An Interview with Mr.Marc Plogstedt, Chief Operating Officer of ITEC Entertainment.

Theme Park design is built on two broad concepts. Technical know how and Creativity. Walt Disney branded the term Imagineer back in 1955 for the small group of individuals that created the attractions for Disneyland. Those individuals were a mix of Walt's best artists and technicians. Together those two mindsets created the basis for what has become the modern Theme Park industry. It has evolved ever since as parks continually push the boundaries of what is possible, they rely on companies such as ITEC Entertainment to create groundbreaking new innovative attractions and experiences.

Recently I was invited to visit ITEC Entertainments headquarters in Orlando Florida to learn a bit more about how amazing theme park rides are brought to life and how they are created.

From the outside ITEC Entertainment looks like an ordinary building. It is situated in a quiet office park just minutes away from Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. All that changes when you walk through the doors. You are greeted by giant figures from the “Revenge of The Mummy” attraction found at Universal Parks worldwide. These figures are a lot bigger in person than I would've ever imagined and even in static form they were rather intimidating.


I was met in the lobby by Mr. Marc Plogstedt. Mr. Plogstedt is one of the founders of ITEC and is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company. Mr. Plogstedt started in Operations at Disney, in the late 70's. He moved into project development supporting WED (now WDI) and began working on the Tokyo Disneyland project. During this period Mr. Plogstedt also worked on support of the EPCOT project including the Test Track for new ride systems that would be installed at EPCOT.

Mr. Plogstedt realizing the need for Theme Entertainment outside of Disney decided to start a firm with several colleagues. This firm was ITEC Entertainment. Today ITEC Entertainment has become one of the leaders in creating themed entertainment experiences

Today I'll be sharing a few highlights of my interview with Mr. Plogstedt.

Zachary Fakterowitz: Coaster-net- How many projects do you typically work on at a time?

Marc Plogstedt (ITEC)- It varies, so about a year ago we were working on 2 or 3 major projects. Today were working on a couple smaller intermediate projects that we're working on.

We do full turn key attractions for a lot of people. We also do a lot of À la carte projects for some of the bigger guys like Universal and Disney. Typically for them we don't turnkey their whole attraction.

The big parks are interesting because with some attractions there will be several story concepts floating around depending on what they think is hot at the time. For example Harry Potter is hot right now so they are extremely focused on that right now. Though in 5 or 10 years it may not be so hot and they will have moved to whatever the next movie or property now.

When the park originally opened it had rides like Back to the Future that were popular at the time. I recall us working on the Ghostbusters show (Where Twister stands today) and that was still relevant when the park open but not as much today. These attractions change because that’s how long this stuff lasts.

Jaws is a good example. In fact I would believe that in a modern audience more people knew about Jaws because of the ride not the movie. It’s not unusual when you think of classic films like Casablanca or the African Queen. Some people may remember them when you put them into a show but a big part of the audience won't. You have to balance that out.

Coaster-net-How do you begin working on a project?

ITEC- It depends. Sometimes a customer will come to us with a specific storyline and sometimes they only have a very broad idea. Occasionally it is to solve other issues or problems they have. One example of this was the “Freestyle Music Park”. That park was previously “Hard Rock Park”. The new owners did not have the rights to the intellectual property that had been previously used in one of the attractions in the park. So they came to us and said we need a new story and attraction before we can reopen the park. To meet their needs, that ride was done with very little time. I think we finished the whole project in maybe 10 weeks from start to finish.

Now on the flip side of that, a customer might come to us and say “We have a hunk of dirt, what do we do with it?”

Coaster-net- Do you foresee rides like Revenge of the Mummy eventually closing because they won't be relevant?

ITEC- Yes, it’s like Back to the Future. The Simpsons ride replaced Back to the Future. It wasn't because Back to the Future was a bad ride or a bad experience, it's just that a lot of people didn't get what the ride was about. The film was around 25 years old. Consequently you have a lot of people saying “I know the Simpsons a lot more than Back to the Future.” So it just becomes more relevant.

Another example is the Earthquake attraction. We worked on the original Earthquake attraction. That movie was from the 70's. When the park opened that movie was already ancient by then, nobody remembered the film. So over time they converted it into a Disaster Movie spoof theme, which isn't tied into a specific franchise. It’s got some people in it like “The Rock” that make it more contemporary. So people relate to it better.

Coaster-net.com- What about attractions like the Haunted Mansion that aren't tied into a franchise (Disregarding the failed Eddie Murphy movie)?

