Academic Research on Park Trips - Responses Welcome

I am a graduate student currently working on ways to make amusement parks more inclusive for everyone and need a lot of preliminary research. I've been lurking on here for a while but think it's time to gather a little more research if you all would be willing to help out and make this amazing ecosystem more inclusive for everyone. Thanks!

Link to survey: https://goo.gl/forms/xvyWYEpHdTtaU6bh2

Out of curiosity, how are amusement parks currently lacking in inclusiveness?

Disney hates poor people, obviously.

Remember, nearly every theme park or amusement park that operates in America is a for profit enterprise. There are receipts, there are expenses, and at the end of the day, management hopes to turn a profit to either return to shareholders, or to take as profit so that they can earn a living. Contrast this to public park, museum, or school for example, that has a charter, and is trying to serve a public good, and must make decisions about how to help as many people as people.

So really, if you can make a ton of people by selling rides to kiddies, you do that. If you can sell tickets to thrill seekers you do that. If you can only sell to white men with beards who love craft beer you do that. If you can only sell to African Americans, you do that. Its not about trying to make a statement or being discriminatory, its about what demographic profits the shareholders the most.

Now I can't speak to how parks run in other countries. In Europe, it seems like a lot of things are government run, so I wouldn't be surprised if many parks were heavily publicly subsidized. In those cases, your watchdog organization might have some standing, and you might want to make sure that public funds are used to help everybody and not just a few people.

Obligatory Professor Comment: If you were my graduate student, I would ask you why you thought that this site's membership was representative of the average amusement park attendee. (Hint: the answer is "We aren't.")

I would agree with Mr. Noble above. But inclusive in what way? Ramps, elevators, etc are available at almost all rides nowadays. As are special lines for the handicapped.

Or are you talking about every person being able to ride every ride, no matter what the cost? As an able bodied and skinny *enough* person, I don't have any personal experiences of exclusion to share, sorry. But before you go thinking that all us coastertools share your views, look up the recent changes to the Rollo Coaster at Idlewild and read what people are saying about that. You will see a gross example of Over-doing it on all sides, to the satisfaction of no one. The park and insurance overdid it with the safety modifications, and the enthusiasts are overdoing it by bitching and moaning to the point of embarrassment.

To top it off, this is an accident that never should have happened. It was caused by a negligent parent who blatantly disobeyed the rules.

I think I may have drifted off topic relative to your original request, but know that most people think that rides are already *too* inclusive. As unfortunate as it may be, not everything is meant to be done by every person.