[This abridged-but-still-long, example and link-filled blooploop story provides an overview of the many ways technologies are being used in the attractions industry to produce immersive, engaging and profitable presence experiences. See the original version of the story for 21 more images. –Matthew]
Top 9 technology trends in the attractions industry for 2023
Find out more about this year’s top technology trends, from gamification to robots
By Bea Mitchell
January 12, 2023
Technology is advancing at an exponential rate. The attractions and entertainment sector is using many emerging technologies as tools to bring stories to life. Some of the top technology trends to watch in the year ahead range from gamification, personalisation and immersion to the metaverse, NFTs and robots.
Theme parks, museums, brands and many other location-based entertainment (LBE) providers are working to create the most innovative visitor experience they can. Experiences and attractions need to offer more than an Instagrammable moment in 2023. Guests want to be immersed in a world. They want to become the star of their own story, and they want to play an active role.
1. Gamification
Gamification, or interactivity, is one of the biggest technology trends in the attractions business. Theme parks are increasingly developing new technologies, including AR, to add an extra layer to their offerings.
Leading the way here is Super Nintendo World, which first opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2021. The land is also heading to Florida as part of Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort. In addition, it is being created for Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Singapore.
Many of Super Nintendo World’s attractions and experiences are gamified. State-of-the-art technology merges the real world and video games. Visitors enjoy interactive experiences using wearable wristbands called Power Up Bands. These can be linked to smartphones via the Universal Studios Japan app.
Visitors can physically hit the land’s Question Blocks to collect coins. They feel like they’re competing for a high score in a video game. In addition, guests can collect digital keys and unlock gameplay opportunities in ‘Key Challenges’. These include ‘Boss Battles’ against enemy characters.
“Think of Super Nintendo World as a life-size, living video game where you become one of the characters. You’re not just playing the game. You’re living the game, you’re living the adventure,” said Thierry Coup, senior VP and CCO, Universal Creative.
Life-size, living video games
“We have developed some state-of-the-art technology to create the perfect fusion of the physical world with the world of video games,” he added. “I think the seamless integration of the gameplay is one of the most innovative experiences we have ever created at Universal Studios.”
Universal has also filed a new patent titled ‘interactive Pepper’s Ghost effect system’. This includes a sensor configured to detect a handheld device and its direction. Pepper’s Ghost is a special effects technique, used in theatre and TV as well as in theme parks, to create holograms or transparent ghostly visuals. It can be seen in Disney’s Haunted Mansion dark ride.
Visitors would be able to interact with the company’s new Pepper’s Ghost effect using a handheld device. This may be a wand within a Harry Potter attraction.
“While well-established effects, such as a traditional Pepper’s Ghost effect, are effective illusions, it is now recognized that these traditional effects lack meaningful audience interaction,” the patent says. For example, the audience “generally have no control over various aspects of a show built around such effects”, Universal adds. It explains that the audience “in such traditional systems is passive”.
Per the patent:
“In today’s environment, in which guests are accustomed to more interaction (e.g., via video games), such passive interaction can cause a loss of interest.”
Arcadia Earth is an environmental art exhibit in New York City. This attraction is introducing holographic orb guides using HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented reality (AR) smart glasses. After putting on the smart glasses, visitors are welcomed by a holographic orb. This then serves as their guide throughout the experience. HoloLens also enhances the Arcadia Earth exhibit, unlocking hidden gems and environmental facts.
Elsewhere, this technology trend is incorporating intellectual property (IP). An interactive experience inspired by Netflix’s Squid Game is available at several Immersive Gamebox venues in the US and UK. Based on the Korean survival drama TV series, the adults-only attraction challenges players with ‘Red Light, Green Light’, ‘Marbles’, ‘Dalgona’, ‘Tug of War’, and ‘Glass Bridge’.
“You will participate as a contender in Squid Game and have to survive all six challenges from the show,” said Immersive Gamebox. “Using our 3D motion tracking visors and touch screens around the room, you will need to survive each challenge to advance in the game.”
