Monday, December 2, 2024

The Immersive Attraction: Phil Hettema

Phil Hettema | Darrias E. Baker | Linda Hung | Emmanuelle Charotte | Gary Goddard

How do you define immersive experiences?

Phil Hettema, The Hettema Group: Connecting people

The definition of “immersive experience” can be very broad, but applied most effectively to our industry it can be defined as follows: an experience that transports the participant into a different and compelling context or environment, requires mental and sometimes physical engagement, and encourages or even REQUIRES engagement and interaction between multiple participants.

That may sound a bit clinical, but that last part – encouraging interaction between participants – is really the secret sauce of what we do, and it’s the thing which sets us apart from what can happen in front of a computer or media display in your living room.

We all have a very basic human need to relate with each other and to feel seen and valued by those around us. Immersive experiences pull us in, remove barriers and encourage the kind of interactions that create powerful, tangible and unforgettable memories.

[box] Project Example: Dragons Gone Wild

Dragons Wild Shooting is an interactive dark ride game, combining mixed media and 3-dimensional animatronic characters that engage the whole family. Everyone contributes, and the mix of silly dragons in ridiculous situations changes each time you play. This attraction opened at Lotte World, Seoul, Korea in July 2013.[/box]

Next: Darrias E. Baker

hettema

Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki owns and publishes InPark Magazine. Started in 2004, InPark Magazine provides owners and operators the perspective from "in"side the "park." Martin has also written for publications like Sound & Communications, Lighting & Sound America, Attractions Management and others. Martin has been featured in Time Magazine, CNN.com and Folio. Martin lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

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