A Terror-rific Spirited 13th (ToT fans have lots to fear)...

[Animaniac93-98]

Is Bush Gardens a theme park? How about Sea World or IOA? They all have exposed track coasters.

Can't comment on Busch Gardens as I've never been, but I would say SeaWorld is not as there is no clear, overarching concept to any of the areas or the park itself beyond "marine life" (Atlantis ride being an outlier to this. That is a themed experience within a amusement park setting).

IoA is without question a theme park. It has clearly defined areas with facades, background music and characters that work together to support core experiences. That Hulk and Dragon Challange exist doesn't change that.

Disney fans for years have been trying to dismiss IoA as not a real theme park or on par with Six Flags and the argument has always been absurd to anyone who has set foot inside. You can't just ignore the work put into Seuss Landing, Lost Continent or Port of Entry because you dislike the look of Comic Strip Lane. Those areas alone top most of DHS which die-hard Disney fans would never dream of calling an "amusement park".

 

[GoofGoof]

Can't comment on Busch Gardens as I've never been, but I would say SeaWorld is not as there is no clear, overarching concept to any of the areas or the park itself beyond "marine life" (Atlantis ride being an outlier to this. That is a themed experience within a amusement park setting).

IoA is without question a theme park. It has clearly defined areas with facades, background music and characters that work together to support core experiences. That Hulk and Dragon Challange exist doesn't change that.

Bush Gardens Williamsburg has a pretty clear theme. Not sure about Tampa. I've never been. I agree on the other 2 but I think most people would still call Sea World a theme park. My only point is that it's pretty subjective and the fact that most people have somewhat different definitions of a theme park is why we can't agree on this water park.

 

[ford91exploder]

I think it's European.

Yes those commie pinkoswho get things like guaranteed time off... Unlike in the land of the 'Free to work yourself to death'

 

[Mike S]

Yes those commie pinkoswho get things like guaranteed time off... Unlike in the land of the 'Free to work yourself to death'

 

[Brer Oswald]

Is Iger really going to be at WDW next week?

No, he's like the rich businessman dad who promises to show up at his kid's recital, but never makes it and just sends the kid money to make up for it. The kid ends up wasting the money on drugs to cope with the parent neglect, or in this case, wastes the money on retheming ToT to a GotG ride.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I love how some of you keep saying you're going to drop the subject, but eventually return to talk about it again.

Very entertaining.

 

[Phil12]

I love how some of you keep saying you're going to drop the subject, but eventually return to talk about it again.

Very entertaining.

I suppose it's just the thought of having a new and exciting GotG theme at ToT to replace the boring old Twilight Zone schlock.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Just throwing this out there:

Is it also not possible for something to technically qualify as a theme park, but not be the best executed?

When we make distinctions over what movies are good and bad, we don't stopping thinking of one or the other as movies.

The positive correlation between type and quality is another failing of the vocabulary built on the unique qualities of themed entertainment combined with several historical and socioeconomic factors.

First, the term 'theme' is used to describe too much. My go to example would be two people building a Batman themed room. One does a room painted in Batman blue and grey with some posters and collectables. This is a Batman themed room. The other person builds the Batcave. This is also a Batman themed room. So while both rooms can be described as themed, if story is at the heart of themed entertainment, then only one of these can be called 'themed' in the sense of themed entertainment. This is the notion of themed decor (the first room) and themed experience (the Batcave).

The distinction itself between themed experience and themed decor does not answer why any sort of value judgement is applied. As the quality of a themed experience drops the more it takes on an image similar to themed decor. A very well done Batcave is not going to look like a room, it will not be a clear box and there will sculpted set elements to created a realistic looking cave environment along wth other elements such as temperature, sounds, and so forth. As quality decreases we would expect the room to be more noticeable as a room and the amount of sculpture to decrease, the whole thing becomes less experiential and more visual. Continuing the decrease in quality we might find ourselves with a rectangular room with vinyl cave graphics applied to the wall and a grey floor. That story intent of themed experience would still be there but the visual is not much different than a room painted in Batman blue and grey (themed decor). Themed decor as it gets more expensive does not really gain the image of themed experience, so this creates the illusion of a linear relationship that moves down from high quality to low quality, from themed experience to themed decor to no theme.

