The Florida Aquarium Partners with Amusement Advantage to Measure the Guest Experience

Friday, December 11, 2015

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, FL has selected Amusement Advantage, Inc., the Attraction Industry’s premier guest experience solutions firm, to help identify areas where business operations can be improved to benefit the overall guest experience.

The aquarium, which is ranked in the top 10 list of things to in Tampa on TripAdvisor, is committed to understanding how their guests are experiencing the aquarium, what stands out as the most memorable aspect, and what opportunities they have to enhance the quality of the experience they deliver. The Florida Aquarium has called upon Amusement Advantage to take on this challenge.

“The Florida Aquarium is consistently looking for ways to grow and improve our guest experiences” said Scott Rose, Chief Operating Officer of The Florida Aquarium. “Amusement Advantage will provide valuable insights into what we are doing right as well as identity areas we need to improve on.”

Amusement Advantage will be sending in specific guests, or “mystery shoppers,” to anonymously evaluate the aquarium, highlighting a wide range of aspects such as the ease of purchasing tickets to food quality in the Café, and the educational nature of the exhibits and presentations. Amusement Advantage provides mystery shopping services for over 400 attractions across the US and Canada. Other notable aquariums that work with Amusement Advantage include the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, and the New England Aquarium in Boston. Over 30,000 mystery shoppers work with Amusement Advantage in nearly every major market in the country.

Additionally, the mystery shop reports that The Florida Aquarium receives will go under thorough review by Matt Heller, founder of Performance Optimist Consulting. This Performance Analysis report is intended to uncover opportunities for further leadership engagement, which in turn has an impact on staff performance, which leads directly to the guest experience. Each Performance Analysis report is based on multiple mystery shop reports, that when combined, offer a wealth of information that will benefit the aquarium.

Earlier this fall, Amusement Advantage appointed a Director of Business Development based in Orlando, as part of a strategy to expand further into the Florida tourism industry. Amusement Advantage currently works with multiple attractions in Florida, including theme parks, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums, and is thrilled to now include The Florida Aquarium. “We are eager to begin working with The Florida Aquarium,” said Scot Carson, President and General Manager of Amusement Advantage. “Our expertise and experience in the industry fits perfectly with The Florida Aquarium’s high standards of excellence and service delivery.”

About Amusement Advantage, Inc.

Amusement Advantage, Inc. was founded in January of 1996 to provide mystery shopping services exclusively to the attractions industry. Based in the greater Denver, CO area, the company works with attractions in the US and Canada, including amusement parks, water parks, FECs, zoos, aquariums, science centers, museums, bowling centers, skating centers and other attractions. Amusement Advantage is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the Florida Attractions Association, the World Water Park Association, The Association of Science Centers, and The Roller Skating Association of America and the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. The company provides mystery shopping evaluations for IAAPA as part of the selection process for the Top FEC’s of the World Awards and is the exclusive Smart Buy provider for the Bowling Providers Association of America.