2. Technology-driven sports
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3. The metaverse
The metaverse is one of the fastest growing technology trends in recent years. In this virtual world, users can play, build and own digital experiences, often wearing virtual reality (VR) headsets. Last year, Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta. The company has plans to spend more than $10bn (£7.4bn) on developing VR software and hardware.
Disney appointed an executive to lead its metaverse plans in early 2022. It then also recruited a former creative and gaming executive for Apple to help oversee the project. The company’s vision for a theme park metaverse was first unveiled in November 2020.
In September 2022, Disney revealed plans to turn Disney+ into an “experiential lifestyle platform” that would let users experience the company’s theme parks “from a virtual standpoint”. Bob Chapek, the former CEO of Disney, discussed the move in an interview with Deadline at D23 Expo.
“We call it next-gen storytelling,” Chapek said. “We tend not to use the M word [metaverse] too often, because it has a lot of hair on it.” He also said the Disney+ streaming service “will not just be a movie service platform”. It will serve as a platform “for the whole company to embody both the physical things that you might be able to experience in a theme park, but also the digital experiences that you can get through media.”
Digital experiences
The metaverse-style platform is for “the 90 percent of people that will never ever be able to get to a Disney park”, explained Chapek. Instead, it would “give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint” and “see how it works, see how those ghost dancers move”. “We are in the very embryonic beginnings of this,” he said.
Yas Island is also entering the metaverse. This is part of a pioneering project to put Abu Dhabi in the virtual world. The entire physical destination of Yas Island is being recreated across multiple immersive 3D platforms. This technology trend will allow virtual visitors to enjoy the metaverse ecosystem from home. Guests will build and buy digital homes, as well as exploring cultural attractions. They can also experience Yas Island’s theme parks, special events and a motorsport racing circuit.
Mohammed Abdalla Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral, said people “from every corner of the globe will soon be able to enjoy captivating and immersive experiences across Yas Island in the digital world”. Also in the Middle East, the inaugural Dubai Metaverse Assembly saw the announcement of Dubai’s metaverse strategy.
Thatgamecompany is an independent video game development company. It has raised $160 million to turn its games into virtual theme park experiences in a “connected metaverse”. In an interview with VentureBeat, the gaming studio’s co-founder and CEO Jenova Chen said:
“We are hoping to build a game like a Disney or Pixar movie, where husbands can play with wives and parents can play with children.”
“Disney World is a collective of theme parks that are next to each other, and with a lot of infrastructure,” he added. “I really feel like there isn’t that equivalent of a kind of Disneyland experience or a Pixar movie experience in the game industry even today.”
AstroWorld, a former Six Flags amusement park in Houston, Texas, will also return as a virtual theme park. “AstroWorld will be the world’s first amusement park built entirely on the blockchain,” said a press release. Visitors will experience a complete digital model of the theme park. Within this, they will be able to ride their favourite roller coasters, including the Texas Cyclone, Viper and XLR-8.
4. Robots and AI
Another major technology trend to keep an eye on is robots. These will be providing more services than ever this year.
Disney has filed a patent for a ‘robotic sherpa’, or mobile locker, that visitors at its theme parks could summon to their location or a designated place using an electronic device. The robot locker would bring visitors’ belongings directly to them during their visit. So, this could save them a walk across the attraction to get any items they have left at static locker stations.
Dubai’s Museum of the Future has hired its first robotic staff member. Now, “the world’s most advanced human-shaped robot” greets visitors. Ameca, the humanoid robot, features a human-like face and a robotic body, and is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Ameca can interact with visitors, answering their questions and giving them directions. It can make facial expressions, track movement, and even has a sense of humour.
The winner of the Guest Journey category in the blooloop Innovation Awards was a roaming robot photographer from Showtime Pictures.
Artificial intelligence
Robot security guards are also in use at theme parks across the US. Known as ROAMEO (Rugged Observation Assistance Mobile Electronic Officer), the autonomous bot has cameras and speakers. It also has a touchscreen and a two-way communication system. ROAMEO can tell when guests are in restricted areas. Plus, it can provide information on wait times for rides and give directions to attractions.
In the UK, Blenheim Palace has joined forces with the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) and Oxford Biology. Together, they are testing a robot dog monitoring the impact of climate change.
