Talk:Amusement park

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Since the funfair came to town this morning (Cambridge UK), I'm looking at improving some of the related articles.

First off I am proposing to move the section on Fairgrounds here to become an article of its own, either at funfair or fairground (the dictionary definition of fairground is as the place were fairs take place, but fairground gets more google hits and the University of Sheffield apparently has a National Fairground Archive). Amusement parks certainly grew out of travelling fairs and share some of the same rides. But in the UK, a travelling fair is significantly different from an amusement park.

There also appears to be some confusion over the use of the word 'carnival'. I suspect in the United States the word 'carnival' is used to describe a smaller travelling fun fair. However the article on carnival is exclusively about its Catholic Europe/South American use as public revelry most particularly associated with Shrove Tuesday but potentially covering the months from mid-winter to Easter. Funfairs are often to be found alongside these festivals but they are not the same thing.

There must also be connections with the tradition of medieval fairs and markets (partially covered at fair) and modern county fairs, state fairs and similar agricultural shows, most of which appear to be covered in a disjointed fashion. I would also expect to find some similar traditions in mainland Europe - as I child I saw a German travelling fair/funfair which had very lavishly decorated traditional rides.

This morning I also discovered there is a small British subculture of 'fairground enthusiasts' who are rather similar to train spotters, following travelling fairs around the country and photographing their lorries. -- Solipsist 13:18, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

1. There seems to be a lot of regional bias towards the Americans and British. Other locations seem to be neglected.
2. Solipist, I agree with you, the funfair article needs to be split.

Andrew pmk 02:20, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

OK I've now moved the section to funfair and started to grow it. It would benefit from some input on the European perspective and other international differences on funfairs.

I was tempted to move the section on Australian shows which now looks significantly out of place. However, it looks more appropriate to merged it with agricultural show. -- Solipsist 29 June 2005 18:03 (UTC)

May I suggest that the concept of a 'theme park' (from which this article is a redirect) is rather different from an amusement park or funfair? I think there is quite a lot to be said about the development of this concept in recent decades and the spread of this aspect of American culture throughout the world. Fluoronaut 12 December 2005 22:03 (UTC)

2 things. "Funfair" or "carnival" make me think "circus", which is a local (only?)/Canadian (only?) term for what both those terms imply, including a transportable fairground, complete with rides. Also, I've heard the oldest amusement park is in Denmark, N Swe. Anybody able to ID & locate it? Trekphiler 07:26, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Spam? 2 Infobox? 3 Spammer on the loose 4 TOP 50 AMUSEMENT/THEMEPARKS WORLDWIDE 5 Lead tweak 6 Noteworthy amusement, theme and water parks 7 External links section

[edit] Spam?

I'm sort of new to this, but I was confused when I posted a link to a site and then someone removed it removed because he/she considered it to be "spam". The site is not my own, and neither myself nor the site owner make money from the link. I only posted it because the content in the galleries would benefit the Wikipedia community. Can I get some explanation for this?

Edit in question: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amusement_park&oldid=33581261

WillMcC 23:09, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

The linked site sells DVDs and T-shirts. You've even got a 'store' link in the main menu - that's spam. If the site offered seminal information on the subject it might be OK, but in practice it appears to have little to offer. See Wikipedia:spam and Wikipedia:External links for more on guidelines. -- Solipsist 00:00, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

As I said, spam was not the intention (if I wanted to spam, I would write a bot and do exactly that) Calling it "spam" is a bit extreme. Your link defines spam as "advertisements masquerading as articles, and wide-scale external link spamming", which the link is neither. The only purpose of posting was to benefit the Wikipedia community, as the site owners have some pictures of rarely seen attractions (http://www.themeparkreview.com/photos/index.htm) in the gallery.

According to the "External Link" page, one can add "Sites with other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article, such as textbooks or reviews." If it's the "store" section that's a problem, I understand, but to call it spam is rediculous. If this is the case however, you might want to remove the other links with stores too.

Alternatively, here are some sites that could be useful www.screamscape.com - An amusement park news and rumors site www.joyrides.com - A decent photo gallery of theme parks and rides, though no longer updated www.napha.org/

WillMcC 01:09, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox?

