Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2021 - 55

Theme Park Design: Behind the
Scenes with an Engineer (Revised)
By Steve Alcorn
Themeperks Press, 2021
233 pages
Hardcover, $39.95; Paperback, $19.95; eBook,
$9.99
Reviewed by Dathan Powell
If you've ever wondered just how safe a
ride is at the moment you are stepping
aboard, then this book has an answer for
you. (Thankfully, it is one that should help
you sleep easier at night.) Beyond catching
glimpses of the myriad types of people who
often work unseen to make sure safety
and the story are maintained, Theme Park
Design: Behind the Scenes with an Engineer
also provides specific details about
the what and why of park design. And the
author, Steve Alcorn, knows more than a
thing or two about such details.
Indeed, Alcorn's substantial influence
in the world of theme park engineering
cannot be denied. His experiences designing
systems for parks all across the world
(beginning with a little park in Orlando
originally dubbed EPCOT Center). provide
readers with an avid appetite for all-thingsamusement
plenty to chew on. The book,
however, is not a salacious tell-all, doling
out secrets about the Disney elite and their
foibles. The only name-dropping the book
offers is of names that only hardcore fans
would recognize, and none of their mentions
are in the gossip mag style. Neither
is the book a dry, detailed history about the
creation of some of the world's most iconic
places. Alcorn manages to draw useful
comparisons between parks as diverse as
Tivoli Gardens and the Pro Football Hall
of Fame to argue that themed attractions
are something much more robust than the
typical amusement ride.
The book walks the reader through
the fundamentals of the category of theme
parks, what goes into creating them and
how those choices are made, with a particular
bent towards the engineer's perspective.
Not surprisingly, a focus on the redundancies
that engineers build into each attraction
for safety is paramount. At times, that
inclination towards redundancy
manifests in the writing,
with repeated notions found
in different sections of the
book. At the outset, the book
invites two types of readers: those who
imagine themselves working in the world
of theme park engineering someday, and
those guests who have wondered at the
technology that may (or may not) be safeguarding
their experiences. Though this
intent is explicitly stated, the text feels
biased towards the former group. The
subtitle carries more weight than just
alerting one to the author's point of view-implicitly,
it is a call to would-be engineers
to join the ranks alongside Alcorn.
With the engineer as the reader's
guide, there are opportunities to laugh
alongside the author as he references
the idiosyncrasies of the " creatives " and
the project managers who have populated
his experiences. It might come
as a surprise for theatre designers to
discover how the mind of an engineer
works beyond the four walls of a theatre.
Indeed, the workflow and collaborative
nature of theatre differs considerably to
the process of theme park design, considering
the multitude of engineering
types needed for the latter, and this book
offers a sneak peek into this alternative
environment and mindset. As a means
of smoothing the tensions between engineers
and creatives, Alcorn uses ameliorative
dad jokes sprinkled throughout
as an attempt to take away the sting of
some of his more biting observations
about his creative counterparts.
It is interesting to note that the timing
of this book's publication may have already
dated it. For example, many of the
innovations that likely will arise as a result
of the COVID-19 pandemic have yet
to take hold in the theme park industry.
At points within the text, ideas such as
virtual reality and low-throughput attractions
are summarily dismissed. Yet the
pandemic has brought about changes in
the live theatre world that will invariably
inform new ways of presenting shows,
and it would be hard to imagine that the
same would not also be true in theme
parks. And though the text
has been newly revised, there
are still other attractions online
now, such as Disney's
Rise of the Resistance, that
are making a bid for the mantle of " greatest
of all time, " undercutting the book's latest
examples. The change in development
of theme park design will be fascinating to
track over the next handful of years, and
this author is no doubt poised to chronicle
those as well.
The book more than adequately
makes the case that theme parks offer
an added value worthy of the expense to
guests, beyond that of the typical amusement
park. And to be sure, the book offers
some potential insights throughout
that could not be found in a book written
by someone who has never been on the
" inside. " The many behind-the-scenes anecdotes
and detailed descriptions of the
safest and most effective gear are sure
to pique interest in anyone who has ever
visited a theme park. Those who have
only experienced it as a guest will find the
book filled with descriptions of the many
facets of the people and practices within
theme park creation, all of which can be
eye-opening. But those who read this review
presumably have more background
in the industries that run parallel to
theme park design and construction, so
for them the book may illuminate some
specific details (as in the choice of gear),
but largely reiterates concepts that will be
familiar already. To them, the redundancies
may prove less effective at storytelling
and more effective at recruitment.
Dathan Powell is an associate professor
of theatre at the University of Illinois
Springfield, where his research and practice
focus on accessibility and universal design
for technical theatre production, as well as
sustainability across all aspects of theatre.
His MFA in scenic design is from Indiana
University-Bloomington. Before completing
his graduate degree, Powell worked as an
entertainment technician for Walt Disney World
Entertainment, where he served as a rigging
and lighting lead for the stage show TARZAN
ROCKS! Reach him at dpowe5@uis.edu
SUMMER 2021 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | 55
Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2021

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