Amusement park From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Theme park" redirects here. For the video game, see Theme Park (video game). "Amusement Park" redirects here. For the song by 50 Cent, see Amusement Park (song). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007) Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Wonder Mountain at Canada's Wonderland Wild West Falls at Warner Bros. Movie World, Queensland, Australia Roller coaster Dragon Khan withinPortAventura near Barcelona, Spain, one of the largest amusement parks in Europe with 3 million visitors per year. An amusement park or theme park is a group of entertainment attractions, rides, and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground, usually providing attractions meant to cater specifically to certain age groups, as well as some that are aimed towards all ages. Theme parks, a specific type of amusement park, are usually much more intricately themed to a certain subject or group of subjects than normal amusement parks. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs and pleasure gardens, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and expositions were another influence on the development of the amusement park industry.[1] Amusement parks have a fixed location, as opposed to travelling funfairs andcarnivals. In common language, the terms theme park and amusement park are often synonymous. However, a theme park can be regarded as a distinct style of amusement park. A theme park has landscaping, buildings, and attractions that are based on one or more specific themes or stories.[2][3] Despite many older parks adding themed rides and areas, qualifying the park as a theme park, the first park built with the original intention of promoting a specific theme, Santa Claus Land, in Santa Claus, Indiana, did not open until 1946.[4][5] Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California, built around the concept of encapsulating multiple theme parks into a single amusement park is often mistakenly cited as the first themed amusement park, but is instead the park that made the idea popular. Contents [hide] 1 History o 1.1 Origins o 1.2 Blackpool and Coney Island o 1.3 Modern Amusement Park o 1.4 The Golden Age o 1.5 Depression and post-World War II decline o 1.6 The rise of theme parks 2 Amusement and theme parks today 3 Other types of amusement park o 3.1 Educational theme parks o 3.2 Family-owned theme parks o 3.3 Regional parks 4 Admission prices and admission policies o 4.1 Pay-as-you-go o 4.2 Pay-one-price 5 Rides and attractions o 5.1 Flat rides o 5.2 Roller coasters o 5.3 Train rides o 5.4 Water rides o 5.5 Dark rides o 5.6 Ferris wheels o 5.7 Transport rides 6 Food 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links History[edit] Origins[edit] The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions. The oldest of these traditions, was the periodic fair of the Middle Ages - one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England, which began in 1133. By the 18th and 19th century, they had evolved into places of entertainment for the masses, where the public could view freak shows, acrobatics, conjuring and juggling, take part in competitions and walk through menageries. A wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam- powered carousel (built by Thomas Bradshaw, at the Aylsham Fair), and its derivatives. This inaugurated the era of the modern funfair ride, as the working classes were increasingly able to spend their surplus wages on entertainment.[6] Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 as one of the first pleasure gardens. The second influence was the pleasure garden. One of the earliest gardens was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London. By the late 18th century, the site had an admission fee for its many attractions. It regularly drew enormous crowds, with its paths being noted for romantic assignations; tightrope walkers, hot air balloon ascents, concerts and fireworks provided amusement. Although the gardens were originally designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity. Public firework displays were put on at Marylebone Gardens, and Cremorne Gardens offered music, dancing and animal acrobatics displays.[7] Amusement parks also appeared on the Continent. Bakken ("The Hill") at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark was opened to the public in 1756 and Prater in Vienna, Austria, was opened in 1766. The concept of a fixed park for amusement was further developed with the beginning of the world’s fairs. The first World fair began in 1851 with the construction of the landmark Crystal Palace in London, England. The purpose of the exposition was to celebrate the industrial achievement of the nations of the world and it was designed to educate and entertain the visitors.[8] First Ferris wheel, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 American cities and business also saw the world’s fair as a way of demonstrating economic and industrial success.[8] The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois was an early precursor to the modern amusement park. The fair was an enclosed site, that merged entertainment, engineering and education to entertain the masses. It set out to bedazzle the visitors, and successfully did so with a blaze of lights from the ―White City.‖ [1] To make sure that the fair was a financial success, the planners included a dedicated amusement concessions area called the Midway Plaisance.[8] Rides from this fair captured the imagination of the visitors and of amusement parks around the world, such as the first steel Ferris wheel, which was found in many other amusement areas, such as the Prater by 1896. Also, the experience of the enclosed ideal city with wonder, rides, culture and progress (electricity), was based on the creation of an illusory place.[1] The ―midway‖ introduced at the Columbian Exposition would become a standard part of most amusement parks, fairs, carnivals and circuses. The midway contained not only the rides, but other concessions and entertainments such as shooting galleries, penny arcades, games of chance and shows.[9] Blackpool and Coney Island[edit] Main article: Trolley park The modern amusement park evolved from earlier seaside pleasure resorts that had become popular with the public for day-trips or weekend holidays in Blackpool, England and Coney Island,United States.[10] Blackpool sands in 1895 Blackpool began to grow as a seaside resort with the completion of a branch line to Blackpool from Poulton on the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line from Preston to Fleetwood. Fleetwood declined as a resort, as its founder and principal financial backer, Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, went bankrupt. In contrast, Blackpool boomed. A sudden influx of visitors, arriving by rail, provided the motivation for entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s. The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as wakes weeks. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. In 1863, the North Pier was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor. The town expanded southward beyond what is today known as the Golden Mile, towards South Shore, and South Pier was completed in 1893, making Blackpool the only town in the United Kingdom with three piers. In 1878, the Winter Gardens complex opened, incorporating ten years later the Opera House, said to be the largest in Britain outside of London. Photochrom of the Promenade c. 1898 In 1879, large parts of the promenade were wired. The lighting and its accompanying pageants reinforced Blackpool's status as the North of England's most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character. It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations. By the 1890s, the town had a population of 35,000, and could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers. The number of annual visitors, many staying for a week, was estimated at three million. 1894 saw the opening of two of the town's most prominent buildings, the Grand Theatre on Church Street, and Blackpool Tower on the Promenade. The Grand Theatre was one of Britain's first all-electric theatres. When the tower opened, 3,000 customers took the first rides to the top. Tourists paid sixpence for admission, sixpence more for a ride in the lifts to the top, and a further sixpence for the circus.[11] In America, picnic groves were found along rivers and lakes that provided bathing and water sports such as Lake Compounce in Connecticut, first established as a picturesque picnic park in 1846, and Riverside Park in Massachusetts, founded along the Connecticut River in the 1870s.[12] Another similar location was Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, where a horse-drawn streetcar line brought pleasure seekers to the beach beginning in 1829. In 1875, a million passengers rode the Coney Island Railroad, and in 1876 two million visited Coney Island. Hotels and amusements were built to accommodate both the upper-classes and the working-class.