ITEC- Yes and No. There are a lot of attractions that people remember that aren't tied to a franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean (the movies were based on the ride), Small World, Haunted Mansion. They're all classics and they'll be there 50 years from now. They aren't tied to any specific movie or franchise. Though there is probably more attractions that have come and gone that were tied to non- movie stuff that didn't resonate with people. Disney's done it before. You had the Circlevision movies that are all about gone now and rides like Mission to Mars which became Alien encounter which became Stitch. Another example was an attraction over in Japan called Meet the World. It was a Carousel of Progress type attraction that did not resonate as well.

In many cases they just don't become relevant to the audience. The audience either gets more sophisticated or their tastes just move off.

When Walt Disney World first opened they had a lot of what people consider “Passive” attractions. The Main Street Vehicles, the Canoes, the Keel Boats, a lot of them were semi-passive things. Country Bear Jamboree is another good one. People tend to not think it’s all that great anymore. When the park first opened that attraction was one of the cornerstones of the park. Not so anymore. It’s over 30 years old, not tied to a specific intellectual property. It'll probably be gone someday. Again, just because it doesn't resonate with the audience.

Coaster-net.com-So what about something like The Enchanted Tiki Room, where it was just restored to its original state after being tied unsuccessfully to a franchise?

ITEC- That’s another good example. Now it’s a Classic show because a good percentage of the adult audience remembers it fondly. Mainly parents, who would drag their children in to see it. The children though weren't getting very engaged in the show.

So they tried to tie in the birds Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from The Lion King, to try to make it more relevant and more contemporary. Problem is when you try to do that you miss a lot of the time.

Now you have people that though it was great before thinking it’s horrible because you defaced it and the younger people who you are trying to attract still think it is stupid. So nothing was really achieved. So they go back in and put in the original and promote it as this Classic attraction.

I mean it just points out the difficulty in things like this. If you think about it. How many movies are made a year? Hundreds. Now how many of those are blockbusters? A couple. Of those how many are truly legendary? If you are lucky, maybe one.

It’s the same thing with attractions. You have Storytelling and you try to emotionally touch people, and you may miss.

Coasters are different. Those are harder and easier at the same time. With them there isn't always a highly defined story. So for example when we worked on Batman The ride, an attraction that can be found at many different Six Flags parks there isn't as much detail in the story. There is a story, in it you are going the underside of Gotham City and your coming out in the Batcave and the ride is a function of Bruce Wayne's “Stuff”. Now that story isn't told implicitly. It’s more of a guide to help us in terms of what goes where so it makes some sense to the people on the ride. Ultimately that coaster is very popular, because it’s a good ride.

Now if that was a crappy coaster, it wouldn't be there anymore. At the same time those types of rides (Coasters) tend to have a short shelf life. There is always somebody coming out with something better or more exhilarating than the one before. So hard rides typically have a shorter life span than shows or story driven theme park rides. So if you have a Coaster and it’s still good, people will line up and like it and its ok. But if I have a themed show people will either think “Its good” or “Its bad”. There really isn't a middle ground. Really almost the same problems the movie industry experiences.

Coaster-net.com- What is relevant to today’s modern Theme Park audience?

ITEC- It depends on the park. But today’s Theme Park audiences tend to have shorter attention spans. They also tend to be more visual, more in your face. They want things that aren't subtle. Twenty years ago we were doing attractions that were more subtle. Now because of the short attention spans you have to get in there and tell your story quick. You can't have slow parts. People will pull out their Ipods and start fooling around.

You are seeing more energetic and dynamic attractions. Especially from Disney and Universal.


Cultural differences play a big part in it too. Attractions that would be considered relevant in the US would not be considered relevant in Asia. It’s based on local cultural experiences. In Asia they are still in the 1950's from an experience standpoint.

So when we worked on the Mummy for Universal Studios Singapore, we found that it isn't as successful as over there as it is here in the US. They find it too dynamic and too much for them. It really scares the hell out of them! The cultural beliefs they hold also play a role in why they find it scarier.

Over at Universal Studios Singapore we worked on two attractions. Revenge of the Mummy and Journey to Madagascar. Journey to Madagascar is a very passive, almost like a Small World like, attraction. In the United States or Europe an attraction like that probably wouldn't do that well. However over in Singapore it is the second most popular attraction at the park.

This is part one of a series. In the next installment Mr. Plogstedt will discuss more about: The Importance of Story, Ride Capacity, Safety, Accessibility, Technology in rides and give us a preview the future of the amusement industry!

Thank you again to ITEC Entertainment and Mr.Marc Plogstedt for inviting me to visit.