Lately, a number of new attractions are being developed, all of which seem to share one thing in common: being small in scale. This goes against the traditional theme park or attraction marketing strategy. The goal is usually to create the tallest, fastest, largest, biggest, or introduce a ‘world’s first’.
Instead, what I’ve been noticing is an increasing trend in the opening and announcement of small parks and mini attractions. These typically focus on a particular storytelling concept or IP. Various projects have been making headlines of late. This includes two interesting concepts from Universal Studios.
Universal jumps on the small attractions trend
On a quiet day in January 2023, Universal Studios, known for creating some of the biggest theme parks with resorts in Hollywood, Orlando, Japan, Singapore and China, shocked the world when it announced that it is planning on building a small park, only about 30+ acres in size. This will be designed to appeal mostly to families with children.
Even more shocking was the fact that this would not be a new park in an established Universal market. Instead, Universal had its sights focused on Frisco, Texas, a small community located about a 30-minute drive north of Dallas. The intention was to develop an empty 97-acre site with a mini theme park and a resort hotel. There will also be an accompanying retail/dining area (think mini CityWalk).
Then, in an almost Apple-esque “One More Thing…” moment, Universal dropped another bomb of an announcement. If the mini theme park in Texas wasn’t enough, the company will also create a dedicated year-round horror attraction in Las Vegas [pictured, top]. This will tie into the Halloween Horror Nights brand.
The rumoured plans include space for some retail and dining experiences along with an ever-evolving house of horrors experience that can tie not only into existing Hollywood IPs but into Universal’s own home-built catalogue of Halloween Horror Nights legends and iconic characters from the past 30+ years.
Small attractions from Falcon’s, Merlin and more
Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, Falcon’s Beyond Global, a fully integrated development enterprise for IP-driven parks, resorts, media and merchandise, has been hard at work putting the finishing touches on its new Punta Cana theme park.
This is a modern high-tech spin-off of the first Katmandu mini park, located on Spain’s Mediterranean resort island of Mallorca. The original Katmandu evolved as a collection of various mini FEC-style attractions. For instance, mini golf, fun house, playground, splash fortress, and video games, along with more modern 4D and XD experiences. However, the firm created the new Katmandu Punta Cana from a blank page to tell an entirely different story.
Katmandu Park | Punta Cana features a small group of connected interactive attractions and dark ride-style experiences. These will take guests through a gateway into the hidden realms of a whole new world.
Based in the UK, Merlin Entertainment operates world-class European theme parks such as Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Gardaland, Chessington and Heide Park, as well as a collection of LEGOLAND theme parks found throughout Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East.
Merlin also operates a vast collection of mini stand-alone attractions. These range from an assortment of aquariums, Madame Tussauds wax museums and creepy Dungeon attractions, to IP-specific attractions themed to Peppa Pig, Shrek’s Adventure, Bear Grylls Adventure and Peter Rabbit. There is also a new Gruffalo-themed attraction coming to Blackpool this year.
Merlin built a stand-alone mini Peppa Pig Theme Park next to its LEGOLAND Florida park that opened in 2022. Recently, the company also surprised everyone when it announced plans to build a second mini Peppa Pig Theme Park. This one will be a stand-alone attraction, also in the Dallas, Texas market.
SeaWorld and the small attractions trend
SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is also getting in on the small attractions trend. In the San Diego area, it has converted a small stand-alone waterpark into a new Sesame Place theme park, aimed at small children.
In waterpark form, the location was previously under SeaWorld’s Aquatica brand. But after decades of running only one small Sesame Place theme park in Philadelphia, the time seemed right to bring the beloved children’s IP to the west coast. Many have forgotten that the chain did previously open a second Sesame Place park way back in 1982 – again in the Dallas, Texas area. The Texas version of Sesame Place however failed to find an audience in that market. It closed shortly after it opened in 1984.
