{"id":4670,"date":"2026-06-19T12:05:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4670"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:05:02","slug":"attractions-draw-grown-up-audiences-with-youthful-pursuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4670","title":{"rendered":"Attractions draw grown-up audiences with youthful pursuits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The attractions industry and its fans are growing up, but the old \u201ckid at heart\u201d adage is creating tourism business opportunities seeped with nostalgia.<\/p>\n

Read more Class of 2026: Osceola County\u2019s valedictorians & salutatorians<\/a><\/p>\n

Grown-ups are embracing events once geared toward younger audiences. Central Florida attractions are playing host to adults-only coloring sessions, 21-and-up poolside foam parties, after-bedtime theme park outings and more.<\/p>\n

Psychological and financial factors are propping up the trend, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdults are suddenly allowed to indulge in things that we maybe have been stigmatized as being immature,\u201d said AJ Wolfe, author of the 2025 book \u201cDisney Adults\u201d and owner of Cambrick Yard Media, which operates fan sites including Disney Food Blog and AllEars.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are now allowed to collect dolls and play with Legos and go to Disney World in ways that they haven\u2019t been able to before,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the rise of the \u2018kidult.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The trend plays into the maturing of the attractions industry, said Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the attractions industry is looking for ways to maximize their assets through additional spending and entertainment to cover the broad demographics from children all the way through the baby boomers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a big industry shift towards the adult demographic. And how do you extract money out of the adult demographic? It\u2019s not by selling them cotton candy. It\u2019s alcohol and social and food, that type of stuff,\u201d Speigel said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This summer, Island H2O Water Park in Kissimmee created adults-only poolside parties that doubled as a concert experience. The July evening will feature rapper French Montana, and then August will have an appearance by rapper Fat Joe plus a foam party.<\/p>\n

Crayola Experience, a crayon-themed attraction inside Orlando\u2019s Florida Mall, added adults-only programming this year. Crayola After Dark evenings include a crafting experience, 20 hands-on attractions, character meet-and-greets, a DJ and themes such as \u201880s and \u201890s in a kids-free environment. Food and alcohol are available for purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing kind of a broad audience come through, from date night to mom\u2019s night out,\u201d said Jaclyn Vasquez, national marketing and sales manager. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing solo guests come through. It\u2019s not intimidating, that super-welcoming environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The events, available to ages 18 and older, help people connect, she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cGet creative, get crafty and let your imagination go,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n

Night and day<\/h4>\n

After-hours special events can be creative money-makers, said Jakob Wahl, CEO of Orlando-based International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a different experience where it\u2019s at night \u2026 You work with fire, you work with lights,\u201d Wahl said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is interesting for an operator because the guest has a totally different experience,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you also can charge, you know, two different entrances on one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Night experiences can be wildly different from daytime experiences, Wahl said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a park in Japan that is a Hello Kitty theme park, and in the evening, it becomes a zombie apocalypse land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Editorial: On Juneteenth, celebrate and remember<\/a><\/p>\n

Orlando Science Center led this adulting trend with an event called Cocktails and Cosmos more than 20 years ago. It morphed into an event named Science Night Live for ages 18 and older.<\/p>\n

Although there is special programming for SNL, including guest speakers and live shows, the main attraction is the everyday exhibit floor of the Loch Haven Park museum, said JoAnn Newman, president and CEO of the science center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want you to have the opportunity to play and to interact and to find the joy in that,\u201d she said. \u201cOne thing we\u2019re trying to do is give adults the permission to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The science center recently lowered the event\u2019s minimum age from 21 to 18, and attendance went up by about 200 people, Newman said. That demographic may have been inspired by childhood memories of the museum, a staple for Central Florida kids who experienced the KidsTown orange grove and Stan the T. rex in DinoDigs back in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of nostalgia, and they\u2019re young enough that it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my gosh, I remember that,\u2019\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

Changing atmosphere<\/h4>\n

Economic and demographic shifts are affecting theme-park offerings, Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people are coming to Disney World, experiencing Disney World without children, more so than ever before,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s something that they are 1,000% playing into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, GEO 82, an adults-only lounge. opened inside Spaceship Earth, the iconic attraction at Epcot. Among its options are fireworks viewing sessions in air-conditioned comfort. Disney also added a lobby bar inside the Grand Floridian Resort and an all-ages, pirate-themed tavern called The Beak and Barrel inside Magic Kingdom theme park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re building lounges instead of restaurants, and we\u2019re seeing these adults-only lounges that have prime real estate in the middle of Epcot,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

The company is also pushing after-hours theme park events that, while not listed as adults-only, run into the wee hours of the morning. Late-night options have been offered this year at Magic Kingdom, Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios and Typhoon Lagoon water park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those events are, you know, de facto keeping out families whose kids can\u2019t do the 1 a.m. sort of thing,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

The trend had her remembering the \u201890s and the online discussions about whether Disney World would ever have a no-kids-allowed day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to dream about that, like, that would be so cool,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cNow I feel like we\u2019re closer than ever to something like that actually happening, because then we realize that they can make enough money for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com\/newsletters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Maxwell: Readers have good, tough questions for mayoral candidates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coloring sessions, foam parties, after-bedtime theme-park outings are among the fresh-but-nostalgic options for adults<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theme-parks","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nAttractions draw grown-up audiences with youthful pursuits - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4670\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Attractions draw grown-up audiences with youthful pursuits - 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