Hybrid Products: A New Concept Test Model Case Study: Woohoo The Ride

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Corso di Laurea magistrale (ordinamento

ex D.M. 270/2004)

in Marketing e Comunicazione

Tesi di Laurea

Hybrid Products: A New

Concept Test Model

Case Study: Woohoo The Ride

Relatore

Ch. Prof. Francesca Checchinato

Correlatore

Ch. Prof. Boris Durisin

Laureando

Edoardo Rossi

Matricola 816000

Anno Accademico

2012/2013

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ABSTRACT

Successful innovations are the ones that open completely new markets, fulfilling unserved needs. In the last years, the union of different products’ features created many innovative products. These are called hybrid products, as they can be classified in more than one category. The purpose of this research paper is to study a hybrid product innovation and to develop a reliable model of concept testing for these particular multiple categories goods. In the specific, this innovation concerns amusement parks and their most widespread attractions: the roller coasters. Virtual reality features are added to the roller coaster, in order to enhance users experience. The attraction will provide users with head-‐mounted displays, issuing virtual images and sound. Consumers’ evaluations will be analysed in a new method, which combines different studies and methodologies. This method will examine: if the tested idea is creating new value; if consumers will appreciate it; if it has the possibility to compete in the theme park market, planning strategies of segments’ invasion.

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RÉSUMÉ

Innovations couronnées de succès sont celles qui ouvrent des marchés complètement nouveaux, répondant à des besoins non desservies. Dans les dernières années, de nombreux produits innovants ont été la création par la fusion des caractéristiques de différents produits. Ceux-‐ci s'appellent produits hybrides, car ils peuvent être classés dans plus d'une catégorie. Le mémoire de recherche a pour but d'étudier une innovation de produit hybride et de développer un modèle fiable des concepts tests de ces produits qui appartiennent à plusieurs catégories. En particulier, cette innovation concerne les parcs à thème et leurs attractions les plus répandues: les montagnes russes. Fonctionnalités de réalité virtuelle sont ajoutés à des montagnes russes, afin d'améliorer l'expérience des utilisateurs. L'attraction offrira aux utilisateurs visiocasques, qui permettent l'émission des images virtuelles et des sons. Les évaluations des consommateurs seront analysées dans une nouvelle méthode, qui combine différentes études et des méthodes variées. Cette méthode permet de dire : si l'idée testée apporte la création d'une nouvelle valeur ; si les consommateurs l’apprécieront ; et si elle a la possibilité de concourir dans le marché des parcs à thème, en planificant des stratégies d'invasion.

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SINTESI

Le innovazioni di successo sono quelle che riescono ad aprire mercati completamente nuovi, approcciando bisogni non ancora serviti. Negli ultimi anni, sono stati creati molti prodotti innovativi nati dall’unione delle funzionalità di prodotti diversi. Questi sono chiamati prodotti ibridi, classificati dai consumatori in più di un'unica categoria. La ricerca della tesi ha l’obiettivo di studiare un prodotto ibrido innovativo e sviluppare un modello affidabile di concept test per questo tipo particolare di prodotto. Nello specifico, questa innovazione riguarda i parchi di divertimento e la loro più diffusa attrazione: le montagne russe. La realtà virtuale è stata aggiunta alle montagne russe, per aumentare l’esperienza degli utenti. Un casco con visore 3-‐D è fornito ai visitatori dell’attrazione, abilitando immagini virtuali e suoni. La tesi analizzerà le valutazioni dei consumatori riguardo l’attrazione usando una nuova metodologia, che combina diversi studi e tecniche. Questo metodo testerà: la creazione di nuovo valore; il grado di apprezzamento dei consumatori; la competizione all’interno dei parchi di divertimento, progettando possibili strategie per invadere il mercato.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing a dissertation is a long process that is not possible without the support of people next to you. This paper is not an exception.