SeaWorld has also partnered with Miral to open a next-generation SeaWorld park in Abu Dhabi. Rather than be spread out across 100+ acres, this new concept SeaWorld park is compact in nature, packing everything into a massive all-indoor five-level attraction experience. It will feature ultra-themed environments for the animals. There is also a cutting-edge lighting system able to mimic season light cycles and provide the exhibits with full-spectrum sunlight.
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi is set to open on 23 May 2023.
A global phenomenon
The trend isn’t stopping there, as Japan is adding a few small attractions of its own. For example, the new Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo which is opening on 16 June 2023. We could also consider the various themed areas of Studio Ghibli Park as a series of micro-attractions. Small attractions are not a new concept in Japan. Here, available land is both a rare find and a valuable commodity, so small and unique attractions are a common business practice.
The concept is gaining traction in the North American marketplace. Yet one might argue that mini-attractions have been quite popular in select tourist destinations across the US for years.
Mini attractions have thrived for decades in places like Orlando, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Branson, Missouri; the Wisconsin Dells, and Niagara Falls (on both US and Canadian shores). And of course, we can’t forget Las Vegas. Las Vegas has been home to perhaps more mini attractions than anywhere else to date, many of which have sadly passed into the sands of time.
Las Vegas: a history of micro-attractions
When you speak of lost Las Vegas attractions, perhaps the grandest of them all to come to mind would be the epic Star Trek: The Experience. Opening in 1998 at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino, the heavily themed attraction set the bar extremely high for what an immersive attraction experience could be.
Guests would enter a museum-style experience that also served as the attraction’s queue, before being loaded into a waiting room for a faux simulator ride. Here is where the high-tech magic kicked in. Guests waiting to board a ride suddenly found themselves magically transported up to the Enterprise itself. They were greeted by the crew members and escorted directly to the bridge of the starship itself.
It was magical, it was Hollywood accurate, and it just simply worked so well that it was hard to believe that everything happening around you wasn’t the real deal. Once the adventure was over, you were left to explore a replica of Deep Space Nine, complete with shops and Quark’s bar. Here, you could enjoy ample food and beverage selections. You could also find yourself dining amongst the many alien races of the Star Trek universe. Years later a second experience was added to the attraction to give returning guests something new to experience.
All good things must come to an end
Sadly, this all came to an end in 2008. It didn’t close due to failing numbers; the attraction remained highly popular. However, as a stand-alone experience created by Paramount Parks, the fun was halted when parent company Viacom chose to sell off its entire theme park empire to Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair had no interest in purchasing the costly IPs embedded into the individual parks and opted out of taking over the Star Trek attraction.
Other popular past Las Vegas attractions include the Caesars Magical Empire attraction at Caesars Palace (1996 to 2002), Race for Atlantis, also at Caesar’s Palace (1998 to 2004), the MGM Grand Adventures theme park (1993 to 2002), Eli Roth’s Goretorium (2012-2013), and Fear The Walking Dead Survival (2017-2019).
While we’re at it, I’ll throw in the original Luxor trilogy attractions that opened with the casino in 1993. Unfortunately, the second and third parts were closed before too long leaving only the original In Search of the Obelisk attraction (an Imax simulator) to remain running until 2004.
The small attractions trend continues
Of course, Las Vegas is still home to a variety of small attractions that have survived over the years. The granddaddy of them all is the Circus Circus Adventuredome theme park that opened back in 1993. You also have the mighty Stratosphere Tower (now known as The Strat) standing 1,149 feet tall. This features a variety of unique thrill rides at the peak of the observation tower.
In recent years, Victory Hill Exhibitions (NEON) has opened several small IP-themed attractions along the strip in various casinos ranging from the Avengers Station to Hunger Games. Now others are also joining the market, with a Game of Thrones: Dragons attraction said to be on the way.
It’s no mystery that it costs a fortune to build a full-sized theme park. Combine that cost with all the headaches that come along with trying to get any kind of new park project off the ground (just ask The London Resort crew) and perhaps it makes more sense in today’s world to build attractions at a smaller but more intimate scale.
