98-186: Roller Coasters Week 11: Amusement Parks Pt.1 (History, Chains, and Design)
Thing of the Week!
What is an Amusement Park? A place with rides and other attractions What makes them different? Permanent unlike fairs Has rides unlike a public park Sea Lion Park (1895) is considered the first amusement park First amusement parks were in cities and small
Amusement Park Theme Park Theme parks are a subset of amusement parks Pictured: Diagon Alley at Universal Studios, part of Wizarding World of Harry Potter Tied together by a unifying theme Used synonymously in English :(
American Chains
Dominance of the Few As sad as it is that independent amusement parks are hard to run, many major parks are part of larger chains This makes for better brand recognition, management, and more money for improvements
The Big Kids Two major roller coaster chains: Six Flags > < Cedar Fair Former Paramount parks
Six Flags One of the oldest park chains Six Flags over Texas was their first park back in 1961 They began with small rides and shows, but eventually added roller coasters Six Flags helped to pioneer the profitable amusement park model Pictured: Runaway Mine Train, one of the first steel coasters made (1966); SFOT
Why Six Flags? Texas has fallen under 6 different flags in its long history: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederacy, and U.S.A.
Moar Parks SF expanded with SF Over Georgia (1967) and SF Over Mid-America (1971, now SF St. Louis) Six Flags has since bought most of their parks, not built them
Expansion of Six Flags Began purchasing parks in the 70 s and 80 s and adding the Six Flags name to them E.g. Six Flag Great America A deal with Warner Brothers led to Looney Tunes theming in many Six Flags parks
Premier Acquisition In 1998, Premier Parks bought Six Flags and added their name to all the parks Six Flags peak was in 2002, when they had about 30 parks worldwide They invested a lot of money in improvements
The Problem with Growth Six Flags rapid growth caught up with them around this time They began selling parks in 2004 and 2007 to stop shareholder revolts Six Flags declared bankruptcy in 2009, due to this and the recession at the time They were back in 2010
Present Day There are currently 13 operating SF parks, all in the U.S.A. except SF Mexico SF was known for mediocre theming and additions in the past They have recently been better received by enthusiasts
Paramount Parks Began as Kings Entertainment Company (KECO) First parks were King s Island and King s Dominion Eventually had 5 parks In 1993, Paramount Communications bought KECO, which became Paramount Parks
Shameless Plugs The parks were well-run, but enthusiasts complained of the focus on movie advertisement and repeating rides The Italian Job: Stunt Track ride was in three parks
Cedar Fair Acquisition Viacom sold the parks to Cedar Fair in 2006 The parks lost the Paramount name and theming
Cedar Fair Began as Cedar Point Took the name Cedar Fair in 1978 after acquiring Minnesota s Valleyfair (Cedar Point & Valleyfair) Did not buy new parks until the 90 s 4 parks, including Knott s Berry Farm, were bought
More Sponsorships! Cedar Fair s main theming is Peanuts/Charlie Brown Criticized for being out-of-date
Cedar Fair s Peak In 2006, Cedar Fair s number of parks rose to 12 with their purchase of Paramount Parks Now operating 11 parks
Reputation During Paramount acquisition, CF was known as the best chain due to SF s financial woes They do have their criticisms Known for killing off Geauga Lake in Ohio Strict locker policy
Worldwide Chains
Merlin Entertainment (Europe) 2nd largest attraction group after Disney UK-based Runs many of Europe s biggest parks
Legoland! They run Legoland Parks worldwide 6 exist, with 3 more being built
Merlin s Parks
OCT Parks Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Holding Company (OCT) China s main chain Runs the 6 Happy Valley parks
Park Layouts
Midway Long, middle pathway Rides/attractions on the sides No real directionality
Loop Continuous circuit of walking Attractions can be on the inside or outside
Hub Pioneered by Disney Central hub (usually with a Weenie ) Spokes go out from Hub and usually connect with each other as well
Long Sort of random, but very elongated Just goes
Blob No clear sense of organization
Next Week! Amusement Parks Pt.2 (North America, Europe, and Asia)!