Concrete kills theme parks, here's why

Theme parks can be found in nearly every corner of the globe. Mostly, they're all the same - they feature a collection of huge roller coasters, spinning rides, and tempting food stalls. The world’s best theme parks all have one thing in common, however. It’s not the rides or the exhaustingly long queues. It's nature. The trees, plants, and vegetation; water, lakes, and streams; all have a positive impact on the average experience of theme park goers. So, how do theme parks use nature well, why does it make such a difference?

00:00 Introduction
01:04 Nature enhances design
03:52 Nature improves experiences
06:46 Nature is an attraction
12:06 Thought experiment

VIDEOS:

[MadMovieMakers]

I've heard that the trees and plants at zoos are sometimes more expensive than the animals, but it pays off!

[JamesonThomas]

This makes me want to place 500 trees on roller coaster tycoon 2.

[sharongaal]

I love seeing the Efteling used as an example, as this is the theme park I used to go to as a kid. I totally agree that they use nature very well to enhance theming.

[davidfrischknecht]

My favorite amusement park is Knoebels Amusement Resort. That park is chock full of nature. When they built the park or expanded it, they only removed as few trees as necessary.

[ErikWestcot]

I work in the Horticulture department at a large theme park resort in Orlando.
Its nice seeing a video featuring something I work with on a daily basis :)

[michaellinton]

One of my favorite theme parks that I have been to is Busch Gardens Virginia. It has been named the world's most beautiful park for the past 33 years in a row. It is packed with a lot of vegetation.

[jarmoliebrand]

I was at Efteling a few days ago and it’s really just nice to walk around. The park is big and green. And dense greenery also makes the park look bigger than it actually is. The weather was good. The foliage was amazing. The flowers around the park looked well kept and were brightly coloured. At one point, I just sat next to Fata Morgana for a minute or 20, with some food, because it was just nice to do so.
I love that Efteling made it so that 90% of the surface area needs to be nature. And when new rides are built, nature doesn’t have to suffer for it. Big, old trees get a new place to call home and new plants are included in the budget for a new attraction. After a few years, it’ll start looking great near that specific attraction.
The rockwork at Symbolica, the greenery on the Ton van de Ven square (that’s where Dreamflight and Villa Volta are), the dunes near Vliegende Hollander, Aquanura and Fata Morgana next to one another. It all makes for such a nice place to just be in, rather than being there just for the rides. It can be nice to just be somewhere in the park and see, nor hear, any rides.
And when you’re in the fairy tale forest, or anywhere else, basically, you can just have fun spotting ducks, pigeons, crowd, jackdaws and occasionally squirrels and such.
I think the natural setting, intrinsic to the Efteling, combined with the architectural tone, set by Anton Pieck, are probably the two most defining features of Efteling. And there’s of course the music too, as well as the storytelling. Ah, it’s so nice to just walk around with music in the background. The iconic mushrooms might be the prime example of it.

[josephmorris]

interesting how Universal emphasizes about their upcoming Epic Universe park that they are putting "the park back into theme park" coincidence?

[aliteralcabbage]

One of my favorite theme park areas with nature is Camp Snoopy at Knotts Berry Farm! The whole area is full of trees, a river, and man-made waterfall. The whole park is nice in design, yet Camp Snoopy has the most plants. I also enjoy Alton Towers a lot as all the rides work together with the environment. Thanks for another amazing video!

[Robert-vwod]

This was one of the first things I learned at Alton Towers when I was eight years old, my grandad had worked for British ropeways. i’ve heard it expressed in many ways. you need stories, legends myths nature water.

[YannBK]

I did not expect this video to get so existential, and I’m all here for it!

As someone who creates theme parks in Planet Coaster on my YouTube channel, I totally agree with all the points you brought up about nature. I cannot create a park without thinking of its natural perks, for instance, my latest is literally called Serene Gardens because it celebrates three types of natural spaces around the world: European, Mediterranean and Japanese!

I love that you used shots of Bellewaerde among the nature heavy parks because that’s always the one I think of when I think about a park set in nature. It’s one that heavily inspires me 🥰

[RollerbazAndCoasterDad]

Nature is high up in what we comment on in our vlogs, but our Claire did once work for Kew Gardens. Nice to see it recognised.

[zacg_]

I totally agree. Even more traditional amusement parks with minimal theming give you a great feeling if they either feature great natural settings or they simply include great landscaping. In the USA, Cedar Point, Knoebels and Glenwood Caverns are only loosely themed in a handful of attractions but their settings really make the experience even better. And parks like Silver Dollar City, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Dollywood all have great natural settings that work to amplify the effect of their top notch theming. And like you said, shade really can make or break a park experience when it gets hot.

