Experienced, hands‑on guidance for theme parks and visitor attractions — help brainstorming a rough idea and establishing the foundation. Getting the early decisions right saves real money later — in construction, in day‑to‑day operation, and in maintenance down the line. Built on 35+ years working on projects across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
Best used early — while there's still time to brainstorm, adjust and plan, before anything is locked in.
A sounding board for a rough idea — talking through what the project could be, who it's for, and roughly what scale makes sense, before anything is set in stone.
Sitting alongside your master planners and designers to offer a practical, hands‑on perspective on layout, guest flow and phasing, drawn from having actually run what gets built.
Honest, friendly guidance on what tends to work and what doesn't — a second opinion that can help avoid a costly misstep further down the line.
Help putting the first, realistic numbers on paper — a modest starting scope, sized sensibly, so early spending is well placed rather than wasted.
Through my network, I can bring in the right people when a project needs them — master planners, designers, architects, ride vendors, equipment suppliers and operators — rather than carrying a fixed team.
A friendly, experienced look at what's already there — operations, guest flow, training, and everyday processes — with practical suggestions for where a small change could make a real difference.
Opening team, first on the ground, start‑up, conceptual, green field — every one of these began before there was a site office to walk into.
I've spent 35+ years opening, planning and running theme parks, attractions and large‑scale visitor experiences — usually as the person first on the ground, before there is a site office to walk into. It started at Disney in 1991, after some earlier years in tourism on the south coast of France.
That has meant senior roles across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, feasibility and development work on projects of very different scale and complexity, and pre‑opening responsibility for assembling and training international teams from the ground up.
IPDS, founded in 2018, is how I now offer that help directly — bringing in trusted collaborators when a project needs it, rather than a fixed team.
Happy to talk it through — whether it's an early idea, an existing property that needs fresh eyes, or just a question worth asking before you spend anything.