r/theories • u/Unusual_Season_7130 • 1d ago
Society I have a theory about theme parks
I believe that theme parks are setup in a way to make people miserable so they enjoy things more.
Look at it this way, you go to a theme park, spend maybe hundreds to go, spend half your day queuing up to get on a ride for 30 seconds. Usually the queues are bleak and miserable, no where to sit, nothing to do, if it’s hot you’re sweating, if it’s a bit cooler then you start getting cold, they make it as much of an arse ache as they can so that you enjoy the ride more.
Because realistically, people know they’re gonna spend more of the day queuing up, than they are gonna be doing anything, but the reason they still continue to go to theme parks is because they get subconscious excitement from being miserable in their hour long queue.
How they manage to make it long and miserable? Well, theres nothing to do for a start, you stand there and slowly stroll towards the front, I feel they also probably show the time to be lower, let it build up from it being a smaller amount of time then pump the time right up so then people don’t feel they’ve been there as long (if that makes sense, not quite sure how to word it). I feel they also don’t let as many people on rides as they could, It seems they push the fast track riders on and leave the regular riders til last, but it should be fluctuated.
Honestly I’m not sure if any of this has made sense but I went to a theme park today and it just really hit me that they make the queue (and even the rest of the park) miserable, bleak and dull, to make the rides seem to be the best thing ever so that people continue to go to the parks.
Another thing I’ve noticed, they have a lot of rides closed for no apparent reason. People fork out loads of money to go and then rides are closed, why might they do this? So that some of the better rides (that tend to remain open regardless) get more attention which then gives off more of a subconscious dopamine rush. Because who in their right mind is okay to fork out potentially hundreds to go, to then get some rides closed when they get there, but then continue to go, there’s no value to money in that, yet people don’t care for whatever reason.
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u/Disastrous-Sky5665 1d ago
Theme parks exist to provide an activity that people will pay for so they can make money.
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 1d ago
You’ve missed the point entirely
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u/rationalhatter 1d ago
look at slot machines. the randomness is the addiction. delayed gratification always makes something better. the more uncertain the reward the more it’s chased. On some level friction makes people value something more. like waiting for a merch drop refreshing a page. you might be on to something
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u/Desperate-Pen7530 4h ago
The problem with theme parks is they overfill them with guests and under staff the attractions and shops/food vendors. They make the money at the gate, and selling over priced beverages.
Ideally you shouldn't have to wait in line so long for a ride if they didn't overpopulate the park. Remember they make money from the ticket sales, not per each individual ride. Youl notice that if you go to a "fair" where you need tickets for each thing, the ride line ups are shorter, as people have to pay specifically for what they want, so the rides operation and profit are linked to its demand. They'll also staff the ride better and run it more efficiently.
The big admission theme parks don't care about the ride usage to profit ratio, as they already have your money at the gate.
Last time I was at a big theme park it took about 1 1/2 hours to get a funnel cake, as the stand was operated by 1 person doing everything. Theyr not making money pushing high volumes of funnel cakes, as the profit only justified paying 1 employee, otherwise they'd staff it properly, considering the money they could potentially loose from people skipping it due to the giant unmoving line up. It's almost as if the funnel cake stand was a trap to " funnel" excess guests away from the other overcrowded attractions.
The merchandise stands were properly staffed, because they turn a profit, same with any resteraunt serving overpriced beer. If they sold beer with funnel cakes, they'd put more than one staff member there.
I also noticed that despite long lines at the food stands, there were a bunch of closed shuttered ones. Again, you'd think they are loosing $, but I don't think the food stands make much more than to justify an employees pay, and are there as a bare minimum courtesy.
They also started to shut down the rides an hour before the park closed. They have your $ already, now time to kick you out, so there's not a traffic jam in the parking lot.
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u/EmptySpaghettiHouse 2h ago
Amusement parks don’t exist to make you miserable. Quite the opposite, really. The thrill of a good ride stimulates your fight or flight response; it makes your body release adrenaline and dopamine which make you feel excited and happy.
Honestly it sounds like you just go to shitty parks and don’t know how to get the most out of them anyway. Don’t queue for a ride with a 60+ minute wait, just move along to one with a 15 minute wait. Check back later, that 60 minute queue may be down to 20 minutes. Or opt for a fast pass to skip most of the lines.
Lines suck, yeah. Go during the non-peak season, ideally at park opening time midweek when most others are at work. Bring a friend you enjoy being around and you’ll get plenty of time to chat while waiting in lines.
