Wait, WHAT? Air-Conditioned Theme Parks Are a Thing?!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Barbie has once again taken the US by storm.

Thanks to the award-winning 2023 film of the same name, Barbie has made a major comeback — even gaining herself a whole theme park. And, while that’s exciting in and of itself, it’s one particular detail that has us dreaming of what future theme parks might be like.

Okay, it may not be a whole Barbie theme park, but Mattel Adventure Park will include an entire land dedicated to the icon. The new theme park is coming to the VAI Resort complex in Arizona, and while there’s no set opening date it’s rumored to open sometime in 2024.

The theme park’s website says that it will be “the only place where you can get behind the wheel of a lightning-fast Hot Wheels go-kart, join Thomas & Friends on a treasure hunt journey and enjoy a signature pink beverage on the third-story rooftop of The Barbie Beach House.”

We know what you may be thinking — a theme park in… Arizona?! Sounds like it’ll be pretty hot. Mattel has taken this into account by planning a design that combines indoors and outdoors. In fact, there will be “acres of air-conditioned space.”

That’s right — no waiting in long lines in that hot, desert heat. The bulk of the attractions and queues are located indoors, which means air-conditioning while you wait.

Of course, this isn’t entirely a novel concept — there are plenty of rides in Disney World and Universal Orlando that are at least partially air-conditioned along with their queues, but it’s interesting that this theme park is being designed with this specifically in mind.

It’s possible that we could start to see more air-conditioning in theme parks — maybe Universal will consider this when designing their new Texas park. Epic Universe is well underway in Orlando as well, and while we only have cursory information about what’s going on over there, our fingers are crossed that air-conditioning is part of it.