Millennials, despite their youth, can be motivated by nostalgia as much as older generations. It’s a trait the theme park industry is benefiting from, as research from Morning Consult has found. Millennial parents (78 percent) and non-parents (75 percent) are more likely than all parents (59 percent) to be interested in visiting a theme park in the next year.
Morning Consult noted in its study that Millennial tastes are behind much of the growth in the theme park industry. It points to recent high-profile openings, including Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Universal Orlando Resort’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, as attractions that play to parents’ tastes more than their children’s.
The survey found that parents in all age groups preferred to visit theme parks that cater to the characters and worlds of television shows, cartoons and movies from their childhood, rather than those of their children. Millennials, however, are more prepared to act on these preferences. Just over half (51 percent) of all adults consider theme parks too expensive to be worth it. In contrast, 62 percent of Millennial parents and 65 percent of Millennial non-parents consider theme parks a good value for the price.
Beyond nostalgia, theme parks are also luring Millennial dollars through technology and an understanding of their social media habits. Disney is placing “Instagrammable” elements where visitors line up at attractions and in their hotel rooms for the perfect selfie. The company’s Play Disney Parks app also lets visitors shorten their wait at its parks’ lines if they interact with it enough.
