One of the most effective ways to create low cost entertainment value and drive incremental attendance is through seasonal events. A way to one-up this strategy is to tie that event to a popular entertainment brand, particularly upcoming film releases.

DreamWorks Animation has used seasonal promotional campaigns at theme parks since the company began 1994. Programmes with parks have helped to launch some of their most successful franchises, including Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

Ocean Park in Hong Kong, China, has used a number of DreamWorks films to create fantastic entertainment. The characters, stories and settings from the films provide a wealth of material that have been brought to life through games, activities, character interactions and even live re-enactments of entire scenes.

According to Joel Ward, the head of theme park and location based entertainment at DreamWorks, the environments in a film are perfectly suited to walk-through attractions, parades, character programmes, street shows or even themed overlays on existing playlands and rides. By using some of the same infrastructure that a park builds for special events, such as Halloween, then creating content to reach the family demographic, it's possible to put together a fantastic experience with minimal capital investment but tremendous marketing value.