ZEITGEIST TIME TRAVELERS VISIT 2024 TO FIND OUT!
Veteran immersion artists Ryan Harmon and Joe Lanzisero know a thing or two about time travel. For the past three years they have co-produced and co-hosted the industry's only live location-based “Zoomcast” called “Zeitgeist's The Spirit of the Time.” Each month, they invite an incredibly talented and influential colleague aboard their Pasadena, California-based time machine, and set the controls for important moments in that person's career, attempting to unravel the mystery of what makes the experience of a guest is timely, but timeless.
Past guests have included the likes of Tony Baxter, Joe Rohde, Bob Rogers, Phil Hettema, Garner Holt, Tim Kirk, Bob Ward and 22 more industry icons, all traveling back in time with Ryan and Joe to discuss their inspirations, gained wisdom and, of course, secrets and untold stories from their most popular projects.
Recently, Ryan and Joe embarked on their own journey through time. They set the controls for one day each month throughout 2024. They visited a number of location-based entertainment experiences around the world and reviewed industry publications to determine where things are going, where they're not going, and simply take advantage the spirit of the time. new year (which you do when your company is called Zeitgeist Design & Production!). This is what they discovered:
The good news is that location-based experiences will continue to gain popularity. Between the pandemic lockdown and the desire to be among humanity again, the current generation's preference for collecting experiences over material things, and screen fatigue from endlessly staring at smartphones and computer monitors, theme parks, attractions, will continue. and emerging experiences. to sell and wallpaper social media pages.
The bad news, according to Ryan and Joe, is that the cost of enjoying these experiences will continue to rise. Ryan, a big concert goer, witnessed that concert parking at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles will cost $125.00 per car in 2024. Good seats for concert tickets will exceed the face value of $1,500. Likewise, admissions to theme parks and attractions (and especially parking, food and drink, and souvenirs) will continue to skyrocket, as the public does not seem to be affected (yet) by the increasing cost of Spend time with family and friends and create new memories at world-class parks and attractions.
Six Flags' recent merger with Cedar Fair will be great for theme park visitors who live near both companies' parks (like Los Angeles, which has Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm or the Bay Area, which has Great America and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom), but it could result in Six Flags' emphasis on extreme, teen-oriented attractions replacing the more immersive, themed and family-oriented aspects of the Cedar Fair parks.
When it comes to technology, Ryan and Joe learned that current technology will continue to evolve throughout 2024. Larger, brighter and less expensive LED screens and projectors will enable experiences like The Sphere in Las Vegas and “the volume” that It is now used to produce films and television shows, to visit theme parks and other attractions, creating truly immersive media-based worlds without the need for special glasses.
They witnessed that drone shows will continue to gain popularity as safety becomes less of a concern and drones and inflatables take on greater capabilities with lighting and animation, and the ability to carry props!
They found that augmented reality continues to slowly evolve throughout 2024, and Universal's “Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge” dark ride remains the only attraction to incorporate it into an attraction experience.
With most VR coasters gone and most VR locations sidelined by the pandemic, VR will be relegated to the domestic market (where Meta continues to struggle with its Quest headset) until Apple's Vision Pro is released. affordable and demonstrate how and why this technology is necessary in our lives.
The voice recognition software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) we all know and love, from Siri and Alexa to ChatGPT and MidJourney, will also begin to make their way into immersive experiences, enabling conversations with characters and animatronics based on virtual media and historical. , as well as the ability to make attractions even more personalized and interactive.
Throughout 2024, excitement will continue to build for all the exciting new projects currently under construction and scheduled to open in the coming years. Universal's Epic Universe is by far the most anticipated, which if you've seen the latest construction photos and videos, appears epic in every sense!
Likewise, the public will continue to look for clues about what Disney plans to do with its $60 billion investment over the next decade and what that means specifically for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort, where wait times can exceed expectations. 2 hours for the most popular. attractions.
Anticipation also continues to build throughout the year for Puy du Fou's first American installation in the Smoky Mountains, as well as its upcoming Asian projects. And everyone is eager to learn more about Universal's family theme park in Frisco, Texas, and its year-round Halloween Horror Nights experience at Area 15 in Las Vegas.