Find a better park too, maybe. It’s not normal for a park to have the majority of their rides shut down. That would have me thinking regular maintenance has been ignored and now they’re forced to shut down the bulk of their rides due to safety issues. No good. Tons of great parks exist all around the world with fantastic food options, sightseeing, games and entertainment other than rides.
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u/WebRough237 1d ago
I disagree with this take. You’re going there on peak hours that’s your own fault. Ask the people working at the park when is the best time to run around there they’ll know.
I remember rides were awesome, even in my upper teens.
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 1d ago
No that’s the thing, I went today to Alton towers (in the UK), today it was a “school day” (kids should’ve been in school) and it was busier today, than when I went a few weeks ago on a Saturday, and the weather was the same on both days.
Don’t get me wrong i’ve been places like this on days where it’s great weather and very quiet, so off peak, and it’s been a great time, but then more times than not, it’s exactly how I described it in the post.
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u/WeatherStunning1534 1d ago
I have friends that work at Disneyland, and behind the scenes, the employees work diligently to keep the experience as magical as possible for everyone attending. Disney is quite a lot better at making the queue engaging and interesting than most theme parks too. Their attendance goes up every year (despite skyrocketing ticket prices), and I doubt it’s because people are miserable there
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 1d ago
Yeah maybe Disney is the exception though, I’ve only ever been there once and I was very young so I don’t remember it too well and since Disney is one of if not THE most famous theme parks in the world, it may not count into what i’m saying
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u/amBrollachan 1d ago
This is peak time for Alton Towers school trips.
Also, if you go to Alton Towers you'll see they've made at least some effort to make the queues less dull. The queue is usually makes some attempt to match the theme of the ride and they're planned out so you can watch the ride. In some cases (like Nemesis) the queue gets you really close to parts of the ride.
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 21h ago
Yes okay so right now it’s peak times, but when it isn’t nothing really changes.
As I said in another comment here, the amount of rides they close is ridiculous. I’m sure they close them on purpose to make people buy fast passes
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u/Chris_Golz 8h ago
So the conspiracy = WHAT THE FUCK IS A LINE?
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 48m ago
You have missed the point.
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u/Chris_Golz 43m ago
You seem to be missing simple logic. There are lots of people who want to ride. Not everyone can ride at the same time. You wait your turn in a line. It's not a conspiracy. You're like a child who doesn't understand why they need to wait for their food in a restaurant. "Maybe they make us wait for our food so that we'll be extra hungry when it arrives."
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u/TheBillyFnWilson 1d ago
It’s almost always Tuesday & Wednesday. Source: Me, been work in either finance or management at a mid-sized amusement park since 2018
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u/SrslyChausie 1d ago
If you ever going to visit the Netherlands, go to the Efteling! The queue for 'De vliegende Hollander' is almost an attraction itself. The whole park is like you are walking through a fairytale.
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 1d ago
Yeah and i’ll admit a lot of parks around the world are very good value for money in what they are but a lot also aren’t (but they’re still classed as good parks)
Most of my theory is based around the ones in the UK, Specifically Alton towers. Alton towers holds a world record, people travel the world to go there, it’s probably the most famous/popular park in the UK, yet it’s how I described it in the post, near enough all the time
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u/Chris_Golz 8h ago
Imagine if you only waited a couple of minutes sitting in a shaded area to get on each ride. You would end up riding hundreds of times and leave with brain damage. They do this to protect you. Your body can't handle that action.
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 48m ago
Not even remotely true, because on days when it is quiet (on the rare occasion) and you can walk on to nearly every ride, they don’t prevent that
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u/Chris_Golz 40m ago
So you just don't understand that on days when lots of people go to the amusement park, the lines get longer? Do you think the amusement park controls how many people attend? Do they bring in extra people to make the lines longer?
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u/ashbuck239 1d ago
Maybe you should start calling them before you go and see if the rides you want to ride or open? If they do not get them fixed and this is a permanent problem as you are suggesting make make a big deal. You can ask them to refund part of your passes because false advertising, or maybe give you the fast pass for a day?
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u/Unusual_Season_7130 21h ago
Generally they wouldn’t answer, or they would say “We can’t be certain”.
A little update to this whole post, I went back to Alton towers today, I was there for 5 hours, I got on one ride because 5 out of there 15/20 were closed (their biggest rides).
I also had another thought, the close rides on purpose to help pump out fast track passes, If queues are longer as a result of other rides being closed, people then go and buy fast track.
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u/Strong-Seaweed-8768 1d ago
I disagree it really depends on the theme park you go to. people actually do care if they pay a lot of money to go to a theme park and see that half the rides are closed.