Best non-theme park themed environments

[_caleb]

As a big fan of Disney parks (and certain areas of non-Disney parks), I'm always on the lookout for well-themed environments. You know, the kinds of immersive places that transport you to another time/place? Obviously, these are rare outside of the major theme parks, but I'm thinking about restaurants, shops, public spaces, museums- any built environment that creates that unique sense of place.

As fellow Disney fans, I'm sure you get what I mean. What are some places that you enjoy? What are some things about those places that make them special to you?

 

[Gainesvillain]

1970s Casa Bonita . . . I think there still may be a few around, but I haven't been since I was growing up in 1970s Tulsa, OK!

 

[RandySavage]

There are some great & often authentic places that give some subtle Disney vibes in a good way, often because Disney took inspiration from them in creating their own environments:

First that come to mind in the USA:
-The trails, lodge and atmosphere around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon brought back a lot of childhood feelings of American Adventure, the RR Dioramas, Wilderness Lodge, etc..
-Plenty of state or national, historical parks have a Tom Sawyer Island feel.
-Central Park, NYC: particularly the Zoo, Puppet Theater, Pond, water, Dairy, Ramble, Hill. Large enough to get lost, in a good way. Central Park is much grander and more artfully built and designed than almost all other city parks, it's the closest thing to a free theme park. It even has a central castle!
-American Museum of Natural History, NYC: The 1930s Dioramas have that old-school Disney feel. The planetarium has an EPCOT feel.
-The Rockefellers built a pre-theme park theme park in Colonial Williamsburg... Liberty Square on a much bigger more indepth scale.
-The Jekyll & Hyde Club in Greenwich Village, NYC had an Adventurers Club vibe. Later built a massive, expensive uptown version on 57th St. A themed restaurant on four levels that was extremely 1990s Disneyesque. Unfortunately, now defunct.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Door County has been called the cape cod of the Midwest. Here is one of the great scenes from it from one of their seasonal bussinesses. Here is a couple of the seats. This is not this year though.

 

[_caleb]

There are some great & often authentic places that give some subtle Disney vibes in a good way, often because Disney took inspiration from them in creating their own environments:

First that come to mind in the USA:
-The trails, lodge and atmosphere around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon brought back a lot of childhood feelings of American Adventure, the RR Dioramas, Wilderness Lodge, etc..
-Plenty of state or national, historical parks have a Tom Sawyer Island feel.
-Central Park, NYC: particularly the Zoo, Puppet Theater, Pond, water, Dairy, Ramble, Hill. Large enough to get lost, in a good way. Central Park is much grander and more artfully built and designed than almost all other city parks, it's the closest thing to a free theme park. It even has a central castle!
-American Museum of Natural History, NYC: The 1930s Dioramas have that old-school Disney feel. The planetarium has an EPCOT feel.
-The Rockefellers built a pre-theme park theme park in Colonial Williamsburg... Liberty Square on a much bigger more indepth scale.
-The Jekyll & Hyde Club in Greenwich Village, NYC had an Adventurers Club vibe. Later built a massive, expensive uptown version on 57th St. A themed restaurant on four levels that was extremely 1990s Disneyesque. Unfortunately, now defunct.

Yes! I’ve experienced all of these but the Jekyll & Hyde Club, and I agree. These are the kinds of places Disney borrowed from when he designed the parks!

 

[_caleb]

Door County has been called the cape cod of the Midwest. Here is one of the great scenes from it from one of their seasonal bussinesses. Here is a couple of the seats. This is not this year though.

Unfortunately not this year, but hopefully soon. Never been to Wisconsin, but hope to visit someday.

 

[_caleb]

There is a themed bar in Barcelona called El Bosc de les Fades (”The Forest of Fairies”) that’s sort of a Tim Burtonesque version of a Rainforest Café that really managed to capture the effect of transporting visitors to another place.



It isn‘t the individual (low-budget) decorations that make it special, but the combination of the lighting, the narrow passages, and overall mood they achieve. I’m sure the management wouldn‘t appreciate me saying so, but it felt very Disney to me.

