By Jonathan - October 11th, 2013, 12:01 am
- October 11th, 2013, 12:01 am
#52989
I feel like I've beaten this point to death (transportation planner here), but I really don't think people have an understanding of just how expensive a parking deck is. There's a reason why the only parks that have them are big budget theme parks that have major land constraints (actually come to think of it Universal Studios is all I can think of). Your typical parking deck is around $20,000 per parking space. So, if you want to build enough deck space for 10,000 cars let's say, you are looking at $200 million. Enjoy not having anything else at the park for 10 years. Looks like someone wrote an article about this very subject.
If theoretically they did do that and actually expanded the park to cover the entire parking lot, I'm pretty sure you would be looking at by far the largest amusement park in the entire world. I just don't see the boundaries of the park expanding that much anytime soon if ever. I think there will be some minor growth here and there, but they are more likely to continue replacing old rides and using existing underutilized space.
People seem to assume by default that all/most parks are land constrained when in reality I suspect very few actually see themselves that way. I think most big parks like to utilize their existing layout as much as possible and don't want to add excess burden to their annual operating and maintenance costs by adding rides without ever removing any.
Personally I feel they should build a huge parking deck on the outer fringes and develop a means to move guest to the park, a la Disney, and Universal. All that parking space should be reclaimed for park use.
I feel like I've beaten this point to death (transportation planner here), but I really don't think people have an understanding of just how expensive a parking deck is. There's a reason why the only parks that have them are big budget theme parks that have major land constraints (actually come to think of it Universal Studios is all I can think of). Your typical parking deck is around $20,000 per parking space. So, if you want to build enough deck space for 10,000 cars let's say, you are looking at $200 million. Enjoy not having anything else at the park for 10 years. Looks like someone wrote an article about this very subject.
If theoretically they did do that and actually expanded the park to cover the entire parking lot, I'm pretty sure you would be looking at by far the largest amusement park in the entire world. I just don't see the boundaries of the park expanding that much anytime soon if ever. I think there will be some minor growth here and there, but they are more likely to continue replacing old rides and using existing underutilized space.
People seem to assume by default that all/most parks are land constrained when in reality I suspect very few actually see themselves that way. I think most big parks like to utilize their existing layout as much as possible and don't want to add excess burden to their annual operating and maintenance costs by adding rides without ever removing any.
Now that I'm older, I know I would ride it more. Maybe White Lighting was the one sent to South Africa?
Sorry about that.