Leisure and Entertainment
Leisure and entertainment venues range from theme parks to zoos, wild animal parks, entertainment districts, casino strips and sports arenas. All attractions face similar accessibility issues: how to get guests to their site and how to distribute them throughout the park. Circulation is an absolutely critical issue in the design of any attraction, and automated people mover systems typically solve two particular circulation problems: distance and dispersal.
Typically leisure and entertainment venues are designed for accessibility (both by car and by public transportation), accommodating the large passenger flows faced. The venues are well linked amongst each other (casinos) and to resorts and hotels by (a network of) shuttle services and/or connected to public transportation. Some venues of exceptional size (e.g. Walt Disney World, Florida) feature their own transit systems. An efficient transit system adds to the appeal of the destination as a whole, optimizing the value presented and ensuring it of greater interest to visit than competitive places.
The main mode of transportation for accessibility remains the car, as is illustrated by the (often massive) parking facilities at or near the venues. As the size of these parkings increases, so does the need for a convenient link to the venue entrance. Automated vehicles can provide an efficient connection from any location at the parking facilities to the main entrance – enhancing the guest experience with its’ image and quality of the ride (especially in terms of comfort and noise).
Parks often feature local transit systems to facilitate the dispersal of guests throughout the park. An even spread of the guests over the park ensures peaks at rides, shows and attractions are avoided (to a degree). Many parks feature classic themed train rides or road trains for this purpose. Automated people movers are the modern version of these systems, where electronically guided concepts have an improved flexibility creating new possibilities in facilitating the dispersal of guests.
Environmentally friendly means of transportation are often preferred, especially is zoos and animal parks, as the noise and air pollution is minimized. Automated systems additionally upgrade the driver to a host, allowing the experience to be improved. A prerequisite for operations in e.g. an animal park is that the system it can be integrated in the environment without requiring heavy infrastructure and is able to avoid wildlife accidents.
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