This is a tricky one...you the carnival operator may think that you have enough space between your rides, and set them up, only to have the state inspector say they're too close, and you have to move one before either of them operate.
Laying out a lot takes quite a bit of skill. You have to worry about the conflicts/being too close. You have to maximize the use of the space you have to set up in. You have to fit in all the equipment that you promised that fair board you would have set up, and still have room for all the games and concessions that you booked in to the spot. You have to make sure that you can get the wires run to all the places you need to, and make sure that you don't overload any of the generators or junction boxes (same goes for water for the concessions).
If a show has the same event for a number of years, they already know the lay of the lot, and can make some minor tweaks each year to improve the layout. Of course, when a new piece is bought or booked in, then the shuffle begins.
I recall about 4 or 5 years ago, at the New York State Fair, Strates set up the Top Spin and Giant Wheel too close together in the eyes of the State Ride Inspectors. They had to tear down and move one about 10 feet to get the Inspector's blessing. I don't remember which one got moved (neither are rides that I would want to have to tear back down and re-set up).
This brings up another question I have. Does anyone know if any shows out there use some sort of CADD (Computer Aided Design) program to lay out their lots? Wouldn't be too hard to do with someone who has the know-how to run the program. You'd just need to have a scale map of the lot in the computer, along with a template for each ride (footprint plus clear areas). Then you could drag and drop each ride onto the lot and shuffle them to see what works, and in the end, spit out a scale map to do the actual layout from.
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