Development History of Water Parks

1. Swimming Pool Stage

Before the mid-1980s. This stage involved adding simple recreational equipment to ordinary standard swimming pools with minimal investment, such as diving platforms and simple water spray equipment. These were the initial water recreational projects.

2. Water Amusement Park

Mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Amusement zone stage, the area continuously expanded, and water parks began to have simple functional zones. Children's areas included water features and cartoon character-related features, while adult areas featured larger and more complex amusement equipment.

3. Water Park

Mid-1990s to 2005. More user-friendly water amusement stage. The area of water parks expanded significantly, with designs becoming more user-friendly and functional based on customer groups. In addition to the water park equipment area, more other functional areas appeared: dining areas, rest areas, leisure and entertainment areas, etc.

4. Comprehensive Water Park

2005 to present. A culmination of the cross-collision of elements from around the world and local elements, with stronger functional integration and a huge boost to the surrounding environment and commerce. Water parks at this stage are not only entertainment spaces but also landscape and architectural art.

1. Rapid growth in construction scale and quantity, strong development momentum

2. Annual visitor volume ranks among the world's top, industry has untapped potential

3. Significant trend of integrated development

The trend of creating integrated tourism destinations is significant. Since 2000, the trend of theme parks evolving from single independent attractions into large-scale tourism complexes and urban industrial clusters has been very obvious, greatly increasing their overall attractiveness and competitiveness. Against this backdrop, large and medium-sized water parks often integrate with theme parks, scenic areas, hot spring hotels, sports facilities, and urban complexes to form integrated tourism destinations combining water entertainment, cultural industries, creative industries, and tourism resorts.

1. Investment Planning

Researching the tourism market, socio-economics, and competitors of the project site, determining the market positioning of the project, determining the reasonable investment amount, and the investment ratio of each functional module.

2. Brand Planning

Based on the investment planning ideas, establishing market positioning and attractiveness, determining the project's brand strategy and competitive marketing strategy. Creating entertainment from the perspective of the target consumer group and the project's future market marketing, planning the project's highlights and selling points, and creating differentiation.

3. Design Planning

Transitioning to design implementation according to the investment planning and brand planning ideas, organizing and deepening the design content around the project's characteristics and differentiation. Determining the construction content and functional zoning, selecting the architectural style, cultural theme, and water park equipment, and analyzing feasibility, providing guidance for subsequent design regarding controlling technical indicators.

4. Master Plan Design

Expressing the project's construction content and layout through the master plan design, determining the spatial relationship between the functional areas of the project and their connection with the outside, proposing major landmark building design schemes and important node landscape schemes, pointing out key design points, and reasonably arranging water park equipment.

5. Preliminary Design

Deepening the specific design of the zones according to the master plan design, detailing the key content of entertainment creativity and core engineering, determining technical solutions and main parameters.

6. Construction Drawing Design

Compiling detailed general plans and specialized detailed drawings, construction estimates, expressing the specific dimensions, materials, and construction methods of each detail.

7. Business Preparation

Because of the short operating cycle, water parks have characteristics such as rigid consumption, short-distance consumption, immediate consumption, and mainly individual tourists. Good large-scale events will undoubtedly help improve operating efficiency and attract customers. For example, Changlong's bikini competition and Maya's electronic music festival have become brand events, deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In the process of event planning and creativity, we can draw from popular performing arts or entertainment projects; popular entertainment, sports, and internet celebrities; and hot topics or festivals (such as the World Cup, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival).

1. Accurate Positioning, Reasonable Layout

Target Market

The population base represents the target market and is an important reference data for calculating the future income of the project. Generally, the target population of a park should be the population covered within a 1.5-hour driving radius.

Park Location

The location of a water park is closely related to its traffic conditions and weather. Accessibility for tourists—including driving routes, city public transportation (buses, subways, etc.), and intercity transportation—will affect the number of visitors. Weather conditions determine the water park's operating hours, whether it can open at night, and whether it should be an outdoor, indoor, or a combination water park.

