This past weekend I enjoyed a brief reprieve from the cold St. Louis weather, venturing to sunny Orlando to visit Universal Studios for the first time. We also saw some friends from the Stonemaier Games Design Day and spent a day on the beach in Tampa Bay.

We spent half a day at two of the older Universal parks, but the focal point of the trip was Universal Epic Universe, the newest park. It features 5 different worlds, including Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe (gothic monsters), and Isle of Berk (How to Train Your Dragon).

I found the whole experience fascinating from a customer service perspective, as these types of parks bet big on immersing you in an otherworldly experience. Here are the top 5 things I learned and observed during my 12 hours at Universal Epic Universe and how they might apply to the world of tabletop games.

1. Dramatic Entrances

One of the smartest decisions at Epic, in my opinion, is the installation of massive “portals” through which you enter each world. When I left the hub world and walked into the giant green tunnel for Super Nintendo World, I felt like I was transported to a new place. Even the music changes.

As big as they are, the portals are small compared to the worlds they transport you into, so there’s a dramatic moment when you take that first step out of the tunnel. You’re hit with a wave of sights and sounds that are completely absent on the other side of the portal.

The closest comparison to this I can think of in tabletop game is opening a game for the first time. Some games do a particularly great job of making a thematic, intuitive, and organizationally satisfying unboxing experience (see my video on this topic). Perhaps this is also why some people love unboxing videos.

2. Interactive Fake Storefronts

In each of the worlds there’s a mix of thematic displays and fake storefronts (like a movie set) mixed in with real stores, experiences, rides, and restaurants. This makes perfect sense: You don’t need to stock a dozen stores or have every type of craftsman actively working in Berk; instead, invest up front in a rock-solid display, and it’ll last years with minimal maintenance.

However, some of these parks take the set dressing to a new level by giving you a specific way to interact with them. For a few, they’re triggered by motion sensors or your voice, and there’s some combination of programming, animatronics, and live acting behind them. For others, they’re activated by a specific device, like the armbands you can buy in Super Nintendo World that you can bop against the oversized shell blocks.

This is exactly what I was aiming for in Vantage’s first-person perspective art. I wanted it to be more than just a pretty picture; instead, each illustration has information about difficulty and your surroundings, and most of what you see is interactive. If there’s house on a hill, you can probably enter that house and see how it looks inside. When you’re inside, there are a variety of objects you can pick up that result in you (the player) gaining a specific card.

My only wish in these theme parks is for more reasons to look closely and less reliance on phones. A few years ago I went to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, and I liked the scavenger hunt, but eventually I started ignoring it because I wanted to immerse myself in the world instead of being on my phone.

3. Immersive Line Management

A major feature at Epic are the rides and shows, with wait times ranging from 15 minutes to several hours. The Universal app helps to mitigate this to a certain extent, as it tells you the current wait times. I was also impressed by the facial scanning technology for the express lanes (which we didn’t use) and the lockers (which we did use for some of the more intense rides).

I was mostly impressed by the queue design. It looks like a maze with several big visual barriers–short lanes that cut back and forth–so you constantly feel like you’re moving forward and so you can’t tell how much longer you’ll wait. Along the way are water fountains and some thematic displays, along with plenty of shade from the Florida sun.

My one criticism is that there really isn’t much to do while in line. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do while I’m waiting, but it could be a crowd game, some form of entertainment, or something small to do along the way that adds up to something meaningful. For example, what if in a How to Train Your Dragon line you can make a few quick personality quiz choices along the way (using facial scanning) that results in your dragon selection at the lockers or when you sit down on the ride?

I often talk about wait times and anticipation gaps, and one example of this in the tabletop space are update emails and newsletters. When done well, I find that they increase my curiosity and excitement while making the wait feel like part of the experience instead of something to endure.

4. In-Character Interactions

My most memorable experience at Epic wasn’t the result of expensive sets, thrilling rides, or fancy technology. Rather, it was 10-minute chat I had with an actor (the “owner” of a shop, pictured here) who stayed completely in character the entire time. She wandered over while I was waiting for Megan, and she talked about her background and answered some questions.

It was a busy shop, and I was surprised at several times in the conversation that she didn’t move on to other customers, but she conveyed that she was in no rush. There was no sense of “move along, next person please”–everything about the interaction was welcoming, authentic, and playful. I hope Epic values what this incredible person gives them every day.

This is an area that I’ve found difficult to balance in scaling Stonemaier Games. I want to give genuine time and attention to everyone who contacts me, but in every private interaction is information that others might want to know too (if the question were instead asked publicly). Though, as I type this, it occurs to me that while the conversation at Epic felt custom for me, it wasn’t private at all. Megan’s mom was there, and Megan eventually joined us, and we were in the middle of the shop–anyone could have joined at any time.

5. The Nostalgia Factor

Sometimes I forget about the sheer power of nostalgia until it hits me full force in the form of the Super Mario theme or the voice of Hiccup. One of my favorite and most unexpected experiences from the weekend was a 20-minute water, light, drone, and instrumental evening show at Universal Studios. Even just 20 seconds of music and a brief projected image from ET, Jurassic Park, or Back to the Future made me want to revisit those movies.

I think games do a great job of using art and themes to evoke nostalgia. Nemesis takes us to the Alien movies, Boss Monster has pixel art for those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s, and long-running games like Pokemon create their own nostalgia cycles. Nostalgia by itself isn’t enough to sell a game, but just like the movies I mentioned above, if the content itself is great, nostalgia can elevate it.

While I didn’t delve into the food because games aren’t edible, the food (and the thematic places at Epic where we ate, like the mead hall shown here) was also a big part of the immersion for me.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about effective immersive customer experiences at theme parks, and perhaps how you relate them to tabletop games. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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