I am indebted to my supervisor, prof. Boris Durisin. He has been determinant for the outcome of this research. I would like to thank him for the motivation he was able to give me when I started to feel less convinced on the project. There was a moment when I wanted to replace the topic of this research with another one, more ordinary. With one sentence he was able to remind me how special is for me this project.

My special thanks are dedicated to the people who believed in my idea and supported me from the beginning. Dr. Chiminazzo, who advised me and gave me the possibility to pitch the idea, dr. Cangianelli and Mr. Piciucchi, for giving me their precious time to listen to my thoughts. I hope to pay back their kindness one day.

I would like to thank all the people who answered to my survey and didn’t get angry even if I lied on his length. Your responses made me happy and proud.

My friends deserve a big and lovely thank you. Thanks to the guys from Bassano del Grappa, in which I can always count even if they are 1000 km far away from where I am. Thanks to all the people I met here at ESCP, it was a great time in the library and then in the bar. Most of all, I strongly thank my friends of the double degree of Ca’ Foscari. We created an awesome team, supporting each other on this memoire and becoming a family. You are great guys and I really hope you can achieve your dreams.

I would like to express my biggest gratitude to my family. From my parents to my aunts and grandmothers, they are always supporting me from home. It is easy for me to feel their true love. The most special thanks goes to my parents Eddi and Grazia and to my brother Francesco. They are making enormous efforts to let me study in one of the best schools and realise my dreams. I will never forget what you are doing.

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TABLE OF EXHIBITS

Exhibit 1: Advertising of the first “Transformers The Ride” in Singapore Exhibit 2: Rogers’ diffusion of an innovation curves

Exhibit 3: Similarity ratings for the noun pair “roller coaster – virtual reality” Exhibit 4: Results of overall liking ratings

Exhibit 5: Overall liking two boxes percentages and level of significance

Exhibit 6: Means and t-‐test levels for product beliefs concerning moving sensations Exhibit 7: Willingness to pay to go in the attractions

Exhibit 8: Choices Diagram – Woohoo The Ride section

Exhibit 9: Overall liking ratings – “Woohoo Lovers” vs. “Woohoo Likers” Exhibit 10: Choices Diagram – Transformers The Ride section

Exhibit 11: Visual description of “Woohoo The Ride” Exhibit 12: Visual Description of “Transformers The Ride”

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INTRODUCTION

Innovation is at present the key element for the success of companies. It is seen as a process that gives the possibility to open new markets, meet different customers and expand companies’ businesses. In the last 50 years, technologic innovation is grown as never before, from computers as big as an entire room to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This process is not stopping, but rather increasing his velocity. Patents applications are growing, reaching in 2011 the impressive number of 432 thousands just in the US. These patents are protecting the most advanced technologic innovations, which will become the source of new businesses and the entrance key for completely new unserved markets.

Innovation degree of new products coming out on the market is different for each of them. There are different typologies of possible product innovations. Gregan-‐Paxton and Roedder (1997) define really new products as innovations that are not included in any product category, but rather they form a separate one. The iPod is an example of really new product, which creates a new category never seen before on the market. On the other hand, new products are considered for instance new models or brands in existing categories. The new model of the iPhone can be included in this classification, as it is an innovation on the smartphone category. However, there is a third category, which stays in the middle: hybrid products.

Hybrid or ambiguous products are innovative products, which belong to more than one category. They are products, which combine feature of different products in one. For instance, the smartphone is an ambiguous product, as it combines features of a mobile phone, a camera and a personal organizer (PDA). Consumers are in general used to classify products in just one category, producing inferences depending on it. It is not easy for them to distinguish between the multiple categories a hybrid product belongs to. Therefore, when testing consumers’ evaluations on a new hybrid product, it is not possible to use standard concept testing. This paper will provide a reliable method to

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test a hybrid concept, accustoming respondents to make inferences through multiple categories.

