Signs that entertain as well as inform.
Before we designed the signs we first considered the story. Who were the characters? What role did they play? How does the attraction fit into the park as a whole?
Then we created the characters and finally designed the perfect sign to suit.
Signs set the flavour.
The signs were designed to speak for themselves. All are fully dimensional.
Designing on the fly.
On occasion inspiration would strike and planning would happen on the fly, literally. We took a trip to the IAAPA convention in Florida to explore ideas. A gold panning adventure was discovered but we had to fit it into the theme. On the long plane trip home, somewhere over Nebraska, at 30,000 feet I did up this sketch and presented it to the owner.
He approved the idea on the spot. The final rendering was done the next day.
Getting there is half the fun!
While the trains are the primary mode of transportation at Cultus Lake Adventure Park there are many other exciting ways to get around. A giant hot air balloon is the perfect way to take a flight of imagination or take a fun group picture. Elsewhere you can ride a horse drawn wagon. Two old fashioned trucks await. Each features an interactive hand lever which every kid instinctively knows to crank to turn the engine over. Flapjack the bear also rides a pedal powered unicycle on the bicycle rental sign.
Don't take the train!
Two trains are featured at the park. The first is a geared Climax logging locomotive. It sits trapped on the log high trestle. The second is the 0-4-0 Porter
locomotive precarious leaning off the mountain.
You have arrived!
The park is carefully designed to provide a dramatic view as guests apporach, building anticipation in the process.
The hard way to build a fence.
One of the things that separates Giggle Ridge from most other theme parks is it’s fencing. You will find no straight lines here for all of the fencing undulates happily both vertically and from side to side.
The first kind of fence is what we affectionately call Giggle fence. This features rounded stone and dirt banks on the bottom along with cartoon woodgrain on the posts. On the western side of the park the rock is more angular and the woodgrain on the posts is a little more weathered.
Two signs of the beaver.
The first attraction signs visible to our guests entering the east gate are for Bucky’s Bumper Boats and the Wave Swinger. Bucky is featured on both of these award winning signs. It is common to witness guest’s cameras pointed upwards towards the signs all through the park as they capture them as part of their memorable visit.
The high and the low.
Bucky’s Pond is tucked into the south east corner of the park facing the warm sun, an important consideration for guests can get very wet on this ride. The Wave Swinger is situated overhead on a peninsula that juts out into the pond. The cue for Bucky’s Bumper Boats winds around the base and under the Wave Swinger platform. By elevating the swing ride we made it much more exciting for the older kids and yet retained a 36” height requirement which allows our younger guests to still ride. The warm and cool colors interplay beautifully both day and night.
Story telling details.
Another fun detail is in the area around Bucky’s pond. Those who are observant will be rewarded with the sight of the posts which have been gnawed by our illustrious host - almost to the point of jeapardizing the integrity of the structures. It is of course an illusion for the engineers took special care to design the hidden steel posts plenty strong.
