Cool Fun Interactive water play in a theme park environment by Todd McCurdy, ASLA Morris Architects Each day, Universal Studios Florida puts 12,500 foam balls and 15,000 gallons of water in the hands of children at its new Woody Woodpecker's KidZone. No one is ever really sure of what will happen next. Dedicated to kids and adults who aren't afraid to act like kids - Woody Woodpecker's KidZone combines two all-new attractions based on beloved children's characters - Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster and Curious George goes to Town - with the best of what children and their families already love about Universal Studios Florida: Animal Actors Stage, A Day in the Park with Barney, Fievels Playland and E.T. Adventure. Woody Woodpecker' s KidZone is the family fun zone for kids and their parents at Universal Studios Florida. In the Curious George Goes to Town Interactive play area at Universal Studios Florida, the world famous monkey's curiosity has crashed a circus animal tractor right into the town fountain! Animal footprints and bright yellow, larger-than-life Curious George storybooks tell the stories and lead guests through the signature gateway. At right, hot visitors visit the Curious George attraction to cool off. Universal Studios Florida, called on Morris Architects to provide comprehensive Site Planning, Landscape Architectural services and to head up the A/E team for a new family fun area to expand their existing theme parks appeal to young children. The design goal of the Universal Creative and Morris Architects team for KidZone was to create a place that would excite and entertain kids and provide parents an opportunity to play side by side with their children, all in a fun, yet safe environment. The design team followed what Universal Creative Director Jennifer Sauer calls a Kid-centric approach to the design. Focusing on the child?EUR??,,????'???s perspective, the team gained inspiration from the drawings of children, Curious George storybooks and Woody Woodpecker cartoons while striving to make the KidZone hands-on wherever possible. "One of the current hot design trends for new play areas is interactivity," explains Walt Geiger, Entertainment Principal at Morris Architects. The ability to change and control elements in their environment makes the play experience more dynamic and exciting for the participants. Interactive play provides opportunities to get involved and in the case of many new activities, get wet and cool off. Adding interactive water play elements to traditionally dry theme park or playground environments is becoming a more common occurrence. "If you can increase the comfort of guests with fog, mist and cool play, you can positively affect the quality of their experience and the length of their stay," Geiger adds. Adding cooling elements can be an inexpensive addition compared to the cost of traditional rides and attractions. At many theme parks' newest attractions you can barely go on a ride without getting at least a little wet. Curious George Goes to Town takes this to the next level. It is practically impossible to get only a little wet. In the Curious George Goes to Town Interactive play area, the world famous monkey's curiosity has led a circus animal tractor right into the town fountain! Animal footprints and bright yellow, larger-than-life Curious George storybooks tell the stories and lead guests through the signature gateway into the attraction. A circus tent with interactive elements such as speaker boxes that make animal sounds and other toddler play elements provide a safe place for toddlers to play while their larger siblings play in the water. On the opposite side of the entrance near the shaded stroller parking is the pop-jet park. The park has been flooded with an out-of control water hose and popping jets of water from Saf-Dek. In the center of town, George's borrowed animal tractor sits halfway in the town square fountain, the animals have escaped into the town, and George is riding high above the whole mess on a geyser of water. Woody Woodpecker's KidZone combined two all-new attractions based on beloved children's characters -- Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster and Curious George Goes to Town -- with the best of what children and their families already love about Universal Studios Florida: the Animal Actors Stage, A Day in the Park with Barney, Fievel's Playland and E.T. Adventure. The town features themed facades, which look like they have been ripped from the pages of the Curious George storybooks. Behind the walls lies an elaborate one-of-a-kind waterworks system made with off-the-shelf parts manufactured by SCS Interactive. One side, themed like a Fire department with all red pipes, includes guest controlled nozzles in the floor, a gag telephone that sprays anyone who lifts the handle, and a two-person manual pump that shoots water over 15 feet in the air. On the other side of the town square are the blue pipes of the Water Works. The Water Works has a completely different set of interactive features such as a water curtain, a post office with surprise spray Post Office boxes and a flower box on the upper level that can be dumped on people walking through a door below. Various types of interactive water-play controls include wheels, levers, pull ropes, buckets, drain plugs, sluice gates and hoses. "Our systems combine teamwork, discovery, and a variety of ways for people to do things together with other people, just like we did when we were kids," says Denise Weston of SCS Interactive. Fifteen thousand gallons of brominated water surge through the pipes, then recycle through floor drains, back into the pump and filtration system where it is treated and pumped back onto the heads of the guests. Woody Woodpecker's KidZone combined two all-new attractions based on beloved children's characters -- Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster and Curious George Goes to Town -- with the best of what children and their families already love about Universal