I know a lot of zoochatters don't like it when a theme park is mixed with a zoo. But these types of things get lots of visitors, so I made an intresting fantasy one: Lemurland would be a large amusement park with a Madagascar theme. It would be located somewhere with a warm climate. When you enter, you come to a ticket booth. Admission is free, but in order to use the attractions, you have to buy a ticket. Tickets would be relativity inexpensive (only a few cents), but the more you want to do, the more tickets you have to buy. The rides would be the normal rides you see at a theme park, like roller coasters, bumper cars, swinging chairs, Ferris wheels, etc. Each ride would cost one or two tickets. They would have animals from Madagascar painted on the cars (or whatever you are riding in) and the walls and other things around the park would be painted with jungle plants or a spiny desert theme. Helmeted Guineafowl would freely rome the entire park. For just a few tickets, you would be able to see the star of Lemurland: The Madagascar Wildlife Trek. Tropical-looking plants would be planted around this area. There would also be many animal exhibits. It starts with a very large exhibit with many climbing structures for several lemur species (Ring-Tail, Black-And-White Ruffed, Red Ruffed, Mongoose, Brown-Eyed Black, Blue-Eyed Black). The exhibit would be on both sides of the trial, a skyway overhead would connect them. The lemurs could walk through this tunnel to access the other side of the exhibit. One side of the exhibit would include a large pond. After some walking, you would see a large exhibit for Fossa. The fossa exhibit would be similar to that of the lemurs, but it would only include one side of the trail. One the side of the trail across from the Fossa exhibit is the Reptile and Small Mammal house. In the middle of the trail in this area is a small yard for Plowshare and Reticulated Tortoises. Inside the Reptile and Small Mammal House, there is an exhibit about animals from Madagascar that went extinct, like Madagascar Pygmy Hippos, Giant Lemurs, Giant Fossas, and Elephant Birds. The exhibits would be around the wall of the inside of the building. The first exhibit is a nocturnal rain forest-like exhibit with a small river flowing at the bottom. This is a mixed exhibit for Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur and Web-Footed Tenrec. The next is also a rain forest-like exhibit for Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Panther Chameleon, Henkel's Leaf-Tailed Gecko, Tomato Frog, and Greater Hedgehog Tenrec. There is also a large exhibit for Ring-Tailed Mongoose, a very small terrarium for Brookesia sp., a tank for Madagascar Cichlids, and a nocturnal exhibit for Aye-Aye. After exiting the building and continuing on the path, there is an exhibit similar to the Fossa and Lemur exhibits. This is an outdoor exhibit for Aye-Aye. On the other side of the trail from the outdoor Aye-Ayes is an exhibit made to resemble a spiny desert. This is for Verreaux's Sifaka. Finally, there is a walk-through aviary for Madagascan Flying Fox, Subdesert Mesite, Cuckoo Roller, Rufous-Headed Ground Roller, Yellow-Bellied Sunbird-Asity, Cryptic Warbler, several species of vangas, Coquerel's Coua, Stripe-Throated Jery, and Littoral Rock Thrush. So, what do think?
Well... it wouldn’t work. This is the first problem. The redundancy of having to buy many tickets is off-putting to many visitors, and degrades your attraction to being see as a carnival-type thing. It is generally more effective to charge a steep entrance price and have everything (or almost everything) else free. If you do continue with the cheap ticket style, 1 or 2 per attraction will not cover it. Ride upkeep costs (especially roller coasters) tend to be astronomical, and such a cheap price will not cover them. You need to make enough money to be able to keep running. This would result in a very low visitor count. If the theme park portion is any good, the majority of visitors at the park will be for that. The best way to incorporate animals would be to more or less shove them in visitors’ faces. Having animals in the queue or part of the scenery for rides (like Busch Gardens Tampa’s newest coaster) is a very effective way to accomplish this. The black lemurs don’t mix well with others. It can be done, but it’s a pain, especially with blue-eyed, to my knowledge. Also, the mix of species kind of from all over lowers any educational value your park might have. Madagascar, within itself, is very diverse, both in habitat and species. A point about that should be made, to break away from the norm in zoos that’s just “Madagascar.” Why not incorporate extant relatives? They do not necessarily have to be from Madagascar to make your point, but your point will be made more effectively by moving, breathing, living things than a couple of signs on the wall.
As a Lemur-nut...I like the idea of the exhibits, but any large and/or loud amusement park rides would be a huge turn off.
