Water park design

Water park design is the planning of a park of pools, slides and water attractions as one place. Mast Parks designs water parks. A water park can stand alone, sit inside a larger amusement park or be built indoors.

Mast Parks offers water park design as part of Master Planning, its design service. The master plan is the blueprint of the park: architectural drawings, crowd movement, ride and attraction selection, theming placement and revisions until the client approves it.

This page explains what water park design involves, where Mast Parks has done this kind of work and what an owner should settle before starting. It stays at the level of what the work is for. The detailed method is part of Mast Parks' professional practice and is not published here.

See the park type hub: Water Parks. Before design, a feasibility study decides which park or concept suits the site. After the master plan, Architectural Designing produces the construction-level drawings.

A water park has to work as a whole: the site, the returns, the rides, the theme and the people who run it. The attractions are water-based, which means each one has its own space needs, its own safety rules and its own pattern of use.

Slides, pools and play areas suit different ages and abilities, and the park has to offer something to each group. The first steps matter most. A water park feasibility study checks resource availability, similar offerings in the market and, most importantly, the local demand and the weather. The master plan then turns the answer into a layout.

Guest flow

Guests move between slides, pools, food areas and rest areas, and the plan has to make each move easy. Rest areas that sit too far from the water, or queues that block the way to food, are layout problems, and the master plan is where they are solved.

Attractions

Each slide, pool and play area has its own space needs and safety rules. Mast Parks selects the slides and attractions together with the client so that the mix suits the audience.

Theming

The master plan decides how the theme appears in the water areas, the buildings and the props. At a Mast water park in Rajasthan, the peacock feather and curd pot motifs connect the park to nearby religious places without making it overtly religious.

Drawings and revisions

The master plan for a water park is drawn as architectural drawings and sketches with exact measurements. The client reviews the plan, asks for changes and sees it revised until it is approved. Nothing moves to the construction-level drawings until the plan is approved.

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.

Water parks inside larger parks. Dreamasia is an amusement and water park that was re-themed around its name. Fun World brings an amusement park, a water park, an aquarium and a snow park under one theme.

See all water park projects.

An owner brings the site, with its survey and any documents about its boundaries and access, together with the budget and the concept agreed in earlier stages. The owner also brings their views on the plan as it develops, since the revisions depend on them.

The owner receives the approved master plan for the water park.

Water park design is used by private landowners, existing park owners, family businesses, government and tourism bodies, and temples and religious trusts. Some start from land and an idea. Others add a water park to an existing amusement park, or plan one inside a larger development.

The master plan gives the owner a clear answer to these questions before any building starts:

• Whether the park is indoor, outdoor or both.
• Which slides, pools and play areas suit the audience.
• Where food and rest areas sit in relation to the water.
• How the theme appears in the water areas.
• How the water park connects to a larger park, if it sits inside one.

A water park built without a master plan can end up with crowded paths between slides, rest areas too far from the water and queues that block the way to food. One built without a site and audience study may be the wrong size for its catchment, or may offer slides that suit the wrong age group. Planning each of these in advance is cheaper than correcting them afterwards.

An outdoor water park depends on the weather and the season. An indoor one can open through the year and shelter guests from heat or rain, but it has to be designed as a building, with a roof, air and light that suit water attractions. Mast Parks plans both kinds, and the feasibility study helps an owner choose. For the indoor model, see indoor water parks.

A water park theme can come from mythology, nature, a region, a culture or an original idea. What matters is that it belongs to its place and its audience. A Mast water park in Rajasthan shows one way: motifs from the region link the park to its surroundings. Mast Parks develops the theme through theme development and carries it into the master plan.

Owners get more from this service when they arrive with answers, or at least with a view, on the points below. None of them needs to be settled in advance, and Mast Parks can help to settle them.

• How much land is available, and is it one piece?
• What has the feasibility work recommended for the water park?
• What is the budget range for the first phase?
• Which attractions matter most to your audience?
• Do you want an indoor water park, an outdoor one, or both?
• Are there features on the site, such as trees, water or slopes, that you want to keep?

• Master plan. The blueprint of the park: where everything goes.
• Guest circulation. How guests move through the park.
• Zoning. Dividing the park into areas for different kinds of attraction, theme or audience.
• Indoor water park. A water park built as a building, open through the year.
• Water attraction. A slide, pool, play area or other attraction based on water.

Mast Parks organises its work as 13 services in four stages, listed here in the order a project usually follows. Water park design (Master Planning) is shown in bold. An owner can start at any stage, but each stage builds on the one before it.

• Concept and Planning. Feasibility Studies, Financial Planning, Concept Creation, Theme Development.
• Design and Execution. Master Planning, Architectural Designing, Project Management Consultancy.
• Rides, People and Operations. Ride and Attraction Planning, Team Hiring and Training, Operations Planning.
• Launch and Growth. Marketing and Branding, Merchandising, Content and Events.

Most owners use several of these services together, and some use the full set from idea to opening. See all 13 on the services page.

Mast Parks works with the owner at each step. The owner approves the work before it moves to the next stage, and revisions are part of the process. The owner knows the site, the region and the ambition. Mast Parks brings experience of designing and delivering parks across eight park types. For a water park, the best results come when the two work as one team, with decisions made quickly and in the open.

To start a conversation, use the contact page. Mast Parks will ask about the site, the park you have in mind and where you are in the project.