Theme Park Swag in the Modern Era

While souvenir collection is nothing new, especially when it comes to theme parks, I've noticed a growing trend in the past couple years. More and more parks aren't just announcing new rides and handing out the standard press kits and goodies at the media events. They're also putting out more download content for us computer geeks/enthusiasts/souvenir collectors too.

Case in point, Kings Dominion just announced it's new Intmidator 305 giga-coaster, set to open in 2010. There are wallpapers and AOL Instant Messenger Icons to boot along with what is now the standard videos, including Point of View (PoV) of the ride. In the past couple of years, King's Island's Diamondback, Canada's Wonderland's Behemoth, Hershey Park's Fahrenheit, Universal Studios' Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Sea World's Aquaitica, and Dollywood's Mystery Mine have also offered digital goodies. Some parks, like Holiday World, Dollywood, and Dollywood Splash Country, even offer computer desktops on their respective sites, irrespective of new rides coming in.

Granted, this is may seem like a "well duh" kind of thing from a few angles, however it really signals that the parks are listening more to their patrons, and attempting new channels of advertising. Now, what else could we see in the next few years via Facebook and same? That's a good question, and I have a theory or two.

Since micro payments on things like Second Life and Xbox Live work so well for digital extras on a character, it's possible we could see virtual souvenirs in those arenas or gifts like on Facebook. If you have a credit card plugged in, you could buy your Second Life avatar a nifty new Holiday World Wildebeest t-shirt or a limited edition icon for your Facebook profile. We've already seen some of this with Second Life's International Spaceflight Museum's free t-shirt for your avatar as part of their swag bag. Terminator head icons were available as gifts on Facebook before Terminator Salvation: The Ride ("Take the tunnel!!!") opened this year. As someone who avidly collects buttons and fridge magnets and does quit a bit on Second Life and Facebook, this is potentially cool. It also is a good way to bring in extra revenue to parks. Well, if the video game people can get the system to work so well, why not the theme parks? It sure beats shrink wrapping a Schwartzkopf with hair gel adds (looks at Six Flags Over Georgia).

Bottom line, I love my swag, like a lot of folks do. Very glad to see more freebies like the promo wallpapers and hope to see even a few pay options in some of the prevalent social media circles. Keep up the good work and thank you for my growing desktop art collection. :)