Water park business plan

A water park business plan shows whether a water park can earn enough to justify its cost, and how. It brings together the site, the audience, the concept, the build and the running of the park into one plan the owner can decide on.

This guide explains what a water park business plan is for and what it should cover. It stays at the level of what each part is for. The detailed method, the models and the formats are part of Mast Parks' professional practice and are not published here.

A business plan is the owner's decision document. It answers whether to build, what to build, how to pay for it and how the park will earn. It is not a brochure. A plan written to impress a lender and not to guide the owner tends to fail the first time reality differs from it.

Mast Parks' financial planning service analyses pocket size, investment and potential returns, with the focus on return on investment (ROI).

A business plan built on a guess about the site and the audience is a guess with numbers. A feasibility study comes first, because it studies the space, the location and the target audience and determines the most suitable concept. The business plan then tests that concept.

• The concept: what the park is and who it is for.
• The site and the audience the plan is built on.
• The investment: what the park needs to be built.
• The income: how the park earns, from tickets and beyond.
• The running of the park: staff, water, power and upkeep.
• The risks: what could change the picture, such as weather and competition.

Each part depends on the one before it. A plan in which the income does not follow from the audience, or the running costs do not follow from the concept, is a plan to be questioned.

Tickets are the first source of income, not the only one. Food, merchandise, events, group bookings and, where it fits, stays can all add to it. Each needs space, staff and planning. Counting them honestly shows which parts of the park carry the investment.

See how theme parks make money for the wider picture.

A water park has running costs that a dry park does not, from water and treatment to supervision. A plan that counts only construction understates what the park costs to hold. The design is therefore shaped with running costs in mind, so that the park is affordable to operate as well as to build.

A water park has busy and quiet periods, and the plan should say how the park earns across the year. Owners often add dry attractions, events or an indoor area to widen the season. See indoor water parks.

The business plan sets the limits within which the park is designed. Master planning draws the park to the plan, and architectural designing turns it into construction drawings. If the plan changes, the design changes with it. This is why the plan comes first. See water park design.

Returns depend on the site, the concept and the market. A feasibility study estimates them for a specific site.

Results depend on the project, the park and the market. Mast Parks plans marketing to bring guests to the park and to keep them coming back.

A business plan is trustworthy when its numbers follow from its facts. The audience in the plan should be the audience the study found. The concept should be the one the site supports. The running costs should follow from the design. A plan in which these links are loose is a plan to be questioned, however polished it looks.

Mast Parks builds the plan from the feasibility study and tests it against the concept, so that the owner can see why each part is there.

The first reader is the owner, who has to decide. The plan may also be shown to partners, lenders and advisers. A plan that helps the owner decide usually also helps the others, because it is honest about what is known and what is not. A plan written only to persuade usually fails the owner and, eventually, the others too.

• Counting construction cost and forgetting running cost.
• Assuming ticket sales will carry the whole investment.
• Ignoring the season and the weather.
• Building the plan before studying the site and the audience.
• Treating the plan as finished and never revisiting it as the project moves.

A plan is a living tool. It is revisited as the project moves, so that the owner always decides from the latest picture.

Sites change, costs move and markets shift while a park is planned. A good business plan is revisited at each stage, so that the owner decides from the latest picture. If a number no longer holds, the plan changes before a drawing is made or a contract is signed, which is when changing it is cheapest.

A water park shares many questions with other parks, but its infrastructure, its season and its safety duties make the plan different. A plan borrowed from a dry park will miss the costs and the risks that matter most. That is why a water park plan is built for water parks, from the concept down to the daily running of the park.

• Does the audience in the plan match the audience the study found?
• Do the running costs follow from the design?
• Does the plan say how the park earns in the quiet months?
• Has anyone outside the project read it with fresh eyes?

If any answer is no, the plan needs another pass.

The cost of a park depends on the project and the effort it needs: the park type, the size of the site and the services chosen. It is not a fixed number, and a figure quoted without knowing the site would mislead. Mast Parks scopes each project with the owner, so the owner pays for the work that project needs.

To discuss a plan for your site, use the contact page.

How long a park takes depends on the project: the size of the site, the park type and the scope of the work. Mast Parks agrees a timeline with each owner at the start, so the owner can plan funding, approvals and the opening around it.

Fun World. The park was re-themed so its amusement park, water park, aquarium and snow park sit under one theme, with new merchandising options and a dark ride. See the project.

A Mast water park in Rajasthan. An indoor water park with an integrated amusement park, designed to give guests shelter from the heat. Mast Parks handled theming, naming, master planning, architectural design, project management, operations, hiring and training. See the project.

An amusement park project. Mast Parks proposed and designed the amusement park around an existing food park factory, including master planning, architectural drawings, thematic design and attraction design with dark rides, and provided project management consultancy with on-site personnel. One amusement park project.

See financial planning for how Mast Parks approaches the numbers.