What Is The Difference Between A Theme Park And An Amusement Park?
Throughout the pandemic, one of the topics that I seem to find myself discussing with my friends and family are theme parks. As a fan of many different theme parks, I noticed that many people do not know the difference between theme parks and amusement parks. I would also like to note that I prefer theme parks over amusement parks and I personally think that calling a theme park, like Disneyland, an amusement park to be an insult. The difference between a theme park and an amusement park may seem like two different ways of naming the same thing, however this common view point is false. An amusement park is an unorganized park full of “amusements” such as roller coasters and Ferris wheels. Prime examples of this in Southern California are Santa Monica Pier’s Pacific Park, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Pacific Park is an amusement park because of its unorganized amusements, intentional lack of detail and story. Magic Mountain is also an amusement park, despite having themed areas, because of its lack of detail and story. Though it has a theme it is done in a very light way, in the case of Superman: Escape from Krypton which has some theming, but done in a way that emphasizes the character Superman, rather than the environmental storytelling. This lack of detail is not not necessarily bad because what Six Flags and Pacific Park is trying to accomplish is different from Disneyland or Universal. Their gigantic roller coasters are a hallmark of their parks, which makes them prime destinations for roller coaster enthusiasts and thrill seekers, but it is not a theme park. A theme park is a park that has a “theme” (a unifying idea) with additional artistic elements such as story. Great examples of a theme park are Disneyland Park and Universal Studios Hollywood. For example, Universal is home to intricately themed areas such as, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an almost exact replica of Hogsmeade where one may purchase “in-universe” goods like wands and butterbeer. The land and its main attraction, Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, are the attractions and both of them tell a story. Also unlike an amusement park, the area itself is an attraction because of the accuracy of the land to the village of Hogsmeade from the Harry Potter films, so you can walk and eat where Harry and his friends were. “Here you leave today and enter the world of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy.” These words accurately describe Disneyland as it recreates places like a turn of the 20th century midwestern town (Main Street, USA), what was tomorrow (Tomorrowland), and a fairy tale village (Fantasyland). These worlds were built to satisfy a high standard of detail and story. Disneyland was designed as an alternative and a polar opposite to amusement parks like Coney Island, when there was no such thing as a theme park, although places like Santa Claus land in Indiana and Ghost Town in Buena Vista Park, California, existed before then but were not called theme parks. After what you have seen, I am sure that you have seen the difference between theme parks and amusement parks.