Today, there are about 3000 theme parks large and small in China. Since the opening of China's first theme park "Splendid China" in 1989, the domestic theme park industry has developed for 35 years.

This is the place where dreams are made. The popularity of theme parks stems from their ability to "realize dreams" for thousands of consumers. Theme parks are a playground for children and a healing place for adults. Disney and Universal Studios both have their own exclusive teams for creating dreams.

As the cultural chip of theme parks, original IP is the key to theme parks 'dreams. However, in recent years, questions such as "there is a park but no theme" have pointed to the lack of top-level IP in local theme parks. How to crack it? Many theme parks in China have begun to actively explore.

opened their minds “工作压力大，焦虑，失眠。有一天我在主题公园畅玩过山车，刺激的尖叫让我忘记了一切不快。”深圳的上班族何耀说，从此他爱上了主题公园，迷上了这个产生“尖叫美学”的地方。

In addition to screaming, tourists also enjoy the amazing fantasy castles and gorgeous cultural performing arts programs in the theme park.

The large-scale oriental myth show "Golden Mask Dynasty" staged in Beijing's Happy Valley has been popular for more than ten years. Sanxingdui's golden-faced scepter and bronze divine tree are cleverly integrated with the strange mountains, magical seas, rare birds and beasts of "The Book of Mountains and Seas". The unique style of the ancient mythological world amazed the audience...

An introduction picture of "Golden Mask Dynasty" on the official website of Beijing Happy Valley.

Speaking of the original intention of the design, Li Xiangyang, artistic director of Beijing Happy Valley, was a little excited:"'Sleep for three thousand years, and when you wake up, you will shock the world'. The excavation of Sanxingdui shocked the world, and "Shan Hai Jing", as a wonderful ancient book, has also attracted much attention. In particular, the Fusang divine tree recorded in the book is exactly the same as the bronze divine tree unearthed at Sanxingdui. This inspired our creative inspiration. If we organically combine two cultural treasures from the same era, what kind of sparks will we create?"

The creativity of open-minded brains gave birth to today's "Golden Mask Dynasty".

"Golden Mask Dynasty" has undergone four revisions. Li Xiangyang still remembers that "the premiere in 2007 lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and some audiences fell asleep watching the performance."

In 2009, the first revision of "Golden Mask Dynasty" was compressed to one hour, making the rhythm more compact; in 2010, 40,000 LED lights were added to light up the "Tongtian Tree", digital stage operation, surround sound, etc., helping the performance The effect is even more shocking; for the third revision in 2014, Beijing Overseas Chinese Town Grand Theater built a new Sanxingdui Concept Museum, the first cross-border integration of concept museums and cultural performing arts; With its fourth revision in 2021,"Golden-Faced Dynasty" has achieved disruptive innovation. The Flying Bird Clan and Yuyue Clan inspired by "Shan Hai Jing" are seamlessly combined with the "Sanxingdui" golden-faced scepter and bronze divine tree.

What Li Xiangyang feels most is that the emerging cultural IP needs to be empowered by constantly innovative technology. Since the revision of "Golden Mask Dynasty", elements such as sound, light and electricity have been integrated into the performance. The use of new technologies such as multimedia human screen interaction, opening and closing large screens, ice screen arrays, and projection yarns has made the audience seem to be in the mystery and wilderness of ancient times.

At present,"Golden Mask Dynasty" has set a record of 6700 performances and 7.3 million views. It has also become a new cultural IP that drives passenger traffic in Beijing's Happy Valley.

There are many sources of IP creativity for theme parks. For "Golden Face Dynasty", traditional Chinese culture is the foundation that supports the plot of the entire performance. The "Sanxingdui" civilization and the mythological system of "Shan Hai Jing" make the entire performing arts show more culturally profound. The excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation is a fertile ground for inspiration for the original IP of local theme parks. Happy Valley Group, a subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise OCT, has a lot of experience in exploring themes in traditional culture.

Beijing Happy Valley continues to build a "National Trend Valley". The National Trend Cultural Festival being held from April to June this year has the theme of Chao China and explores the unique charm of Oriental aesthetics, including ancient style and fine clothes, danqing, national music, poetry, martial arts, etc. The organic collision of national style and national trend elements with modern fashion performing arts brings a unique visual and cultural feast to tourists.

