Theme parks, in some shape or form, have always been with us. They just have been called by different names: pleasure gardens, world fairs, and amusement parks. These were predecessors to what we now refer to as theme parks. Before we go any further, a theme park is any area (a park) that has a significant amount of detail to make an area appear to be something that it isn’t. In essence, theme parks break the boundary between reality and fantasy. Its predecessors were built for recreation like theme parks are today, but none of them were detailed to the point that transports you to another place like theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios are (though some pre-theme park recreations had “themed” buildings such as the “Chinese House” at Ranelagh Pleasure Garden, Chelsea). Theme parks are the latest evolution in the long line of recreational venues (specifically a direct descendant of amusement parks), which are meant to take you into a reality where pop culture is manifested in the form of environments that are highly detailed from the architecture of the buildings to what you smell. These characteristics make theme parks very different from their predecessors, especially since they have been elevated to the level of art due to the very high level of detail and storytelling put into them. This History will focus first on “ancient” pleasure gardens during what is considered ancient civilization, which then turned into the first “modern” pleasure gardens, then amusement parks in Europe and the United States, the birth of theme parks, their growth from 1955-2010, and then a focus on 2010-2019.
Table of Contents
Antiquity to Vauxhall (1400 BC-1851 AD)
Amusements and World Fairs (1729-1940)
Origins (1940-1955)
A New Industry (1955-1987)
Studio Wars (1987-2010)
An Arms Race (2010-present)
Antiquity to Vauxhall
Image Credit: The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images
Ancient pleasure gardens are the first iteration of what became a theme park. Like theme parks, they are clean and inviting spaces that offer a break from the real world. Also like theme parks, they had a focus on landscape (Disneyland’s second largest expense is landscaping at $1.69 million). People have always loved gardens. They have them in their backyards, throughout religious scripture, and are built on a large scale for public use in the form of public parks. The earliest garden plan appeared in 1400 BC in Ancient Egypt for a high court official, which called for a pergola for its entrance and rows of lush tree-lined avenues, with two garden pavilions and four rectangular ponds for waterfowl. A more notable example of an ancient pleasure garden is the legendary (and possibly mythical) Hanging Gardens of Babylon: a multi-tiered structure that was 75 feet tall and contained foliage on each of its levels, which was probably watered through the use of an early Archimedes screw. It was believed to have been built in the 7th century BC. Another notable ancient pleasure garden was the Gardens of Sallust, formerly owned by Caesar, then later came into the possession of and developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It later became imperial property, and was opened to the public in 20 AD by Emperor Tiberius as a public amenity. It had ponds, fountains, rivers, temples, pavilions, sculptures, porticoes, and hosted amusements such as mock battles for entertainment, which is where we begin to see the incorporation of amusements into pleasure gardens.
Image Credit: NC, via The Express
By the 18th century, “modern” pleasure gardens commanded a large presence in the European leisure industry. Notable gardens included Bakken (est. 1583) in Denmark, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (est. 1729) in London, and Ranelagh Gardens (est. 1742) in Liverpool. Bakken is the oldest operating amusement park in the world that eventually evolved into an amusement park following the creation of the Dyrehavsbakken Tent Owners’ Association in 1885, which organized the area and made it a proper amusement park. Originally a hunting reserve for the king, Bakken was popular for its clean water spring and was opened and closed to the public various times until it was permanently opened in 1756 by the king. When Bakken was officially opened as a public amenity, it started to attract even more entertainers, like Pierrots (pantomimes), circuses, cabarets, and other traveling attractions: fixtures of the medieval tradition of carnivals. So naturally, as fairs began to have mechanical carousels and other mechanical rides in the mid-19th century, the pleasure gardens adopted them as well. Vauxhall was another notable pleasure garden and was representative of the London pleasure garden: a place of music, air ballooning, nightly fireworks, operas, danger, debauchery, and drunkenness. The area was laid out in formal gardens with shrubbery, miniature waterways, and displayed the latest in art and architecture. These attractions were one of the first developments that eventually led to theme parks, but the next major development probably had a greater influence on amusement parks than the influence pleasure gardens had on amusement parks.
