Robert Niles, Theme Park Insider

Because of the concentration of theme parks in Southern California, the Southern California News Group (Los Angeles Daily News, Orange County Register, others) run a column by Robert Niles, who separately runs a website/newsletter called Theme Park Insider, about the ins and outs and business of these parks.  But also as a consumer, how to maximize the value and quality of your experience

Because theme parks are the epitome of attraction manager and customer experience, I always find his columns to be educational, and they push forward my understanding of destination management.

Today's column, "Is this the first in a new wave of theme park failures?," is about the failure of a theme park in Dubai, and he references the work of now deceased economist Harrison Price, who was tapped by Walt Disney to do a feasibility analysis for Disneyland, and this led to Price specializing in the field ("Harrison Price, a Planner of Disney Parks, Dies at 89," New York Times).  From the obituary:

Trained in economics and engineering, Mr. Price was a founder and very likely the best-known practitioner of the enterprise sometimes called leisure-time economic analysis. 

The field, which straddles entertainment, economics, sociology, real estate, time-and-motion studies, architecture and planning, was born at midcentury, when developers of outdoor amusements began seeking the most profitable means of pulling people away from the television and out of the house. 

For five decades, Mr. Price was a sought-after independent consultant to the makers of theme parks, amusement parks, zoos, museums and other large-scale spectacles. It is widely agreed that his work helped shape significantly the landscape of postwar American amusement. ...

Mr. Price was a professional measurer. In thousands of studies, he calibrated factors like geography, demographics, weather and traffic patterns to help clients answer two vital questions: If we build it, will they come? and If they come, how many of them will there be? 

To analyze his data, Mr. Price devised a set of algorithms he called “roller-coaster math.” Among the things he would quantify, for instance, was the length of time patrons might stand in line to board an amusement park ride. 

“If people are waiting around too long, you’re not going to be profitable,” he told The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, Calif., in 2004. “But if they’re going through the park too fast, that’s also not good.”

Niles wrote that Price worked with parks to identify:

the right combination of theme, story, experience, location, market and pricing to win customers.

That's an interesting way to think about destination development and management.  Story and experience are a bit different for destinations than theme parks, but the major thrust is the same, branding and identity and what you want customers to take away from the experience.

As well as the location, market (competition) and pricing you need to be able to compete and excel amidst other options.

Doing some digging, Price's archives are at the University of Central Florida, and you can read various feasibility studies his firm produced.