To appreciate the role that theme parks and attractions play in the travel industry, you only have to arrive at Orlando International Airport, an airport that has tripled in size since opening in 1981 and that now handles 9.2 million passengers a year, and travel up International Drive, where many of the area's 76,360 hotel rooms and 50 theme parks and attractions have sprung up to cater to the 13.6 million visitors who spend $4.6 billion a year. Then, consider that in 1971, the year Walt Disney opened his personal fantasy- land, Orlando was swampland and orange groves.
'It has often been my pleasure to tell people where I work and watch a slow smile creep across their face," said Peter Irish, director of association relations for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), Alexandria, VA. "Even at the association level, the industry has a unique ability to bring joy, entertainment, distraction, and a certain relief from daily cares and concerns to consumers around the world. This is a very rewarding activity."
However, despite the fact that the industry draws about 253 million visits a year, generates about $4.3 billion in sales, and employs more than 250,000 people on a seasonal or part-time basis, full time career oriented jobs are in short supply and high demand. Only about 15,000 people are full timers. Even at Walt Disney World, more of a complete city than a theme park, only about 3,300, or 10 percent, of the 33,000 employees are salaried. Still, for people who do get jobs in the industry, working for a theme park or major attraction is like a fantasy come true.
Theme Parks
Walt Disney really invented the "theme park." Up until 1955 when Disneyland opened, there had been only amusement parks, consisting mainly of rides in a carnival-like atmosphere. Walt Disney, who had two young daughters at the time, sought to create a place where the whole family could experience attractions together. He created themes, a story woven into the costuming, the architecture, and everything connected with an attraction. Instead of a roller coaster, for example, there was "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad," an Old West runaway mine train.
The vast majority of the approximately 600 parks and attractions that comprise the U.S. amusement industry cater to a local market. Of these, about 50 to 100 qualify as destination attractions capable of drawing visitors from regional, national, and international markets. The largest destination theme parks (many of which are household names) include Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, Disneyland, Anaheim, CA, Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, CA, Sea World of Florida, Orlando, Sea World of California, San Diego, Kings Island, Kings Island, OH, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA, Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH, and Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL.
Often, these destination theme parks are not just included on a trip but are the main purpose for a trip, and they are very much a part of the travel industry. These destination attractions incorporate many travel related activities including hospitality, food and beverage, and entertainment. They may have a complete travel department that works with the tour operators, airlines, car rental companies, and travel agents, and they may even package their own programs to groups and individual travelers. A major part of their marketing and sales effort is directed toward inspiring tour operators and group organizers to include their attraction.
Though the basic amusement park business is not expected to grow significantly, a proliferation of new and novel formulas is expected. "Amusement parks are amazingly imaginative and will continue to craft new hard ride and entertainment products to attract new segments of the population," said the IAAPA.
Job Categories from A to Z
Probably the most eclectic category of travel, the theme park/ attractions industry employs everything from agronomists to zoologists. General categories of employment include general management, operations, marketing, public relations, food service, maintenance, and finance. Particular specialties include engineering, safety, security, MIS, training, and personnel management. Some of the more innovative parks are adding product development and market research specialists.
While there is stiff competition for management jobs, some markets face serious shortages of seasonal workers. The industry has therefore been prompted to adopt a variety of innovative programs including incentives (involving contests and merchandise giveaways), bonuses such as free tickets, subsidized transportation, and gift certificates, busing people in from inner cities, and recruiting senior citizens. Some of the attractions hold job fairs or go directly into high schools to recruit.
Many accomplished executives in the field started out as summer workers, such as Larry Cochran, chief executive officer of Six Flags Corporation, Arlington, TX, and Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, a Cincinnati based management and consulting company to the industry. Speigel, for example, began his career as a ticket taker during the summer at Coney Island Amusement Park in Cincinnati, worked his way up to assistant park manager there, and then went to Kings Island where he supervised general park operations including personnel, rides, food/beverage, merchandise, and games. He then became the vice president and general manager of Kings Dominion/Lion Country Safari, Richmond, VA. In addition to overseeing the planning and construction of the park, he administered a $ 60-million construction budget and managed the park all of which gave him the broad background he needed for his consultancy.
An Example: Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World is probably the quintessential theme park (actually three in one-Magic Kingdom® Park, EPCOT® Center, and Disney-MGM Studios). It is both the model and the pinnacle for the industry. The largest theme park in the world, Disney World has become elevated to a vacation destination in its own right (indeed, it is frequently included on lists of the most popular vacation places on the planet) and is actively involved in the travel industry. It has a massive travel company that packages its own product sold to consumers and the trade, a reservations center, and a retail agency. It has a convention services and incentives and meetings department (an expanded activity since Disney World opened its own hotels and can now accommodate large meetings).
The Walt Disney Company has become a major hotel company, operating seven hotels with 15,000 rooms plus a campground and vacation villas at Disney World alone. It is getting involved in building a new vacation ownership (time-sharing) development.
The scope of what an attraction like Walt Disney World entails becomes clear when you consider that on any night, there might be 50,000 people living in the on-site accommodations and as many as 100,000 people in the park per day (20 million per year). Disney World is a self sufficient city complete with its own energy plant, waste facilities, and transportation system. EPCOT Center even grows most of the food served in the restaurants. Some 1,500 "back of the house" culinary professionals ranging from assistants to executive chefs are employed to serve the hordes of hungry park attendees.
Disney World employs more than 1,000 entertainers including musicians, performers, and technical support people like set designers. Because theme parks like Disney World employ hundreds, even thousands of entertainers, the theme park industry can be an alternative to struggling for a spot on Broadway. (Steve Martin is just one of many entertainers who went on to fame and fortune after working at Disneyland). The Disney company often sends talent scouts on national tours to recruit entertainers. In the summer, WDW College Entertainment Workshop gives musicians an opportunity to perform in an orchestra at Disney World in Florida or at Disneyland in California, (the players are selected during a national tour).
Though the "Imagineering" staff (the people who dream up the concepts for rides and attractions) are based in the Burbank, CA, headquarters for the Walt Disney Company, many operations people work in Orlando to ensure that the concepts are actualized. Completion of any given project involves some unusual career paths. For example, nearly 500 people work in horticulture and landscaping others are woodcarvers and costumers.
The Disney Company also has a noncredit college program whereby students can spend a semester working at the park usually in a job related to their major, such as hospitality. Often, college students who work at Walt Disney World during the summer or a season go on to a career there. Dick Nunis, president of Walt Disney Attractions, is one example. The company also offers a management development program through (what else) the Disney University.
Occasionally, for jobs that require a certain specialization that would have to be acquired elsewhere, people are hired from the outside. The strongest effort, however, is to hire from within.
An example of one who was hired from within is the executive chef at EPCOT Center, Keith Kehoe. Today at the highest position in culinary art, he started at Walt Disney World in 1971 as a burger chef but "was motivated and was obviously talented," an executive related. Kehoe was put into a culinary development program and learned under some top chefs. Now, Walt Disney World has a culinary apprentice program (affiliated with the American Culinary Federation, which sets out guidelines for culinary development) so that budding chefs can become ACF-certified at Disney World.
