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Family entertainment centers (FECs) and other community-based location-based entertainment venues (LBEs) have traditionally relied on repeat visits. Unlike destination attractions that draw tourists from hundreds of miles away, most FECs and LBEs operate within limited local trade areas. They need the same households to visit multiple times a year to generate the attendance and revenue required for financial success.
That legacy business model faces increasing pressure.
The problem isn't that people no longer want out-of-home entertainment and leisure experiences. It is that they now have an almost limitless number of options competing for their time and discretionary spending.
Festivals illustrate just how crowded the out-of-home leisure marketplace has become. Kansas City, with a MSA population of about 2.3 million, hosts 150 weekend festivals. Memphis has 156 festivals serving a metro population of 1.3 million. Competition is equally intense in smaller markets. Madison, Wisconsin, has 94 festivals and a metro population of about 710,000. Wichita, Kansas, has an even more impressive 124 festivals serving only 664,000 MSA residents. (Click HERE (www.whitehutchinson.com/ news/ lenews/ 2026/ september/ kansas-city-festivals.pdf) to see a list of all the festivals in the four MSAs)
Those festivals don't just compete with one another. They compete with bowling, escape rooms, trampoline parks, immersive experiences, museums, concerts, sports, food halls, breweries, wineries, seasonal agritainment, and everything else people can do with their free time.
Every festival offers something new. Most are available for only one weekend, creating urgency and FOMO. If people don't attend now, they may have to wait another year, or they may never get another chance.
That is a powerful competitive advantage over a permanent LBE that offers essentially the same experience year-round.
Hedonic adaptation describes how the emotional uplift from a positive experience fades as it becomes familiar. A related process, hedonic decline or satiation, occurs when enjoyment decreases with repeated exposure.
The first visit to an FEC can be exciting because everything is new. On the second visit, the guest already understands the layout, attractions, games, menu, and likely outcome. By the third or fourth visit, much of the novelty has worn off.
A major review of hedonic-decline research found that repeated exposure typically reduces enjoyment through physiological, perceptual, and self-reflective processes. Consumers recognize that they are repeating the same experience, which causes it to lose some of its original appeal.
This does not necessarily mean guests become dissatisfied. They may still rate the FEC highly, recommend it to friends, and have fond memories of their visits. Satisfaction and repeat appeal are not the same. A guest can be completely satisfied and still choose somewhere else next time.
When enjoyment begins to decline, consumers often seek variety. Research shows that people sometimes switch to a less-preferred experience simply because it is different even when repeating their favorite would have produced greater immediate enjoyment.
That finding has significant implications for FECs and LBEs. The venue doesn't have to become worse to lose a visit. It only has to remain familiar while a new alternative becomes available.
PGAV's research likewise finds that attraction visitors increasingly prioritize exploration and discovery over revisiting familiar destinations. It describes a growing “been there, done that” challenge for static attractions.
Social media amplifies the trend. A new festival, restaurant, pop-up, or immersive experience gives people new social currency, something fresh to photograph, post, and discuss. Returning to an unchanged venue may still be enjoyable, but it doesn't generate the same novelty, status, or fear of missing out. Once an experience has been enjoyed, photographed, and shared, repeating it often has less perceived social value.
The primary threat to FECs and LBEs is fragmentation.
Consumers might make as many out-of-home leisure trips as before, or even more, while spreading those trips across many more venues and events. A household that once visited the same FEC four times a year might now visit it twice, attend a food festival, and try a new immersive attraction. The FEC has lost half of that household's visits without doing anything wrong.
This is why counting only direct FEC competitors produces an incomplete market analysis. An FEC doesn't just compete with the other FEC across town. It competes with all the other ways consumers can spend a Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, or Sunday with the family.
With Wichita offering 124 festivals to a population of only 664,000, even relatively small markets can have a massive inventory of temporary experiences. Market size alone no longer guarantees sufficient repeat demand to support multiple fixed-attraction venues.
The traditional strategy of installing attractions meant to remain unchanged for many years no longer provides sufficient repeat appeal. Bowling, miniature golf, laser tag, go-karts, trampolines, arcades, and other permanent attractions can still form the venue's foundation. However, they cannot carry the full burden of bringing guests back. Repeat appeal must now be programmed, not assumed.
FEC and LBE operators need to become producers of continually changing experiences. Their calendars should contain a substantial amount of one- and limited-time programming:
Limited-time programming offers two benefits. First, it introduces novelty without requiring the operator to continually replace expensive permanent attractions. Second, scarcity creates urgency. Guests have a reason to visit now because the experience will soon disappear.
Occasional special events aren't enough. Changing the programming needs to become an essential part of the business model. Customers should expect something different next month, next season, and on their next visit.
There will always be people who repeatedly visit familiar entertainment venues. Convenience, value, social rituals, parties, memberships, and positive memories can all support repeat behavior. Research even suggests that people sometimes underestimate how enjoyable it will be to repeat an experience.
However, operators cannot rely on familiarity and customer satisfaction alone. In markets with many dozens or more than 100 festivals, along with a growing inventory of other entertainment and leisure options, static attractions face a serious disadvantage in repeat appeal.
Permanent attractions provide the platform. Continually changing, limited-time programming creates a “What's new?” a reason to return.
The successful FEC or LBE of the future won't simply offer guests what they enjoyed before. It will combine familiarity, convenience, and trust with a credible promise that their next visit will offer something new.
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