Post by wolfblood on May 20, 2009 19:21:34 GMT -8
Since the Summer season is drawing near, I might as well try to get this forum kick-started with a rather interesting discussion I found on TPR.
What's the difference between an Amusement Park and a Theme Park?
Some people feel that a park is a Theme Park if all the themed lands inside fit together, and if they are disjointed...then it's an Amusment Park. Problem is, if that's the case then the Disney Magic Kingdoms are Amusment parks since the themes of Jungle, Western, Fantasy and Space don't fit together.
Others feel that if you see a coaster towering in the skyline, it's a Amusment Park and not a Theme Park. So by their ideas, IOA and Universal Orlando are Amusement Parks.
In my opinion, an Amusement Park is a park that just slaps down a bunch of rides down. There's really no themed areas in the park. (Ex. The Fun Forest in Seattle is a Amusement Park.)
With a Theme Park, the sections of the park are themed to something, and they attempt to have the rides and attractions fit with the theme of the area it's in. It doesn't matter if the park has coasters that can be seen far away, it still fits if it's themed in any way shape or form. This can be just a simple theme of the station, or more elaborate such as the station, queue line, trains etc.
Now with my views on it, many parks are going to be considered Theme Parks...including many Six Flags Parks. All I have to say to that is the degree of theming is going to differ between parks, there's parks like Disney and Universal where the theming is very high quality. While smaller parks and chains will have a more simplistic degree of theming, as long as the areas of the park have a noticable theme, it's a Theme Park.
So what's everyone else's opinion of this?
What's the difference between an Amusement Park and a Theme Park?
Some people feel that a park is a Theme Park if all the themed lands inside fit together, and if they are disjointed...then it's an Amusment Park. Problem is, if that's the case then the Disney Magic Kingdoms are Amusment parks since the themes of Jungle, Western, Fantasy and Space don't fit together.
Others feel that if you see a coaster towering in the skyline, it's a Amusment Park and not a Theme Park. So by their ideas, IOA and Universal Orlando are Amusement Parks.
In my opinion, an Amusement Park is a park that just slaps down a bunch of rides down. There's really no themed areas in the park. (Ex. The Fun Forest in Seattle is a Amusement Park.)
With a Theme Park, the sections of the park are themed to something, and they attempt to have the rides and attractions fit with the theme of the area it's in. It doesn't matter if the park has coasters that can be seen far away, it still fits if it's themed in any way shape or form. This can be just a simple theme of the station, or more elaborate such as the station, queue line, trains etc.
Now with my views on it, many parks are going to be considered Theme Parks...including many Six Flags Parks. All I have to say to that is the degree of theming is going to differ between parks, there's parks like Disney and Universal where the theming is very high quality. While smaller parks and chains will have a more simplistic degree of theming, as long as the areas of the park have a noticable theme, it's a Theme Park.
So what's everyone else's opinion of this?