Page 73 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

off coming to Las Vegas because of its family-friendly image, preferring more
exclusively racy destinations. By the early 2000s, the emphasis was beginning to
64 switch away from a family orientation. A Times journalist, for example, quotes a
spokeswoman for the city’s Convention and Visitors Authority as saying: ‘We don’t
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want to discourage families, but Vegas is an adult party town’. Also, some theme
park attractions simply have not been able to justify their cost. Probably the most
significant failure is the theme park that was attached to the MGM Grand. This
was probably the most ambitious of all the attractions built for families in that it
was a full theme park in its own right but closed down a few years after opening
because of insufficient numbers of visitors.

Theme parks, shopping and restaurants

Most theme parks follow the Disney example in seeking to maximize visitors’
opportunities to shop and eat in restaurants or at kiosks en route. Sales of goods and
food contribute greatly to the profitability of parks. Theme parks are nowadays
replete with shops selling goods loosely linked to the park’s themes and also in the
form of what is referred to in Chapter 4 as licensed merchandise bearing the logo
of the park or of its emblems. In addition, they offer a vast array of eating oppor-
tunities, including reflexively themed restaurants, like McDonald’s and KFC.
Sea World in San Diego, California, provides a good illustration of the process.
Davis has written of the park:

Sea World’s designers and engineers focus on the problem of intensifying spending. To keep people
buying food and souvenirs, they know that they must be made comfortable, kept interested, and
moved at the right pace through a landscape they find appealingly different… 17

One way in which they do this is to create the impression that the park is not too
packed with people, since people tend to spend less if they feel that an environment
is too crowded. Davis quotes the vice-president for operations as saying that he aims
to create a rhythm for the park that will make sales of goods and food more likely.
The management experiment with the schedules of Sea World’s shows to maximize
possible sales. In addition, the layout of the park is such that the visitor is being led
to gift shops that are themed in relation to the park’s animals, such as its leading
star Shamu, the performing killer whale, the penguins in Penguin Encounter,
manatees and so on. Food stands help to make the restaurants slightly less busy at
times of the day when people are most inclined to want to eat but also help to promote
needs the consumer would not otherwise have realized he or she had. As a result of
these strategies, Davis estimates that 50% of park revenues derive from food, drinks,
merchandise and similar sources. While smaller theme parks may appear less well
equipped than major ones like the Sea Worlds, they undoubtedly employ similar
tactics to cultivate sales and keep visitors staying longer.