Target Audience

With the booming market for parent-child recreation, parks targeting families as their main market have seen good revenue in recent years. When planning and designing water parks for customers, they avoid adding too many thrilling and exciting rides and adopt a more lively and cute style in terms of theme, creating a friendly water park that brings a warm feeling to visitors.

Theme Positioning

Designers need to consider factors such as theme positioning, themed zones (storylines), theme environment creation (architectural style, theme colors, theme elements), and the thematization of amusement projects. Whether it's a storyline or a themed design, the park needs accurate positioning and reasonable layout from the initial planning and design stage. Water parks, due to their unique recreational attributes, cannot simply consider basic planning such as visitor flow and equipment combinations during planning and design. They must also start from the daily operational needs of the water park, incorporating the characteristics of the water park, dining habits, rental needs, performance characteristics, and visitor safety into the entire planning and design of the park. Safety, zoning, and local conditions must be prioritized and accurately positioned during the planning and design phase.

2. Differentiated Design

IP Design

For water parks to achieve differentiation from other market products and sustainable development, having an IP that tourists like and accept is very important and is also crucial for cultivating potential customers. This "IP trend" first achieved excellent results in the film and television culture industry and then naturally entered the theme park field. After abandoning the traditional "pure play" style of stacking equipment, water parks have gradually moved towards thematization, setting up a complete and interesting storyline during the play process, making the entire park visit like "watching a movie," leaving a deep impression on visitors.

3. Integrated Design

"The planning of theme parks has moved towards integrated design. The overall design is a complete process, from overall planning and layout to architectural design, theme IP development, landscape architecture integrated design, the introduction of performing shows... increasingly rich elements have put forward new requirements for the planning and design of themed water parks."

Integrated Planning and Design + Integrated Scheme Deepening

Planning Stage

Project location, target audience, planning layout, and product differentiation should be considered integrally. Convenient transportation and a beautiful environment should be chosen to attract visitors; the IP system should be used to enhance market stickiness and stimulate secondary consumption; the site should be reasonably planned to maximize reception capacity; and product differentiation should be increased to enhance product market competitiveness.

Scheme Deepening Stage

During the design, the theme IP should come first. The theme is the soul of the park. After setting a theme, the park areas are distinct yet unified; the environment of each area is created around this main theme, and the arrangement of various facilities will be more interesting; the theme can clearly define the architectural and equipment packaging style, strengthen indoor and outdoor connections, enrich the landscape and plant configuration, make the park style more coordinated, and highlight the park's characteristics; the theme can deepen and strengthen visitors' understanding of the park and enhance their immersive experience.

4. Enhanced Interactivity

Water parks should also consider incorporating more technological elements during the planning and design phase to allow the theme and visitors to interact, especially in night markets where performances and sightseeing are the main activities. It is particularly important to enhance interactivity—"Interactive night markets may be one of the most interesting future development directions for the water park industry."

After the early water parks that mainly focused on amusement equipment, visitors' requirements and expectations for new-generation water parks are getting higher and higher. The creativity of themes and culture and the integration of themed stories driven by IP are becoming increasingly important. Simply stacking water amusement equipment can no longer meet the needs of visitors' experiences. For established water parks, the only way is to constantly improve and innovate.

1. Planning Aspects

• Facility areas (including waiting areas) and leisure areas should be separated, and the planning ratio should be appropriate.

  
  

• The wave pool should be located in the center of the water park (depending on the actual plot).

  
  

• The children's pool should have sufficient leisure space for the elderly and women who are not comfortable going into the water.

  
  

• Large and tall equipment should be placed deep in the park to attract visitors.

  
  

• Equipment with good viewing effects should be placed on the outer periphery of the park to attract visitors from outside.

  
  

• The water treatment room should be discreetly designed.

