Theme park

A theme park or amusement park is a place with attractions made up of rides, such as roller coasters and water rides. They usually contain a selection of different types of rides, along with shops, restaurants and other entertainment outlets. Theme parks can be enjoyed by adults, teenagers and children.

A ferris wheel

Many are themed to a particular area; there are water parks, parks modeled after toys, parks modeled after movies or types of movies, usually adventure or action.

Origin

The period from the 1950s through the 1970s brought about a core era for growth in the contemporary theme park industry, as a strong American middle class was being established and personal transportation became a common good.^[1] The baby boom following the second World War guaranteed a large number of families seeking to spend time together, and expanding labor rights allow for more free time to do just that.^[2]

Finally, long-distance travel options and new forms of transportation, such as passenger air travel, grew in importance, making new destinations accessible. This mix of ideal economic conditions, combined with innovations during the time period, formed a perfect foundation on which to build the modern theme park concept to be developed.

A similar “perfect storm” unfolded in Europe, with new innovations and attractions reshaping pleasure gardens and driving new experiences. Unique offerings were key to transporting families to worlds of imagination and wonder, but also to attracting audiences from further away.^[3]

The sheer concept of theme parks was born out of a combination of three early traditions: traveling fairs, pleasure gardens, and world fair exhibits. Slowly the three came together and formed the modern amusement park, inviting all age groups.

Back in the day, the decision of going to a theme park was equivalent to an out of city trip, where people dressed the part. Men wore suits and ties, and women were always spotted in heels, as opposed to now, when people have ditched all that for comfortable clothes and sneakers. Today, enjoying amusement park rides seems like a hop, skip, and jump situation. Acrobatics, juggling acts and freak shows have gradually evolved to puppet shows and arcade games. The evolution of theme parks has been progressive – wooden roller coasters have turned into steel ones, with more safety elements added to all rides.^[4]

Famous parks

Some famous theme parks:

Disneyland Park, Anaheim, California, USA
Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
Universal Studios Florida, Florida, USA
Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, USA
Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California, USA
Legoland, Denmark, UK, USA and Germany
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Alton Towers, Alton, Staffordshire, England
Phantasialand, Brühl, Germany
Gardaland, Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy
Disneyland Park, Paris, France
Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, USA
Fuji-Q Highland, Yamanashi, Japan
Kings Island, Mason, Ohio, USA
Dreampark and Wonderland, Egypt
Efteling, Netherlands
Warner Bros. Movie World, Gold Coast, Australia
Warner Bros. World, Abu Dhabi, UAE
The window of the World, Shenzhen, China
Adlabs imagica, Maharashtra, India
Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Disneysea, Tokyo, Japan

Theme Park Media

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Florida – Cinderella Castle, the park's icon.
Grand Entrance of Warner Bros. Movie World in Queensland, Australia.
Unity Park zoo in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Frederick Savage's 'Sea-On-Land' carousel, where the riders would pitch up and down as if they were on the sea, was the first amusement ride installed in Dreamland Margate in 1880 England.
Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 as one of the first pleasure gardens
The original Ferris Wheel, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893
Photochrom of the Promenade c. 1898
Steel Pier circa the 1910s
Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark opened in 1843. Tivoli is always evolving, as Georg Carstensen said in 1844: "Tivoli will never, so to speak, be finished", a sentiment echoed just over a century later when Walt Disney said of his own Tivoli-inspired theme park, "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world".