So what's the next new development that will revolutionize theme park attractions? Based upon what we've seen in the past couple of years, you might think it's virtual reality. Six Flags has been adding VR to roller coasters at many of its theme parks, while Universal and other companies have been adding upcharge VR experiences to their Halloween events.
In my Orange County Register column this week, I suggest that VR might not be the next big thing in the industry... but it might represent a step toward that next big thing, instead. Here's the big problem with VR: Virtual reality robs theme parks of their greatest strength in the entertainment business — the creation of intricately decorated, immersively themed physical spaces that can't be experienced anywhere else. When all visitors see is a VR screen, theme parks lose the value of the physical environments they've spent so much money to create.
But what if parks could put together the best of both worlds... and show VR animation in a way that allowed people to keep seeing all that wonderfully themed physical space in the park around them? That's augmented reality, and that might be the next big thing in theme parks.
To employ AR in theme parks, though, tech developers and creative designers need to learn some lessons from VR and the way guests react to it. More than anything else, we would need AR headsets that are just as inexpensive and even easier to use than today's VR headsets. If parks and tech companies could develop augmented reality glasses that are as easy to make, distribute, and use as today's 3D glasses, then parks could unlock a new dimension in themed storytelling.
Imagine Universal's planned Nintendo lands with the power of augmented reality. That would provide an experience that would be true to the look, feel and functionality of Nintendo's video games, within a practical environment that no screen ever could recreate. The blend of the virtual and the practical would give theme parks an advantage over any in-home VR entertainment alternative, and the scope of practical detail in a theme park would make it the preferred venue for any AR experience.
But to get to AR on a large scale in theme parks, we must endure some of the frustrations of learning about mass implementations of VR first. That's why I don't get too upset about slow load times for VR roller coasters or the added cost of a VR monster maze. Theme parks and the technology partners are learning from these experiences, and what they could be able to develop after learning those lessons might turn out to be the most amazing things we've seen in theme parks yet.
Read Robert's column:
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