IS REFINEMENT CULTURE COMING TO THE THEME PARK INDUSTRY?

I have been observing an interesting movement taking place and currently highly discussed in the restaurant industry, and I believe those of us in the theme park and attractions business should be paying attention. Because we are peripherally somewhat related.

What I am presenting, which is occurring in the restaurant business, is being called, in various forms, “Refinement Culture.”

The premise is relatively simple. After years of adding menu items, technology, delivery systems, promotions, restaurant formats, and layers of complexity, major restaurant companies are increasingly asking a different question: “Instead of constantly adding something new, how do we make what we already have work better?”

McDonald’s is a good example. The company says it has streamlined work during peak periods, improved tools supporting order accuracy and handoff, simplified menus and bundles in many international markets, and introduced technology allowing customers greater control over ordering and pickup. But at the same time, it remains focused on its core products rather than abandoning what made McDonald’s successful in the first place. McDonald’s latest NEXT strategy continues that approach, with a focus on simplifying operations, modernizing restaurant design, and improving restaurant efficiency.

Take a look at Chipotle. It is doing much the same thing from another direction. Its newer restaurants are deploying a high-efficiency equipment package that includes higher-capacity rice cooking, a dual-sided plancha reducing cooking times, higher-capacity frying, and automated produce slicing. The objective isn't simply replacing people with machines. It is improving preparation, throughput, and consistency while deploying employees more effectively during peak periods.

Shake Shack provides another interesting example. The company has been refining its operations through changes to labor deployment, kitchen workflows, supply chain, and restaurant design. The results have been measurable. Average wait times have dropped from approximately seven minutes in 2023 to under six minutes in 2025.

That is refinement, and it raises a question I think our industry should be asking: “Has Refinement Culture come to the theme park industry, and should it?”

For most of my time in this business, our industry's definition of progress has been heavily connected to the word “new.” New roller coaster. New attraction. New themed area. New water park. New hotel. New technology. And there is nothing wrong with that. We are an entertainment industry. We must create reasons for people to return. The new attractions remain our most powerful marketing tool.

But we are also a maturing industry, particularly in North America. Perhaps we have reached the point where making what we already have better deserves the same management attention as adding something new. In fact, it is already happening.

Look at Disney. Disney has continued refining its Lightning Lane system, restoring the ability for guests to make certain attraction selections before arriving at Walt Disney World. Disney also reduced steps in the purchasing process and has continued improving dining reservations and mobile food ordering within its apps. Disney specifically described these changes as efforts to “improve and simplify” the guest experience.

Think about that. Disney didn't build a ride to solve that problem. It attacked friction, and that may be one of the most important words in our business going forward. Friction. How much friction have we unintentionally built into a day at an amusement park?

Buying the ticket. Paying for parking. Entering the parking lot. Security screening. Getting through the front gate. Understanding the app. Finding an attraction. Waiting for the attraction. Ordering lunch. Finding a table. Buying a souvenir. Retrieving a stroller. And finally, finding the car after an exhausting 10-hour day. Every one of those touchpoints represents an opportunity for refinement. When, if ever, is the last time your operating team looked at these touchpoints?

Food and beverage may be one of our greatest opportunities. I have written recently about seeing families leave theme parks at lunchtime and eating from coolers and car trunks in the parking lot. Price is certainly part of the issue. But so are lines, perceived value, menu complexity, service speed, seating availability, and convenience. Could all of these points play a part in Park Tailgating?

Perhaps the answer isn't always another restaurant. Maybe it is making the restaurants we already have faster, simpler, and better.

If Chipotle can redesign kitchen equipment and workflow to improve throughput, why shouldn't a theme park examine every high-volume food location the same way? Watch, look, and learn.

If a capital investment in operations substantially increases transactions at an existing restaurant, reduces labor pressure, and gets families back into the park faster, how does its return compare with some highly visible capital projects?

I think we are at a time in our industry when that is a question worth asking.

And you know what? The same applies to rides. A park doesn't necessarily have to replace an older attraction because it isn't performing as it once did. Could loading procedures be improved? Could capacity be increased? Could the queue be redesigned? Could shade be added? Could new technology, theming, lighting, audio, or storytelling give an established attraction another life? Sometimes refinement is reinvestment.

But I should point out that there is another important difference between us and the restaurant industry.

McDonald's can simplify its operation around the Big Mac, fries, McNuggets, and beverages because the customer may return several times each month. Chipotle can refine the burrito-making process because its fundamental product remains the reason people visit.

We don't necessarily have that luxury. A family doesn't visit a regional theme park three times a week. Our business depends upon anticipation, discovery, excitement, and the promise that something has changed.

Therefore, the lesson from restaurants is not that theme parks should stop innovating.

Quite the opposite. In my opinion, our winning strategy may be INNOVATION + REFINEMENT.

1.  Build the new coaster but fix the restroom next to it.

2.  Create the spectacular new themed land but make it easier to enter the parking lot.

3.  Install the latest technology but make certain it eliminates steps instead of adding them.

4.  Develop sophisticated dynamic pricing but make the price understandable and transparent from the outset.

5.  Build a beautiful new restaurant but make certain a family can get through it quickly enough to enjoy the park they paid to visit.

When you stop and think about it, we have spent decades asking, “What's new?” Maybe management teams should begin every operating season with another question: “What can we make better?” In a certain way, we did after COVID. We instituted Zero Based Planning and made changes never previously considered. Why? Because we were forced to rethink operational situations from the bottom to the top.

Ask your teams to go out and walk the park like a first-time guest. Count the unnecessary steps. Time the transactions. Stand in the queues. Buy lunch at noon. Visit the restrooms throughout the day. Try the park app without someone explaining it to you. And you know what? Leave the park with 20,000 other people at closing and see what you find out.

What I am proposing with the above is that we find the friction. Then remove it. Because unlike restaurants, we cannot refine ourselves into sameness. We must continue creating things people have never experienced before. But innovation attracts the guest only once. Keep in mind that refinement of a good guest experience determines how they remember the visit. I can also state with some reasonable intuition that the next revolution in the theme park industry won't be revolutionary at all. It perhaps will be hundreds of small improvements, mostly invisible individually, that collectively make the guest say or think: “That was easier. That was a better time. Let's come back.”

And please keep in mind, in a mature and increasingly competitive leisure industry, which ours is becoming every day, those may be among the most important words we can hear. It’s worth a try!