The pet robot, named Spot, will gather data about the health and biodiversity of Blenheim Palace’s estate. “Oxford Robotics Institute’s mission is to develop the technology necessary to allow robots to be useful in challenging environments,” said Professor Nick Hawes, the director of the Oxford Robotics Institute (via the Telegraph).
5. Personalisation
Guests in 2023 are seeking seamless personalisation from the moment they arrive at an attraction. To keep up with this trend, operators are turning to technology. Chapek recently revealed Disney is developing a way to personalise the theme park experience using Disney+ viewing habits, and vice versa. In an interview at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, he said:
“It’s the physical and the digital aspects of your Disney lifestyle coming together.”
“If you’re on Disney+, we should be aware – assuming you give us the permission to have that awareness – of what happened, what you experienced, what you liked the last time you visited a park,” he added. “And, vice versa, when you’re in a park, we should know what your viewing habits are on Disney+.”
VR and psychology
Using the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as an example, Chapek said Disney+ could provide “special programming tailored to Pirates of the Caribbean that would be unique to people like you that is personalized towards your preferences”. As for when the project will become a reality, he confirmed: “We’re putting the arms and legs on it right now inside our own technical groups.”
In New York, the Museum of Future Experiences (MoFE) is also providing personalised content, through VR and psychology. The venue also uses immersive theatre and a state-of-the-art speaker system to explore visitors’ states of consciousness. One of its shows begins with a questionnaire. Guests’ answers reveal their subconscious and this then shapes the content they will see.
MoFE CEO and founder, David Askaryan, told blooloop:
“We would ask people about their biggest fears, their biggest desires. This questionnaire let us create a little psychological profile, pretty instantly, of each customer. It’s pop psychology, of course; part of the game and not real. But depending on that profile we would show a very different VR experience.”
A different show, Gnosis, is a meditative audiovisual experience. This takes guests to the ‘inner landscape of the mind’ to reveal their ‘true nature’. Liminality is described as a ‘technologically-induced head trip’, while MoFE’s first show invited guests to ‘reflect on the subconscious and feel the overwhelming thrill of having a hole bored through your head’.
“We draw on a lot of psychology, we draw on the teachings of interesting philosophers and gurus, we draw on the phenomenal,” added Askaryan. “We love things that are fantastic in nature, things that are wondrous. That could mean everything from nature to psychedelic-inspired experiences.”
6. Immersion
Immersive art experiences by groups such as teamLab, Culturespaces and Meow Wolf remain on-trend in the world of attractions technology. But it’s not just art that has been undergoing a digital makeover in recent years. Attractions such as the Gunpowder Plot and Swamp Motel put their guests in starring roles. These days, customers want to be active in an experience.
Layered Reality’s immersive Gunpowder Plot experience takes place at the Tower of London. It brings the history of the 1605 plotters to life and fully immerses the audience as participants. Starring Harry Potter’s Tom Felton as Guy Fawkes, the attraction builds on the Layered Reality technique. This combines digital technology, live theatre and real physical sensations to create a uniquely immersive and memorable experience.
Andrew McGuinness, CEO and founder of Layered Reality, told blooloop:
“You step back into 1605. Rather than viewing or reading about history, you become part of that history. You become a participant in the plot to blow up parliament and the king. Ultimately, you have to decide whether you are going to back the king or whether you are going to back the plotters. The technology and the layered reality tools allow us to tell that story in a way that otherwise couldn’t be done.”
“If you can suspend your disbelief, and believe you’ve genuinely travelled back in time, then we’ve done our job correctly. You feel that thrill, that excitement, that peril. At one point, you have to escape and hide in priest holes whilst a manor is being raided. If you feel that viscerally, not just as something you’re consuming, or that is entertaining you, but you feel that fear, we have achieved our goal.”
Immersive experiences
Florida’s Dalí Museum has opened an exhibition called ‘The Shape of Dreams’. Here, visitors can see their own dreams transformed into works of art. The ‘Dream Tapestry’ experience allows guests to generate images inspired by their own dreams through an AI system called DALL-E. ‘Dream Tapestry’ was developed in collaboration with Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Minds over Matter, as well as OpenAI, a research company founded by Elon Musk that created DALL-E.
