ORLANDO — Your local fun zone, amusement center, and theme park is facing an existential challenge these days.
It needs to lure you, the American guest, off your sofa with your high-resolution, interactive video games and into its world of fun — real-life fun.
A decade or two ago, folks went to theme parks big and small to experience the latest in entertainment and technology. Now, attractions need to come up with something better than the amazing quality of entertainment you can get on your computer or TV.
‘‘There’s clutter and noise everywhere nowadays from all of these different channels about things you can do with your time. You have to have an exciting product, and you’ve got to be able to do things as a family together,’’ said Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, which owns the Guinness World Records Attractions, Louis Tussaud’s Wax Museums, and the catalogue raisonne of bizarre, the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museums.
Recently, he and 27,000 other theme park professionals descended on the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando to seek out the newest in cool, fun stuff.
Walking around the aisles at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo is like riding a mechanical bull through a slot machine: wild and noisy and tiring. It has everything from Hawaiian-themed hot dogs to working carnival rides to the latest in roller-coaster technology. One company even offers a turnkey theme park solution: It can plan, outfit, and open an entire park. It has done nearly a dozen in China.
But the real buzzword is ‘‘interactivity.’’ It seems every vendor and park owner is hoping to meet the challenge of luring you away from your Xbox by merging traditional thrill rides with those very video games.
‘‘Immersion’’ is another buzzword used constantly by park owners and ride developers. It’s not enough to just passively ride an attraction. Thrill seekers want to go fast and watch a 3-D movie and shoot zombies at the same time.
There’s ‘‘Justice League: Battle For Metropolis,’’ which will feature the DC Comic all-star team at Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Over Texas. The ride involves laser blasters, animatronics, and a 3-D fog screen.
There’s ‘‘Voyage to the Iron Reef,’’ where riders will climb into ‘‘submarine-inspired vehicles’’ and blast away at scavenging creatures, fish, and other 3-D creatures as they attempt to save Knott’s Berry Farm in California from a watery doom. The attraction might be the first with a steampunk puffer fish.
Holovis, a UK company, was selling a customizable ‘‘interactive dark ride’’ (an indoor ride where cars or vehicles travel through illuminated scenes, often with special effects, music, and animation). Riders in a roller coaster car blasted away at pirates in a tropical setting.
‘‘It’s always challenging for us to find new and better and thrilling,’’ said Stuart Hetherington, chief executive of Holovis. ‘‘A 10-year-old doesn’t want to experience the same quality from an immersion experience than from his Xbox in his bedroom.’’
Theme parks are trying to find ways to incorporate apps and social media so people will continue the immersive experience even after they’ve left the park. Some rides and theme park experiences allow guests to play game versions of the rides on their phones or compare their in-game scores to other guests via an app.
‘‘Everybody wants to be interactive today. It’s not just a matter of going for the experience, now you have to have a digital platform,’’ Pattinson said.
No one knows this better than Denise Chapman Weston, a psychologist who incorporated video games, a smartphone app, lights, and music in a water slide. Called Slide Boarding, it’s coming to select Wet ‘n’ Wild parks. Riders control music and lights as they whiz down a watery chute then compare and compete for scores with others.
‘‘This,’’ she said, pointing to her phone, ‘‘is not a way to have fun. We need to be with other people. We love to be with other people. We love to be immersed in something.’’