Whitewater West’s all in one compact play attraction, No Boundaries, offers a customised solution for park and play centres needing an eye-catching. low maintenance, attraction. Ronnie Dungan spoke to the firm to find out how it works…
With increased expectations that family entertainment centres are able to offer a whole array of experiences in one place as part of a long day-out, has come demand for more compact solutions that bring big value in a small space.
Responding to this demand, Whitewater West is among the many attractions providers that has developed a play solution called No Boundaries which creates an eye-catching feature with a small footprint.
Jacky Chui, Whitewater’s content marketing specialist explains: “The inspiration for No Boundaries was our desire to bring the fun and excitement of adventure experiences to a broader range of guests and in particular to kids and families. Appreciating the needs, both architectural and operational, of the theme and water park resort operator is what influenced us to design No Boundaries as a tall and iconic structure but with a compact high capacity footprint.”
The firm currently offers No Boundaries in two options – the larger NB200 and the NB100 – and may also develop additional options. It allows for a capacity of between 350-800 guests per hour and has a maximum footprint of 860 square metres.
“We are in the midst of four project installations, two of the larger No Boundaries NB200 and two of the No Boundaries NB100 (one of which is in an indoor theme park space). The interest in No Boundaries has been fantastic; we can see additional models, configurations and activity compositions in the future.
“No Boundaries offers three of the best and broadest appeal adventure experiences: zipping, ropes challenge courses, and climbing walls and free-form structures. However, our Zip Coaster is not on a straight steel cable, rather it is a unique hybrid between zip and roller coaster that travels on a rigid track that allows it to curve, bend, dip and basically follow unique paths. We spent a lot of time ensuring that our Zip Coaster was a safely, controlled ride system but did not sacrifice the dispatch efficiency. No Boundaries also provides free-play climbing and sliding fun in our Net and Wave Climbs and Adventure Trails.”
The bespoke nature of the development means that the firm is a little coy when it comes to discussing installation costs. But it expects to make improvements to build times and the installation process.
“Depending upon the level of theming, customisation, and site development, typical time from contract to commissioning of a No Boundaries attraction is 12-14 months for NB100 and 14-16 for NB200. We expect these timelines to improve significantly as the product progresses from the initial installations through the roll-out.”
It has recently been installed at Hot Go Park in Fushun, China, with more and more features being installed every day, the most recent of which were a seasonal candy cane and Christmas tree with a Zip Coaster and Adventure Trail also being added.
The system is deliberately designed to have a broad age-range appeal, making it the ideal fit for family entertainment centres that want to allow adults to play alongside their children instead of watching from the sidelines.
“No Boundaries will appeal to a broad range of parks, especially those looking to provide a high quality family adventure attraction that has broad age appeal from kids as young as three through adult. Parks who want to either dip their toe or make a big splash in the burgeoning adventure experience area, but who are concerned about risks and operational challenges these attractions historically came with, will see that No Boundaries ticks both boxes. With No Boundaries we’ve created a modern safe and operationally efficient attraction that can incorporate customer theming and branding to create a one-of-a kind attraction.”
Thus far the firm has seen a positive reaction to the system and believes it will be an ongoing hit with park owners and customers too.
“With installation work completing and systems testing taking place in the first installations, we’ve seen a huge number of guests watching and asking questions and anxiously waiting the opening. In addition, the staff whom we’ve been training are super excited and seem genuinely thrilled to be trained and assigned to work on the No Boundaries attraction. Both signs point to No Boundaries being a winner and will have a huge positive impact on the parks who own them.”
The Chinese way
Everfashion Theme Park in Fushun, China added No Boundaries offering more than ten different activities including an activity course of uphill climbs, downward descents, and a winding aerial zip coaster.
“We’ve really packed this attraction with features,” says Mark Weston, designer and product manager. “I’m extremely proud that we’ve created, for the first time, parallel play in one structure where siblings of different ages can race across the attraction in tandem; the older enjoying the high thrill harnessed play while the younger test their limits with unharnessed challenges. It is a mini-family adventure park all on its own.”
WhiteWater’s automated and patented safety technology allows guests to explore the structure with limited supervision making this an efficiently-operating attraction. Their continuous harness clip allows guests to zip from one platform to another without ever having to unhook. The technology is designed to shorten queues and allow for a higher capacity throughput.
The second installation of No Boundaries will be open to the public later this summer at Gui’an Wonderland Happy World Park in Fuzhou, China. In 2018, the NB100 model can be seen in Malaysia, as well as Abu Dhabi.