This makes me want to place 500 trees on roller coaster tycoon 2.

I love seeing the Efteling used as an example, as this is the theme park I used to go to as a kid. I totally agree that they use nature very well to enhance theming.

My favorite amusement park is Knoebels Amusement Resort.  That park is chock full of nature.  When they built the park or expanded it, they only removed as few trees as necessary.

I've heard that the trees and plants at zoos are sometimes more expensive than the animals, but it pays off!

TLDR touch grass

interesting how Universal emphasizes about their upcoming Epic Universe park that they are putting "the park back into theme park" coincidence?

One of my favorite theme parks that I have been to is Busch Gardens Virginia.  It has been named the world's most beautiful park for the past 33 years in a row.  It is packed with a lot of vegetation.

Six Flags Magic Mountain in CA has never learned this lesson. All the money they spend on air misters instead of real trees. Ok.

I work in the Horticulture department at a large theme park resort in Orlando.
Its nice seeing a video featuring something I work with on a daily basis :)

Then there's the nature that frustrates us all, wasps. I remember Legoland Windsor especially had a battle with them which escalated to BBC Watchdog (consumer programme) interviewing the park manager.

This was one of the first things I learned at Alton Towers when I was eight years old, my grandad had  worked for British ropeways. i’ve heard it expressed in many ways. you need  stories, legends myths nature water.

This is unironically why I had a better experience at Kings Island over Cedar Point in the same trip

One of my favorite theme park areas with nature is Camp Snoopy at Knotts Berry Farm! The whole area is full of trees, a river, and man-made waterfall. The whole park is nice in design, yet Camp Snoopy has the most plants. I also enjoy Alton Towers a lot as all the rides work together with the environment. Thanks for another amazing video!

Nature is high up in what we comment on in our vlogs, but our Claire did once work for Kew Gardens. Nice to see it recognised.

Now that I think about it, this is also how Universal's Islands of Adventure has a generally superior vibe to Universal Studios Florida: much more (often ersatz) nature in the layout. I suppose the "studio park" theme tends to work against nature because it emphasizes the artificiality of what you're seeing, that you're peeking behind the scenes. As the old studio parks pivot away from that, it becomes less of an issue--Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios is themed with a lot of rockwork and foliage.

As someone who has made their living for the last 25 years by planting stuff (and visiting theme parks when I wasn't), I have to agree with every single sentence you uttered in this wonderfully argued monologue, especially when you said 'And we'll see you next time'...thanks!

This is one reason Siam Park is so much better than Aqualand. The nature makes the park way nicer, and it means I don't burn my feet whenever I take my shoes off.
Having queuelines made of stone rather than metal also helps. Feels like Aqualand is just trying to get us to buy their water shoes (which are the only shoes you're allowed to wear on the rides, and by extension in the queueline, since there's no way to go back to the top and get your shoes once you've finished the ride). Whereas at Siam Park, I could walk around barefooted with no problem.

I was at Efteling a few days ago and it’s really just nice to walk around. The park is big and green. And dense greenery also makes the park look bigger than it actually is. The weather was good. The foliage was amazing. The flowers around the park looked well kept and were brightly coloured. At one point, I just sat next to Fata Morgana for a minute or 20, with some food, because it was just nice to do so.
I love that Efteling made it so that 90% of the surface area needs to be nature. And when new rides are built, nature doesn’t have to suffer for it. Big, old trees get a new place to call home and new plants are included in the budget for a new attraction. After a few years, it’ll start looking great near that specific attraction.
The rockwork at Symbolica, the greenery on the Ton van de Ven square (that’s where Dreamflight and Villa Volta are), the dunes near Vliegende Hollander, Aquanura and Fata Morgana next to one another. It all makes for such a nice place to just be in, rather than being there just for the rides. It can be nice to just be somewhere in the park and see, nor hear, any rides.
And when you’re in the fairy tale forest, or anywhere else, basically, you can just have fun spotting ducks, pigeons, crowd, jackdaws and occasionally squirrels and such.
I think the natural setting, intrinsic to the Efteling, combined with the architectural tone, set by Anton Pieck, are probably the two most defining features of Efteling. And there’s of course the music too, as well as the storytelling. Ah, it’s so nice to just walk around with music in the background. The iconic mushrooms might be the prime example of it.

Fun fact: Efteling has Nature so high as a value that they keep a max percentage of the park that may be build. To make sure that the nature stays a rich part of the park. If i'm correct 30% may be build and 70% of the park has to be natural. So if they remove greenery for a new ride, they will bring it back at a different part or around the new ride as fas as possible.

Baron 1898 is a good example of this, here they themed the que line to a lumber forest, using it to bring back alot of trees.

I totally agree. Even more traditional amusement parks with minimal theming give you a great feeling if they either feature great natural settings or they simply include great landscaping. In the USA, Cedar Point, Knoebels and Glenwood Caverns are only loosely themed in a handful of attractions but their settings really make the experience even better. And parks like Silver Dollar City, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Dollywood all have great natural settings that work to amplify the effect of their top notch theming. And like you said, shade really can make or break a park experience when it gets hot.

I've only been to one European park but I'm hoping to make it to parks like Efteling, Alton Towers and Erlebnispark Tripsdrill for exactly the reasons your talking about.