Would someone create an infobox for amusement parks? It seems that parks would be ideal for an infobox where info like location, establishment date, owner, related themes, number of rides, number of rollercoasters, acreage (sq km), website, associated hotels/resort could be consolidated into a easy to read format? This could be easily be built from/consolidate the Disney park infobox Template:Disneyparkinfo. --Reflex Reaction (talk)• 23:52, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spammer on the loose

User 69.243.16.155 has been inserting a large number of external links on many coaster/amusement park related sites. All these links point to http://www.coaster-net.com/. I have removed most of them, but everyone should be on the lookout for when this user strikes again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=69.243.16.155 WillMcC 03:41, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Some potentially useful info for inclusion in the article --Jason Ling 14:43, 6 April 2006 (UTC):

[edit] TOP 50 AMUSEMENT/THEMEPARKS WORLDWIDE

Legends for Chart:
A-Rank
B-Park & Location
C-Attendance

  A B                                                    C
  1 MAGIC KINGDOM at WALT DISNEY WORLD lake Buena
     Vista, Fla.                                      15,170,000
  2 DISNEYLAND Anaheim                                13,360,000
  3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND Tokyo                            13,200,000
  4 TOKYO DISNEY SEA Tokyo                            12,200,000
  5 DISNEYLAND PARIS Marne-La-Vallee, France          10,200,000
  6 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN Osaka, Japan                9900,000
  7 EPCOT at WALT DISNEY WORLD take Buena Vista, Fla   9,4000,000
  8 DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS THEME PARK at WALT DISNEY
     WORLD Lake Buena Vista, Fla                       8,260,000
  9 LOTTE WORLD Seoul, South Korea                     8,000,000
 10 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM at WALT DISNEY WORLD
     Lake Buena Vista, Fla                             7,820,000
 11 EVERLAND Kyonggi-Do, South Korea                   7,500,000
 12 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA at UNIVERSAL
     ORLANDO Orlando                                   6,700,000
 13 ISLANDS Of ADVENTURE at UNIVERSAL
     ORLANDO Orlando                                   6,300,000
 14 BLACKPOOL PLEASURE BEACH Blackpool, England        6,200,000
 15 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE Anaheim              5,630,000
 16 SEAWORLD FLORIDA Orlando                           5,600,000
 17 YOKOHAMA HAKKEIJIMA SEA PARADISE Yokohama, Japan   5,100,000
 18 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD Universal City, Calif  5,000,000
 19 ADVENTUREDOME at CIRCUS CIRCUS Las Vegas           4,400,000
 20 TIVOLI GARDENS Copenhagen Denmark                  4,240,000
 21 BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY Tampa Bay, Fla             4,100,000
 22 SEAWORLD CALIFORNIA San Diego                      4,000,000
+23 OCEAN PARK, Hong Kong                              3,800,000
+23 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND Kuwana, Japan                   3,800,000
 25 KNOTT'S BERRY FARM Buena Park, Calif               3,580,000
 26 PARAMOUNT'S KINGS ISLAND Kings Island, Ohio        3,510,000
 27 PARAMOUNT CANADA'S WONDERLAND Maple, Ontario       3,420,000
 28 EUROPA-PARK Rust Germany                           3,300,000
 29 DE EFTEUNG Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands                3,200,000
 30 CEDAR POINT Sandusky, Ohio                         3,170,000
+31 MOREY'S PIERS Wildwood, NJ                         3,100,000
+31 PORT AVENTURA Salou, Spain                         3,100,000
+31 GARDALAND Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy             3,100,000
+31 LISEBERG Gothenburg, Sweden                        3,000,000
+34 SANTA CRUZ BEACH BOARDWALK Santa Cruz, Calif       3,000,000
 36 SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE Jackson, N.J.            2,800,000
 37 HUIS TEM BOSCH Sasebo City, Japan                  2,750,000
+38 SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN Valencia, Calif           2,700,000
+38 LA FERIA DE CHAPULTAPEC Mexico City                2,700,000
 40 SUZUKA CIRCUIT Suzuka, Japan                         200,000
 41 CAMP SNOOPY at MALI OF AMERICA Bloomington, Minn   2,590,000
+42 BAKKEN Klampenborg, Denmark                        2,500,000
+42 HERSHEYPARK Hershey, Pa                            2,500,000
+44 ALTON TOWERS Staffordshire, England                2,400,000
+44 BUSCH GARDENS (THE OLD COUNTRY) Williamsburg, Va   2,400,000
 46 SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA Gurnee, III                2,300,000
 47 SEOUL LAND Seoul, South Korea                       2250,000
+48 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK Marne-La-Vallee, France   2,200,000
+48 SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS Arlington Texas               2,200,000
 50 SIX FLAGS MEXICO Mexico City                       2,150,000
Note: + indicates a tie. Attendance estimated for calendar
year 2004.
Source: Amusement Business and Economics Research Associates

[edit] Lead tweak

An anon removed the following from the lead:

Disneyland in California (USA) was the first theme park.

