Adventure parks are exciting attractions where kids and families can challenge themselves and have fun. Bringing an adventure park to your business can draw in visitors and increase revenue. Adventure parks can even be entire revenue-generating businesses on their own!
There are many ways to implement an adventure park, so you have lots of options to consider when it comes to designing one. From ropes courses to zip lines and adventure playgrounds, you can offer countless ways for your visitors to make new memories, exercise and have a good time.
What Is an Adventure Park?
An adventure park can be made up of a variety of elements, but the most important aspect is in the name — it provides visitors with an adventure. These parks can be outdoors or indoors. They can be for adults, kids or families, and they can have any theme you can think of.
Adventure parks can consist of features like ropes courses, obstacles, trails, rock climbing and zip lines. Ultimately, they challenge users to explore and complete some kind of course or adventure. Adventure experiences promote active play and often encourage cooperation and teamwork.
Indoor adventure parks often have multiple areas for different activities, like a ropes adventure, trampoline area and obstacle courses. Some may have playgrounds, interactive games and even dodgeball competitions. Outdoor adventure parks often emphasize exercise and spending time in nature. They often have ropes courses, zip lines, rope swings, play areas and other features.
Adventure Parks vs. Amusement Parks
Both adventure parks and amusement parks are family-friendly destinations that are meant to provide visitors with thrills and fun experiences. But there are some key differences between the two.
Amusement parks are typically outdoor areas that consist of asphalt and concrete spaces filled with rides that you can experience. Adventure parks, whether outdoor or indoor, are more focused on your participation in the experience. You don’t just get on a ride — you have to participate! You interact with the activity or course as it challenges your abilities. Adventure parks help stimulate problem-solving and learning through physical activity.
The Benefits of Adventure Parks
Adventure parks or courses are great investments in your business, and they provide numerous benefits that will keep visitors coming back for more.
Health Benefits
Adventure parks promote active leisure, stress relief and mental stimulation.
These parks encourage physical activity and active play. Whether you gear your park toward children, adults or families, just about everyone can benefit from more movement in their day. Your customers will be able to enjoy hours of being active — and they may not even realize how much exercise they’re really getting because they’ll be having so much fun tackling new challenges.
Adventure parks benefit mental health, too. Exercise can help to relieve stress. Facing challenges and learning to try again when you fail also helps develop problem-solving skills and self-confidence. If your adventure park is outdoors, your customers’ access to nature will provide additional mental and emotional benefits.
Social Benefits
Adventure parks can be cooperative, bonding experiences for friends and families. They also promote teamwork and learning to accomplish a task with the help of others.
Adventure parks allow children to test their boundaries and learn the limits of their abilities. They learn how to pick themselves back up when they fail and try new ways to solve problems. This type of play helps develop self-awareness and self-esteem.
Teamwork-themed courses will help your guests develop friendships and bonds with each other as they go through various challenges together. Families and friends will be able to create new, fun memories at your adventure park. They can establish new connections and deepen existing ones.
Business Benefits for You
Your adventure park will also benefit your business. Whether the adventure park is just a part of your offerings or the main attraction, it’ll help you maximize your profits.
In many industries, having an adventure park will help set you apart from the competition. When you add child-friendly areas to places that may target adults, your customers will have twice the reason to return. You can even customize your adventure park courses and equipment to promote your brand and complement your current style.
Elements of Adventure Parks
If you’ve ever participated in a facilitated educational or team-building exercise at an outdoor camp, you may be familiar with many of the elements of adventure parks. Adventure park experiences, however, tend not to be facilitated. They could be independent or cooperative. Adventure parks can also contain elements like those you might see at a children’s playground or indoor entertainment center.
Non-Belayed Courses
An adventure park course is considered non-belayed if it doesn’t require a harness or belay system. These courses can have areas with different levels of difficulty, and they often contain a variety of elements. There could be a ropes course, tunnels, slides, climbers and all sorts of equipment combined into one amazing course that encourages adventure and activity. These courses are typically designed to be family-oriented and attract people of all ages.
