
Many people only know “the them park is more immersive and the amusement park is more exciting”, but in fact, the both of they differences are much more than that one.
If you want to really understand the difference between the theme park and amusement park, you can analyze that from the following many terms.
1. Core Purpose
This is the biggest difference between the both of them.
Amusement park: Take “play equipment” as the core
The important things of the amusement park are:
Stimulation
Entertainment
Equipment experience
Play efficiency
After the visitors entering the amusement park, the key points usually are:
How many items need to play
Is the roller coaster exciting enough
Is the queuing long
Theme park: Take the “experience world” as the core
The theme park emphasizes:
Immersion
Story plot
Area experience
Emotional immersion
The visitors nor only play the items, but also like “entering another world”.
For example:
Magical world
Future city
Jungle adventure
Ancient civilization
So the play equipment is a part of the story.
2. Theming and Storytelling Unity
Amusement park: The theme relevance is weaker
The traditional amusement park usually not have an unified worldview.
You will see:
Next to the pirate ship is the children’s spinning cup
Next to the roller coaster is the western style dinning room
The style of different areas has a biggest difference
The overall style focuses on the “equipment collecton”.
Theme park: All of the contents have showed around the theme
The theme park will be designed uniformly:
Building
Music
Lighting
Landscape
Staff clothing
Store
Catering
And even the trash cans and street signs belong to the part of the theme designs.
The visitors will feel that the overall areas are a “complete world”.
3. Play Equipment Design Logic
Amusement park: Focus on the stimulation parameters
The amusement park puts more and more focus on:
Height
Speed
Flip
Weightlessness
Acceleration
The equipment selling points usually are:
“The fastest in Asia”
“The hightest drop”
“The longest track”
Its target is creating a sensory stimulation.
Theme park: Focus on the plot experience
The equipment in the theme park puts more and more focus on:
The plot advance
Environment interaction
Atmosphere shaping
For example, if it is a roller coaster:
The amusement will promote its speed.
The theme park will focus on:
“You are escaping from a volcano”
“You are passing the outer space”
“You are joining on a magic task”
The visitors experience the “adventure stories”.
4. Guest Experience Ways
Amusement park: A short-time and high-stimulation experience
The visitors usually:
Quickly play items
Focus on experiencing the popular equipment
Put more and more focus on the efficiency
So the visitor behaviors focus on the “task-type”.
Theme park: An immersive and slow-paced experience
The visitors can:
Watch a show
Take a photo and check in
Interact with the characters
Shop a themed store
5. Space and Area Design
Amusement park: The function first
The design of the key points in the amusement park:
Flow line efficiency
Capacity management
Equipment layout
The building often serves as the operating needs.
Theme park: Atmosphere first
The theme park more focuses on:
Visual immersion
Area truth
Emotional expression
6. IP and Branding
Amusement park: The equipment brand is more important
The amusement park is easy to show：
A new roller coaster
A new mechanical equipment
A challenge item
Its key point is “items”.
Theme park: IP is the core competitive strength.
Because the IP can bring:
Emotional connection
Secondary spending
Fan economy
Long-term repurchase
7. Target Audience
Amusement park: Most thrill lovers
The common crowd:
Teenagers
Young visitors
Extreme experience lovers
They more focus on the stimulation level.
Theme park: Most family visitors
The theme park usually covers:
Family customers
Children
Fan groups
Tourist visitors
Its age span is larger.
8. Business Model
Amusement park: The equipment can drive income
The main income sources:
Tickets
Fast entry
Equipment experience
Its core is to improve the equipment turnover.
Theme park: Drive by the comprehensive spending
Besides the tickets, it also includes:
IP items
Hotel
Catering
Shows
Co-branded items
Festivals and activities
9. Investment Structure
Amusement park: The proportion of the equipment investment is higher
The main costs:
Mechanical equipment
Security maintenance
Area construction
The update speed usually is more quick.
Theme park: The content investment is more high
It needs to invest more about:
Area design
Art packaging
Plot development
IP licensing
10. Emotional Value
Amusement park: Focus on the stimulation and happiness
The core emotions:
Exciting
Nervous
Scream
Challenge
It belongs to the short-time and high-emotional outbreak.
Theme park: Focus on the immersion and memory
The core emotions:
Surprise
moved
Nostalgia
Dreaminess
Mixed-use park: A new trend that combines the both of amusement park and theme park
Nowadays, more and more parks use the “hybrid mode”, and combine the advantages of the amusement park and theme park.
The features include:
Have a large-scale stimulation device
Have a complete story line
Have a themed dinning room and store
Have an immersive show
This type of mode not only meet the stimulation needs, but also enhance the visitors’ dwell time and willing of spending.
How to choose: Which one is suitable for you
Choose the amusement park, if you want to:
Challenge a high-stimulation item
Like to quickly experience many devices
More focus on the play equipment itself
Its budget is limited
Choose the theme park, if you want to:
An immersive experience
Feel the story world
Slowly explore with their family
Take a photo, check in, and play the interactive experience
Summary: Understanding these differences to choose an experience that is more suitable for yourself.
All in all, the amusement park is more focusing on the “stimulation and facilities”, and the theme park is more focusing on the “story and immersion”.
If you want to seek an experience of speed, thrill, and machinery, the amusement park is more suitable. If you want to enter a complete fantasy world to enjoy the story and atmosphere, so the theme park will bring a more memorable experience.
To know the differences of the “what is an amusement park” and “what is a theme park” can not only help the visitors to plan a satisfying trip, but also help the operators in the amusement industry to understand the two park modes more clearly of the positioning and value.
Amusement Park FAQ
1. Why does an amusement park more focus on the equipment updates?
A new equipment can make a topic to improve the attraction and stimulate the visitors repeatedly visiting.
2. Is the amusement park safety?
A formal amusement park will follow the strict safety standards to:
Daily check
Regular maintenance
Load test
Emergency plan drill
3. Where do the amusement park profits come from mainly?
Besides the tickets, it also includes:
Fast pass
Catering
Goods
Private event booking
4. What type of devices in an amusement park is most popular for the visitors?
The roller coasters usually are the core and popular item in the amusement, and the large-scale roller coasters always can bring more than 20% of the park’s popularity attention.
5. Why the equipment maintenance frequency is so high in the amusement park?
The large-scale mechanical facilities usually need to have a daily basic check, weekly special maintenance, and annual deep maintenance to ensure the operational safety.
Theme Park FAQ
1. Why a theme park ticket usually more rich?
Because the theme park excepts the equipment, it also need to invest:
Area building
IP copyright fee
Actors and shows
Atmosphere maintenance
The overall operating cost is higher, it is accounting 40%-60% of total investment.
2. Why does the theme park focus specially on the IP?
A popular IP can enhance the visitors emotional connection, improve the re-play rate, and drive the items sale.
3. How long does the average dwell time in the theme park?
A lot of visitors in the theme parks and the average dwell time can between 8-12 hours, and the some large-scale resort-type theme parks even can drive 2-5 days continuous spending.
4. Is the theme park suitable for younger kids?
Usually very suitable, because besides the stimulus facilities, it also has:
Interactive show
Character meet-and-greets
Parent-child experience area
5. Why do the building cycle of a theme park so long?
The large-scale theme park usually needs 3-7 years from planning to opening, because it needs to finish the developments of the building, theme packaging, equipment commissioning, and story content.