Should it be restored? - RoyBoy ⁸⁰⁰ 23:19, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Noteworthy amusement, theme and water parks

I removed this list from the article -- making a selection is clearly POV. We already have a comprehensive list at List of amusement parks. bogdan 19:07, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

• Alabama Adventure Theme Park, Bessemer, Alabama
• Adventure Island, Tampa, Florida, a waterpark owned by the Busch Gardens chain
• Adventuredome, an indoor park in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Al Hokair Land Theme Park, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Aladdin's Kingdom, Doha, Qatar
• Alton Towers, Staffordshire, England
• Appu Ghar, New Delhi, India
• Aqua Serena, Espoo, Finland, the biggest indoor water amusement park in Europe
• Athisayam Amusement Park, (www.athisayampark.com )Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
• Barry Island Pleasure Park, South Wales, UK
• Bellewaerde, Belgium
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach, England
• Bobbejaanland, Belgium
• Bonbonland, Denmark
• Busch Gardens chain in Tampa, Florida ("Tampa Bay") and Williamsburg, Virginia
• Canada's Wonderland, Maple, Ontario Canada
• Canobie Lake Park, Salem, New Hampshire
• Celebration City, Branson, Missouri
• Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio voted best amusement park in the world, for the 9th year in a row
• Chimelong Paradise, Guangzhou, Guangdong China
• Conneaut Lake Park, Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania
• Cypress Gardens in Cypress Gardens, Florida. Florida's oldest theme park, started in 1936 by Dick and Julie Pope
• Disneyland, Anaheim, California
• Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida the world's best theme park for children according to The Independent on Sunday
  • Magic Kingdom, The
  • Epcot
  • Disney-MGM Studios
  • Disney's Animal Kingdom
  • Disney's Blizzard Beach (water park)
  • Disney's Typhoon Lagoon (water park)
• Disneyland, Lantau Island, Hong Kong
• Disneyland, Marne-la-Vallée, France (near Paris)
• Disneyland, Urayasu, Chiba, Japan (near Tokyo)
• Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
• Dollywood's Splash Country, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; (water park)
• Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Drayton Manor, Tamworth, Staffordshire near Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Dreamworld, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia Largest theme park in Australia
• Dubai Land, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (opening in 2006)
• Efteling, Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands
• Enchanted Kingdom, Philippines
• Europapark, Germany
• Expoland, Suita, Osaka, Japan
• Fantazy Land, Alexandria, Egypt
• Flamingo Land, Yorkshire, England
• Frontier City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan
• Fun Spot, Angola, Indiana
• Futuroscope, Poitiers, France
• Galaxyland, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (located inside West Edmonton Mall)
• Gardaland, Peschiera del Garda, Italy
• Geauga Lake, Aurora, Ohio family amusement park owned by Cedar Fair. The property has been owned and operated by more individual amusement park corporations than any other, including Six Flags and SeaWorld.
• Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Gröna Lund, Stockholm, Sweden
• Heide Park, Soltau, Germany
• Hersheypark, Herhsey, Pennsylvania
• Holiday Park, Hassloch, Germany
• Holiday World, Santa Claus, Indiana; originally Santa Claus Land, started in 1946; claims to be the first theme park
• Indiana Beach, Monticello, Indiana; Indiana's largest amusement park
• Joyland, Wichita, Kansas
• Joypolis, A Japanese arcade and amusement theme park created by Sega
• Kennywood, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Knoebels, Elysburg, Pennsylvania
• Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, which also claims to be the first theme park.
• Lagoon Amusement Park, Utah, a park more than 100 years old
• Lake Compounce, Bristol, Connecticut, oldest amusement park in the United States
• Legoland chain in Denmark, California, Germany and the United Kingdom
• LimmyLand a small park in southwest China. Home to 3 Togo roller coasters
• Linnanmäki, Helsinki, Finland
• Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Loudoun Castle, Loudoun, Scotland
• Luna Park, multiple locations in Australia modeled after the original Luna Park at Coney Island; Luna Park, Melbourne is known for its historic scenic railway.
• Marineland, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
• MGM Dizzee World, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
• Mirabilandia, Ravenna, Italy
• Moomin World, Naantali, Finland, the world's 4th best theme park for children according to The Independent on Sunday
• Movie Park Germany, Bottrop, Germany
• Mystery Park, Interlaken, Switzerland
• Nagashima Spa Land, Mie Prefecture, Japan