The Soft Play SKYCOURSE is a thrilling, customizable non-belayed course that can be installed indoors or outdoors. Best of all, it’s not just for kids! Our courses are designed for people of all ages and ability levels. They help promote bonding and active play for all members of the family.
Belayed Rope Courses
A belayed rope course is a challenging activity in which users are strapped into a harness. These courses can involve all sorts of skill-based obstacles, teamwork elements and challenges. Ropes courses can contain elements like Tarzan swings, tire bridges, log walks, cargo nets, climbing walls and zip lines that combine into a giant aerial trail. Belayed courses are typically for an older audience since they are more challenging. They also often require additional staff and specialized equipment.
The Soft Play SKYROPES system is a one-of-a-kind aerial adventure that can have varying difficulty levels and unique features. You can install it indoors or outdoors and custom-design it with many different elements. It’s also modular, which means it can expand as your business grows.
Interactive Challenges
Interactive challenges can be designed for any age group. They offer a fun, challenging adventure activity that stimulates the mind. You can add interactive elements to all sorts of businesses, but they’re perfect for adventure parks! Interactive gamified experiences attract people of all ages and will keep them coming back time and time again.
Soft Play offers three different indoor gamified elements that you can add to your adventure park:
- The Hive: The Hive is an interactive challenge best suited for older kids and young adults. It’s a dynamic obstacle-based game where teams go up against each other to see who can touch the most targets within the time limit. It’s a great way to encourage active play and foster cooperation and teamwork.
- Stomp: Stomp is a compact, action-filled attraction where up to four players of any age can participate in a sweat-inducing stomping competition.
- Adventure spheres: Adventure Spheres are designed to engage younger kids. These areas are colorful, interactive junior challenge courses that can thrill even your youngest guests.
Obstacle Courses
Obstacle courses can be designed for any age group and to fit any space. These adventure activities are only limited by your own imagination. You can include lots of dynamic elements, like monkey bars, hurdles, rope bridges, balance beams, ramps and climbing walls.
Utilize different components that are fun, challenging and interesting and put them together in unique ways. Adding moving elements is a great way to increase the difficulty and the fun! Obstacle courses will bring guests back again and again as they try to beat their own times or compete with others.
Playgrounds
Your younger audience may enjoy a more free-roam type of play. Regular playground equipment, like slides, tunnels, swings and bridges, can be designed to create an adventure that even the smallest kids can enjoy. Themed playgrounds are a great way to capture the imagination of kids. Choose a creative concept for your park, like a medieval castle, a jungle or an under-the-sea adventure. Soft Play can help you customize a playground to your needs, space and budget.
Bridges
Crossing wobbly suspended bridges can be a thrilling challenge for people of all ages. You can add bridges between challenges in non-belayed or belayed courses. For belayed courses, you can make these bridges very challenging! Space out the boards and add changes in elevation to create a fun adventure for your more skilled visitors.
Climbing Walls
Your adventure park can also include rock climbing walls. Whether you opt for a small climbing wall for young kids or a 20-foot one for your thrill-seeking adults, it’s sure to be a great addition to any adventure park. Guests can compete with each other or try to beat their personal best climbing times.
Zip Lines
Zip lines are a classic element of both indoor and outdoor adventure parks. They offer a thrilling experience and a new point of view that will have visitors lining up to go again and again.
Large outdoor adventure parks can have zip lines connecting different courses and challenges. Zip lines can also go over scenic areas like rivers, valleys or lush forests. Indoor zip lines can go around the entire adventure park, letting customers experience the space in a whole new way.
Nets
Cargo nets are used in many different ways in adventure courses. You can place them vertically so users have to climb up to get to the level above them. You can also place them so that guests have to sidestep along them with nothing but air below. These challenges can be just as difficult as they are thrilling.
Trampolines
Indoor trampoline centers are becoming more and more popular, and they’re sometimes combined with adventure parks and rope courses. You add trampolines to obstacle courses and playgrounds or just have a whole separate area full of trampolines. While they’re fun on their own, you can also offer activities like trampoline dodgeball to engage guests even more.
