Typhoon Lagoon

For the past week I have been stationed at Typhoon Lagoon water park working with John, who is the garden specialist for that area.  We worked together on many projects around the park throughout the week and I also completed some field study work while in the park.  It was a fun week and I learned so much about the beauty, functionalism, and layout / design of Typhoon Lagoon.

A little history... Typhoon Lagoon opened up back in 1989 as Disney World's first water park.  The water park is extremely popular and today it remains one of the most visited water parks in the world.  Typhoon Lagoon also holds many records for it's attractions making it a very unique place, such as creating one of the largest artificial waves in the world (seen below).  The theme of the water park tells the story of a  tropical storm that swept through the area leaving boats atop mountains, debris, leaning buildings, and white sandy beaches behind.

All Disney parks are built to tell a story (aka the concept of place).  Through the use of elaborate design techniques this can be accomplished, however maintaining the story requires specific attention to details and original design techniques in order to "preserve" the same quality of show each day and each year long after a park has originally opened.  This is where my learning and experience took place at Typhoon Lagoon.  John (Typhoon Lagoon's garden specialist) and I worked together to maintain the quality of show through a variety of ways.  Together we designed new planting layouts as needed throughout the park, ensured "viewsheds" (aka lines of sight) throughout the park were clear, and ultimately  maintained the park setting by understanding the design intentions.  Maintaining a jungle?  This is where difficulty can take place because the park must look un-maintained, but at the same time must be maintained within the quality of show guidelines.

Along with working with John I also completed some field study work.  This is where I personal documented design techniques throughout the park to better understand what approaches were taken to design this theme park.  These quick sketches help designers understand the sense of place and simple characteristics that make a place what it is.

To start off, the entrance sequence to Typhoon lagoon begins with pathways that are condensed in size and view to bring the viewer to a more open area that reveals the water park before them.  This quick section sketch shows the the entrance pathways leading to the "entrance plaza":

After traveling trough the entry path visitors are exposed to many great views of the park and its icon mountain.  They then proceed into an area I call "the wonder".  This is a rather confusing set of pathways that moves creates unique movement patterns thus exposing visitors to the various offering in the area and ultimately leading them to the entry bridge that reveals a majority of the park once again.  This diagram shows the general layout of the "entrance plaza" to Typhoon Lagoon:

Typhoon Lagoon was also designed with a "lazy river" that circles the outline of the park.  The topography around the lazy river creates great views into the park, and its signature large wave pool from several locations. This next section shows the general use of topography around the lazy river that circles the entire park:

When a bridge is needed to cross the lazy river no stairs are required through the use of subtle topographic changes.  This also creates zero grade entry into sandy seating areas.  Here is a diagram of a reoccurring topographic theme throughout the park along the lazy river:

Lastly one of my favorite eating / seating areas in the park is the "Leaning Palms Restaurant".  This carefully designed seating area provides opportunities for seclusion, but yet views of activity at the same time.  A combination of views, privacy, shade, and multiple levels of seating make it an overall great space.  Here is a section drawing of this place:

Overall it was a fun week at Typhoon Lagoon and this week I will be stationed at Blizzard Beach where I will work with Dana who is the garden specialist for that park. The hours we all work are very early (3:00am to 4:30am) but that provides for a unique experience of walking parks empty and catching the sunrise!  Goodbye Typhoon Lagoon, onward now to Blizzard Beach.