Child Audience Overview

Stub — hyper-focused cohort design for capstone festivals. Split into topic pages below; narrative walkthroughs coming later.

Community festivals often label everything “family-friendly.” That hides incompatible needs: a stroller-bound infant, a parallel-play toddler, a school-age contest entrant, a sensory-sensitive sibling, and a teen who wants boba and photos are different products sharing one field.

Hyper-focus means naming cohorts, assigning owners, and designing spatial + programming + product per cohort — not one undifferentiated kids zone.

Agent playbook index: child-cohort-product-design.md

Local discovery comps: Sacramento4Kids · Sactown Supermom

Guide index

Page What’s inside
Fit tags (menu model) Per-activation labels — like allergen lines on a food menu
Cohorts C0–C3 (≈0–12) Stroller-bound through school age · design axes
Cohort C4 — teens (≈13–17) Peer discoverability · crew calls · teen fit tags
Access cohorts SN-* Sensory · developmental · mobility — cross-cut all ages
Site plan & programming Modalities matrix · village vs teen lane · staffing
Local synergies Theme dressing · Sacramento comps · marketing · metrics
Implementation Checklists · product gaps · open questions
Director rally checklists Per age band — infrastructure · assets · activators to rally

Walkthroughs (coming)

Narrative pages that walk a reader through a proposed capstone program — not reference tables alone.

Walkthrough Status
LNY 2027 programming design Draft — Saturday zone + program by age band

North star — Disneyland grammar (without the IP)

Disneyland prepares the child culturally, earns parent buy-in, and creates an intergenerational bond through shared anticipation, ritual, and memory artifacts. Capstone festivals do not have Disney-scale IP. Achieve the same grammar using Greater Sacramento community assets, heritage themes, and intentional infrastructure.

Job What Disneyland does Capstone translation
Cultural preparation Movies, apps, park lore before the visit Pre-event storytime, school kits, wish week, moon story, zodiac characters
Parent buy-in Adults enjoy food, nostalgia, “we did this together” Heritage narrative · shade · food · photo artifact · elder honor
Child agency Kids choose rides, characters, souvenirs Cohort choice architecture · veto-safe exits · peer lanes (C4)
Intergenerational bond Grandparents, parents, kids share one “fridge photo” Spirit Meet · lantern walk · procession tail · elder portrait

Design rule: If programming delights a child but exhausts a parent with no shared memory artifact, it is entertainment, not staple product.

Design surfaces (beyond the booth)

Surface Examples
Pre-event Story kits · class lantern builds · relay signup · teen ambassador roster
Arrival Stroller-width paths · shade-first wayfinding · village pin
Passive environment Low-height décor · sound levels · rest zones · diaper stations
Scheduled programming Theater sets · stage magic · youth performances · teen lounge
Participation Procession tail · relay heats · craft-to-walk · photo corrals
Peer infrastructure HS club zones · meetup pins · WhatsApp shareables · totem / lantern
Exit & retention Save-the-date · survey · UGC reshare · home ritual handoff

Anti-pattern: A “kids zone” with bounce houses but no shade path, quiet exit, meetup point, or fit tags = equipment rental, not family product.

Veto power timeline

One record per age band — see content patterns.

0–2 (C0)

  • Going: Parent
  • Staying: Parent
  • Design: Parent stamina — shade, feeding, rest

3–5 (C1–C2)

  • Going: Parent proposes; child can kill the day
  • Staying: Child
  • Design: First 20 minutes must deliver · characters · easy win

6–8 (C2–C3)

  • Going: Family negotiation
  • Staying: Child + “my friend went”
  • Design: Named sessions · school/club visibility

9–11 (C3)

  • Going: Child influence rising
  • Staying: Child
  • Design: Challenge + bragging rights

12–14 (C4)

  • Going: Child + friend group
  • Staying: Teen peer set
  • Design: “Will my people be there?” answerable pre-event

15–17 (C4)

  • Going: Teen
  • Staying: Teen
  • Design: Program for them — not in the children’s tent

Principles P2 — group attendance · Autumn group-activity kits · Contributing