Disney parks working to appeal to gamers

Disney's California Adventure, having earned the reputation of being a $600 million money pit, is currently undergoing a billion dollar face-lift, including updates that gamers may find appealing during their visits to the park. One of the most problematic zones for the park has been its Paradise Pier location, which only had two real rides and was–until recently–dominated by a number of rotten boardwalk games and underwhelming souvenir shops. Now, however, the newly installed Toy Story Midway Mania rests underneath the California Screaming roller coaster, and actually moves riders through a series of 3D challenges, making it effectively a real-world collection of minigames.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the ride, which officially opened yesterday, is part of a new push by theme parks to woo gamers, who make up an increasing portion of the general populace. "There are an awful lot of people who will come to an attraction and say, 'You are responsible for my entertainment,'" Bill Coan, president of Itec Entertainment, told the Times. "The gamers come in and say, 'I want to have an effect on my entertainment.' Therein lies the balance that all theme parks are trying to deal with." While the Times has some video from the ride's intro, Mouse Planet has two excellent features detailing the Midway Mania experience (one for California, one for Florida) that interested readers might want to check out, too.

This isn't the first such gaming-oriented installation to hit the California parks: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, after having been installed in Disneyland's Tomorrowland area in 2004, has proven to be one of the more popular rides of the park; both Astro Blasters and Midway Mania were first installed in Walt Disney World and then made their way over to the West Coast (though Midway Mania only premiered a couple of months in Florida before appearing in California). Virtual Magic Kingdom, one of the more charming and kid-friendly MMOs I have ever played, also had stations in the parks where people could actually play the game; not only that, but guests could do scavenger hunts and complete activity sheets in the Disney parks to receive cards which unlocked exclusive items and costumes for VMK.

That Disney is working to embrace gamer audiences with its in-park attractions shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I spent two years working on Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes at Disneyland and saw, firsthand, that keeping a ride largely unchanged from when it opened in the 1960s wasn't the best way to appeal to the younger generation, whose entertainment interests had drastically changed; adapting to appeal to new audiences is just smart business.

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