Theme Park Storytelling: Deconstructing Immersion in Chinese Theme Parks

Abstract

Little is known about how visitors become immersed in theme park storytelling. As the first of its kind, this study investigated visitors’ immersion through storytelling experiences in Chinese domestic theme parks. This research pursued participants’ subjective interpretation of immersion and the elements that were essential in their experiences. Thirty visitors were interviewed and data were analyzed using an inductive-deductive approach. The findings revealed that the immersion through theme park storytelling involves four stages, namely spatial-temporal immersion, sensory immersion, conceptual-imaginative immersion, and emotional immersion. Drawing on the findings, this study developed a framework depicting the mechanism of immersion. Achieving an in-depth understanding of how visitors interact with stories in a themed and experiential context, this research makes theoretically meaningful additions to both narrative and psychological literature. It also enables the industry to better understand and manage the visitor experience at theme parks.