Arts and Entertainment Amusement Parks 16 persons. The inclined railway was 80 feet high with a 50 percent grade to the surface of a Carousel patent was granted on July 25, 1871, large body of water. to Willhelm Schneider of Davenport, IA. It was a two-story carousel and not very successful Roller coaster with a loop-the-loop was a cen- or practical. trifugal railway invented by Edwin Prescott of Arlington, MA, who received a patent for it on Roller coaster was invented by Lemarcus Adna August 16, 1898. It was known as Boyton’s Cen- Thompson, a former Sunday school teacher, trifugal Railway and was installed at the amuse- and put in operation in June 1884 by the L.A. ment park on Coney Island, NY (now part Thompson Scenic Railway Company at Coney of New York City), in 1900. It had a 75-foot Island, NY (now part of New York City). It incline and a 20-foot-wide loop. traveled along a wooden and steel track 450 feet long at a speed of six miles per hour. The Skee-ball alley was built in 1914 by the cars started from a peak and ran downgrade, National Skee-Ball Company of Coney Island, the momentum carrying the cars up an incline. New York City, and the first battery was oper- The passengers got out, the attendants pushed ated by William A. Norwood in April 1914 at the train over a switch to a higher point on the Coney Island amusement park. a second track, and the passengers returned. The highest drop was only 30 feet. Thompson Theme park was Santa Claus Land, a Christmas- obtained a patent on January 20, 1885, on a themed park in Santa Claus, IN, founded by roller-coasting structure and another patent retired businessman Louis J. Koch. The park, on December 22, 1885 on a gravity switchback which opened on August 3, 1946, offered rides, railway. The first high-speed roller coaster was food treats, an antique toy collection, and a wax The Cyclone, which opened at Coney Island on museum, as well as a Santa Claus impersonator. June 26, 1927. Its one-and-a-half minute ride The name was changed to Holiday World in 1984. hit speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. Hybrid zero gravity drop water slide was Mechanized shooting gallery that was fully opened in 2014 at Six Flags Over Georgia. Called automatic was invented in 1890 by Charles Tsunami Surge, it features a 54’ drop, 125’ long Wallace Parker of Abilene, KS, whose first sale whirlpool bowl, and 45’ high zero gravity wave was made to Leon Brownie of Houston, TX. wall. Four people can sit in its cloverleaf-shaped tube. Tsunami Surge pumps 400,000 gallons of Ferris wheel was invented in 1892 by George water per hour. The ride was manufactured by Washington Gale Ferris, a railroad and bridge ProSlide Technology, Inc. engineer. It was erected on the Midway at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL, Log flume water ridewas opened at Six Flags in 1893. It consisted of 36 cars, each capable Over Texas in Arlington in 1963. Riders speed of holding 60 passengers. The highest point of glide through a river on “El Aserradero”, then the wheel was 264 feet. The total weight of the experience a nosedive over the falls at the con- wheels and cars was 2,100 tons, of the levers and clusion of the ride. A second flume was added in machinery 2,200 tons, and of the passengers per 1968 due to the popularity of the first. trip 150 tons. Daily operating monorail in the Western Hemi- Shoot-the-chutes was built by Captain Paul sphere was Disneyland’s Alweg Monorail System, Boyton and opened on July 6, 1895, at the amuse- which opened on June 14, 1959 as an attraction ment park at Coney Island, NY (now part of in Tomorrowland. It featured two trains each New York City). Each passenger toboggan held with three cabins and a bubble top in front. Two 1 Famous First Facts years later, in 1961, the monorail was extended The Seas with Nemo and Friends (including an to reach the Disneyland Hotel. Vice President aquarium). Some of these pavilions include sev- Richard Nixon and his family were among the eral attractions within them, such as The Land, dignitaries in attendance. which offers a boat tour through a working greenhouse, as well as a simulated aerial tour of Theme park built on hill was Universal Studios California. Hollywood. It features an Upper Lot and Lower Lot, built into the landscape of the hilly terrain. Theme park resort to offer multiple lodging The studio opened to the public in its current options was Walt Disney World in Florida. form on July 15, 1964, when a modern-day Realizing that its guests have a variety of bud- tour commenced, a throwback to 1915, when gets from which they work, Disney offers people Universal City opened and tours of films being staying on its property everything from budget made were available. to luxury hotels. On the