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karaloza · 11 months

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Legend of Zelda Theme Park: Overview and Layout

One of the benefits of the theme park format of location-based entertainment is that the themes provide a guiding logic for grouping and arranging rides and attractions. Unlike a more traditional amusement park, where things get placed wherever there is room for them, a theme park organizes them according to...well, theme. And for The Legend of Zelda, the selection of themes is obvious—since the park represents the kingdom of Hyrule, the themed areas are based on recurring locations and environment types in the game series.

I started with the basics: the Lost Woods, Death Mountain, and Zora’s Domain for the traditional forest/fire/water combo, plus a Castle Town in the middle with Hyrule Castle itself as the backdrop (like I said previously, I learned most of my theme park sensibilities at Disneyland). I also wanted to have a ranch area to bring Epona into the mix (because everyone loves Epona), and I thought there should be a land dedicated to Ganon and the monsters. I sketched out the first iteration of my park map and started developing concepts for attractions, shops, and eateries to go in each area.

But something was missing. The map felt weirdly off-balance to me and I wasn’t sure why. I also felt like there were more themed areas that deserved to be included—the Gerudo Desert and a place for various sky- and flight-related concepts from the LoZ series. I wasn’t able to come up with enough satisfactory attraction ideas for the desert and tabled that idea, but I did pull together material for an area that I decided to call the Skyward Realm and squeezed that into the map. But something was still off…

Finally it hit me: I should be using the Triforce as the basis for my map. No wonder things felt off-balance—I wasn’t using the perfectly symmetrical emblem of the franchise as my design guide! I went back to the drawing board more-or-less literally and came up with what I think is the definitive layout for my park.

At least until I come up with something better...or I finally figure out how to include the Gerudo Desert.

The Welcome Plaza is immediately past the park entrance. Theming here is relatively light so people can orient themselves before getting thrown into the immersive environments. Most of the park’s major amenities are located here—the information counter, storage lockers, stroller and wheelchair rentals, and a first-aid station.

Castle Town is effectively the hub area, with walkways leading to (nearly) all of the adjacent areas. Hyrule Castle itself is the backdrop and contains several points of interest, but the bulk of the land is Market Square, containing numerous shops, food stalls, and carnival games…“minigames,” if you like. The other areas surround it like the petals of a flower:

The Lost Woods is an enchanted fairy forest, well shaded by the sprawling foliage of the Great Deku Tree and inhabited by Koroks, Deku Scrubs, and other woodsy creatures.

Epona Ranch is a cozy country homestead where guests can interact with live animals, including the Best Horse Ever(TM), Epona herself.

Death Mountain is a rugged volcanic area with many gems and crystals, home to the friendly, boisterous Gorons.

The Skyward Realm is built on a significantly higher elevation than the rest of the park to fulfill its theme as a land in the sky, home to the proud Rito.

Zora’s Domain is an area of open waterways and peaceful natural caverns, where aquatic wildlife is plentiful and the graceful Zoras safeguard the pure waters.

Finally, the Dark World wraps across the back of the park, serving as a place where Ganon(dorf) and his monster minions hold sway, along with other famous LoZ villains.

The thinner line enclosing the central areas of the park is the route taken by one of the rides: the Spirit Train, a handy way to travel around (while seeing some unique sights along the way). The thin rectangles along that line are the stations, serving Castle Town, the Lost Woods/Epona Ranch, Dark World, Death Mountain, and Zora’s Domain.

As for all those other unlabeled rectangles and circles and wedges...don’t worry about it. We’ll get to those later. :)

#legend of zelda #theme park #legend of zelda theme park #loz theme park

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