In the specific, a new hybrid roller coaster concept will be tested. This roller coaster, called “Woohoo The Ride”, is combining the amusement park attraction with a virtual reality device. This new attraction will increase users experience transporting them into a parallel world while being on the ride. The concept idea is compared with the most advanced virtual reality attraction in the world: “Transformers The Ride”. This attraction is similarly combining the two categories but with a different virtual reality device. While “Transformers The Ride” uses 3-‐D glasses and 3-‐D screens to simulate another environment, “Woohoo The Ride” uses head-‐mounted displays (HMD). HMD image quality is better than the usual 3-‐D glasses and screen method, as it cover all the point of view of the user.

Different measurements are composing the concept test. At first, a similarity test is made in order to understand how far the two categories are in consumers’ minds and to habituate them to property interpretation. This step is necessary for a concept test studying a hybrid product. Different studies on the interpretation of words combinations show that if two concepts are interpreted transferring properties from one to the other, then inferences on ambiguous products are made taking into account its multiple categories. On the contrary, if a hybrid product is judge using other types of interpretation, it will be classified in just one category. Hence, it was necessary to start the test accustoming respondents to property interpretation.

The test measures key performance indicators of “Woohoo The Ride” such as product interest, uniqueness, overall liking and purchase intention. The results are compared with the same measurements for “Transformers The Ride”, to see which features are considered better and which are considered worse. Then, respondents will be put in a real purchasing situation in which they are asked to choose between the two attractions depending on the waiting time in line. This method provides clear results of consumers’ preferences, as they are forced to choose, so to express their beliefs. In addition to this, 4 sub-‐groups of respondents are defined, depending on their behaviour inside this last test. Coherently with their choices, these groups are among them different in the performance indicators earlier mentioned. Then, from these insights it is possible to divide the market according to their different product perceptions. This

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division allows defining a marketing strategy to conquer all the market, with the goal of making adopt the product even to the more diffident.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PAPER

In a marketing prospective, the research aimed to provide an effective method for a hybrid product concept test. When testing the validity of a hybrid innovation, it is common use to adopt existing techniques made for really new products concept testing. This is a mistake from marketers, as consumers use to make inferences just on a single category, not considering the other possible classifications of the tested hybrid product. The paper’s final goal is to develop a better model of concept testing, based on usual methods but with the implementation of other specific tools.

From an entrepreneurial point of view, this paper is aiming to collect evaluations and insights about “Woohoo The Ride”. The comparison with “Transformers The Ride” is providing consistent insights, taking as point of reference this existing attraction. The test measures key performance indicators and product beliefs, and compare the results with the ones of the other attraction. Assuming that “Transformers The Ride” is considered as one of the best attractions in the world, the comparison with it will provide consistent and truthful results.

Lastly, this paper is focused on the qualitative analysis of the potential market segments for “Woohoo The Ride”. The definition of different consumers groups allows the research to focus on the ways to overcome the gaps dividing them. In fact, after the study of these groups, it is possible to know the characteristics of their members and define the main differences among the groups. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the most smart and convenient way to diffuse the innovation among different consumers. In fact, having a new technology does not surely mean having a new business. The focus of marketing, when to study the possible ways to spread an innovation, is not to create a new product itself, but rather create new value for consumers. Hence, it is fundamental to know the uncovered needs of the different

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consumers segments before developing an innovation, then find ways to overcome this lack of offer with the innovative product.

METHODOLOGY USED

The research begins with a general overview of virtual reality and amusement parks market. The approach is at first historical, in order to understand the technologic evolution in those sectors; then a benchmark study is made to overview the technologic level at present and in the near future.

The second part of the research consists in the review of the main literature contributions about concept testing, categorization and innovation diffusion. It is clear after this review that consumers generally encounter problems when to assign an ambiguous product into a specific category. Rajagopal (2004) proved that when respondents interpret a combination of two words or objects using property transfer interpretation, inferences on the hybrid product are more reliable than interpretations using relational transfer. Hence, designing the test, it was necessary to anticipate it with a similarity pre-‐test, to get respondents used to develop inferences transferring properties from a category to the other.

