Funworld May 2009

The shelving of a proposed Bible Park USA by the city council in Lebanon, Tennessee, as well as the controversy over plans for creationist theme parks in the United Kingdom and Germany, highlights just some of the complications religious attractions face. Faith-based facilities are often the subjects of debate, and they say there are advantages as well as challenges that come with their overt religious messages.

The Holy Land Experience (HLE) is a 15-acre park opened by Zion’s Hope in Orlando in 2001 at a cost of $16 million; it was purchased in 2007 by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Speaking of the advantages a faith based attraction has, park spokesman John Casoria says, “The message is Christian faith based with a focus on a positive message of hope, which we believe is uplifting to guests of all ages. The guests benefit from their visit because HLE combines the inspirational, theatrical, historical, and educational into one complete package.”

Curator Cindy Carlson of the Creation and Earth History Museum in Santee, California, owned by the Life and Light Foundation, sees another plus at her faith-based museum. “We’re not restricted in what we want to present,” she says. “Unlike other museums, we can talk about history according to the Bible without interference.” The museum presents a literal interpretation of the six-day Earth creation model and is well-known because it was started by Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the modern creationist movement.

Robert Niles, creator of Theme Park Insider, a highly regarded web site that covers the amusement industry, says another benefit to faith-based attractions is they cater to a customer base inclined to be receptive to their messages. “If you’re literally preaching to the choir, they want to hear the sermon,” he says, “and there are millions of individuals who feel that way, and they’re not getting that immersive experience from the entertainment media.”

But Roy Dickerson, sales director of the Fun Depot family entertainment center in Asheville, North Carolina, asserts there are advantages that extend to nonbelievers, as well. Though Fun Depot is a typical FEC in most respects and doesn’t exclusively preach a religious message, the facility does have the Ten Commandments adorning a wall and has a mini-golf course with psalms from the Bible posted at each hole. “The fact that we’re faith based attracts families and groups who simply want a clean, safe place with good values,” he contends.

Trials and Tribulations
On the other hand, there are also numerous challenges confronting faith-based attractions, starting with a funding quandary. Since many of them are nonprofit or have missions that prioritize ministering over earning revenue, financing their operations can be difficult.

“Because evolution is the scientific paradigm, if you get federal or state monies, you have to support that theory, and we don’t,” says Carlson. “We have private donors and don’t get the money that public [institutions] do.”

The Creation Museum in Florence, Kentucky, also faces this dilemma. The $30 million, 70,000-square-foot museum presents a creationist view of Earth’s history and has had 648,000 visitors in its first 21 months of operation. It has been complimented by supporters and detractors alike for the quality and advanced presentation of its exhibits. “Having [operational revenue] to cover our expenses was never in our model, and the ticket prices and revenue don’t cover the museum’s expenses,” says Mark Looy, co-founder and spokesman for the museum. “But we can never tap into tax monies and public funding, so we’re still relying on donations.”

Another hurdle faced by these attractions is negative press coverage. Says Carlson, “We definitely do not get as much media coverage as [nonspiritual] museums, and if we do, it’s usually quite adverse.”

Local press coverage for Holy Land Experience has been upbeat, according to Casoria, because of the park’s positive impact on the local economy. But he notes, “Other media sometimes seek controversial stories for a hook to draw readers or viewers. This negative type of coverage is typical for faith-based organizations.”

Reagan Hillier is founder of the Faith-Based Amusement Association in Forth Worth, Texas, which he describes as a collaboration of Christians in the amusement industry who want to be successful in business while making a larger spiritual impact. Hillier contends press scrutiny is something these attractions must be prepared for: “Bible Park USA got skewered. If you’re going to launch an attraction like that, you’re going to have to be on your game to not be viewed as exclusive.”

Casoria sees additional issues facing HLE and other religious attractions: “Higher expectations from guests, theological interpretation and potential controversy, financial and legal scrutiny because of nonprofit status, and a lack of message ‘diversity.’ Other parks use diversity to get people in the doors—our message remains the same.”

It is this unchanging message Niles views as another obstacle for faith-based attractions. “With storytelling, once people see the story and know how it ends, how many times are you going to go back and see the story?” he asks. “That’s a challenge in this particular niche because you’re not recreating new narratives. Their stories are a couple of thousand years old, and we know what happens. So it’s also more difficult to remodel the park every few years and add completely different attractions.”

Attracting an Audience
All these demands aside, Niles sees one more as the most daunting: “The biggest challenge for them is marketing, and by going with this particular theme, they have a smaller target audience. Universal’s target is moviegoers—that’s a huge universe! But the Christian parks don’t even have the [entire] Christian base because many Christians consider religion to be a private matter. These [attractions] are going more for evangelicals.”

Being purchased by Trinity Broadcasting gave Holy Land access to the network’s massive audience of 100 million worldwide who watch its religious programming. Most of the other attractions say they reach their target audiences through contact with ministries and church youth groups, and by advertising in religious periodicals.

But many recognize the need to reach a larger base, and market accordingly. “There are six major highways in the Cincinnati area, and we placed billboards on them,” says Creation Museum’s Looy. “We placed inserts in the Cincinnati Enquirer. We also purchased 30-second TV spots in six major metro areas in this region. Last year we even co-sponsored Faith Day at a Cincinnati Reds game.”

However, one marketing endeavor didn’t turn out so well. “We’ve been partnering with other attractions, and we did a ticket package with the Cincinnati Zoo,” Looy recalls. “The zoo got hundreds of complaints about having an association with the Creation Museum, so the zoo dropped it.”

Fundamental Principles
Regarding presentation and marketing, there are two things all of these attractions agree upon. First, none sees any issue or conflict between maintaining their religious messages while trying to attract and entertain audiences, saying their messages have been dramatic, captivating, and even entertaining for centuries—that’s part of the allure to audiences. Second, all of them say their most effective marketing tool is word-of-mouth communications from guests.

But do these devotional messages alienate guests of different faiths? “I think there’s a fine line between saying this is a park for Christian people versus this is a park for everyone, and while you’re here, we’re going to deliver a spiritual message,” says Hillier, who runs the faith-based industry association.

Many of these attractions say this is just not as great a problem for them as one might think. “Sometimes, those groups just won’t come in, and sometimes we get negative things from nonbelievers who think we are just trying to attract Christians only,” says Fun Depot’s Dickerson, “but usually we can overcome that. We don’t try to overextend what we’re saying. If they have a concern, I invite them in, show them around and what we have to offer and that it’s not going to be intimidating.”

In fact, these attractions want to attract guests of different faiths. “We welcome non-Christians,” Looy stresses. “We don’t hide the fact that we’re evangelistic. We want non- Christians to come here and hear a viewpoint on origins they’ve probably not heard before.”