Playback: The Theme Park Designer

The Modern Mann

Matt Hill

Relationships, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.8 • 753 Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Theme parks have transformed from the travelling fairs of the fifties and Disney-inspired family resorts into playgrounds for adrenalin junkies of all ages. So, how do ride designers meet the needs of their discerning public? Bradley Wynne, lead creative artist at Merlin Magic Making, is a man who knows - he's spent a lifetime obsessing about all things theme park and is now heading up the team for Thorpe Park's biggest ever launch, Derren Brown's Ghost Train. In this episode, Olly learns from him how sounds, smells and touch can enhance the experience of riding a rollercoaster; discusses the fallout from the tragedy on The Smiler, and how you can use a very boring interest in planning application data to your advantage, to secure a dream job. This episode first aired in April 2016, in our episode Let's Build A Theme Park. Now remastered and with an update from Bradley nine years on, we're replaying it to celebrate Olly's new BBC show: ROLLERCOASTER - UNIVERSAL’S BEDFORDSHIRE JOURNEY. Olly’s new four-part BBC series about the Universal Studios project in Bedford can be binged ⁠here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Olly Mann and you've found our playback edition.
0:06.0	On the last Friday of each month, we bring you something worth hearing from our extensive
0:10.0	Modern Man archive.
0:12.0	And this month we're heading back to 2016 for my interview with theme park designer Bradley Win.
0:19.0	Now Bradley creates big scale audience wowing themed entertainment
0:24.6	across the UK that's not just about building corkscrews and sidewinders. As you'll hear,
0:31.5	it's also about expectation, surprise and soundtrack and even smell. Exit through the gift shop for the theme park designer.
0:41.5	That's this month's modern man playback, I'm all about making sense of the modern world.
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1:55.0	We've grown up, surrounded by beauty ideals, that promised confidence but often delivered shame.
2:03.2	In a special episode of a millennial mind, I sat down with Nicola Adams to explore how
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2:13.5	In partnership with the Dove Self-Esteen project, we unpack the tools to change the conversation for ourselves and for future generations.
	...

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