Test 1 is partially based on inferences evaluation test made by Rajagopal (2004) on hybrid product. Goal of the test is to measure key performance indicators such as product interest, uniqueness, overall liking and purchase intention, to be able to register an overall evaluation of the tested idea. In addition to this, product beliefs are analysed, to understand what consumers think about specific features of the product. To do this, the idea is compared to the most similar on the market in terms of its key features: virtual reality and simulated environment. Rajagopal didn’t use a comparative model, as the goal of his test was to define the ways consumers categorize hybrid products. The comparison is here useful to better understand the quality of the results. In fact, after the data analysis it is possible to define the main points of strengths and weaknesses of the concept idea. The rating averages are then confronted with top box and top 2 boxes responses percentages, as a second confirmation of the findings.

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Two groups of respondents are selected from the sample and studied separately: early adopters and relationers. Early adopters are selected basing on their technologic level, information acquisition speed and theme park visit frequency. On the other hand, relationers are selected depending on their interpretation of the word combination “roller coaster – virtual reality”. Relationers, contrary to the rest of the sample, used relational interpretation to link the two words. Surprisingly, their interpretation of the combination was linking the two words in the same way the concept product does. For this reason, it is considered useful to analyse this group of respondents separately, to check if they were revealing some interesting insights.

Test 2 is based upon the research of Dahan and Srinivasal (2000). The two authors built a web-‐based game-‐like concept test, to forecast the possible market share of some product ideas. Respondents had to choose between different products with fixed price tag at 10$. When a product was chosen, its price tag was doubling till the maximum amount of 40$, then the product was declared sold out. The same methodology is applied to the two attractions under study, with two main differences. First, it was not possible to use price tags, as it is supposed that consumers pay for the entrance ticket of the park and not to access to the attraction. Therefore, consumers’ effort chosen for this test was the time to wait in line. In fact, good attractions are known to have a huge line outside, as all visitors want to go into it. The starting condition was 30 minutes line for both attractions. When one was chosen, its line was increasing by other 30 minutes, with a maximum of 90 minutes per attraction. The second difference is the study made on the results. In the case under study, it was not possible to measure market share. Dahan and Srinivasal were able to do it as they compared the ideas with the real price of other products of the same market. In this case, prices are absent and the line outside “Transformers The Ride” is not measurable as it varies every day. Therefore, the study made on Test 2 is different. It is measured the percentage of respondents’ choices for each attraction and tested if there were any significant differences between them, confirming or not the findings of Test 1. Furthermore, it is possible to define different groups of consumers, according to their behaviours inside the test. These groups of consumers are compared and analysed, to understand what made them do their choices. At the end, also early adopters and relationers choices were analysed.

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After Test 2, the four groups are compared to the consumers segments defined by Moore in his book “Crossing The Chasm” (1991). The group that strongly preferred “Woohoo The Ride” is associated to Moore’s innovators, on the contrary the group that strongly preferred “Transformers The Ride” is associated to Moore’s late majority. After a detailed description of the groups, the study continues with the analysis of the possible scenarios that “Woohoo The Ride” will encounter, when to cross all the gaps between two adjacent categories. Possible solutions to cross these gaps are suggested, in order to be prepared at the time of the invasion of the following segment.

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CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND STUDIES

1.1 HISTORY OF VIRTUAL REALITY

“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.”

Francis Bacon, “Of Innovations”, Essays, 24 (1625)

Francis Bacon, English philosopher of the XVII century, states in his essays the importance of innovation. After 400 years, this concept is still fundamental and widely adopted in business environment. For instance, is widely known that the evolution of technology in the last 50 years has been much more radical than in all other centuries, due to the several progressing innovations developed. A good example is the evolution of computers. The first use of the word “computer” dates in 1613 in a book called “The yong mans gleanings”, written by the English poet Richard Braithwaite. With this word, he referred to a person who carries out calculations or computation. The modern concept of computer machine is associated to George Stibitz, worker at Bell, inventor of the first modern digital computer in 1937. From that moment, scientists and engineers came out with a series of innovations that never happened before.