Amusements and World Fairs
Image Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
In 1851, one of the most important developments in history occurred: the opening of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London) created by Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, to promote British manufactured goods. The Crystal Palace (that housed the fair) was a large glass and steel structure that impressed fair goers with its seemingly transparent look. The fair, like many after it, displayed the latest in technology and art. The next notable fair in the development of amusement parks is the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the most significant fair in regards to the development of amusement parks as it introduced the midway: an area that housed all of the rides, sideshows, and food vendors for the public’s entertainment. The midway is a descendant of carnivals, with all of its rides, sideshows, entertainers, rigged games, and indulgent, artery clogging fare. The midway lives on in local amusement parks, but after Chicago, it went to Coney Island and local parks across the states. A notable local park is Cedar Point, Ohio, opened 1870. A peninsula that started out as a beach resort in the 1860s, and by 1910 had added multiple beach facilities (diving platforms, bicycle boats, water toboggan), two roller coasters, and a large midway. Crowds went there to escape the heat during the summer and to enjoy the amusements.
Image Credit: Anonymous, via Heart of Coney Island
Coney Island is a 4 mile long by half mile wide peninsula, which during the 1880s and 90s began to see development as a beach resort (like Cedar Point), and by the turn of the century, the amusement parks that made Coney Island famous came about. The first park at Coney Island was Sea Lion Park, which opened on July 4th, 1895, and became well known for its wild incidents that occurred on a weekly basis, its shoot-the-chute ride, and its mascots: the sea lions. It also was the first park to charge an entrance fee. Another notable park of the four at Coney Island (Sea Lion, Steeplechase, Luna Park, Dreamland) was Luna Park, one of the most influential amusement parks of all time, opened 1903. Marketed as a World’s Fair, it borrowed many elements of the fairs such as carnival midways, as well as spectacular recreations of villages from countries such as Germany, Ireland, and India. The park had showstopping attractions like A Trip to the Moon (unlike Disney’s it used an airship-like ride vehicle), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (like Disney’s it used a submarine for a ride vehicle), and War of the Worlds (a pyrotechnics show depicting model European battleships invading the US, but are repelled). The park’s architecture outside of the villages was its own architectural style influenced by orientalism and classical architecture. Like Chicago 1893’s White City, it was painted entirely in white. However, the Coney Island parks during this time are all now either closed or burned down (the parks at Coney Island burned down multiple times) because of poor business decisions, unfavorable circumstances, inadequate management, and fire hazards. To add even more of a headache to the amusement industry, the Great Depression ended the Golden Age of Amusement Parks as many parks went out of business. It seemed impossible that amusement parks could come back in force because many had been closed down and were notorious for being dirty, having mean employees, and not being family friendly (ex. Coney Island belly dancers). But that would not stop the amusement industry from making the greatest comeback in entertainment history, when a man came onto the scene who once said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Origins
Image Credit:© Bernard Bialorucki / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1843, the first theme park ever opened: Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has multiple themed areas such as the Orient Area (themed to the Far East), The Alley (themed to a Danish market), and The Merry Corner (Renaissance Fair). However, not many parks after this had this level of theming until 1940, when Walter Knott opened Ghost Town (America’s 1st theme park) on his boysenberry farm in 1942, a recreation of a western town (made with buildings from an actual ghost town, Calico) to entertain customers waiting in line for his family’s popular fried chicken dinners. These are examples of early theme parks, but they had yet to be popularized.
Image Credit: Disney
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5th, 1901, in Chicago. At an early age he had a love of drawing and created the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios in 1923 (now the Walt Disney Company). In 1928, he released Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse’s public debut which was highly successful. Walt originally came up with the idea of Walt Disney Productions building an amusement park when he took his two daughters out to Griffith Park, and was bored while eating peanuts on a bench when his daughters rode the carousel. Eventually in 1951, Walt came up with the idea of having a park next to the studios in Burbank. The park would have been called Mickey Mouse Park, built across the street with a western area featuring a steam driven paddleboat, a turn of the century town, and a midway. It was rejected by the Burbank city council in fear of a carnival atmosphere, and Walt stormed out of the room. Marty Sklar once recalled how Walt told his wife, Lillian, that he was going to build what eventually became Disneyland, and she said, “Why would want you do that? You know, those places are so dirty. People who work there are so unfriendly.” Walt responded, “My park’s not gonna be like that.” Walt worked to make sure that his park would be clean, have nice employees, and be entertaining for everyone. In 1952, he created WED Enterprises to design the park, now to be built in Anaheim, and in 1953, was able to convince the bankers on funding the park with the help of a studio artist, Herb Ryman, by making an aerial drawing of Disneyland. By July 1954, construction had started with a deadline of one year. Walt visited the park on Sunday each week, and insisted on paying attention to even the most minute details, like having iron-wrought railings instead of plastic ones on Main Street and repainting entire facades if they were not painted to his liking. By opening day, the $5 million park ballooned into a $17 million park, Disney employees started giving donations to help pay for it, Walt had to take out life insurance to pay for Disneyland, and a plumbers’ strike forced Disney to only water the toilets (so people accused him of forcing them to buy Coca-Cola).