I've only been to one European park but I'm hoping to make it to parks like Efteling, Alton Towers and Erlebnispark Tripsdrill for exactly the reasons your talking about.

[schagerbaantje]

Fun fact: Efteling has Nature so high as a value that they keep a max percentage of the park that may be build. To make sure that the nature stays a rich part of the park. If i'm correct 30% may be build and 70% of the park has to be natural. So if they remove greenery for a new ride, they will bring it back at a different part or around the new ride as fas as possible.

Baron 1898 is a good example of this, here they themed the que line to a lumber forest, using it to bring back alot of trees.

[MattMcIrvin]

Now that I think about it, this is also how Universal's Islands of Adventure has a generally superior vibe to Universal Studios Florida: much more (often ersatz) nature in the layout. I suppose the "studio park" theme tends to work against nature because it emphasizes the artificiality of what you're seeing, that you're peeking behind the scenes. As the old studio parks pivot away from that, it becomes less of an issue--Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios is themed with a lot of rockwork and foliage.

[sherilcarey]

Oooh, 100% agree! And I loved listening to all this. You made me remember so many good vibes.
It's very odd but I have very few memories of specific rides at the park we went to the most when I was young (up till I was 11 or so), but I remember the vibe and I've never been to another park that was as good or as beautiful. I think this is why. I think I do have a specific memory of walking paths through trees. And BTW, I also got to go to Disney several times while I was growing up, which was really great back then. Although I wouldn't go now that I live close to Disney it was fantastic way back when. The fun and relaxation and happiness were real at Disney back then. It was a great vacation destination in the 70s and 80s. And I do have many specific memories of the Magic Kingdom rides I loved. But my more visited and still truly well loved park that I'd love to go back in a heartbeat was Kings Dominion in Virginia. I haven't been since my family moved away from Virginia in 1982. I think the natural beauty was one of the huge positives about that park back then. Huh, come to think of it, I do also remember a little bit about the lovely woods at a little park, in Maryland, that my family went to when I was only 4 or 5. Alas that park is long gone.

When we lived near Atlanta in my teens I went to Six Flags over GA a lot and although I always had fun there, I'm hyper aware that my view of the Six Flags company is not nearly as positive as my view of Kings Dominion. I would say teens can have a lot of fun there but the vibe isn't much to write home about and definitely not of interest to me to go much beyond my teen years. I went once with my kids in the late aughts. It felt dirty and trashy that day. *shrug* I dream of better parks than what hardly any of them are these days. I live 15 minutes from Legoland in Florida and I hardly ever go there anymore. I have no interest in Merlin as a company given the crapfest they've made of "taking care of" the gardens at the back that they told the locals they would maintain. Honestly I can't get excited about any Merlin park possibility even when I hear great things about their parks that would include international travel for me. That's what poor ethics and crumbling infrastructure will do to a company's reputation.

I'm forming a list in my head. I'd like to go see Dollywood again. Kings Dominion would definitely be great to see if it is still as beautiful and nice as it used to be for me in the 70s and in 1980 and '81. I'd like to see Holiday World and maybe Knoebel's from the things I've heard recently about both being very customer focused. I'll try to go see American Heartland when it opens. If I get to plan a trip to Europe and it can include theme parks I'd definitely include the Efteling at the top of the list, Phantasialand and I think probably Europa park, although there are several others too that sound lovely and more... hmm... more what? I think it may be "family run" that I should lean into to find which ones I most want to visit. I appreciate all kinds of rides. I appreciate nature. I appreciate a great vibe or great theming.

[TheRadioAteMyTV]

Six Flags Magic Mountain in CA has never learned this lesson. All the money they spend on air misters instead of real trees. Ok.

[sellophanesun]

As someone who has made their living for the last 25 years by planting stuff (and visiting theme parks when I wasn't), I have to agree with every single sentence you uttered in this wonderfully argued monologue, especially when you said 'And we'll see you next time'...thanks!

[MattMcIrvin]

Hersheypark was great about this back in the 1970s, but they may have developed to the point that they get less out of the natural landscape than they used to. The Busch Gardens parks can get away with less theming than they would probably optimally have just because they still make a lot of use of natural landscape and vegetation.

Another park that gets a lot out of natural setting is Lake Compounce--the mountain looming over everything and the lake adjoining the waterpark add a lot of appeal. Boulder Dash, the flume, and, formerly, the skyride all make use of the natural mountain slope and foliage in their design.

[streetster]

I find it amusing that there's b-roll of Thorpe Park at 04:25, as out of the UK parks they could really do with more shade (trees) in sections of the park and queue lines!