A Stanford student organization exploring how immersive, memorable experiences are imagined, engineered, produced, and operated — from theme parks and museums to immersive theater and interactive installations.
All majors and experience levels are welcome — from engineers and designers to writers, performers, and the simply theme-park-curious.
What is themed entertainment?
Themed entertainment is the art and craft of designing physical places and moments that tell a story. It shows up everywhere people gather to feel something.
Hands-on creative and technical projects, attraction concepts, and prototypes — from first sketch to a working show element.
Speaker nights, portfolio reviews, and career programming with professionals across creative, technical, and operational roles.
Theme park and studio visits, museum trips, and immersive experiences that turn field research into inspiration.
An interdisciplinary community for mentorship, networking, and cross-major collaboration on ambitious ideas.
Meet professionals working across creative, technical, and operational roles in themed entertainment. An evening of short talks, Q&A, and informal networking open to every major.
Sample event — details TBA
A hands-on session covering the fundamentals of ride and experience concepting — story beats, guest flow, and rapid model-making.
A field trip to study a real attraction up close — queue design, show systems, and operations — with a group debrief afterward.
A relaxed mixer for new and returning members. Meet the community, swap favorite experiences, and find project collaborators.
Open a row to see both projects side by side. Real member work spanning attraction-design competitions, interactive experiences, and illusion R&D.
Spin through the disciplines that come together to build an experience. Use the arrows or pick one directly.
Ride systems, mechanisms, and the physical machinery that makes a moment move, safely and reliably.
All you need is curiosity. Whether you want a career in themed entertainment or just love a great experience, come build with us.
STEA Interest Form 2026–27
Takes about a minute. Sign in with your Stanford Google account — we’ll follow up with events, projects, and ways to get involved.
We’d love to work with speakers, mentors, alumni, industry partners, and sponsors who want to support the next generation of experience makers.