“We take Salvador Dalí’s own interest in science and technology to revolutionize the museum experience,” the Dalí Museum’s director Hank Hine told Artnet News. “To make his paintings, Dalí invented a way of waking himself from his dreams and then drawing what had passed through his mind. We wondered, how can we give people direct access to their dreams like this?”
Beyond King Tut, an immersive exhibition travelling across North America, brings to life the archives of the National Geographic Society. Visitors embark on a journey to ancient Egypt. During the experience, they meet ancient Egyptian gods such as Ra and Anubis, and descend into King Tut’s burial chamber.
Kathryn Keane, VP of public programming and National Geographic Museum director for the National Geographic Society, said:
“New technologies are making it possible to fully immerse people like never before in important stories from our past, allowing us to develop connections and understand history’s influence on our present and future generations.”
Swamp Motel is another trend-setter when it comes to technology-driven experiences. Now, it is opening a new AI experience called Saint Jude in London in January 2023. During Saint Jude, audiences engage with innovative technology created by Charisma. They communicate with the brainwaves of coma patients and interact with AI-powered characters and live performers.
Clem Garritty and Ollie Jones are the founders and creative directors of Swamp Motel. They said they aim to create “genre-bending, technologically advanced theatre” as well as “exhilarating, interactive experiences that blur the lines between fantasy and reality”.
“Immersive theatre and Charisma’s artificial intelligence both share the same goal: to pioneer new forms of entertainment by casting audiences inside the stories themselves,” said Guy Gadney from Charisma. “This means that participants can speak to the characters, influence their emotions, and then even change the story itself.”
7. Beyond AR and VR
Virtual worlds beyond AR and VR is a huge technology trend to watch. Early last year, a patent was granted to Disney for technology that would allow visitors to enjoy a virtual world without VR headsets or AR-enabled devices. The technology would let Disney simulate a digital world within a real theme park, creating 3D imagery via multiple projectors for an immersive experience.
Virtual effects projected by the ‘virtual-world simulator’ could include animated characters, as well as objects and props. For example, guests may see a virtual Minnie Mouse playing with Figaro at Fantasyland. “What’s happening here is it’s actually being projected,” Founders Legal patent and technology technical adviser John DeStefano told Spectrum News.
3D virtual experience
“Rather than look through a phone screen or a headset, Disney developed a system almost similar to a movie projector to project on a real surface what humans see on a screen. It’s more real-world experience rather than looking at it through a phone,” added DeStefano. “Disney believes others are going to get into this space,” Founders Legal patent attorney Yuri Eliezer told the publication. “They want to make sure they get this patent first.”
Disney is an innovator when it comes to this technology trend. The company later filed a patent for rides that would offer a 3D virtual experience without VR headsets or AR-enabled devices. Much like the virtual-world simulator, the new technology would project a 3D virtual scene to guests on rides and attractions simply by tracking their eye positions.
8. NFTs
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9. Space tourism
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Orbital Assembly Corporation’s space hotels could open to customers as early as 2025. Described as a “sci-fi dream”, the hotels feature 3D holograms, digital wall art and robots. Tim Alatorre is Orbital Assembly’s chief operating officer. He told CNN Travel the company is “doing everything we can to make space accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy”.
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On this planet, Canadian architectural design and intellectual property (IP) licensor Moon World Resorts (MWR) is planning a $5 billion space tourism attraction and destination resort in Dubai. Moon Dubai will have a lunar surface as part of an Earth-based experience. It will include a visit to an “authentic working lunar colony”, co-founder Michael R. Henderson told Forbes.
“It’s aimed at those who wish to participate in authentic space tourism at an affordable price point,” he added. To get to the lunar surface, guests will ride in a ‘moon shuttle’. The resort will also include a training platform for space agencies and astronauts. There will be residential properties, as well as a spa and wellness area, an events centre, and a nightclub.
Other top technology trends
At the blooloop Festival of Innovation, AR and wearables were identified by many operators as the technologies that they were looking at to drive forward innovative new experiences. The blooloop Innovation Awards also saw entrants advancing the visitor experience with soundscapes.
The top trends are discussed here.
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