Ride and Attraction Planning

Amusement ride selection is the choice of which rides, slides and attractions the park will have, and who supplies them. Amusement park rides should suit the audience, the space and the theme.

Rides carry a park, and every ride needs a vendor. Ride and Attraction Planning is the service that finds and manages that choice. Mast Parks handles amusement ride selection and attraction planning: we identify and select appropriate vendors for rides, slides and attractions, and we facilitate customisation requests.

The service sits in the Rides, People and Operations stage of the 13 Mast Parks services. It follows Project Management Consultancy and comes before Team Hiring and Training. It works from the master plan, which has already decided which rides, slides and attractions the park needs.

Identifying and selecting vendors

Rides, slides and attractions are supplied by specialist vendors. The service identifies the vendors that suit the park and selects the appropriate ones for each ride or attraction. The aim is a match between what the park needs, the vendor's product and the owner's budget.

Customisation

A themed park often needs rides that look and behave differently from the standard product. Mast Parks facilitates customisation requests, so that the vendor adapts a ride to the theme, for example in its look, its story or its setting. This is how a standard ride becomes part of the park's world.

Fit with the master plan and the theme

Each ride has to fit the space the master plan gives it, the audience the park serves and the theme the park follows. The service checks the choice against all three before it is confirmed.

Procurement and negotiation

On projects where it is part of the scope, the service extends to procurement and negotiations with vendors, so that the owner buys on informed terms. Mast Parks earns no fee or commission from vendors. As a practice, it stays client-focused and does not charge any vendor in the process of building or executing a project.

An owner brings the master plan, the budget for rides and attractions and any preferences already formed, such as vendors the owner has met or rides the owner wants. The owner also brings clear priorities: which attractions matter most.

The owner receives a selection of rides and attractions with vendors chosen to match the park.

Amusement ride selection is needed by new parks, and by existing parks adding rides to attract more guests.

Ride and attraction planning is used by private landowners, existing park owners, family businesses, government and tourism bodies, and temples and religious trusts who need to choose rides for a new park or add attractions to an existing one. It applies to all eight park types.

On a Mast amusement and adventure park in Karnataka, Mast Parks handled ride selection, procurement and negotiations for a 35-acre amusement and adventure park. On it designed the attractions, including dark rides, and placed vendors.

Mast Parks designed dark rides at Dreamasia, a Mast amusement and adventure park in Karnataka and Fun World. At Dreamasia, the dark ride has original content created by Mast Parks. At FEC Raipur, the work included ride planning for an independent themed family entertainment centre with go-karting, adventure activities and small amusement rides.

• Which rides belong in the park? The choice depends on the audience, the theme and the space.
• Which vendor for each ride? The service compares the options and recommends one.
• What should be customised? The service identifies which rides gain most from being adapted to the theme.
• What is the right balance of attractions? A park needs rides for children, for families and for those who want more thrill.
• What should be bought now and what later? Some attractions can wait for a later phase.

Rides chosen without reference to the master plan and the theme can leave a park with attractions that do not fit their zones, that look out of place or that suit the wrong audience. Rides bought directly from a vendor's catalogue may not carry the theme at all. Planning the choice, and the customisation that goes with it, lets the rides support the park's story rather than interrupt it.

• Vendor. A company that supplies rides, slides or attractions.
• Customisation. Adapting a ride to the park's theme.
• Procurement. Buying rides and equipment.
• Dark ride. A ride that carries guests through a story, usually indoors and in low light.
• Attraction. Anything a guest can ride, watch, play or explore in the park.

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.

• Which rides does the master plan call for?
• What is the budget for rides and attractions?
• Which rides matter most to your audience?
• Do you already have vendor relationships?
• Which rides should carry the theme most strongly?

Mast Parks organises its work as 13 services in four stages, listed here in the order a project usually follows. Ride and Attraction 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. 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.

A park's rides are chosen for the guests who will use them. A park for young families needs gentle rides that parents can share with children. A park that draws teenagers and young adults needs rides with more thrill. A park for all age groups needs a spread, so that each member of a visiting family finds something to enjoy and no one waits at the exit.

The same logic applies to water parks and adventure parks, where slides, pools and activities have to suit different ages and abilities. Ride and attraction planning keeps this balance in view while vendors are compared.

A standard ride from a vendor's catalogue is usually quicker to buy and well understood. A customised ride costs more attention, and can carry the theme far more strongly. Most parks use both: standard rides where the theme matters less, and customised rides at the places where it matters most, such as entrances, flagship attractions and dark rides.

The service helps the owner decide which rides deserve customisation, so the budget is spent where guests will notice.