The View From Our Window
We continue to weld as much as we are able each day and right behind us the wiring crew are attaching the lath to everything we push out of the big magic doors. They polished off the bulk of the KRAKEN today. It looks much more solid than before.
Jack finished welding the frame for the first cannon and it looks great!
We also turned our attention back to the pirate ship and began work on the back portion. By the end of tomorrow the wirers will be able to have at the ship as well.
-grampa dan
One of the best ways to observe and learn from our projects is to attend as a guest. I stand in line and experience the attractions and rides and view the park as a guest does. I can't help but overhear the excited chatter between family members and friends and hear their thoughts on the experience. It doesn't take long to see what works well, and what guests enjoy the most.
Through the summer I have enjoyed taking Phoebe up to Cultus Lake Adventure Park on a regular basis. When we are there I let her determine what we go on and in what order. I experience the park through the eyes of a nine year old and listen carefully to her comments as well. Besides having fun adventures with Phoebe I am also interested in learning so I can build an even better park next time.
Tonight Phoebe and I spent three hours up at the park. It is all very familar now to Phoebe, she knows how the park works, where the shortest lines are and which rides are her favorites. Some we go on once, some many times over. Some we skip altogether. I also watch other guests, observing their traffic patterns through the park. I take note of the demographics of our guests. We aimed for young families and it is working.
One of our big concerns as we designed and built the park was the capacity. How wide did we need to make the walkways? How long did the line cues need to be for each ride? How many washrooms were required? Now with the park in operation the theory meets the real world. It is gratifying to see we achieved all of our goals and that the park can handle many more guests as it becomes more popular in the future..
While I was doing the market research we also managed to have a LOT of fun too!
-grampa dan
Saturdays are quiet in the shop with time instead spent on home chores and with family. When I was out in the yard today I did take note of the quickly growing rows of welded and wired features in the parking lot. It won't be long until the large concrete pad is full of pieces bound for Trinidad. We'll continue welding and wiring through this week as well but in the week following the sculpted concrete will begin.
With everything on wheels with this job it is easy to rearrange the features as needed and also wheel them into the shop to work on them. With eight to ten people in the shop each day it will be necessary to rearrange things often.
-grampa dan
Custom Design & Construction
