Shower thoughts: Would you consider a really well-themed water park a theme park?

[Wazzupnerds]

Had some thoughts while preparing for my cruise which includes a day stop at Atlantis in Nassau, and finally getting to scratch their waterpark off my bucket list. While looking over things, I realized how the phrase theme park has been misused now as it's the same as an amusement park. So if the word theme park and amusement park no longer meant the same thing, would you classify a well-themed water park as a theme park or just a water park still?

 

[Indy]

No.

Yas Waterworld was super nice and really well themed and even had a coaster, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a water park; a well themed water park, but a water park.

In the same vein, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is just a funfair. It’s a well-themed funfair with a ton of rides, but still just a funfair as opposed to a park.

 

[rob666]

It is a funfair in a park!

 

[Tonkso]

Yes, Volcano Bay (which even brands itself as a Theme Waterpark) changed my perceptions even more than a Disney property could. The quality of that place is simply off the charts.

 

[CanobieFan]

a....themed water park

 

[Hyde]

Feels in the same vein/alignment of more themed parks still falling into a more amusement park definition (I'm looking at you Six Flags). By standard nomenclature, we typically understand:

• Amusement Park - less-themed park, with greatest emphasis placed on rides and attractions. Particular hallmark is roller coasters being the biggest focus, above all else.
• Theme Park - bigger focus on theming, still with a mixture of rides and attractions. Non-roller coaster rides typically play bigger roles, especially dark rides that carry out more of the mission theme.
• Water Park - little to no theming (typically), with swim-wear requirement for water slides and attractions.

So if you gamed out a highly themed water park, you could start to push the gray area; but you would still need more traditional, flat/dark rides to really carry the case for defining it as a theme park. Just the same way we debate if a "theme park" is truly a theme park if they have a large-scale focus on roller coasters that do not have large theming.

Love the thought exercise!

 

[Tonkso]

I'd rethink the definition there, personally.

Amusement Park: a park with rides and little or generic theming.

Theme Park: a park where the rides are themed and contained within themed 'lands'.

Water parks could realistically fit into either.

Volcano Bay, and the two Disney parks definitely fit the latter with all attractions fitting a consistent theme.

Aquatica has a loose theme, but it's not really consistent and in many areas pretty generic, so would fit into the amusement park category.

 

[Furiustobaco]

Siam Park in Tenerife in the Canaries easily fits this in my opinion. Every slide is themed and hidden by vegetation, the whole park has a siamese/thai theme to it which is reflected via theming and statues across the park. The park also has a bunch of shops/locker rooms over a "floating market" which is well decorated and littered with hungry koi beneath. The lazy river going through an shark tank also helps, which has a slide section which is scattered with rocks and does not even feel like a proper slide.

Siam Park has themed pathways, slides, even the food and gift shop in the floating market looks pretty. It is a theme park in my opinion, it has a clear theme, and it is very much immerses people into its theme- a lot better than the standard water park anyway.

 

[StampidaRMC]

I feel like a theme park has by description well themed rides. A water slide or even water coaster is not a ride because it is a slide. This removes the possibility that a water park can be a theme park, in my opinion. But this question is really subjective.