Went to Busch Garden with the whole family and rode of the various roller coasters. The new one – Tempesto – is fun, but Apollo’s Chariot remains my favorite. It was a very hot, but fun day.
The best thing about Busch Gardens is not the rides, but the grounds. It is a pretty place, very well-planned. It is a good place to test out and see urban planning and crowd management.
The park is 383 acres, with villages themed to England, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland and Ireland. 383 acres is not that big and the villages are very close to each other. But they do a good job of making them seem separated and distinct. They are separated by bridges or arches, which create transitions. It would be good if we deployed these techniques more often in our non-theme part communities.
There is a good classic on this subject called “A Pattern Language.” (https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Build…/…/ref=sr_1_1…) The authors studied patterns of landscape and architecture and discovered ones that people of a variety of cultures find pleasing. People tend to like things like winding paths. transition zones and clusters. This makes intuitive sense and the patterns tend to be present in our most beloved places, usually the ones that grew organically over generations. We can use these patterns in our plans and subdivisions.
Theme parks are good places to test some of these ideas.