The Starting Point

A fine balance between business vision and practical constraints – this is where most projects start. In the case of The Jungle Adventure Play in Queensland, Australia, we were lucky to have even more – clients with a good understanding of the family entertainment industry, the experience of running a nursery, and a target audience we can easily visualize. The owners wanted to include something for the youngest kids already in the nursery, but the focus was building attractions appealing to older kids and, why not, their parents. The ultimate goal – building a full-service family entertainment center with a great variety of attractions for anyone who wants to have some fun while climbing, jumping, and exploring the world of active entertainment.

Mixing a variety of products to fulfill the business goals of the site’s capacity, target age range, and the need for diversity that will bring in more people is Walltopia’s specialty. Having a portfolio of up to 10+ core active entertainment products and established partnerships with many well-known global companies for products we do not produce ourselves, we are the ultimate one-stop shop for active entertainment. So, we got to work on this project well-equipped to offer various attractions mixed wisely to secure easy operation and maximum capacity.

The first essential constraint we faced was the site ceiling – 8 meters at its highest point and 5.5 at its lowest. It was much better than what we had in Hong Kong, but it still could have been better, as many of our products can use more height. The second challenge was accommodating partners’ products within our design and gaining a comprehensive understanding of these products’ do’s and don’ts, so everything meets the safety industry standards. And the third big challenge was ensuring the project’s first phase (2020) could smoothly expand following the business in a year or two, including our signature Rollglider and utilize the unused space above all attractions.

Having a solid vision of the desired variety and considering the site’s specifics, we decided to start with a Fun Walls zone (later called The Tribal Climb zone). We carefully selected a mix of fun walls with different heights and difficulty levels and then formed age-recommended zones among them. In the end, we had 19 Fun Walls, from 6m to 8m in height, including some of our best-selling elements such as Speed Walls, Jump in the Air, and Skyscraper.

Next on our list was a High Ropes Course – a very traditional product for the industry, yet one that is never out of date, equally appealing to children and adults. So, we chose a one-level rope course (e.g., The Canopy High Ropes) with 20 challenges and constructed it to accommodate a Rollglider starting/end platform once the clients are ready to expand the project. The High Ropes Course lets kids imagine playing in the “treetops,” overcoming their fear of heights and building confidence and resilience.

As we design guided by our main principle – finding a good balance between form and function, we looked at the space below the Ropes Course as an opportunity to add more unharnessed attractions. Our client has already decided on one activity – adding a mini golf area. Still, there was space for more, and our latest Parcour elements fitted in naturally, all designed to match the project’s color scheme.

Another must-have product for the target group of visitors was the Ninja Warrior course (or, as the client called it – the Gorilla Warrior zone). Used as a one-time attraction or as a training station for speed, strength, and coordination, we decided on 2 lines and 7 challenges. It’s a preferred place for racing against mates or building athletic confidence.

Once we had these three areas to accommodate the different streams of people and secure high capacity at any given point, we included our latest product – the Cloud Climb. Although the Cloud Climb is a preferred main attraction to many shopping malls, to large family entertainment centers is rather an additional unharnessed attraction for the youngest that rarely exceeds 6 meters in height. This time though, we designed it to be 8,2 meters in height, and, as we hear, children love it. The Cloud Climb combines beautifully with the rest of the non-harnessed activities that need low supervision and please the youngest of the FEC’s fans.

In addition to our portfolio of active entertainment products, we coordinated the choice of an airbag supplier and stainless-steel slide.

Quickly becoming Queensland’s premier indoor play center, only two years after its opening, The Jungle Adventure Play was ready for expansion with our signature product – the Rollglider. An anticipated next step for the project, yet one that brought new challenges to overcome. As the Rollglider is ever evolving and subject to constant innovation to provide the best experience in its market, it has changed over these two years and needed larger safety zones, leading to additional engineering. This was the easy part. The foundation of an exciting Rollglider ride is height + length. As we had only 8 meters to use (or less in some areas of the site), we had to aim for a long ride. However, the length was relatively short if we only adhered to the attraction zone ceiling. That is when we thought of doing something out of the box (literally!) and convinced the client to have some part of the line outside of the building (!) for more fun and a longer ride of 126 meters. And that’s what we did.

Today The Jungle Adventure Play is a preferred place for children of all ages and their families. It has developed Jungle Juniors Programs (Junior Ninjas & Wild Warriors), designed in collaboration with Occupational Therapists, to offer a play-based approach to improve kids’ motor skills, balance, strength, and coordination. And it also makes its name as a preferred team building and corporate events site for those who are never too old for some fun and a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Featuring most of our first-in-class products as Fun Walls, Ropes Course, Cloud Climb, Ninja Warrior Course, and Rollglider, it quickly feels like the place to go for active entertainment, and we were happy to be part of it, achieving a great variety and maximum capacity of the space.

Walltopia active entertainment products can be arranged in many unique combinations, fitting spaces, and business plans. Download a Sample ROI Plans Brochure which gives detailed numbers of three different project cases — a family entertainment center in a space with a low ceiling (Triangle Plus), with a high ceiling (The Jungle Adventure Play), and an urban outdoor space without limitations (Playtopia Park).