Nothing about themed experience, themed decor and no theme actually puts them into such a linear, connected series that correlates to quality. Instead the optics of this relationship are something that have been reinforced as a matter of history. Amusement parks, even at their height in the early 20th century, were never considered high culture. By the 1950s when Disneyland opened their reputation as places of little quality was well established. Disneyland being both themed experience and a high quality amusement park helped to create the notion of this concept of theme parks being higher quality and amusement parks being lesser quality. Economics have continued to reinforce the distinction. The regional theme parks that opened in the wake of Disneyland would often open more focused on themed experience, but as a matter of distinction, cost and lack of understanding would incorporated themed decor. This is possible because themed entertainment / themed experiences are heavily built on elements that are not inherently story driven. A roller coaster can be a themed experience (the Batmobile racing out of the Batcave and through the streets of Gotham), themed decor (painted Batman colors) or just a roller coaster. Movies of low quality do not get labeled something else because there is no history of moving pictures without any sense of story nor a history correlating such moving pictures to quality.

 

[Mike S]

I love how some of you keep saying you're going to drop the subject, but eventually return to talk about it again.

Very entertaining.

Today is actually much calmer than yesterday. It seems mostly dropped.

Unless you're still catching up.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I love how some of you keep saying you're going to drop the subject, but eventually return to talk about it again.

Very entertaining.

Is this because I made the GotG joke? I could have easily replaced it with any other bad decision by WDI in the last 10-15 years!

 

[Cesar R M]

Yes those commie pinkoswho get things like guaranteed time off... Unlike in the land of the 'Free to work yourself to death'

 

[Californian Elitist]

I suppose it's just the thought of having a new and exciting GotG theme at ToT to replace the boring old Twilight Zone schlock.

*raises eyebrow*

This has nothing to do with my comment.

 

[marni1971]

I suppose it's just the thought of having a new and exciting GotG theme at ToT to replace the boring old Twilight Zone schlock.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I didn't really want to start a thread about this, so I was wondering if somebody in here could enlighten me. Who is Serpico? I have heard a lot about them lately on this site, but all I know about them is that they are an insider, but I have no idea where to see what they have said. So they have a website? Or do they post on WDWMAGIC? Hopefully somebody can help me out. I would like to be able to see what they have to share about the various projects going on.

This might help......

 

[NearTheEars]

I agree with @lazyboy97o that there is a vocabulary issue at play here. The only thing that would blur the line between a water park and a theme park is if they had actual rides beyond water slides, lazy rivers and a wave pool. For example lifting Jurassic Park would blur the line.

A theme park is a themed amusement park. These additional elements aren't intrinsic to amusement parks, they are supportive of theme perhaps. So what we are seeing is a blurring of the line with how themed a water park can be, but it's not blurring the line with there being any facet of 'amusement' vs 'water'.

Table Dining and a Night show doesn't blur the line that Disney Springs is still a shopping mall after all, one that is more 'themed' than normal, but it does nothing to convince me that it is an actual themed 'amusement' park.

TEA will continue to rank VB in the water park category. So therein lies the vocab issue, we need something to refer to themed water parks vs reg old water parks much in the way we have themed amusement parks vs reg old.

Great post.
I think calling it a Water Theme Park works just fine.

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Are we done with the semantics debate yet? I'd almost rather go back to the IP hand-wringing.

 

[rael ramone]

Not all titles/names ascribed to things are truly descriptive of their true functions.

Sometimes something is called something just to give it a title/name.

Other times, it's to imply a function that it doesn't really deliver (like, say, Disney Concierge).

So what makes one thing be called a 'theme park' and something else 'not a theme park' may at times have little or nothing to do with it's actual function.

So in the end, Volcano Bay (and Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon for that matter) may meet the descriptive function definition of Theme Park better then the hodge podge of what finally ends up at the DHS location...

Because of course, BRAND is not a real Theme.

 

[JoeCamel]

Glad that was settled.... I'll be floating the lazy river in my tube - themed drink in hand

 

[gmajew]

They do help to blur the line more.

Great point as they for sure try to extend the time people spend at this park.

 

[gmajew]

This might help......

Every time I fall for that Dave