 

[_caleb]

Another place I‘ve been blessed to visit is the Khaomao-Khaofang restaurant outside Chiang Mai, Thailand. It’s built in the actual rainforest, but the lighting under the domed roof at night made it really awesome. Made me wonder if the Imagineers drew any inspiration from this place when they were designing some of the areas Animal Kingdom.

 

[_caleb]

1970s Casa Bonita . . . I think there still may be a few around, but I haven't been since I was growing up in 1970s Tulsa, OK!

Did your Casa Bonita in Tulsa look like this one in Denver? I haven't been there, but it looks awesome! Definitely a cool environment! Looks like something we might find in the Mexico Pavilion or one of the resorts.


Source: https://duadmission.typepad.com/lindsays_blog/2016/04/casa-bonita-denvers-main-attraction.html


Source: https://www.gocolorado.com/casa-bonita-restaurant-8-questions-for-a-diver/

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

What a neat seed for a post.

Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI:

 

[Gainesvillain]

Did your Casa Bonita in Tulsa look like this one in Denver? I haven't been there, but it looks awesome! Definitely a cool environment! Looks like something we might find in the Mexico Pavilion or one of the resorts.

View attachment 464052
Source: https://duadmission.typepad.com/lindsays_blog/2016/04/casa-bonita-denvers-main-attraction.html

View attachment 464053
Source: https://www.gocolorado.com/casa-bonita-restaurant-8-questions-for-a-diver/

Yep, that's it

 

[_caleb]

The San Antonio River Walk always takes me outside the "real world." The winding paths, the lush foliage, and the isolation from the modern city built above it create a unique place with deep culture and a sense of timelessness about it.


SOURCE: https://www.visitsanantonio.com/stay/

The river (canal) is obviously the focus. I'm a sucker for outdoor dining areas, ambient music, and dramatic lighting. An inviting place to explore. Oh, and the peoplewatching!


SOURCE: https://www.tripsavvy.com/restaurants-on-the-san-antonio-riverwalk-1656359

It's not just the boat rides, restaurants, and stage shows along the water that make it special. I know it's a tourist trap, but the River Walk has an authenticity that makes it feel like a city unto itself- like life there would go on just the same even if all the tourists weren't there.

Anyone else visited San Antonio's River Walk and had a similar experience?

 

[Lilofan]

The San Antonio River Walk always takes me outside the "real world." The winding paths, the lush foliage, and the isolation from the modern city built above it create a unique place with deep culture and a sense of timelessness about it.

View attachment 464224
SOURCE: https://www.visitsanantonio.com/stay/

The river (canal) is obviously the focus. I'm a sucker for outdoor dining areas, ambient music, and dramatic lighting. An inviting place to explore. Oh, and the peoplewatching!

View attachment 464225
SOURCE: https://www.tripsavvy.com/restaurants-on-the-san-antonio-riverwalk-1656359

It's not just the boat rides, restaurants, and stage shows along the water that make it special. I know it's a tourist trap, but the River Walk has an authenticity that makes it feel like a city unto itself- like life there would go on just the same even if all the tourists weren't there.

Anyone else visited San Antonio's River Walk and had a similar experience?

Been there many years ago in July. Took the riverboat tour and survived the 105 degrees daytime temps. Scenic , tourist trap and typical tourist food.

 

[_caleb]

Been there many years ago in July. Took the riverboat tour and survived the 105 degrees daytime temps. Scenic , tourist trap and typical tourist food.

It can definitely get hot in San Antonio! I'm sure the food quality varies- for every good restaurant, there are a handful of bad ones. They all seem pretty expensive, but the scenery and ambiance made it worthwhile for me.

 

[RandySavage]

A couple more came to me.

-Palace of the Lost City in South Africa. It's probably the greatest themed hotel of the modern age. Built in the 1980s.