lower end of the pricing spectrum, guests can choose from thousands Theme park with multi-level outdoor esca- of rooms at several hotels. These include the lator was universal Studios Hollywood. The All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies, theme park’s Upper Lot and Lower Lot are con- Art of Animation, and Pop Century hotels The nected to each other by a series of escalators, next level up are considered moderate hotels from which you can get an incredibly panoramic These include Coronado Springs, Caribbean view of the area around Hollywood. In addition Beach, Port Orleans Riverside, and Port Orleans to various attractions, the Upper Lot level fea- French Quarter. On the upper end of pricing, tures CityWalk, which is an entertainment and Disney guests can stay at the Wilderness Lodge, dining district within the theme park. To help Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Contemporary, guests who drive to the studios, the parking Polynesian, and Grand Floridian hotels, as well garages feature sections named after characters as the Boardwalk, Yacht, and Beach Club hotels from universal films. between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney’s famous monorail goes through several Theme park to dedicate a large area to the hotels, including the Contemporary, Grand culture and food of countries from around Floridian, and Polynesian There is transporta- the world was EPCOT Center at Disney World. tion to the theme parks to and from all of these This area is called World Showcase and contains hotels Guests staying at these hotels can have eleven pavilions built around a manmade lake. things purchased in the parks sent back to their The countries include, Canada, France, Japan, hotels without carrying the items around all day China, England, Germany, Morocco, Mexico, Italy, Norway, and the United States. These days, Theme park to provide its own transpor- the park goes by the name EPCOT. The acronym tation network was Walt Disney World in is derived from the phrase Experimental Proto- Florida. Many times, the sheer size of Disney type Community of Tomorrow, coined by Walt World has been compared to cities such as San Disney himself in the 1960’s as the Disney World Francisco As a result, Disney developed a very concept and project were taking shape. EPCOT comprehensive transportation network travers- opened to the public on October 1, 1982. ing the Disney property in Florida Not only is there a very large fleet of buses going from Theme park to dedicate a large area to technol- the hotels to the four major parks, but there ogy was EPCOT Center (now simply EPCOT) are also riverboats, monorails, and small boats at Disney World in Florida. The section is called taking guests around the huge property. One Future World and features pavilions focused on monorail is dedicated to a route between the how things are created, science, technology, and Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary, Grand related areas. Some of the pavilions and attrac- Floridian, and Polynesian hotels. A second tions included within EPCOT’s Future World monorail connects from the Magic Kingdom are Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Universe to the Transportation and Ticket Center, which of Energy: Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Mission: is also the location for buses connecting to the SPACE, Test Track, Imagination!, The Land, and hotels as well as to the vast parking area The 2 Arts And Entertainment third monorail goes from the Transportation individual feathers to animatronic birds in the and Ticket Center to Epcot Enchanted Tiki Room, and created the birds for the film version of Mary Poppins. Burns Theme park featuring animals to build a hotel designed models for classic attractions, includ- into the property was Walt Disney World in ing Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Florida. The Animal Kingdom Lodge was incor- Mansion. She also was on a Disney team that porated into Animal Kingdom park, providing created attractions for the 1964 World’s Fair in multiple vantage points for observing giraffes, Queens, New York, including Great Moments zebras, and other animals. Animal Kingdom with Mr. Lincoln, and the Carousel of Prog- Lodge is designed to look like an African safari ress. Burns also was the first woman to have a lodge. It includes three restaurants and a quick window display on Main Street in Disneyland service restaurant. The restaurants - Boma, Jiko, in her honor. and Sanaa, use African flavors and other spices. Theme Park attraction to use Audio-Anima- Theme park attraction to be based on the tronics technology was the Enchanted Tiki blockbuster movie Frozen was announced in Room, which opened to the public on June September 2014.