Progressive layers, longer and longer, and integrated development are the logic of the development of original IP.

IP chain length 对每个造梦者来说，长夜静坐时，总想着在地球某个角落能将梦想成功安放。华强方特的梦想就是“讲好IP故事，让世界更欢乐”。

"To tell China's story well through IP, we must use IP to create a new path." Chen Zuyao, vice president of Huaqiang Fangte Cultural Technology Group Co., Ltd., said.

Huaqiang Fonte's theme park IP originated from the original animation IP. Huaqiang Fangte has a creative institute, research institute and design institute to improve its dream creativity, and through creative planning, planning and design, cultural content production and theme park operation and management, the dream of joy can be truly presented.

"Our core competitiveness is original and owned intellectual property rights." Chen Zuyao said. Huaqiang Fonte owns more than 500 patents; has obtained more than 600 copyrights in film and television, art works, scripts, music, computer software, etc.; and has registered nearly 1300 trademarks in the United States, the European Union and other countries and regions. The ratings of TV animation have set a new national record, and the cumulative box office of the "Bear Infested" series of movies has exceeded 7.6 billion yuan.

"Bear Infested" animation theme park in Linhai City, Zhejiang Province. Photo by Wang Huabin (Zhongjing Vision)

"Xiong Da","Xiong Er" and "Baldhead Qiang"... With the popularity of "Bear Infested", these famous IP classic characters not only accompanied the growth of children born in the 2000s and 10s, but also stepped out of the screen and became stars in theme parks.

The development of Fonte Theme Park is to create multiple theme park series products through IP application exploration and innovation. For example, the animation special product line created with the theme of original IP bear infested and other IPs mainly includes the animation world, bear infested parks, bear infested towns, bear playgrounds, etc., lengthening the chain of bear infested IP and creating the country's first bear infested Happy Harbor, bear infested adventure park, etc., and exported overseas.

In addition to the theme parks of the animation IP series, Fonte has also launched a special cultural series IP and a beautiful China series theme parks, which are located in Wuhu, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Nanning, Xiamen and other cities.

"From the perspective of investment, there are more and more small but beautiful and unique products, and the implementation is faster; from the perspective of theme, traditional culture and local culture are sought after, and the integration of culture and tourism has become a development trend; from the perspective of business format, theme entertainment and citizens 'leisure space The degree of integration is getting higher and higher; from the market perspective, the park market is sinking is obvious, and theme parks will not just pile up in first-tier cities." Zheng Wei, general manager of Shenzhen Yuanchuang Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. and director of the Education and Training Special Committee of the China Amusement Machine and Amusement Park Association, analyzed.

Huaqiang Fonte Cultural Technology Group is determined to "be a happy partner of the city." More than 30 parks have been opened in China, and creative design services for overseas theme parks and theme projects are provided. Its strategic vision of globalization also benefits from the classic inspiration given by international theme park giants.

Classic revelation 国际主题公园巨头迪士尼、环球度假区落地中国，加速了国内主题公园产业的迭代升级，主题公园品牌形象与原创IP打造也被日益重视。

IP is an unparalleled advantage for Disney and Universal Studios.

Tourists regain their innocence at Shanghai Disney, as if they have returned to their childhood scenes of watching Disney cartoons and fairy tales. "The special effects of the Battle of the Pirates of the Caribbean's Sinking Treasure are amazing, and there are also special effects of Captain Jack's shocking stunt adventure in the stage drama Storm. It's great." Li Shan, a tourist from Suzhou, narrowed her eyes and recalled.

The IP project of Beijing Universal Resort's "Blockbuster World" has also charmed fans, such as Little Yellow Man's Paradise, Kungfu Panda's Grounds, Harry Potter's Wizarding World, Transformers Base, Jurassic World Nubra Island, etc. Theme scenic spots allow fans to experience familiar scenes in the film again immersively.

A night light celebration performance at Hogwarts Castle, the Harry Potter Wizarding World themed scenic spot at Universal Studios Beijing. Photo by Chen Zhonghao (Xinhua Agency)

When Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016, 5.6 million visitors entered the park in just half a year; on September 20, 2021, Beijing Universal Resort opened, and admission tickets were hard to find.