-Mongoose Junction on the island of St. John. It's a little, two level Retail, Dining & Entertainment complex area that is designed to feel like a converted 18th century sugar mill. It was built in and around nature with large (real) trees and (real) waterfalls going through it. With a tiny fraction of the bugdet (and admittedly, visitation), someone developed a RDE Complex that is 1,000x better and more appealing than juggernaughts like Disney's RDEs, Universal Citywalk or The Grove. Shows knowledge and taste is more important than money.

-Back to NYC: Bronx Zoo has a couple of newer exhibits (Tiger & Gorilla) that are similar to Animal Kingdom in the sense that they attempt to immerse you in that exotic locale, without the traditional barriers of man-made fencing.

 

[_caleb]

A couple more came to me.

-Palace of the Lost City in South Africa. It's probably the greatest themed hotel of the modern age. Built in the 1980s.

-Mongoose Junction on the island of St. John. It's a little, two level Retail, Dining & Entertainment complex area that is designed to feel like a converted 18th century sugar mill. It was built in and around nature with large (real) trees and (real) waterfalls going through it. With a tiny fraction of the bugdet (and admittedly, visitation), someone developed a RDE Complex that is 1,000x better and more appealing than juggernaughts like Disney's RDEs, Universal Citywalk or The Grove. Shows knowledge and taste is more important than money.

-Back to NYC: Bronx Zoo has a couple of newer exhibits (Tiger & Gorilla) that are similar to Animal Kingdom in the sense that they attempt to immerse you in that exotic locale, without the traditional barriers of man-made fencing.

I haven't been to any of these, but I think I'll start a list. I love places that are designed around natural elements. It's also really something when a new place is built to communicate the look and feel of something with history (lots of the monuments and buildings in Washington D.C. are like this for me).

Thanks for sharing these!

 

[Gainesvillain]

Did your Casa Bonita in Tulsa look like this one in Denver? I haven't been there, but it looks awesome! Definitely a cool environment! Looks like something we might find in the Mexico Pavilion or one of the resorts.

View attachment 464052
Source: https://duadmission.typepad.com/lindsays_blog/2016/04/casa-bonita-denvers-main-attraction.html

View attachment 464053
Source: https://www.gocolorado.com/casa-bonita-restaurant-8-questions-for-a-diver/

Yep

 

[_caleb]

One of my favorites is El Poble Espanyol, a constructed little walled village in Barcelona. They call it an "open-air architectural museum." It's basically the 1920's version of California Adventure 1.0 but without any rides. It was built for the 1929 International Expo, and has sections inspired by the architecture of the various regions of Spain and built with regional materials.


SOURCE: http://barcelona.cityexplore.rs/poble-espanyol-spanish-village

Each section of the village includes restaurants, art galleries, shops, live music, and shows inspired by the regions they represent.


SOURCE: http://barcelona.cityexplore.rs/poble-espanyol-spanish-village

Lots of people see it as a cheap knockoff of the real thing, but I think it's a pretty neat idea. In the 1929 Expo, Barcelona knew it was going to have thousands of guests from all around the world and that most of those guests would never have the chance to actually go and see all the different regions of the country. So they hired artisans to build representations of those regions in Barcelona for the world to experience.

What makes it unique is the commitment to the right details. They did a masterful job of capturing the feeling of being in the places they've rebuilt.

 

[RandySavage]

^Most people assume the idea of grand, detailed, "immersive" theme parks started with Disney in 1955. But as you note, Worlds Fairs had featured Disney/EPCOT-style recreations (sometimes even more grand, detailed and authentic) a century earlier. The 1893 Chicago Expo had a recreation of Old Vienna along with many other wonders. The Paris Colonial Expo of 1931 brought exotic environments to Paris. Imagine this as an Adventureland E-ticket:

The list goes on. Most of these themed facilities were dismantled after the Expos, though a few survive. Definitely worth researching.

 

[_caleb]

@Derrit, I’ve always wanted to visit Mackinac Island! Even looking at the photos, I can tell that being there has a very different feeling about it.