This technological evolution leads to the creation of virtual reality. Virtual reality is the computer-‐generated simulation of a 3-‐dimensional image or environment that can be interacted within a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors. Virtual reality was first dreamed and prototyped by Morton L. Heilig, who invented Sensorama in 1962. This machine is a simulator that provides the illusion of reality

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using a 3-‐D motion picture with sounds, vibrations of the seat and wind. This first prototype had quite a success. In fact the US Air Force introduced a similar visual flight simulator in 1966 for plane pilots and many engineers started to work on the topic. In 1968 Ivan Sutherland, American computer scientist, developed the first head-‐mounted display. It was very low quality in terms of interface and realism, and the dimensions didn’t allow the user to wear it without a support. Be that as it may, Sutherland helmet gave off to intense researches. The scientist in the 1970s, with his company “Evans and Sutherland” purchased General Electric’s flight simulator division and partnered with a UK-‐based flight simulator company, to produce digital flight simulators. The company developed a computer-‐based system, in which virtual reality was completely digitalized, replacing videos and models. At the end of the decade, military forces experimented simulators with head-‐mounted displays and it turned out as a success. In 1985, virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier founded the company VPL Research, which developed the first commercially available “Goggles-‐and-‐gloves virtual reality” device. Lanier was able to reduce the dimensions of the machine to just a viewer, adding also the possibility to interact with the virtual world using special gloves. From this first model, the modern concept of virtual reality device took inspiration.

At present, several new innovations came out and helped widespread virtual reality. Sony released in 2011 its ultimate product for virtual reality: Model HMZ-‐T1, also known as Sony 3-‐D Viewer. Two different units compose it: the visor and the external processor unit. The visor consists of two mini organic-‐LED displays providing videos and two earphones providing sound. The external processor unit enables images to be displayed on the viewer. This device drives users into another virtual world, with a very high quality image resolution (1280x720 per eye). US army for recovery reasons is using this device. The problem is that US veterans are facing enormous challenges in the reintegration process after the war. The rate of veterans affected by PTSD (Post-‐ Traumatic Stress Disorder) was at its all-‐time high. Next to the variety of methods used by clinicians to solve this problem, Skip Rizzo, psychologist working for the US, developed an innovative method, which relies on virtual reality and the Sony 3-‐D viewer. PTSD sufferers are asked to wear the goggles and immerse themselves again into a war scenario, narrating and overcoming traumatic memories. This project turned out reliable and efficient, as the immersion on the virtual war is complete and close to reality.

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It is easy to understand that the 3-‐D viewer is totally not difficult to use. For instance, YouTube member Chris Zaharia uploaded on March 2012 a video showing how he built a virtual reality system alone in his house. The video is called “Skyrim in Virtual Reality using HMZ-‐T1, TrackIR and Kinect” and counts today around 350.000 visitors. In the video, Zaharia plays with the videogame Skyrim with his personal Xbox, and connects it with 3 devices you can easily find in a technology store. First, he uses Microsoft Kinect and TrackIR to track and recognize movements of body and head, then he wears the Sony HMZ-‐T1, the 3-‐D viewers, to immerse in the videogame world. The results are impressive, as he himself becomes the videogame controller and hero, with a total budget of just 1500$. Videogames and entertainment companies are extremely interested in virtual reality development. For instance Electronic Arts, at the launch of his first-‐person shooting videogame “Battlefield 3”, built a new gaming simulator, with the goal of increasing user interaction in the game. The “Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator” has the same concept of the one discussed previously, with the difference of 3-‐D screens instead of 3-‐D viewer and the addition of 360-‐degrees treadmills around the user enabling movements. At present, virtual reality gaming experience is no more for pioneers. There are projects under development that will allow users to enter totally in the virtual game world. The most technologically advanced project is being developed from “Oculus VR”, a US company that is producing and about to launch their first head-‐ mounted display, called Oculus Rift. This 3-‐D viewer is specially made for videogames experience, with the goal of revolutionize home-‐gaming business. This HMD is qualitatively very high; the outside world is nearly blocked out, in order to give a full immersion into the virtual world. 32 videogames developers already decided to adapt their next titles to this HMD and many others will follow.

