Theme parks are some of the most popular attractions for tourists, with places like Walt Disney World attracting more than 58 million visitors each year. But for meeting and event planners who want to capture some of that theme park magic for their next business event, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start.
Mia Cangelosi is an event operations manager for Informa Markets, which acquired the HIMSS Global Healthcare Conference & Exhibition in 2023. The HIMSS Exhibition is one of the largest healthcare technology events in the United States, drawing between 20,000-40,000 health professionals, technology leaders and governmental organizations from around the world.
HIMSS swaps the location of their exhibition between Las Vegas, Chicago and Orlando, with the latter being the location of the event in 2024. Cangelosi and her team chose to have parts of the multi-day event take place at some of the many theme parks in the Orlando area, including Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort and Discovery Cove Orlando.
Following are some tips that Cangelosi has learned from hosting one of the biggest healthcare-technology events in the U.S. at some of the country’s most popular theme parks and her expert advice for planners when organizing their own theme park meeting or event.
1. Partner With a Great Event Manager
When Cangelosi was coordinating the HIMSS event, her team decided to partner with three different theme parks in Orlando to give attendees a unique experience each night of the event.
Cangelosi said that getting connected with Visit Orlando and the event managers at each of the three properties was extremely helpful in ensuring the success of the event. Event managers at the theme parks helped to answer all her questions and coordinate every aspect of the experiences to ensure that the vision and budgetary requirements for each evening were met.
2. Create Pre-Event Itineraries and Maps
Places like Walt Disney World and Universal Studios are massive properties, with Universal Studios’ 541 acres being only the second-largest resort in Orlando next to Disney. With such large areas, it’s important to communicate to attendees where to go so they don’t get lost in the shuffle of the crowds.
Cangelosi said her team created signs to point people to where their event was, and also made QR codes with information about the event, such as where to eat and all the rides that they could go on. She said that giving these types of materials to attendees ahead of time will give them advance notice of what they’re going to experience onsite and will hopefully reduce attendee confusion during the event.
3. Build In Networking Opportunities
Even though a theme park event might be taking place in the “happiest place on earth,” it’s still important to give attendees time to create those business connections and feel as though they got something out of the event—besides meeting Mickey Mouse.
Cangelosi said dinner is a great time to build in those intentional networking opportunities before letting attendees loose to experience the excitement of the parks and rides. Providing those networking opportunities is something that isn’t unique to other business conventions, but becomes extra important when choosing to host at a theme park.
[Related: These Theme Parks Double as Immersive Event Environments]
4. Get Creative With Entertainment
While many planners might not think to hire entertainment when hosting a theme park event, Cangelosi said doing so will create a unique experience for attendees that they can’t get anywhere else.
Anyone can go to Disney World, but taking advantage of a unique character or culinary experience the parks can provide gives the whole event a “VIP” feel and ensures that the attendees are constantly having a good time.
“For Disney, we hired Minnie and Mickey. We also had a meet-and-greet with the Guardians of the Galaxy cast,” Cangelosi said. “During dinner, we had ‘around-the-world’ cuisine with Chinese dragon dancers and a mariachi band. For Universal, we hired these flame twirlers, and for Discovery Cove, we had luau dancers with fire breathers. So, entertainment, I think, is a really good thing to have.”
5. Be Wary of Summer
For event planners who might be interested in hosting a meeting or convention in Orlando with an outdoor component, picking the right timeframe is of utmost importance—especially if your attendees are not used to the hot and humid Florida weather. The at-times oppressive summer temperatures, in particular, might dampen their experience at the parks, where air-conditioned spaces are limited and crowded.
Instead, planners might consider hosting their event sometime between August and March and avoiding June through September. The latter time frame is also hurricane season for the region, and many groups choose to avoid some areas of Florida altogether during those times due to the heat and risk of severe weather.
However, booking your group event or convention during this time period may prove to be beneficial with the possibility of less competition from other group buyouts and potential discounts on rentals.
6. Create VIP Access and Perks
Many planners find it useful to give VIPs more access and perks during an event, and this is easy to do with theme park meetings. Cangelosi said she gave some of her VIPs special wristbands that allowed them to skip lines or have exclusive access to attractions.
Another idea is to partner with some of the carnival games that offer prizes at certain theme parks and have the prizes for those games be branded by sponsors of the event.
7. Communication, Communication, Communication
One of the most important aspects of planning theme park events is having clear communication between the event organizers and park staff. Cangelosi said her team found a good balance by having communication through a chat system that allowed her to contact venue staff about problems or issues. Keeping talks limited to a few people can also help avoid confusion and miscommunication during an event, something that can create many problems at a place as hectic as Walt Disney World or Universal Studios.
[Related: Discover Disney’s Best Meetings and Events Offerings With Expert Planner Jonathan Alder]
8. Have the Right Number of Staff
Something else to consider when planning an event at a theme park is how many people you need to have staffing the event. Oftentimes, the theme park will have staff members onsite to help, mostly with the operations of the park itself, but they can also provide some staff members to help corral groups and communicate with attendees. However, knowing how many staff members you’d like to have onsite from your organization is a calculation that is going to look different for every event.
Also keep in mind that some theme parks may not allow third-party vendors to come and work the event and will instead prefer to use in-house vendors for that particular park or attraction.
9. Don’t Forget Transportation
While some theme parks might provide transportation within the park itself, getting your attendees from their hotel or another venue to the theme park is something that should not be overlooked. Depending on how many people are attending the event, it may make sense to provide a car service, shuttle bus or even a fleet of shuttle buses. It all depends on the size of your event. And just like Cangelosi’s tip on communication and staffing, once you arrive at the park, it’s incredibly important to have people on the ground pointing your attendees in the right direction so they don’t get lost.
10. Create a Unique Experience
One of the perks to hosting an event within a theme park is that it provides an opportunity to create an experience attendees could not have otherwise—even during the daytime as an average theme park visitor. This is important to keep in mind when crafting your theme park event. Disney and Universal are already going to be enjoyable for attendees, but it’s up to the planners to create a more memorable and exciting experience that the attendees can only get through attending your meeting, event or conference—which can leave a lasting impact on attendees and incentivize future attendance.
This can be accomplished through some of the tips already mentioned, like creating unique F&B experiences, providing exclusive entertainment options and implementing perks for event VIPs.
Overall, planners need to ensure that the events they create at theme parks have that extra level of enjoyment and entertainment that attendees wouldn’t be unable to find anywhere else.
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