2. Landscape Aspects

• Set up a high point in the scenic area to overlook the entire park, allowing visitors to experience the fun of climbing high and looking far, and enjoying the panoramic view of the scenic area.

  
  

• The lazy river is an indispensable element of a water park. During the design, attention should be paid to atmosphere creation. The water must be clear, the river channel should be winding and reasonable, wave-making equipment should be utilized, and the water flow rate should be controlled. Interactive water guns and cannons should be set up on both sides of the lazy river.

  
  

• When configuring plants, try to choose thornless, non-toxic, evergreen plants and reduce plant permeability.

  
  

• Provide an appropriate number of water mist and shade facilities.

  
  

• Disinfection and foot-washing facilities are needed before entering the park and pool.

  
  

• Reasonably set up temporary storage facilities.

3. Architectural Aspects

• The building design has a large volume and needs to fully consider the theme style.

  
  

• Service buildings such as sales and restaurants need to increase outdoor space and add shade facilities.

  
  

• Toilets need to consider the needs of people with disabilities and pregnant women, and add a third toilet.

4. Safety and Service Aspects

• The mid-to-late July and August are peak tourist seasons, and accidents are easy to occur. Therefore, rescue passages are an important factor that must be considered when designing a water park. A medical room and an emergency defibrillator should also be added within a certain range.

  
  

• The essential shower rooms in a water park can be open-style, without doors or curtains, saving space and park resources during peak tourist seasons.

  
  

• More food purchase points should be appropriately set up, distributed widely for convenient tourist purchases, while also considering management issues and avoiding water pollution in the scenic area.

1. Water pool design should comply with the following regulations

• Waterproof design should be implemented, and technical measures should be taken to prevent problems such as subsidence, leakage, and cracking of the water pool.

  
  

• Climbing ladders should be installed on the pool body, and the interval between ladders should not be greater than 15.0m.

  
  

• Clearly visible water depth markings should be installed on the pool walls.

  
  

• The wave-making pool walls should have anti-collision measures.

  
  

• A continuous footrest platform should be installed at 1.20m below the water surface of the pool wall, with a width of no less than 0.15m.

  
  

• Overflow channels should be installed on the pool walls, and overflow gratings should be installed on the channels; when the overflow channel is used for overflow return water, it should not discharge into the dirty water on the pool bank.

  
  

• One lifeguard observation platform should be set up for every 100㎡ of water surface area, and the height of the observation platform from the pool bank ground should not be less than 1.20m. The observation platform should be able to observe the entire water entertainment area.

  
  

• The water pool should be equipped with emergency drainage facilities. And the drainage outlet should take measures to prevent children from inhaling.

  
  

• The pool edge should be designed to prevent rainwater, sewage, etc., from flowing into the pool.

  
  

• The width of the pool bank should not be less than 7.0m, and the positive corner where the pool bank and the pool body meet should be rounded.

  
  

• The surface material of the pool bank should be non-slip and easy to clean, and a drainage slope should be provided.

2. The number of water park personnel should be calculated according to the following method

• The maximum number of people in the amusement water pool area at the same time is calculated at 0.5 people/㎡.

  
  

• The number of people in the carrier area should be calculated according to the passenger capacity of the equipment.

3. The auxiliary rooms and facilities of the water park should comply with the relevant provisions of the current national standard "Engineering Technical Standards for Theme Parks", and should meet the following requirements

• The number of changing rooms, showers, and toilet fixtures should be determined according to the rated passenger capacity of the amusement water pool.

  
  

• It is mandatory to pass through shower and disinfection foot pools before entering the water entertainment area. The width of the disinfection foot pool should be the same as the passage leading to the pool, the length of the disinfection foot pool should not be less than 2.0m, and the depth should not be less than 0.20m.

  
  

• Non-slip measures should be taken on the ground of wet spaces such as walkways, changing rooms, bathrooms, and toilets.

  
  

• Technical equipment rooms should include water treatment rooms, water quality testing rooms, pump rooms, electrical rooms, and related machine rooms and warehouses.