• Ocean Park, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
• Oakwood Leisure Park, South Wales, UK.
• Palisades Amusement Park
• Paramount Parks
  • Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, Canada
  • Carowinds, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Paramount's Great America, Santa Clara, California
  • Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virginia
  • Kings Island, Mason, Ohio
• Parc Astérix in Pailly, France in the department of Oise
• The Park at MOA (formerly known as Camp Snoopy), Bloomington, Minnesota (located inside Mall of America); most successful indoor amusement park in the United States.
• Parque España in Shima-Isobe, Japan
• Playland in Rye, New York; the only government-run amusement park in America
• Phantasialand in Brühl, Germany
• Plopsaland in De Panne, Belgium
• Point Mallard Aquatic Center in Decatur, Alabama; "Home of America's First Wave Pool"
• Port Aventura, Salou, Spain
• Ratanga Junction, Cape Town, South Africa
• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, California
• Santa's Candy Castle, Santa Claus, Indiana first themed attraction in U.S.
• Santa Claus Park, Rovaniemi, Finland, a Christmas theme park
• Särkänniemi, Tampere, Finland, the most popular amusement park in Finland, the world's most northern dolphinarium
• Schlitterbahn, New Braunfels, Texas, one of the world's most popular waterparks.
• Seabreeze Amusement Park, Irondequoit, New York
• Sea World, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
• SeaWorld in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego
• Silesian Amusement Park, Metropolis Katowice, Poland
• Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri
• Six Flags chain, including
  • American Adventures, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Frontier City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  • The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom, Lake George, New York
  • La Ronde, Montreal, Canada
  • Six Flags America, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
  • Six Flags Astroworld, Houston, Texas, closed at the end of the 2005 season.
  • Six Flags Belgium, Wavre, Belgium, sold and renamed Walibi Belgium
  • Six Flags Darien Lake, Darien, New York
  • Six Flags Elitch Gardens, Denver, Colorado
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, Texas
  • Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey
  • Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois
  • Six Flags Holland, Biddinghuizen, Netherlands, sold and renamed Walibi World
  • Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, multiple locations, waterparks usually adjacent to Six Flags theme parks.
  • Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville, Kentucky
  • Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California
  • Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo, California
  • Six Flags Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
  • Six Flags New England, Agawam, Massachusetts
  • Six Flags New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, currently closed due to Hurricane Katrina
  • Six Flags Over Georgia, Austell, Georgia
  • Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas
  • Six Flags St. Louis, Eureka, Missouri
  • Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, Seattle, Washington
  • Wyandot Lake, Columbus, Ohio
• Splish Splash Water Park, Riverhead, Long Island, New York
• Space World, Kitakyushu, Japan
• Thorpe Park, Surrey, England
• Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen
• TusenFryd, Vinterbo, Norway
• Universal Studios Theme Parks including:
  • Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida
  • Universal Studios Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
  • Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan
• Valleyfair!, Shakopee, Minnesota
• Veega Land, Cochin, Kerala, India
• Vulcania, Saint-Ours-les-Roches, France
• Water World
• Warner Bros. Movie World, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
• Wet 'n' Wild, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (water park)
• Wild Adventures, Valdosta, Georgia
• Willow Grove Park, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. One of the premier parks before Disneyland (closed in 1976).
• Witches' Water, in Austria
• World of Sid and Marty Krofft, Atlanta, Georgia. The world's first indoor amusement park (closed in 1976).
• Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, Kansas City, Missouri
• Wurstelprater, Vienna, Austria

[edit] External links section

The External Links section was a bit of a mess, so I trimmed down the listing of links and changed the tag. Of the sites that remain, I believe that there are better sources than some, but I deleted anything that did not offer a directly valuable resource beyond this page. If anyone wants to add a link, please check Wikipedia:External_links and propose it first on this page --WillMcC 20:54, 7 December 2006 (UTC)