Amusement park

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Theme Park redirects here. If you are looking for details of the videogame, see Theme Park (computer game).

Luna Park, Melbourne

Amusement park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a fairly large group of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground, as an amusement park is meant to cater to adults, teenagers, and small children.

An amusement park may be permanent or temporary, usually periodic, such as a few days or weeks per year. The temporary (often annual) amusement park with mobile rides etc. is called a funfair or carnival.

Theme parks form a more narrowly defined category of an amusement park. They are permanent facilities that use architecture, signage, landscaping to help convey the feeling that people are in a different place or time. Often a theme park will have various 'lands' (sections) of the park devoted to telling a particular story. Alternatively, an amusement park often has rides with little in terms of theming or additional design elements. The main difference between a theme park and an amusement park is that in a theme park all the rides go all with the theme of the park, for example The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

Amusement parks evolved in Europe from Pleasure Gardens which used to exist for the recreation of the people, while charging a fee. In the United States, expositions were another influence on the amusement park. Amusement parks were the historical precursors to modern theme parks as well as the more traditional midway arcades and rides at county and state fairs (in the United States). Today, amusement parks have largely been replaced by theme parks, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. The oldest amusement park of the world (opened 1583) is Bakken, at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Another long-standing park is Prater in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1766.

For a remarkable example of a European park, dating from 1843 and still existing, see Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. Even older is the Oktoberfest which is not only a beer festival but also provides a lot of amusement park features, dating back to 1810, when the first event was held in Munich, Germany.

1 History of American amusement parks
2 History of theme parks
3 British theme parks
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History of American amusement parks

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. Disneyland is a theme park where rides, shows and attractions are organized and decorated around themes instead of being separately designed and decorated, like at an amusement park.

In 1895 , the first permanent amusement park in North America opened: Sea Lion Park at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. In 1897, it was joined by Steeplechase Park, the first of three major amusement parks that would open in the area. Often, it is Steeplechase Park that comes to mind when one generically thinks of the heyday of Coney Island. Steeplechase Park was a huge success and by the late 1910s, there were hundreds of amusement parks in operation around the world. The introduction of the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster at Steeplechase Park in 1927 marked the beginning of the roller coaster as one of the most popular attractions for amusement parks as well as the later modern theme parks of today.

During the peak of the "golden age" of amusement parks from roughly the turn of the 20th century through the late 1920s, Coney Island at one point had three distinct amusement parks: Steeplechase Park, Luna Park (opened in 1903), and Dreamland (opened in 1904). However, the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II during the 1940s saw the decline of the amusement park industry. Furthermore, fire was a constant threat in those days, as much of the construction within the amusement parks of the era was wooden. In 1911, Dreamland was the first Coney Island amusement park to completely burn down; in 1944, Luna Park also burned to the ground.

By the 1950s, factors such as urban decay, crime, and even desegregation led to changing patterns in how people chose to spend their free time. Many of the older, traditional amusement parks had closed or burned to the ground. Many would be taken out by the wrecking ball to make way for suburban development. In 1964, Steeplechase Park, once the king of all amusement parks, closed down for the last time.

Today, central Florida and most notably Orlando boasts more theme parks than any other worldwide destination and the northeastern USA region, most notably Pennsylvania, is now a hotbed of traditional surviving amusement parks. In its truest traditional form is Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania. Others include Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Idlewild Park in Ligionier, Pennsylvania, and Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

[edit] History of theme parks

Germany Pavilion, part of the Epcot Center theme park in Orlando, Florida

The theme park is the modern amusement park, either based on a central theme or, divided into several distinctly themed areas, or "spaces" as is often used. Large resorts, such as Walt Disney World in Florida (United States), actually house several different theme parks within their confines.

In the 1910s, Walter Knott and his family sold berries from a roadside stand. In 1934, Knott's wife Cordelia began serving fried chicken dinners, and within a few years, lines outside the restaurant were often several hours long. To entertain the waiting crowds, Walter built a Ghost Town in 1940, using buildings relocated from real old west towns such as the Calico, California ghost town and Prescott, Arizona. In 1968, the Knott family fenced the farm, charged admission for the first time, and Knott's Berry Farm officially became an amusement park. Because of its long history, Knott's Berry Farm currently claims to be "America's First Theme Park."

Walt Disney, however, is often credited with having originated the concept of the themed amusement park, although Disneyland was based on Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Children's Fairyland in Oakland, California, various World's Fairs, and major influence from De Efteling, Netherlands to which Walt was a regular visitor. Disney took these influences and melded them with the popular Disney animated characters and his unique vision, and "Disneyland" was born. Disneyland officially opened in Anaheim, California in 1955 and changed the amusement industry forever.

The years in which Disneyland opened were a sort of stopgap period for the amusement park industry, as many of the older, traditional amusement parks had already closed and many were close to closing their doors. Even before Steeplechase Park at Coney Island closed in 1964, a new entry to the theme park world emerged in the first regional theme park, as well as the first Six Flags park, Six Flags over Texas.

Six Flags Over Texas was officially opened in 1961 in Arlington, Texas near Dallas. The first Six Flags theme park was the vision of Angus Wynne, Jr. and helped create the modern, competitive theme park industry. By 1968, the second Six Flags park, Six Flags Over Georgia, opened, and in 1971, Six Flags Over Mid-America (now Six Flags St. Louis) opened near St. Louis, Missouri. Also in 1971 was the opening of the Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida, which is still the largest theme park and resort complex in the world.

An example of a roller coaster, one of the staples of modern amusement parks

During the 1970s, the theme park industry started to mature as a combination of revitalized traditional amusement parks and new ventures funded by larger corporations emerged. Magic Mountain (now a Six Flags park) opened in Valencia, California. Regional parks such as Cedar Point and Kings Island, popular amusement parks in Ohio, moved towards the more modern theme park-concept as well as rotating new roller coasters and modern thrill rides. Also during the mid-1970s, Marriott Corporation built two nearly identical theme parks named "Great America" in northern California and Illinois. The former is now owned by Cedar Fair, L.P., which now also owns Kings Island and Cedar Point; and the latter is now Six Flags Great America. Many theme parks were hit badly by the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and a number of planned theme parks were scrapped during this time.

Perhaps the most indirect evolution of an attraction into a full-fledged theme park is that of Universal Studios Hollywood. Originally just a backlot tram ride tour of the actual studios in Hollywood, California, the train ride that started in 1964 slowly evolved into a larger attraction with a western stunt show in 1967, "The Parting of the Red Sea" in 1973, a look at props from the movie Jaws in 1975, and the "Conan the Barbarian" show in 1984. By 1985, the modern era of the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park began with the "King Kong" ride and, in 1990, Universal Studios Florida in Orlando opened. Universal Studios is now the second-largest theme park company in the world, only rivalled in size by Disney itself.

Since the 1980s, the theme park industry has become larger than ever before, with everything from large, worldwide type theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood to smaller and medium-sized theme parks such as the Six Flags parks and countless smaller ventures in many of the states of the U.S. and in countries around the world. Even simpler theme parks directly aimed at smaller children have emerged, including Legoland in Carlsbad, California (the first Legoland opened in Billund, Denmark). The only limit to future theme park ventures is one's imagination.