Many theme park industry managers and employees are heading to Orlando this week for the return of the annual IAAPA Expo. Staged by the industry's leading advocacy organization, the IAAPA Expo typically fills the Orange County Convention Center with one of the largest conventions of the year in central Florida.
The pandemic forced IAAPA to cancel last year's in-person Expo, and even though the convention will welcome guests this year, all is far from normal in the theme and amusement park business. The show floor will fill much of the convention center hall, but not all of it - and it won't be overflowing into the parking lot as in years past. Many long-time exhibitors and attendees are either scaling back or staying home. I will be flying to Orlando to cover several panels and press conferences, so there will be news this week. The question is... how much?
I feel that many fans are looking for something fresh to look forward to right now. Fans are returning to the parks, but they're still finding reduced show schedules and short staffing, especially in restaurants. Prices are higher, as parks look to jack their profits to make up for those past months without income. And the new attractions that many parks have in the works for next year and beyond are the same ones announced before the pandemic, only to be delayed.
In Florida, it will be nice to see Busch Gardens' Iron Gwazi finally debut next spring, followed by Walt Disney World's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at some point next year. In California, fans are awaiting an announcement from Universal Studios Hollywood telling us when Super Nintendo World will open. And there remain some intriguing new attractions under development elsewhere in the world, including the SkyWorlds park in Malaysia and the Fantasy Springs expansion at Tokyo DisneySea.
But almost every project announced before the pandemic was delayed by the pandemic. The pandemic has become part of the story of these attractions' development, providing yet another reminder of the disruption to our lives over the past two years. What a lot of fans want right now - and certainly what I would love to see - is an ambitious new project that will bring our focus forward and away from the past.
Disney has finished Pandora - The World of Avatar, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and Avengers Campus. Universal finished its Hagrid's and Jurassic World roller coasters in Orlando and opened Super Nintendo World in Japan. It's been a great run. So what's next for millions of the business's current fans - and potential new fans - to get really excited about?
This week's IAAPA Expo would provide a superb platform from which to announce the next big thing in the attractions industry. Disney and Universal typically do not make major announcements during IAAPA, but regional parks can step up - and have - to challenge the Big Kids.
Even if this week's IAAPA Expo does not bring an announcement of the next big thing to excite fans, I hope that perhaps the industry gathering might help facilitate the deal that makes that next big thing happen. Much of the story of an IAAPA Expo is not told until the next year's event, or even years after that, as the development time for some major new attractions can stretch close to a decade.
This industry needs something fresh to rekindle the public's excitement, and soon. The stories of recovery throughout the industry have been inspiring. But recovery won't be enough to sustain the growth that this industry needs. For that, the fans whose budgets control the theme park industry's destiny are looking for something fresh - something exciting - that will inspire them to start planning yet another special visit.
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