How to Write a New Article About Visiting a Theme Park on wikiHow

Have you visited a theme park recently and want to help others get the best out of their future visits? Providing excellent advice here will help others make a more informed decision when visiting. Make sure the article you want to write...

Part 1 of 2:

Preparing and Researching

Make sure the article you want to write doesn't already exist on wikiHow. Type the theme park's name into the green search bar at the top of any wikiHow page, to see if your given topic has already been written. If the article already exists, you can add to it, to avoid your work being merged per the Merge Policy.
Pick the simplest and clearest title for your article. Often, your title can start with "Visit" and include the theme park name. For those parks that have more than one location, make sure to include the city. Examples: Good articles include "Visit Six Flags Magic Mountain" or "Visit Sea World San Antonio".
Build a good understanding of the park's layout. You'll need to know whether the park has several themed lands, or whether the rides are just spread out without being in named areas.
1. If the park has named lands, you can create a section for each one.
2. If the park has no named lands, you'll more than likely need to come up with a way to convey the suggested direction of travel through the park. You can often describe areas by mentioning the landmarks and rides your reader will see there. For example, saying something like, "If you've reached (second attraction name), you've gone too far and missed (first attraction name)," or "You'll find (attraction name) right after the food stalls, on the right."
Do some research on the park to understand all the attractions, even ones you might not have visited yet. You can often find walkthroughs and helpful videos and images on YouTube, Flickr and even Wikipedia. You'll also want to check out the official park site.
1. Note down points about each attraction to convey what each ride is like, what the user may see, and what may present a problem. You'll need to know just what the user should expect to encounter on their ride.
2. If you're looking for YouTube videos of rides, search using the exact ride name along with the theme park's name and terms like "on-ride"/"off-ride"/"POV". If the search returns no relevant results, omit some of the words and try again. If this still doesn't work, you'll need to rely on other sources of information.

Part 2 of 2:

Drafting Your Article

Get started with the article creation. Just as you would for any other article, click the "Write an Article" button from any wikiHow page and enter your proposed title.
1. Get comfortable using either the Advanced Editor or Article Creation Tool for articles like this. Guided Editor doesn't allow for multiple sections, so isn't suited to these kind of detailed theme park walk-throughs.
2. Keep a current map of the park with ride names nearby as you write.
Develop a list of action verbs that correspond to the type of rides in the park. Try to use action verbs that explain what the reader will be doing on the ride. Will they be going somewhere or just riding the ride, watching a show or taking in an attraction? Use an impactful verb that sets the scene for the reader.
1. Even if you have never ridden the ride or watched the attraction before, get to know exactly what all attractions are like so that you can describe them thoroughly and in an interesting way.
Use the introduction to get the reader psyched about visiting the park. Shoot for three to four sentences for an introduction, as part of a paragraph to get the reader intrigued and interested in what you have to tell them.
Set the scene for the reader in the Steps section. Start by giving the reader some facts about the park, including the address of the park as well as other nearby park choices they might consider visiting. Remember to cite reputable sources. Try both Bing and Google to get a mix of solid sources for your article.
Discuss the parking situation. There generally isn't a need to include directions to the park, but you might want to discuss parking options.
1. Provide an address as close as you can to the parking lot, as well as the price for a regular car. If you know the parking lot section names (few theme parks websites and apps list this information), provide these names and cite your sources.
2. If you can't find an address, provide the nearest cross-streets to the entrance to the parking area.
Discuss the park entrance. If the lead-up to the park has something memorable that all readers will encounter when entering, mention it! Prepare your reader for any security checks and turnstiles they might have to go through, too.
Use your map to describe how each land is set-up and how each ride is positioned in each of these lands. Write about each item from your map and notes as if you were walking from place to place through the park. Get the reader psyched to know just what to expect as they go through the park.
1. You can use subsections to divide your article up by lands/sections, just as the park is divided up.
2. If you aren't sure where the entrances and exits are, you can still lead the reader through the main attractions in an order that makes sense.
3. Parks not divided into individual lands can be set up as if the reader walks from one end of the park to the other along one path/side, and then back along the other side.
Set the scene for each ride, show, shop and restaurant, but avoid spoilers as much as possible. If you can't include them all, make sure to mention the most famous ones that the reader shouldn't miss.
1. Just because some attractions aren't famous, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be included. The more attractions you can include, the better.
Encourage the reader to stay in the parks to observe any special parades or nighttime fireworks. If the park has any daily special events, give your reader the details. Provide the location of the parade entrance and exit if you have it.
1. If you have found a really great spot for seeing an event or parade, let your reader know where to go for the same experience.
2. Don't worry about including special fireworks or activities that only happen on select days. Most readers won't be there for those specific days, so they aren't crucial to include.
Give the reader some Tips and Warnings about the park. What you include here will depend on the park in question, and what you know about it. Try to include fun visiting ideas or tricks that not every visitor will already know.
1. If any given rides have special safety limitations, you might include that in the Warnings.
Categorize your article in Category:Amusement and Theme Parks via either of these methods. If you are using the Article Creation Tool, you can categorize after you publish.
Set up a "References" section for the article. Check out How to Reference Sources on wikiHow for more information on this.
1. If you have other research/reference sources that are citable based on wikiHow's External Links policy, provide those in this section as well.
2. Don't just say that the information is from a "personal experience" if you can help it. Genuine, reputable sources are best.
Upload step-by-step pictures if you can. If you are using the Article Creation tool, you can do this after you publish.
1. If you have them, use your own pictures. If you aren't sure how to add photographs, check out Put a Photo in a wikiHow Article.
2. If you don't have photos to share, try finding relevant Flickr photos by going to the Flickr website directly and then using the Image Uploader to upload any images that are freely licensed for use on a commercial site like wikiHow (citing the URL of the photo file). Flickr has a lot of theme park and ride photographs you may be able to use.