Theme park design club members know their rides

Imagine a day in your favorite amusement park: the smell of delicious food, the screams of riders on a roller coaster, the trees providing shade from the summer heat and the pristine look of everything around you.

While you may not realize it, every aspect of your theme park experience has been carefully crafted by professionals from a wide range of fields, and Auburn University’s campus is home to dozens of students who are planning for careers in creating those theme park experiences.

These students are members of Theme Park Engineering and Design (TPED). Currently housed in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and 110 members strong, the group includes students from a variety of majors, including architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design, building science, environmental design, engineering, agriculture, professional flight, studio art/animation, business and marketing.

TPED president Caroline Scalora (left) and past president and alumna Karena Heitzman ride the carousel at Disney World.

While visiting Walt Disney World, Lucie Shauer enjoys a leisurely boat ride on “it’s a small world,” which opened in 1971.

TPED members Nicole Licavoli, Andrew Chase, Andrew Edwards and Patrick Byrne ride everything they can as part of the research process.

Information systems management student Isabella Williams will be a logistics intern at Dollywood this summer.

Williams rides the Mad Tea Party at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Students Chris Sherlock and Lainey Bouvier attended a conference hosted by IAAPA, the International Association for Amusement Parks and Attractions.

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Caroline Scalora, a fourth-year architecture student in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, serves as the organization’s president.

“We have mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, aerospace — all the engineering majors,” she said. “We’ve gotten a lot more business students recently, and I’m excited for that, since we have worked hard to showcase that our organization is welcoming to all majors. We also have some agriculture students who want to go into the innovative technology behind more sustainability-related things happening in theme parks.”

Scalora knows a lot about theme park design, having interned for the firms LRK and Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock/Architects Inc. in Orlando, Florida, and she’s about to learn even more this summer during her internship at Universal Studios Florida. She has witnessed how the interdisciplinary nature of TPED mirrors what happens in the industry.

“Because I have worked in a project management role, I was able to see a ton of different consultants in engineering, industrial design and landscape architecture, all collaborating on the phone and on Zoom every day to create these immersive spaces,” she said. “The best example I can give is, you’re walking down Disney’s Main Street, and there’s a smell of cotton candy. Well, that smell was designed by an engineer and hidden in a building by an architect, and the grass, pavement, trees and other visual elements are executed through landscape architecture and civil engineering.”

At each of TPED’s weekly meetings, students give a presentation on a specific area of amusement park design and then guide the group in a hands-on learning project. In recent meetings, they have explored costuming, ride queues, set design, lighting and projection, food and beverages and merchandise. Isabella Williams, an information systems management student in the Harbert College of Business, feels experiences like these helped prepare her to intern in operations logistics at Dollywood in Tennessee this summer.

“Through my involvement in the club and participating in activities, TPED undoubtedly played a pivotal role in preparing me for my internship,” she said. “I am obsessed with everything related to theme parks, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in the vibrant atmosphere and contribute to the magic of the theme park experience for visitors.”

In addition to meetings, TPED members can participate in theme park design competitions, including the Toronto Metropolitan University Thrill Design Competition, where enjoying a day in the park is part of their research. They also attend conventions to learn about current issues in the industry that include safety standards and sustainable theme park practices.

One of the most exciting developments for the club is the creation of an alumni network. Founded by Scalora, this group of recent graduates is ready and willing to help TPED members get started in the amusement park industry. While these alumni are spread across the country, many have ended up in Florida, including past TPED president Karena Heitzman, an architectural designer at BRPH in Orlando; Joey Roh, a project engineer with the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company in Orlando; and Trevor Hallett, a technician at Birket Engineering in Winter Park.

Between competitions, conventions and weekly meetings, club members gain a wide range of experiences before entering the industry. Couple those with an Auburn education and a strong alumni network, and TPED members are ready to hit the ground running when they graduate.

“I’ve trained for the traditional role of an architect here at Auburn, but everything you see in theme parks is architecture, too — it’s all design,” Scalora said. “I’m just a girl with a dream from Delaware. I made the jump to Auburn, and I never would have guessed I would be surrounded with this community that could get me so far and inspire me to reach my dream.”