  
  

• When using chlorine and other chemical products for water treatment, there should be an independent chlorination room and chemical storage room.

  
  

• The chlorination room and chemical storage room should adopt fire prevention, explosion prevention, and ventilation measures.

4. Classification and precautions for water amusement facilities

• The distance between water amusement facilities and adjacent amusement facilities should not be less than 0.6m.

  
  

• The water depth of the wave-making pool's amusement area should not exceed 1.8m, and the bottom of the pool should be a slope with a slope of no more than 8%.

  
  

• The water depth of the water slide splashdown area should be 0.8m～0.9m; the water depth of the children's slide splashdown area should be 0.3m～0.6m.

  
  

• The water depth of the splashdown area of special slides should be 0.9m～4m.

  
  

• The water depth of the drifting river should not exceed 1.2m.

  
  

• The water depth of the toddler pool should not exceed 0.3m, and the water depth of the children's pool should not exceed 0.6m.

  
  

• The average surface velocity of the drifting river (such as ring current river, rapid river, tidal river, giant flood canyon, etc.) should be less than 2m/s, the width should not be less than 2.5m, and the pushing flow, wave-making devices, and auxiliary facilities should not injure tourists.

  
  

• The wave height of the swimming pool should not exceed 1.2m, and the wave height of large waves should not exceed 3.0m.

  
  

• The return water inlet of the water circulation system should have at least two sets of independent, fixed, safety gratings that cannot be moved by non-professionals. The gap between the gratings should be less than 8mm, the flow rate of the gratings should not exceed 0.2m/s, and it should be avoided to be set in the tourist activity water area. If it is unavoidable to be set on the pool wall that tourists can touch, the safety grating should be spherical, and safety warning signs should be set above the waterline on the upper part of the safety grating.

  
  

• Various amusement pools should be set up separately, and isolation devices should be set up if the water areas are connected.

1. Comprehensive interactive equipment

According to the scale of different projects, equipment of different areas, sizes, and types can be selected. Currently, interactive equipment developed on the market includes water castle types (large, medium-sized interactive water castles, children's ocean water houses) and family combination slides, children's water slides, etc. Water castles rank very high in the field of parent-child interaction, consisting of adult areas and family parent-child areas, combining various interactive toys, dumpers, large and small water slides, various styles of fountains, and thematic packaging. A set of equipment has diversified features, large passenger capacity, prominent themes, strong immersion, and a wide range of adaptable people. It has both thrilling and exciting adult areas and family parent-child entertainment areas, which is the most popular and favorite equipment area among a wide range of players outside the wave-making pool.

2. High-tech water equipment

Sliding on a water slide is already a very exciting experience, and now some companies are starting to upgrade this exciting experience through VR technology! There is no need to produce new slides, but to integrate computers and sensing components into existing slides, and then use VR headsets to bring guests an immersive experience.

3. Themed diving pool

Moving the traditional indoor diving pool outdoors, dividing it into shallow, medium, and deep zones, with instructors leading diving training and recreation. Combining unique themes such as deep sea and caves provides tourists with a unique experience. It can also be integrated with restaurants or other slide equipment for a more novel and enjoyable experience.

During the off-season, the diving pool can be opened separately for underwater weddings, underwater performances, and diving lessons, increasing the park's popularity, becoming a popular check-in spot, and generating additional revenue.

4. Water Park + Hot Spring

Features: Introducing the most popular summer water park attractions to hot spring resorts compensates for the lack of variety and fun during the off-season. This significantly improves overall operations and increases revenue. Main water park activities include hot spring wave pools, hot spring rafting, hot spring swimming pools, water slides, and other fashionable, dynamic, and exciting water activities.

Development Notes: This model has proven to be one of the most successful, but the key lies in the dynamic and continuous innovation of water park activities. This places higher demands on hot spring resorts in terms of investment scale, tourism project planning, and equipment upgrades.