Virtual reality is used now not just by the army or videogames developers, but also in many different fields. Education system has just begun to understand the potential of virtual reality devices. Training finds in virtual reality a good ally: astronauts, technical engineers and surgeons for instance can train themselves with virtual simulations, with the chance of making mistakes and learn from them. Also, designing a car or planning a new building construction has never been easier. Virtual reality allows producers to build several prototypes and test them at very low costs.

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To conclude this historical brief, virtual reality is a technology that just started its development. It needs lots of other features and innovations to be widespread and used by everybody. Anyhow, it has the chances to radically change people’s lives forever. Virtual reality is the next step of hi-‐tech innovation process, and in it starts this research, as a hybrid world between reality and fantasy.

1.2 AMUSEMENT PARKS AND ROLLER COASTERS

1884 is remembered as the birth of roller coasters. In that year, some innovative and enterprising Americans built and developed this attraction, revolutionary for those times. The majority of experts in the field attribute the invention to LaMarcus Adna Thompson. Considered as the father of the roller coaster, he brought to Coney Island the first modern prototype in April 1884. His attraction, called Switchback Railway, was so impressing that the amusement park was able to earn till 600$ a day, with a 5 cents ticket, just for that attraction. In three weeks the investment was recovered, making everybody aware about the potential of this business. However, with a more careful analysis, it is possible to see that history of roller coaster creation is not exactly as many expert websites affirm. Earlier patents exist, as G. Taylor’s #128,674 of July 2nd_{,
1872}

and R. Knudsen’s #198,888 of January 1st_{,
1878,
but
for
unknown
reasons
they
were}

never built. The only earlier patent, which was effectively built, is Alanson Wood’s #291,216 of January 1st_{,
1884.
New
York
Times
reported
an
article
from
the
Augusta}

Chronicle, entitled “Sliding up hills”. The article, which is here reported entirely as it represents a piece of history, exclaimed: “A circular railway has been built at Ponce de Leon Springs. The new railway is a wooden structure forming a circle, being 4 feet wide, 500 feet long, inside of which is laid the track for the cars, and is so graded that the cars run themselves, the highest point above the ground being 22 feet 6 inches, and the lowest point touching the ground. Mr Wood, at one time a poor carpenter of Toledo Ohio, is the inventor of the circular railroad, having conceived the idea from witnessing children slide down the hills on their slide boards, he arguing that if they could slide down hill they could slide up hill, a demonstration of which is witnessed in the circular railway.” Despite the writing style, typical of the XIX century, this article is an evidence

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of a primitive roller coaster, built in June 27th_{,
1884.
Looking
to
patent’s
issuing
date,}

Thompson’s #310,966 of January 20th_{,
1885,
is
much
later
than
the
Wood
one.
As
shown}

from these evidences, Wood submitted the patent more than one year before Thompson, but the latter actually built the attraction, the first known roller coaster, before the Ohio carpenter. If we believe to Wood words, we can conclude he was the real inventor of the roller coaster as we know it, but it is not possible to certainly attribute him this invention. Certainly, Thompson has been the first real entrepreneur on roller coaster industry and opened a new era in amusement parks.

The Switchback Railway is not Thompson’s most famous invention. After the huge success of Coney Island roller coaster, he started collaborating with another designer, James A. Griffiths, and hired as chief engineer John Miller, a fundamental figure for amusement parks later on. This team designed in 1887 the so-‐called “Scenic Railway”, a roller coaster surrounded by artificial scenery. The attraction had an incredible success and immediately became the most famous in the world. This represents the first trial of adding virtual reality sceneries into a moving attraction. As the technology at time was very limited, it was necessary to build a real scenography like in the movie sets. We can just imagine what this brilliant inventor could have done in the present, with 3-‐D and virtual reality technology. In any case, it is important to consider the fact that the connection between roller coasters and immersive scenography was already seen and successfully developed just three years after the roller coaster invention.

