(AP) — Your local fun zone, amusement center and theme park is facing an existential challenge these days. Walking around the nine miles of show floor aisles at the annual International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo is like riding a mechanical bull through a slot machine: wild and noisy and tiring. There's "Voyage to the Iron Reef," where riders will climb into "submarine-inspired vehicles" and blast away at scavenging creatures, fish, and other 3-D creatures as they attempt to save Knott's Berry Farm in California from a watery doom. Holovis, a U.K.-based company, was selling a customizable "interactive dark ride", (an indoor ride where cars or vehicles travel through illuminated scenes, often with special effects, music and animation), where riders in a roller coaster car blasted away at pirates in a tropical setting. Theme parks are trying to find ways to incorporate apps and social media into the games and rides so people will continue the immersive experience even after they've left the park. Some rides and theme park experiences allow guests to play game versions of the rides on their phones or compare their in-game scores to other guests via an app. No one knows this better than Denise Chapman Weston, a psychologist who incorporated video games, a smartphone app, lights and music into a water slide.