Team Challenges
Some of the elements above can be designed to be part of a team challenge rather than an individual one. In this type of course, groups must work together to succeed. Courses can include puzzles and complicated systems that require each member to participate in order for the group to move to the next challenge.
Unique Elements
The best adventure parks have unique components. These can be anything from branded equipment to custom play sculptures. Eye-catching elements will help you stand out in your customers’ minds! Unique structures can be great places for photo opportunities that you can leverage to promote your brand. Sculpted play structures can be custom-designed for your business, and they work especially well if your park has a theme. Add a giant squid, snoozing bear, whimsical monster, branded character or anything else you can think of.
Tips for Designing an Adventure Park
Designing an adventure park is a big task. If you’re wondering where to start, these tips will help you build a thrilling attraction for your business.
1. Complete a Feasibility Study
If you’re not adding elements to an existing attraction, you should complete a feasibility study for your new endeavor. A feasibility study will help you determine if there is a market for an adventure park in the area you’re considering. You’ll want to analyze your potential sites, your concept, the market, industry trends and competition. It’s best to hire an experienced group to complete this kind of study.
2. Determine Market Needs
Determining your market’s needs will help you decide what elements to include in your adventure park. Consider the demographic of the area. Are you planning to serve adults, teens or kids? Do you have competition in the area? Maybe you can appeal to an audience that your competitor doesn’t currently serve.
If you have an existing business, consider who your current customers are. Do you want to appeal to that same customer base or try to expand to a new audience? For example, if your current business caters to adults, adding a space for young kids could bring in more business from adults who couldn’t leave their kids at home to come visit before.
3. Decide on a Location
You’ll need to decide on your park’s location. Consider whether or not there is room for potential expansion. Will your guests have easy access to the location? Are there any local permits you may need? You’ll also need to decide if you want an indoor adventure park or an outdoor one.
4. Design Thrilling Adventures
The most exciting part of your project will be designing the adventure park and figuring out all the elements that will be present. Make a list of the features your park definitely needs and another list of any other elements you think your space might benefit from.
Consider whether your park will have a theme. Do you want a belayed course, a non-belayed course or both? Do you want all the elements to be for the whole family, or will your park have different elements suited for a variety of age groups?
You’ll need to hire an experienced group to help you design the best adventure park possible. There are many factors to consider, such as traffic flow and space optimization. You’ll also need to determine the material, type and design of the equipment. Soft Play may be the solution for you! We work closely with our clients to help ensure a successful adventure playgorund design and installation process. Our expert sales representatives can even guide you through theming your adventure park.
5. Make a Plan
You’ll need a business plan to draw in investors and proceed with your new attraction. Your early stages of planning should focus on three areas:
- Target audience: One of the most important parts of any business plan is determining the target audience. Since adventure parks are meant to challenge users, they’re typically age-specific. Deciding what audiences you’ll be targeting with your park will help you determine how challenging the courses should be. If you want to appeal to a wide range of ages, you’ll need to have courses with varying levels of difficulty as well as separate areas for your younger guests.
- Operations: Identify all the tasks that will have to be completed before opening your park. If you’re working with a company to build, design and supply elements, include that in your plan. You’ll also have to determine how the park will be run. Determine how many staff members there will be, what their pay will be and what the employee hierarchy will look like. You should also set potential pricing for your different courses and activities.
- Financial projections: Consider all one-time costs, such as purchasing the land, construction and equipment. You’ll also want to outline operating costs like employee pay, insurance, utilities, supplies, marketing, maintenance and any other potential expenses. Project your revenue as well. Having these numbers ready will help if you need to attract investors.
Contact Soft Play for Your Adventure Park
Partner with an experienced adventure park design team to create an attraction your guests will come back to over and over again. From design to installation, Soft Play can help make your adventure park dream a reality. We can customize our equipment to fit your available budget and space. Reach out today for a free design consultation!
We’ll create a unique play system just for you, and we can also tailor the equipment to the age group of your choice. Our sales support and service representatives are available to provide expert guidance at any stage of your adventure park journey. We’re experts in creating destinations that families want to return to such as adventure parks for kids. Learn more about our adventure experiences and get in touch to see what we can do for your business’s theme park layout!
