Background:
Museums are often large and weirdly laid out, and it’s frequently impossible to see the high points of culture without major hassle.
In contrast, amusement park rides are laid out with extreme care to provide an engaging experience the whole way through.
Specifically relevant to this proposal are “narrative” rides where a user gets into a vehicle and experiences a story of some kind. Examples:
- “Haunted house” rides
- Disney rides like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,” or “It’s a Small World.”
Proposal:
We will combine the amusement park “narrative ride” with the contents of a museum (Fig. 1).
Advantages of experiencing the contents of a museum as a linear ride instead of an open “wander about freely” space:
- Dawdlers are prevented from hogging the best Greek urn viewing locations.
- The viewing experience is linear, and can thus be more easily crafted by the museum curator.
- An audio guide can be synced up with the ride, so no separate “press this number” audio guide is required. Instead, the audio guide can come out of speakers in the vehicle or in the exhibition hall.
Fig 1: This “Pirates of the Caribbean”-style museum ride is both engaging and educational.
Conclusion:
You must demand that any future museums that you attend be presented in the format of a theme park ride.
PROS: Greatly increases cultural and educational opportunities.
CONS: People may fall into the river if they become too enamored of a specific piece of work and try to remain near it while the ride moves on.
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