Studios Florida: the Animal Actors Stage, A Day in the Park with Barney, Fievel's Playland and E.T. Adventure. Balconies on either side of the town square feature pump action water cannons, allowing guests to shoot water down at the people below or at targets on the town's clock tower. Hitting the targets fills the giant buckets above the Waterworks and the Fire station or activates the circus animals in the clocktower to squirt unsuspecting passers-by. People come running when the bells ring announcing the imminent drop of a bucket. When the buckets are full, they each drop 500 gallons of water from above the roof onto the joyously waiting throngs below. Concrete floor slabs were used in the main structures due to the ability of the material to provide a safe, non-slip surface in shaded areas. NuSafe Floor Solution is used in all the wet zone areas to further minimize slip potential and client liability. The Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster features an eight-car family coaster that can move 600 guests an hour. The line for the ride winds through the legs of the coaster, keeping guests close to the excitement and providing show set gags and interactive elements. Below, kids are entertained by popping jets that run on a computerized program. If staying dry is more appealing, kids can follow more footprints along a dry path to the two-story Ball Factory dry play area. Over 12,500 lightweight foam balls are free in the enclosed play area for guests to play with. Guest activated pneumatic air blaster cannons keep the air filled with flying colorful balls while guests fill bags, lifts and the two giant hoppers. Like the water buckets outside, when the hoppers are full, bells ring and sirens go off as they dump thousands of the colorful balls on the happy guests. The energy created by the flurry of balls and air blasts is more fun than a whole barrel of curious little monkeys. Just outside of Curious George Goes to Town is KidZone plaza and Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster. Kid-sized Woody Woodpecker cutouts, and colorful Banners portraying key elements of each attraction provide visual cues that are all part of the Woody Woodpecker's KidZone experience. KidZone plaza employs colorful and imaginative paving patterns in custom concrete colors of blue, orange, purple and red - the colors of Woody Woodpecker - in a pattern of stars and blasts superimposed on a grid. This hardscape design features colorful benches, sculptural seat walls and a cooling mist system that provides a welcome respite for weary parents as they watch their children go nuts in the area inspired by some of America's most beloved story book and cartoon characters. Morris Architects' designers made an extra effort to maximize seating opportunities for tired parents to rest, watch their kids and cool off in a long hot Orlando theme park day. Seatwalls were used to minimize the intrusive elements into the main guest flow corridor, while shade trees and mist fans help to cool the guests off as they rest. Plant palettes for the entire attraction were selected to serve one or more of the following functions: color (flower and/or foliage), shade potential, and/or the cartoon nature of the plant's character. Mature Southern Oak trees are the featured shade trees along with colorful Tabebuias and Crepe Myrtles in multiple colors. Featured cartoon plants such as Hollywood Juniper, Italian Cypress were used along with serpentine podocarpus hedges, which have their tops trimmed to mimic the way kids would draw the top of a hedge. Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster features a whimsical, primitive look as if it were cobbled together by Woody himself. The ride features an eight-car family coaster, with cars resembling wooden crates. With the ability to move 600 guests an hour, the coaster takes kids of all ages on a fun-filled ride through Woody's Nut Factory which is filled with kid-friendly gears and gadgetry. The ride queue winds through the legs of the coaster, keeping guests close to the excitement and providing gags and interactive elements including horns, bells and whistles. Giant wobbly gears pull the patchwork coaster overhead where riders hear Woody's famous Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha before swooping over, around and under trees and above the other guests in the queue, piquing the excitement level of the soon-to-be riders. The coaster even comes perilously close to the roof of the Nuthouse, activating a staccato woodpecker sound effect as it careens wildly across the designed-to-be-ramshackle roof. Orange and brown oversize timbers support the warped patchwork roof and the show set elements on top. One critical element of the experience that does not come through in photographs is the sound in the area. The audio system playing jaunty old-time music, the low rumble of the roller coaster, guest activated bells, whistles, horns and honkers, the sound of splashing water, and most importantly the screams of delight of the guests enjoying themselves all add substantially to the youthful energy of the park. By delivering good old-fashioned running through the sprinklers fun on a grand scale, Curious George Goes to Town succeeds in giving Universal Studios Florida a substantial bang for their buck and a lot of guest appeal on a limited budget. In the theme park industry, where new attractions are often big-budget technological marvels, Curious George Goes to Town and the Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster provide KidZone guests with a retro play experience they won't soon forget - especially on a hot summer day. LASN If staying dry is more appealing, kids can follow more footprints along a dry path to the two-story Ball Factory dry play area. There, over 12,500 lightweight foam balls are free in the enclosed play area for guests to play with. Guest activated pneumatic air blaster cannons keep the air filled with flying colorful balls while guests fill bags, lifts and the two giant hoppers.