Night events lengthen guest stay. Use your existing characters and augment with lighting and dancers. Simple and effective!
These dancing Pikachu's are enthralling audiences with flashing lights and a little help from their backup dancers.
The costumes already existed, needing an "overlay" of electronic LED lights and electroluminescent panels to turn Pikachu from a pocket monster to a bedazzling nighttime electrical parade float! While it's more complicated than it sounds, the owner of the venue didn't have to create entirely new costumes, build expensive battery-powered vehicles, engage a team of programmers and technicians to create a capital intensive investment. Instead, they built upon what they have, with a dash of creativity (and backup dancers) their existing costumes, when combined en masse, became a night spectacle.
That's how smaller venues can create an incentive for guests to stay into the night, and earn another meal in per capita spending. By some estimates, the Universal and Disney night spectaculars generate US$2 to $5 dollars per person, which over the course of a year, adds at least $41 to $102.25 million to the Magic Kingdom's bottom line.
While smaller properties can't expect the magnitude of returns that the big boys enjoy, but they can expect an impact. A single dollar of increased spending could yield more than US$2 million in increased revenue, more than enough to pay for some LED lights (and backup dancers!)
Good nighttime entertainment always:
- Uses sparkling lights
- Energetic Music
- Takes place after the dinner hour
- Is of a magnitude in scale or "spectaluarity" to warrant the extended stay
It's important to pick characters and or brands that are popular and have a fan following that's closely linked with your park or venue's demographic. Of course, Pokemon and Pikachu are very popular worldwide, so it was bound to get noticed. After that, it's just a matter of 10% creativity and 90% hard work.