In Abu Dhabi, Miral announced last year that the world's first non-universal Harry Potter theme park experience will kick off an expansion of its Warner Bros. World indoor theme park.
And then there is Saudi Arabia. From Six Flags Qiddiya and Qiddiya Water Park to Neom and SEVEN family entertainment centers, the Kingdom will continue to move forward to become a world-class family entertainment destination, the likes of which the world has never seen before! An example is The flight of the falcon. Designed by Intamin, this Six Flags Qiddiya coaster will be the fastest, tallest and longest coaster in the world, as well as the first coaster to ascend (and descend) more than 500 feet! (Yes, Joe and Ryan noticed a windshield to keep the sand out of your eyes!)
In terms of the intellectual property versus non-intellectual property pendulum, 2024 appears to show that the swing toward investing in intellectual property continues; However, sentiment is beginning to return to the recognition that aspirational human experiences can be just as powerful (and lasting) as property of a film, television, or video game.
Every experiential design company's website mentions the importance of history. Some startups even add the word to their name as if they're instantly becoming experts in one of the earliest forms of human communication. And while everyone loves a great story (in a novel, a movie, a theater production, a radio show, or just sitting around a campfire like our ancestors did for eons), the truth is that You can't tell a compelling, satisfying story with a beginning, middle, end, character arcs, or the proverbial “hero's journey” in a 3.5-minute, or even 8-minute, journey.
In 2024, design firms and developers alike will begin to reflect on the cost of investing in intellectual property and see that the most popular attractions of all time are based on simple premises that fulfill our collective dreams, like racing through space. outside (Space Mountain), explore a haunted house (Haunted Mansion), travel back to the days of Spanish pirates (Pirates of the Caribbean), get trapped on a runaway mining train (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), speed down the slopes of Switzerland's most iconic snow-capped peak (Matterhorn Boblseds) or even celebrating the world's children (It's A Small World).
While all of these examples are Disney attractions, parks from Puy du Fou to Phantasialand, from Europa Park to Efteling, from Futuroscope to Tivoli Gardens, from Ocean Park to Knott's Berry Farm, and all of Chimelong's parks in Guangzhou and Zhuhai, have have had tremendous success inventing their own characters, celebrating local myths and legends, and/or creating experiences that satisfy a specific human aspiration.
Joe and Ryan find this slowing of the pendulum exciting and rewarding. As much as they love transforming movies, TV shows and video games into innovative parks and attractions (their team has built over $12 billion worth of successful projects, mostly based on intellectual property, around the world! ), especially love the challenge of what Disney's Marty Sklar refers to as “the blank sheet of paper” and creates immersive experiences that everyone wants to have (not just fans of a specific movie or show), since be it flying, shrinking, traveling somewhere they will never visit, meeting aliens, finding magic. , or, perhaps, in the specific case of Ryan and Joe, time travel!
The latest thing Ryan and Joe discovered in 2024 (which they're willing to share) is that the concept of immersive overnight experiences hasn't gone the way of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser at all. The notion of immersing ourselves in another time and place, cosplaying/role-playing, and enjoying a truly immersive experience with family and friends over several days and nights will return stronger than ever. Ryan and Joe didn't say whether “Westworld” will become a reality in the foreseeable future, or if the Starcruiser will return better than ever, but they did hint that we might spend the night inside our favorite theme park. Or even become a pirate on an authentic Caribbean island sooner than we think!
“224 is going to be an exciting year for our industry,” Ryan summarized. “The big guys will continue to surprise us with new technology and massive scale, while the little guys will continue to take risks and establish new paradigms. Both strategies propel our world forward and create even more engaging experiences for all of us to enjoy!
“I have spent over four decades in this business and have never seen as much investment and innovation as in 2024,” Joe concluded. “It's a great time to be alive and an incredible time to work in the immersive entertainment industry!”
For more information about Zeitgeist Design & Production and its Spirit of the Time Zoomcast, visit zeitgeist-usa(dot)com or call +1.626.469.0010.
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