Thompson opened up a big value business and in the years after his company continued developing more creative and sophisticated attractions. He didn’t know actually that his chief engineer John Miller was about to become the most revolutionary roller coaster designer in history. His patent #1,319,888 of October 28th_{,
1919
protect}

the so-‐called “Miller under friction wheels”. This mechanism consists in a wheel that runs under the track to keep the coaster cars from flying off. This innovation pushed roller coaster limit much higher, as designers could develop railways with vertical and tight curves and increase the speed. This mechanism became essential for all the roller coaster industry, which saw its golden era during those years. In the 1920s, the industry was at its highest point and many different parks opened in the US. There are two reasons behind this huge success. First, it was a completely new experience for people,

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with open space for innovations and variety. Second, at time it was the only entertainment product for consumers except for theatres and clubs. So, it caught the enormous market segment of families and children. Unfortunately, the Great Depression and the following World War II undermined the roller coaster market. Raw materials were used just for the army, surely not for the maintenance of amusement parks. Also, new other entertainment channels appeared as the television, and families went to the amusement parks less often.

The industry strongly rose again in 1955 thanks to the movie producer Walt Disney. He thought to combine amusement parks with his movies, effectively creating the first properly called theme park. The base of Disney’s strategy was to make people entirely go out from the real world for a day. In order to do this, he created in Anaheim, CA an imaginary world called “Disneyland”. The central point was no more the attraction itself, but rather the experience of consumers. From this on, almost every park surrounded its attractions with a theme, and for the industry it looked like going back on time to the golden age. Again we can see that amusement and theme parks are exactly made to make people immerse into another world. This can be considered as the second step of virtual reality into amusement parks system.

Concerning roller coasters, after the 1920s golden age their image on people decreased dramatically. It happened basically because of the deterioration state in which many coasters were. As said previously, resources were used for other things and not for the attractions’ maintenance. This lead to the decline of roller coaster status and many of them were abandoned or blew down. Fortunately, engineering innovations helped the industry recovery during the 1970s. In those years, roller coasters were made mainly by steel pipes, feature allowing designers to build more fast, complicated and scary attractions. At present, roller coasters are going faster than ever, composed by loops and other mazy manoeuvres. The same company, the Swiss-‐based Intamin AG, built all the 3 fastest roller coasters in the world. Formula Rossa, at the Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Theme Park is the world’s fastest, reaching the speed of 240km/h. The highest, almost 140m high, is the Kingda Ka at the Six Flags Park located in Jackson NJ, and it is again produced by Intamin AG. In the world now there are 3185 running roller coasters, 3013 of these made by steel. The continent that has more roller coaster is Asia

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with 1402 attractions, followed by Europe (810) and North America (750), which has lost his historical leadership in this chart.

1.3 VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE AMUSEMENT PARKS

“What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

This quote from “The Matrix”, worldwide famous movie, gets directly to the point about virtual reality and human sensations. As the technology evolves, virtual reality is getting closer and closer to the real world. Sensations people feel are real, just the environment is simulated. In fact, electronic games and amusement parks are catching the wave and investing into virtual reality. Videogames, as it is discussed earlier, are trying to build an immersive environment in order to turn consumers from players into controllers. Amusement parks are, in the other hand, trying to add virtual reality in the attraction in order to provide different scenarios and the possibility of interaction with it.

