14 May 2019
KidZania plans major expansion with first US sites
BY Andy Knaggs
KidZania – the children's edutainment centre operator – has announced plans to expand into the US, with its first centre due to open in Frisco, Dallas, Texas later this year and another three cities ‒ New York, Chicago and Los Angeles ‒ to follow through to 2021.
There are currently 27 KidZania centres in 21 countries, with the US plans further expanding the franchise's global reach.
"At KidZania, kids have an opportunity to role-play more than 100 professions within an 80,000 square foot indoor city designed just for them," said Greg Stevens, chief executive officer of KidZania USA.
"In the US, we're onboarding industry partners and identifying new local champions, because that is what makes the immersive learning experiences real and meaningful."
KidZania's offering is a kid-size city, where children can play a variety of real-life roles in realistic simulations. Role-play professions include firefighter, journalist, chef and surgeon. KidZania says the experience allows children to "learn about the world of work while building real-life skills like financial literacy, teamwork and problem solving".
Many of the centres are operated on a franchise model, while KidZania also partners with consumer brands to incorporate them into a city's architecture and activities. In this way, brands such as British Airways, Netflix, Microsoft, Honda, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, Kellogg's, WWE and Nintendo have all become involved with the operator.
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