Overview of Dreamworld and Luna

Discuss about the Managing Capacity and Flow at Theme Parks.

Dreamworld is one of Australia’s biggest and most visited theme parks. This kind of success has been achieved by providing the guests with exceptional service, entertainment and safety right from the time it opened its gate to the public. This theme park has been striving hard to charm its visitors using various modes of entertainment that are specifically designed for both domestic as well as international visitors. The USP of Dreamworld has been the creation of new and innovative rides and other forms of entertainment in this one-of-a-kind theme park. There is also good reason behind this well-planned success of the theme park. The founder Mr. Longhurst had hired some of the most innovative creators from the world famous Disneyland and also from Disneyworld to design the park (Dreamworld, 2018). However Longhurst stuck to Australian architects in order to ensure that Dreamworld had an Australian vibe to its entire ambience. This amazing theme park has 5 roller-coasters and more than 12 odd rides. Dreamworld has been featured frequently in national and international commercials and has brand association with international programs like the Big Brother. Luna Park in Melbourne was first established on the 13th of December 1912 and it was located in the very prominent location on the coastline of St Kilda in Melbourne (Victoria, 2018). In 1916, the theme park was forced to shut down due to the big depression after the World War 1. However Luna Park soon opened up to the people of Melbourne again in the year 1923.

A huge theme park like Dreamworld needs a meticulous operation management in order to sustain its existing market value and grow with the times. The management process of any organization that involves regular innovation is characterized by creative planning and development, strategic branding and designing, construction management, operational management and a well-equipped disaster management. (Bonny & Huang, 2001).

While Dreamworld is located in Gold Coast which is the top draw for tourists at all times, Luna also has a strategic advantage in terms of the location since it is located on the foreshore of St. Kilda. Being in a hot spot for tourists, it is but obvious that both Dreamworld and Luna must be having an overflow of tourists during the peak seasons. This calls for a solid operation management in place. Without proper operational team in place it is impossible to control thousands of visitors that throng the theme park on a daily basis. One of the drawbacks of Dreamworld is that there have been many complaints regarding their customer service and supposedly ill-mannered employees. This has to be looked into and the employee management team has to ensure that their employees are well-trained to handle the crowd without losing their cool under any circumstances. Another crucial factor that should be managed by the operations management team at Dreamworld is the persistent concerns regarding the safety of their rides. Being a 38 year old park, most of the rides in the park are in dire need of proper maintenance. This has to be taken care of by the safety management team immediately in order to prevent unfortunate accidents as well as save any further damage to the reputation of the park. There is also the issue of the products being over-priced at Dreamworld and this should also be taken into consideration if the park wants to attract more number of visitors on a regular basis. However Dreamworld has an exceptional creative team and a smooth control management team in place which ensures that the theme park is run without any major glitches and there are no major accidents reported.

Challenges Faced by Theme Parks

Luna also has a great control management team as well as an excellent employee service management which ensures great reviews from customers (Coughlan & Coghlan, 2002) However, there is a lack of creativity that is reflected in some not-so-great rides that fall behind when compared to the rides at Dreamworld (like for example, the ‘Giant Drop’). In order to stay ahead of the game, Luna needs to get together a better creative team and work towards innovation of the existing rides at the park. Another shortcoming of Luna are the unpredictable weather conditions of Melbourne. Being a completely open park, rough weather conditions demand a stronger disaster management team in place. Rides should be shut down immediately and shades need to be provided to protect visitors from the wind and rains. Since theme parks like Luna have a large number of children visitors, there is a need for high precautionary measures during rough weathers in the park. Special disaster management professionals need to be employed in order to deal with natural disasters efficiently and professionally.

Theme parks like Dreamworld and Luna also have a responsibility towards the environment around them (Hu, 2013). Luna has been facing some amount criticism for not adopting environment friendly energy resources to run the park. It has been constantly under the scanner for not doing enough to take care of the environment in and around the park’s premises. There is also the concern of waste generation which is a natural thing for a large public park like Dreamworld or Luna. Waste management is also a crucial part of the daily operations in the theme parks (Kaak, 2011). Since the parks have a huge number of visitors on a daily basis, the amount of non-biodegradable waste products like plastic bags, cups, straws and plates is also huge. Waste management should be done consciously and with a passion towards saving our environment so that there is no major carbon footprint left. Therefore it is mandatory to have a working waste management team to ensure that bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste products are not dumped together. A recycling team may also be put together to go a step further and recycle the non-biodegradable waste products in-house. Proper waste management can go a long way in building a sustainable and ethical business for theme parks such a Dreamworld and Luna.

Conclusion

When it comes to operation management, both Dreamworld and Luna already have a super efficient management team that plans, creates and controls the working of the entertainment parks. However, some of the areas that need work for Dreamworld are the customer service management and the safety management of the popular park. On the other hand, Luna has issues with the weather and the energy management. Therefore, it needs to have a better and more efficient disaster management team along with an environment conscious energy management and waste management team. Both these parks need to work on reducing their carbon foot prints on the planet and thus both of these parks should have better waste management (Kim & Kim, 2016). Both the parks are already quite popular with the local crowd as well as with visiting tourists during the peak seasons and improving their operation management can only increase their popularity with all sections of the population both in and out of the cities where they are located (Ahmadi, 1997).

To increase their brand value and keep ahead of competition, both Dreamworld and Luna are recommended to improve certain sections of their management (Raluca, 2008). It is recommended that Dreamworld improves upon its customer service and focuses on fixing some of its old and dilapidated rides. It should also work on better safety management in order to reduce any risks of accidents (Avery, 2010). Luna is recommended to have a better disaster management team in order to combat the frequent harsh weather conditions in Melbourne. It is also recommended that Luna focuses on reducing its non-biodegradable waste and increase recycling of plastic waste in order to create a better and eco-friendly image of itself in the market.

References:

Ahmadi R. (1997), “Managing Capacity and Flow at Theme Parks”, Operations Research 45(1), Available at: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/opre.45.1.1

Avery B.(2010), “Insight into amusement park ride and device safety in the United States”, WORLDWIDE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM THEMES 2(3)

Bonny F. & S. Huang, (2001) “Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management 21(12), pp.1539-1552,https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570110410892

Coughlan P. & D. Coghlan (2002), “Action research for operation management”, IJOPM, Available at: https://www.dep.ufmg.br/old/disciplinas/epd804/artigo3.pdf

Dreamworld (2018). DREAMWORLD HISTORY, Available at: https://www.dreamworld.com.au/about-us/dreamworld-history

Victoria (2018). Luna Park Melbourne, Available at: https://www.visitvictoria.com/regions/Melbourne/Things-to-do/Leisure-activities/Luna-Park-Melbourne.aspx

Hu, G. (2013). “A Research Review on Theme Park”, Business and Management Research 2(4),pp.83-87

Kaak K.T., (2011). Theme Park Development Costs: Initial Investment Cost Per First Year Attendee – A Historic Benchmarking Study, University of Central Florida

Kim C. & S. Kim (2016), “Measuring the operational efficiency of individual theme park attractions”, Springerplus 5(1), pp.834.

Raluca, D.C.(2008), “THEME PARK – THE MAIN CONCEPT OF TOURISM INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT”, Romanian American University, Available at: https://steconomice.uoradea.ro/anale/volume/2008/v2-economy-and-business-administration/113.pdf