The first example to take into consideration is the so-‐called “4-‐D cinema”. It consists in a regular cinema combining 3-‐D screens with physical effects such as moving chairs, water, smells, smoke and other sensorial features. Users in this way are immersing in the movie and reality effects are improved. Usually theme parks use to show roller coaster based movies in their 4-‐D cinemas. The most common is for instance the coalmine railway movie, with fixed point of view in the wagon. With this system, the railway is simulated and the seats are moving according to the video contents. Indeed, the simulation is quite limited as users are in a completely different scenario from the one displayed on the screen. This attraction represented an innovation for theme parks when it came out, but now the enthusiasm is waned. 4-‐D cinema is still an interesting matter for Hollywood movies, as it is a chance to attract more people to the theatres, but it is no more something exceptional for theme parks industry.

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Dark rides are at present the attraction in which virtual reality is better suited. These railways surrounded by scenery have always been present in amusement parks. The first example of a dark ride is the previously mentioned “Scenic Railway”. Built in 1887 on the boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ by the already mentioned pioneers of amusement parks L.A. Thompson and J.A. Griffiths, it was decorated inside with artificial scenery to simulate a new different environment. In fact, while many rides just focus on physical sensations, dark rides focus mostly on imagination and emotions. After few years, scenic railways were built all around the US. The most popular at the beginning of the XX century was the so-‐called “Old Mill” or “Tunnel of Love”. An Old Mill ride is an unaccompanied boat ride that goes through a dark tunnel decorated with romantic or historical landscapes. Due to the high costs of building an Old Mill ride, two entrepreneurs, Leon Cassidy and Marvin Rempfer, started in the 1920s to develop a cheaper ride, still maintaining the typical dark atmosphere. In 1928 their first dark ride premiered in Bridgeton, NJ. Cars following an electric truck inside a dark tunnel replaced boats. In the years after, this attraction became one of the most popular in theme parks. Dark rides were no more seen as a romantic attraction, but rather an entertaining and scaring experience. In fact, new features were added to impress customers, as scary figures, terrifying sounds effects and horror-‐based scenery.

Nowadays, these attractions are gaining the same success as decades ago. Obviously the concept of dark ride is completely renovated now, as new technologic features were added in during the last 20 years. Scenery is more complicated and realistic and railways are faster, winding and fearful. Recently, shooting dark rides were developed, providing passengers with guns to shoot targets during the ride. An example is the “Toy Story: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin” at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, in Florida. However, the most innovative revolution at present is the application of virtual reality in the ride. Universal Studios, in partnership with Oceaneering International, built the most advanced model of dark ride in 2011 at the Universal Studios Singapore. Now this attraction is present also at Universal Studios Hollywood and will open in summer 2013 at universal Studios Florida. This attraction is basically a dark ride, but instead of physical scenery, the tunnel is fulfilled with 3-‐D screens, making virtual scenery effects. The attraction, called “Transformers The Ride”, is based on the famous Transformers movie franchise. It consists of vehicle-‐mounted motion platforms, which follow a 610m long track (exhibit 1). 3-‐D screens along the tunnel project 3-‐D images of

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various Transformers characters fighting between each other. This attraction, cost 100 million $ and it is considered one of the best in the world and the most advanced theme park attraction combining railways with virtual reality.

A different but highly innovative concept that is catching on nowadays is the virtual reality theme park. Futurscope, the France’s second most popular theme park, is based on 3-‐D and 4-‐D cinema-‐like attractions and it is becoming one of the biggest players in Europe. In 2010 in fact, Futurscope had the fastest visitor growth numbers of any major European theme park. In South Korea, “Live Park 4-‐D World Tour”, a Kinect-‐ powered theme park, opened last year. All of its attractions are based on virtual reality and interaction is possible thanks to the Xbox movement-‐tracking device.

It is clear now that the mingling of virtual reality and theme park attractions represents the future of entertainment industry. Since the beginning of the theme park era, entrepreneurs were focused on pushing forward the limit of their attraction, by increasing their speed and loops. Nowadays, a new trend is coming out, made possible by the rapid innovation in the high tech industry. Virtual reality is a mechanism able to fool human eyes, redefining the limits of an entire industry. In the next future, more adaptation of virtual reality in the attractions will be present in theme parks, opening up a new huge business opportunity and attracting consumers never seen before in a theme park.