Jim Denny has spent decades – including 13 seasons in the Attractions, Entertainment industry – at the intersection of complex technology and high-stakes human experience. He has a proven track record of delivering for the business, but he is even more passionate about delivering a seamless and effortless experience for the guest.
Putting the Guest Experience Ahead of the App
I'll be honest with you. When people find out I'm a VP of Digital Experience for a collection of theme parks and waterparks, they usually expect me to launch into some passionate and winding speech about the future of mobile apps, AI-driven guest journeys and frictionless digital ecosystems.
And look, I can do that speech. I've given it. I'll probably give it again.
But here's what I actually believe: the best thing our technology can do on any given day at one of our parks is stay completely out of the way.
Think about why people come to a Six Flags park. They're not coming for the app. They're coming because the kids just crested 54 inches tall and dad finally talked mom into letting them ride the biggest coaster in the park. They're coming because it's their daughter’s birthday and she wants a funnel cake on the boardwalk instead of “another boring birthday cake.” They're coming because it's summer and it's hot and there's a wave pool (maybe with margaritas) and that's all the reason anyone needs.
Those moments are the product. The app is just the bag it comes in.
The Enemy Is Friction
To me, the North Star is painfully simple – Frictionless fun. Every friction point in the guest experience is a small theft of joy or time. A confusing website that makes you second-guess your ticket purchase. A long line that eats into your actual park time. Not knowing where the show is or when it starts or that you missed it by ten minutes. These aren't just inconveniences — they're moments that pull people out of the experience and remind them they're navigating an incredibly complicated system, instead of simply enjoying their day.
Good technology eliminates those moments of frustration - invisibly. A well-designed app answers your question in ten seconds or less, so you can put your phone back in your pocket and go back to living your life. In-park kiosks should exist only for the guest who needs them right now, in this moment — not as a vehicle for a pop-up promotion on a dining upgrade. The website shouldn't just sell tickets; it should build excitement. It should help a family with a 5-year-old and a 15-year-old figure out how they're both going to have an amazing day in an even more amazing setting.
When we get this right, technology becomes as unremarkable as a well-paved path. You never think about it. You just let it take you to where you were already going.
Personalization in Service of the Guest — Not the Algorithm
This is where things can go sideways fast and I think about it a lot. There's a version of personalization that genuinely serves the guest. And there's a version that serves the algorithm. Guests are smart. They can feel the difference.
The version I care about anticipates the guest’s needs. It suggests the right moment to hit their favorite attraction. It points them to a nearby dining spot, right about when they’re starting to think about lunch. It doesn't interrupt. It doesn't demand engagement. It just quietly makes the day go a little smoother.
The version of personalization I don't care about merely treats a family on vacation like a revenue target. That's not a digital experience strategy. That's just noise — and guests tune it out or worse, they resent it.
One Conversation, Start to Finish
A guest's relationship with a park doesn't begin at the front gate. It starts weeks earlier, in the dreaming and planning phase — browsing the website, watching ride videos, figuring out whether to spring for a season pass. It continues through the ticket purchase, the pre-visit excitement, the day itself and the post-visit glow when everyone is already talking about coming back.
Every digital touchpoint along that journey — website, app, in-park kiosk, email, social — should feel like a single, coherent conversation. Not a collection of disconnected tools built by different teams with different agendas. Getting there requires real discipline. It means resisting the temptation to bolt on features and instead asking the harder question: does this actually help the guest or does it just help us prop up our own internal metrics?
The Standard
So that's the standard I've always tried to set – for myself and my team. If a guest finishes a day at one of our parks and says, "That app was incredible," — partial credit. Nice work, but if they say "we had the absolute best day and everything just worked" — that's when we've done our job.
The park is the hero always. We're just here to help people enjoy it.
