Katapult, the international guest experience design agency, has revealed the results of the Theme Park Fans Survey 2024, conducted with theme park influencer Parkineer.
The survey found that theme park visitors’ attention spans are becoming shorter, affecting their whole experience. 72% of respondents said they regularly use their mobile phones in the park, but only 19% agreed that it improves the experience.
The full report is available to download here.
Challenges of mobile phone use
The two most common uses of mobile phones during a visit were for navigation and taking pictures, but 40% of respondents said they also used them for social media, email, and internet browsing while at the world’s most immersive theme parks.
Robbie Jones, Katapult’s insights director, says: “This is a really surprising set of results. While we anticipated a high use of mobile phones amongst respondents to capture memories and navigate parks, their mobile phone behaviour doesn’t match the reasons why guests visit in the first place.
“83% of guests visit theme parks as they want escapism from their everyday lives. This, despite the fact they continue to log onto their phones regularly during their visit to view external content – exiting the worlds and stories they’ve come to experience.
“Mobile phones play a crucial role in creating a safe and streamlined experience in many parks, as well as providing entertainment in downtimes. While they help cure boredom, phones are killing immersion – and the challenge for the industry is to help guests find a happy balance between the two.”
Ryan Williams, Parkineer, comments: “Despite queues being more immersive and designed to be looked at, guests are still there for a long time. Because of that, I think no matter what you put into a queue, guests will still be on their phones if there are multiple switchbacks in one portion of the queue.”
This year, the annual survey focused on guest technology and included questions about screen-based rides and touch points at theme parks. 52% of respondents reported technical difficulties on screen-based rides or experiences during their visits.
Earlier this year, Katapult announced ZooAtronic as the winner of its 2024 Helping Hands Project initiative. Katapult will provide ZooAtronic with £10,000 worth of insights, strategy, master planning, and design skills to help it develop its first digital zoo location.
