Four Types of Water Park Development and Slide Design
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Whether it’s a theme park, real estate venture, or tourist attraction, nearly every industry follows a similar trajectory. As an industry expands to a certain size and scale, it inevitably undergoes a comprehensive reshuffle. Simple offerings, basic performance, low-end quality, and small-scale operations gradually exit the market. Instead, the focus shifts towards excellence, uniqueness, and professionalism, with both products and technology advancing to new heights.
For water parks, which feature numerous water slides, this means entering an era of comprehensive transformation and upgrading. This includes updates to amusement equipment, such as water park development in ultraviolet disinfection and other sanitation equipment, functional positioning, amusement experiences, and business models. Personalised, multi-faceted, and themed water parks are becoming investment and consumer highlights, leading to a more segmented water park market.
Environmental Impact and Industry Regulation
In recent years, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) testing requirements have become increasingly stringent. This has stabilised the rapid growth of water parks and standardised the industry’s development process. There are four primary types of water parks:
① Vacation-supporting type, which includes water parks with slides in tourist resort areas;
② Amusement complexes, featuring water slide areas within large theme parks;
③ Commercial-supporting type, small water parks within commercial complexes;
④ Single independent type, standalone water parks with independent operational capabilities.
Regardless of the type, investment and operation require a global perspective on the overall layout of water slides within the park. It’s essential to anticipate the park’s environmental form and spatial arrangement, considering its functions, economy, and aesthetics. All elements of the plan must work together to form an organic whole, ensuring the park’s space environment fully serves its theme.
Designing the Theme and Layout
When establishing the theme, content, and style of a water park, careful planning of each theme area’s location and the transitions and separations between them is crucial. This creates a beautiful natural environment and achieves a logical layout. Visitors often cannot maintain emotional and physical engagement for extended periods. Therefore, a successful water park must emphasise a rhythm—a sequence of “prologue-climax-relax transition-climax”—when organising and separating areas, allowing visitors to enjoy different spaces effortlessly.
In water parks, water serves as a medium, with creative amusement facilities for recreation and leisure spaces. While using water for enjoyment and relaxation, it also delivers thrilling and dynamic aquatic experiences. Theme parks offer romance and dreams, thrilling experiences, and facilities like hot springs and spas to entertain and promote citizens’ health. They cater to the needs of men and women, children, families, groups, rest and meetings, and activities. The following points should be considered in the process of packaging and positioning the cultural theme of the product:
① User group: Different players prefer different attractions. Children may enjoy exciting and colourful items, often playing them repeatedly, such as water slides and mushroom houses. These should be placed near the entrance to instantly engage children’s playfulness. Older visitors may prefer more tranquil attractions like water houses and wave pools, which can be centrally located for relaxation.
Young people, driven by curiosity, are drawn to more thrilling and interesting projects, such as big speakers and sky-flying attractions. These can be placed further away, as young people are more adventurous and energetic.
② Peripheral service packages: These include restaurants, showers, toilets, and supermarkets. It’s essential to consider the park’s size and visitors’ behaviour during day trips, arranging equipment and surrounding facilities accordingly. Bathing rooms should be near the entrance for easy access, and restaurants should be distributed throughout the park, considering equipment distances and the overall route.
③ Match with the overall environment of the park: For example, placing a pirate ship next to the wave pool or swimming pool offers visual enjoyment while having fun. The environment is crucial as it inspires visitors’ moods and facilitates seamless transitions between attractions.
④ Security issues cannot be ignored: This is the top priority for water parks. Children’s equipment, like small water slides and water play areas, should be in the most visible and accessible locations. Children’s safety awareness is relatively weak, and their self-rescue abilities are limited. Thrilling attractions should be on the periphery, allowing security personnel to monitor them effectively. Most importantly, equipment quality must be high, and players must adhere to safety guidelines.
The Role of Cultural Creativity in Water Park Development
With the rapid growth of the tourism economy, people’s expectations for tourism products are rising, and cultural creativity is becoming increasingly important. Simply stacking water park equipment no longer satisfies tourists’ experiential needs. Competition among parks will focus on theme culture.
In summary, if water park planning and design can tap into local characteristic elements to create unique themes, the park can stand out. A clear “IP” theme can become an eye-catching highlight. Remember, a water park with only water entertainment equipment lacks a “soul” and cannot attract repeat visitors. This is the emphasis for water park investors. Only innovative “themes” can draw more tourists and generate benefits.
