Your team has been commissioned to find the site and develop a theme for a new amusement park in America---the first one in the new century.  Your task is to determine where the site will be placed, what the theme will be, what type of special rides will be offered, and how to sell your proposal to the development team.
 

"We Americans want either to be thrilled or amused, and we are ready to pay well for either sensation."
                                                                                                                          George C. Tilyon

Why are people fascinated with theme parks?  What types of parks and rides are popular?  Why do some cities and states have a wide variety of parks and others have no parks at all?  Have the types of theme parks changed over the years?  What have been some successes and failures for theme parks?  Can you predict what will be a popular theme for parks in the future?

As you begin your adventure, you will need to research the history of theme parks, do a market survey to determine where theme parks are currently in operation, determine where to place your park, develop a theme for the park, use the results of polls to determine the ride or rides that will be the drawing card for your park, and produce a multimedia presentation or a brochure to submit as your proposal. Does your proposal have a persuasive argument for why the developers should pick your plan over all of the other entries?

 
 
 
 
 

Project Director

Real Estate Developer

Thrill Seeker

Pollster

Creative Designer

Public Relations

 

One of the main resources for this webquest is found in a great search directory especially for students called Yahooligans.
So you can go directly to this site any time that you need more information.
 
 

Project Director
Your job is to organize the team so that everyone understands the task and develops a management plan for the work to be done.  Provide the history of theme parks for the members of the group as background material. Develop a means for the group to come to a consensus on the theme, location, and the showcase rides. Help each member of the team to develop the final presentation.
Yahooligans
http://www.yahooligans.com/Sports_and_Recreation/Amusement_and_Theme_Parks/
 
 
 

Real Estate Developer
You task is essential for the success of the park---where should the park be placed?  Location, location, location is the critical to success!  Where are parks located?  Why are they located there?  Be sure to look at some global examples, not just in America. What are the considerations you gave to where you will place the park?  You might want to place the parks on a map to see where you predict the best location will be.  What will be your hours of operation?
Yahooligans
http://www.yahooligans.com/Sports_and_Recreation/Amusement_and_Theme_Parks/
Local sites for theme parks
http://www.sixflags.com
 
 
 
 

Thrill Seeker
Your job is to determine what is thrilling and extreme in rides today and try to determine what the ride of the future should be!  What is a thrill ride and how is it different from other rides?  How will you make sure that your ride or rides are the very best?  Look at the facts from different sources. What are the top rides?  What are hypercoasters?  What are "giga-coasters"?
Famous ride designers
http://www.rollercoaster.com/roller_coaster_history
News from the front seat
http://rollercoaster.com/news
Who holds the records?
http://www.rollercoaster.com/record_holders/
You can't do that!
http://www.lifthill.com/youcant/
 
 
 
 

Pollster
Your task is to document why your park and rides are going to be the best!  What are the specific characteristics of the top roller coasters?   Look at a variety of polls.  Find a poll about the most popular theme parks and rides.  Survey your team and an outside group of at least 30 others then compare those results with the ones on the Internet.  Who is the audience for your park?  If you build it, who will come?
Yahooligans
http://www.yahooligans.com/Sports_and_Recreation/Amusement_and_Theme_Parks/
Find a poll
http://www.rollercoaster.com/polls_and_surveys/
Find the best ride
http://www.theatres.sre.sony.com/imax/thrillride/fun_facts.html
 
 
 
 

Creative Designer
You will be responsible for the development of the theme of the park.  You will try to come up with the background for themes and some ideas for what your team should do.  Sites are listed for a variety of themes.  Develop a matrix for the types of theme parks.  What seems to be a popular theme?  Do parks use more than one theme? Why?  What are some unique characteristics of five theme parks that you have studied?

Review of parks
http://www.rollercoaster.com/reviews/
Explore the characteristics of parks
http://www.yahooligans.com/Sports_and_Recreation/Amusement_and_Theme_Parks/
 
 
 
 
 

Public Relations
You are responsible for the development of the final product.  You need to search for what is efective in the presentations of the various theme parks.  What do you need to put in the brochure or presentation?  Want great pictures of various roller coasters to import into your presentation? Check out the websites for different parks?

Explore the websites for parks
http://www.yahooligans.com/Sports_and_Recreation/Amusement_and_Theme_Parks/
Coaster pictures
http://www.yahooligans.com/Downloader/Pictures/School_Bell/Science___Technology/Roller_Coasters/
 
 

As you begin your adventure you will need to:

1.  Research the history of theme and amusement parks.

2.  Choose roles for each member in your group.  You will each be investigating a different aspect of your theme park              proposal so you need to develop a timeline and a management plan for all aspects of the project. Before you start, discuss each of your roles so that you can share information if you find something that would help another member of your group.

3.  Read your role and use the focus questions to keep you on track!

4.  Determine as a group the theme, the place, and the showcase ride or rides.

5.  Develop as a group your final product as a multimedia presentation or brochure to convince the developers of why your proposal should be selected.
 

Roles

    Project Director--provide the background for all members of the group to make accurate predictions for the future
    Risk Taker---create the biggest, tallest, highest, fastest, scariest rides
    Real Estate Developer---find the location
    Pollster---develop polls and provide research-based information for team
    Creative Designer---develop the theme
    Public Relations Officer---develop the end product

Your final project should be in the form of a multimedia presentation or a brochure.  Your final product will be critiqued according to the originality of the project, the appeal of the theme to the audience that you have identified, the result of polls and quality of the research to determine the location of your park and the showcase rides, and the research-based argument for why your project should be selected.

Congratulations!  You have successfully completed the project!  Now here are a few more ideas to consider.
Why will your theme park succeed?  What has caused parks to fail?  What has surprised you the most about theme parks?  Have you found new parks that you would like to visit?  Did you develop an idea for a ride that you think a ride designer would be interested in using?  Are you ready to try to design a coaster on-line?  Try Design a coaster.
 
 
 

Submit your completed Web Quest to add to our student gallery.
Send questions and comments to Sandy Smith