An indoor frozen lazy river
Posted by starfish_80@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Ice rinks are great for hockey and figure skating, but going around in circles is kind of boring as a recreational activity. Far less boring would be an indoor frozen lazy river that meanders for a mile or two before looping back on itself. It could be designed to simulate a magical snow-covered forest, with various sound, lighting and weather effects, maybe some animatronic wild animals peaking out from behind bushes and trees, almost like skating through a Disney attraction. A city like Phoenix would be a great place for this. You could escape the dry heat for a few hours, have fun and get some exercise. This is a crazy idea because it would be outrageously expensive to build and operate.
Imajzineer@reddit
That would take up a lot of space - space that probably isn't available to purchase (and prohibitively expensive, even if it were).
gravity_kills@reddit
I think most lazy rivers rely on the decorations to hide just how densely they twist on themselves. On skates it would just be walls, or to make it economically viable, bars and food vendors.
Imajzineer@reddit
or to make it economically viable, bars and food vendors.
Cynic 😆
I guess it could be crammed into less space with a lot of twists and turns, but a mile (or two), would require a lot of them ... and I'm not sure how large it would have to be to prevent it just being like swimming lanes in an Olympic pool - which would kinda defeat the point, imo.
gravity_kills@reddit
The real question is how wide you want the path to be. I think you could get a mile of length into the footprint of a Walmart, but if you cram enough people in to pay for it it might end up feeling really crowded.
Add in a few more stories with some ramps. Now things are getting properly crazy.
Imajzineer@reddit
Yeah ... I did contemplate having it raised, but the thought of long on/off ramps made me think "Hmmmmm ... maybe not" 😉
I paused to consider the experience starting after getting up there by normal means first. But then you still have the matter of persuading landowners to let you build the supports on their property. Then there's the maintenance (safety concerns will require a lot more attention to that than to a ground level structure). Then there's the public consultation (it'd be a bit of an eyesore and, unlike the monorail, be of no benefit to the public at large).
So, two seconds later, decided ... "Nah."
I also considered underground, but then you have the whole issue of finding somewhere suitable for building underground - there are reasons why the Tube isn't as widely available south of the Thames, for instance. Then there's the cost of doing so. Then there's the matter of meandering around under artificial light not being the most enticing of prospects.
So, that idea had a two second lifespan as well.