Why is it so popular? Adapting measures to local conditions and integrating local culture is one of the inspirations.

The design concept of "Original Disney, unique Chinese style" allows classic Chinese elements to be seen everywhere in Shanghai Disney. From the beginning of its construction, Shanghai Disney insisted on integrating Chinese culture when telling Disney's classic stories to strengthen people's sense of belonging and identity. The steeple of the "Fantasy Fairy Tales Castle" is designed into patterns and shapes with unique Chinese characteristics such as auspicious clouds, peonies, and lotus flowers. One of them also features the Shanghai flower magnolia; the Mulan theme is the finale of the float parade at the Shanghai Disney Resort; Donald Duck, chipmunk brothers Qiqi and Titi will put on Tang suits and perform "Tang's Tai Chi Boxing".

Universal Studios Beijing is full of Chinese style. During the Spring Festival holiday, on Hollywood Avenue in Beijing Universal Resort, the Hollywood canopy dragon lanterns are elegant and agile, and the double dragons are circling and taking off, with an aura like a rainbow. The once again revitalized "Global Year of China" themed event created a performance with a strong New Year flavor,"The New Year is here!" "We hope to present family performances suitable for all ages and use international film characters to tell Chinese stories." "The New Year is here!" Pan He, director of the entertainment team of Beijing Universal Resort, said.

There is no doubt that whether it is an external theme park or a local theme park, if it wants to occupy more market share in the domestic tourism market, which exceeds 6 billion visitors every year, creative transformation and innovative development from the root of China's excellent traditional culture is the only way.

Continuous innovation and continuous enrichment of IP resources are the second enlightenment.

Yang Ming, director of the Brand Marketing and Publicity Department of the China Amusement Park Association, said frankly that successfully creating an original IP is not easy. This requires in-depth market research, accurate target customer positioning, creative design team and good brand marketing strategy. At the same time, maintaining and updating the IP image also requires continuous investment and continuous innovation.

In the past seven years, Shanghai Disney Resort has built a new "Toy Story" theme park, and its first park with the theme of "Crazy Zootology" has officially opened. In the first year of its opening, Beijing Universal Resort cooperated with Game King Glory to hold the "Beijing Universal Studios":The "King's Glory Heroes Festival" event provides tourists with an opportunity to reunite happily from virtual online to the real world.

Shanghai Disneyland fantasy fairy tale castle. Photo by Liu Ying (Xinhua Agency)

Pan He believes that the strong alliance between Beijing Universal Resort, which wins with immersive experience, and Tencent Games, which uses many Chinese historical figures to create IP, is another exploration of Beijing Universal Resort's initiative to integrate local culture and dig deep into Chinese historical theme IP. "When I saw Li Bai in the game walking freely on Hollywood Boulevard with a wine pot tied to his waist, I was so excited." Senior player Zou Xiyu said.

"Developing and utilizing IP has become an industry consensus. Parks have become a battleground for theme entertainment IP, but we must also realize that the strong IP resources of theme parks are still scarce, and the combination of IP and theme parks still has pain points in R & D and transformation." Zheng Wei analyzed.

As a powerful engine for the development of the cultural tourism industry, theme parks also need cross-border marketing for their original IP, which produces a superimposed effect. This is the third revelation.

Disney's derivatives channel model extended with original IP as its core is mature and has outstanding monetization capabilities. Its IP authorized business involves clothing, stationery, candy dolls and other fields. Shanghai Disney has also cooperated with many first-class brands at home and abroad and launched many hit products through cross-border marketing.

As the value of IP continues to heat up in the market, many domestic theme parks combine classic IP with the trend of the times. For example, Guangdong Chimelong Group, which owns Guangzhou Chimelong Resort and Zhuhai Hengqin Chimelong Resort, has initially created a Chimelong original IP system, which is called the Chimelong Road to IP development by the industry.

It is not only the thrills brought by riding facilities such as roller coasters, but also the strong support of cultural IP-tourism and entertainment, cultural and creative industries, and cultural economics. The high-quality development path of theme parks will be achieved by relying on the new driving force of smart tourism modernization-cultural leadership, technological empowerment, and integrated development.