ORLANDO, Fla. — Who wants to see the latest effort at synergy?
That remains to be seen as an interactive version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," the game show on Disney-owned ABC, opens at a Disney theme park.
Disney is starting the attraction — "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It!" — at Disney-MGM Studios while the show is still a ratings juggernaut at the network. Although it has seen its audience decline by almost a third during the past year, it still holds three of the top 10 slots in prime-time this season, said Marc Berman, an analyst for Media Week online. The show airs four times a week.
"To take something that wasn't launched that long ago and put it in a theme park is kind of a risk," Berman said.
In addition, the show's audience has gotten older since it debuted almost two years ago, not necessarily a good thing when advertisers put a premium on youth. But older viewers tend to be more loyal, which may help both the show and the attraction, Berman said.
"The weird thing about 'Millionaire' is their audience is aging, kids don't watch it anymore," Berman said. "That's kind of bizarre that they would put it in a theme park."
But Tim O'Brien, senior editor at Amusement Business, an industry trade publication in Nashville, Tenn., sees the attraction as "a brilliant piece of cross-marketing from the same ownership."
"I think they have a hot property there. It's going to be well worth it. And if it doesn't succeed, it's not like a major roller coaster; they can pull this attraction out in a week," O'Brien said. "Right now, the success of the TV show will drive the park show."
Disney officials are confident the attraction will be a success for all age groups.
"It continues to be a popular show," said Mike West, a senior producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, the company's creative arm. "Even if the TV show goes away, we feel we have a great attraction for our guests."
The attraction replicates the studio where the show is shot in New York, although it's three times larger with 647 seats.
Adding to the authenticity, the show's host, Regis Philbin was on hand recently for a media preview.
"Here I am, the guy who saved the ABC television network," Philbin joked with a Disney visitor. "And I'd do it again, lady, if I had to."
There will be 10 shows a day at the theme park, each under 30 minutes.
Each seat has its own key pad from which participants can answer the Regis stand-in's questions. A computer tabulates which audience member answers the question the quickest and that person gets to go to the "hot seat," where the host poses another set of questions. An audience member with the quickest answer response can replace a person in the "hot seat" who misses an answer.
Unlike the show, participants at the attraction don't have a shot at winning money. Instead, they can win "Millionaire" baseball caps, CD-ROMs, pins and leather jackets. A person who reaches 1 million points wins a trip to New York to watch a taping of the television show.
Instead of calling a friend or celebrity "lifeline" to get advice on a question, like contestants do on the show, participants at the attraction can call a randomly chosen person in the theme park. Phones are set up in two locations in the park and Disney workers will stop guests to ask them if they want to participate.
"It's a little tough to find five of your closest friends when you're a tourist at a theme park," West said. "Lifeline is going to be a stranger."