To promote the park, a television series called Disneyland was aired weekly, which gave updates on the park’s construction, Disney movies and cartoons, and occasionally gave educational documentaries. Walt captivated the public with a turn-of-the century Main Street, based off of his hometown of Marceline, Missouri, and Harper Goff’s hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, which led to a plaza that could take one to four different lands: Adventureland (capitalizing off of the post-war tiki craze), Frontierland (drawing off of the popular stories of the West), Tomorrowland (50s America was beginning to become interested in space), and Fantasyland (where all of Disney’s characters lived). These lands were all made in a romanticized and timeless lens, making them feel inviting yet also realistic thanks to Walt’s fine attention to detail. Show stopping rides were also a major feature of the park, such as the Jungle Cruise and Rocket to the Moon. By opening day, the separate Dateline Disneyland TV special was the largest television event at that time at 90 million viewers. Unfortunately, Murphy's Law was in full effect that day. It was one of the hottest days of the year, the park that was supposed to hold 15,000 guests at the time had double that number due to fence jumpers and fake tickets. The Mark Twain Riverboat was sinking because it had too many guests onboard, spark plugs went out on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and since the pavement had just been laid, women’s high heels would sink into the pavement as they tried to pull their high heels out. Disney management later referred to July 17th, 1955 as Black Sunday. The press panned Walt’s park, especially for the number of unfinished attractions, and Walt responded, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Despite the terror of opening day, Walt did what many thought was impossible and the public approved of the park. Two months after the park opened, it welcomed its one millionth guest, demonstrating the park’s wide appeal.
Image Credit: Disney
A New Industry
John Hench (one of the lead designers of Disneyland) once recalled, “I don’t think Disneyland could have been built without people with some kind of motion picture experience.” The cinematic nature of Disneyland is what made it the first modern theme park. Everything was art directed from the graphics, to the walkways, and the architecture. Main Street is the opening credits of the movie (the windows on Main Street’s buildings have the names of people who made significant contributions to the park), then as you go from land to land you encounter what is referred to as the “three dimensional cross dissolve”. This technique is used to avoid abrupt changes from one land to another, so everything from what you see, smell, and how fast you take in the environment is controlled with artistic techniques such as this. For example, as guests walk from Main Street to Frontierland the sidewalk turns from concrete to weathered stone and iron wrought railings turn into log ones. Towards the end of the day, you experience the grand finale of the fireworks: the climax of the movie, and as you leave the park you go through Main Street again, so now the end credits of the movie are featured. By 1959, Disneyland added three major “E” ticket attractions. Prior to that Disneyland only offered A-D tickets, and even before that A-C, but since the new attractions in the 1959 Tomorrowland makeover were of such a large scale, a new ticket had to be created. The Matterhorn Bobsleds was the first tubular steel roller coaster ever and was built inside of a replica of the Matterhorn Mountain. The Disneyland Monorail was the first daily operating monorail in the western hemisphere and demonstrated what many believed to be the transportation system of the future. A ride based on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was also added since submarines were seen as futuristic during that time. In 1963, Walt Disney‘s Enchanted Tiki Room was opened as the first attraction to feature audio animatronics, specifically bird ones. Later at the 1964 World's Fair, three very important attractions debuted: “it’s a small world”, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and the Carousel of Progress. Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress were important for expanding and improving the usage of animatronics, particularly as they were the first human animatronics. “it’s a small world” was important both technically and creatively. The dark ride’s flume ride system could take 3000 people per hour and before that rides could only take 1500. It also created a storytelling formula in which a large Animatronic cast was used with one major theme song, in this case “it’s a small world” written by the Sherman Brothers (the song that Richard Sherman once said, “…everybody…either wants to kiss us or kill us for having written it.”). By the end of the fair, all of the Disney shows were shipped back to Disneyland, but Walt had another project that he was dealing with, one that would forever immortalize Disneyland in American culture. Before in the late 50s, Walt had the idea for a New Orleans themed area of Frontierland, with a wax museum of pirates and other riff-raff. Eventually after the success of “it’s a small world”, Disney decided to change it to a flume ride with a large cast of animatronic pirates singing a theme song (Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life For Me). In spring 1967, Pirates of the Caribbean opened as what many consider Walt’s magnum opus. Because of the runaway success of Disneyland, others tried to come in and capitalize on the reinvigorated amusement industry. What became Busch Gardens Tampa opened in 1959 as a garden and bird sanctuary. Six Flags Over Texas opened in 1961, themed to the six different countries that ruled over Texas. In 1964, Universal Studios Hollywood opened to the public with a studio tour of their backlot that had multiple adventure scenes and became a proper theme park. That same year, Sea World opened and displayed many varieties of aquatic and marine life. The themed entertainment industry had been created thanks to the success of Disneyland. Walt tried to stay ahead of the curb by “plussing” the park (his philosophy of improving the park with new attractions and improvements). Tomorrowland was also being overhauled, which would be ready for a 1967 opening. But Walt would not live to see Tomorrowland 1967 or Pirates open. He died December 15th, 1966 of lung cancer. His older brother Roy would finish all projects that he left including the Haunted Mansion, Disney’s version of a ghost train (designed not by Walt, but by Imagineers Claude Coats and Marc Davis) which has become a cult classic because of its appeals to 60s pop culture and its funny-yet scary tone, and Walt Disney World.
Image Credit: Disney
Initially meant to house Walt Disney’s dream idea, EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow), Disney executives decided to settle on building the park first in Walt Disney World and the city later. After six years of construction, Walt Disney World opened to the public on October 1st, 1971. Meant to be a larger east coast version of Disneyland, it had copies of most of the attractions from Disneyland (except for Liberty Square and the Hall of Presidents), yet it was the most ambitious project Walt Disney Productions had ever undertaken, and succeeded once the holiday crowds came in during Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the oil crisis of the 70s and the loss of the founders dealt a serious blow to Walt Disney Productions, and the company (and the rest of the US tourism industry) went into a slump. Furthermore, Disney had to deal with competition from regional parks’ massive roller coaster lineups (thanks to the same people who built most of Disney’s ride hardware, Arrow Dynamics) that attracted teens en masse. To compete with the roller coasters of Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm and the Six Flags Parks, Disney opened Space Mountain, at Walt Disney World in 1975 and Disneyland in 1977, as the first entirely indoor roller coaster. It used an onboard control system to allow two trains to run on one track at the same time and since it is entirely dark on the ride, the darkness gives riders the illusion of going at high speeds (when they are actually going about 30 mph).
In 1982, Walt Disney Productions opened the second Walt Disney World park, EPCOT Center, based on Walt Disney’s futurist ideals and World Fairs. Like a World’s Fair, the park would display the latest technologies (proudly sponsored by American private industry) in an area called Future World, and the cultural pavilions in World Showcase. People marveled at touch screens, leapfrog fountains, and robots with artificial intelligence. EPCOT is also a great place to get world cuisine, especially in the countries’ pavilions. One can walk through World Showcase with a margarita in one hand and a bowl of wonton noodle soup in the other.
Image Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm
Around this time, Universal Studios was looking to build a “Hollywood East” with an operating backlot and tram tour—right in Walt Disney World’s backyard. Initially, the idea was scrapped because it was deemed that a backlot tour could not compete with the Magic Kingdom’s lushly detailed areas and timeless attractions. Later, the idea was revived, but in an interesting way. After surviving a hostile takeover attempt in 1984, Disney’s board of directors made the former CEO of Paramount, Micheal Eisner, CEO. Micheal Eisner wanted to make Disney parks hip, relevant places for everyone (including teenagers) and when he paid a visit to WED in Glendale, he greenlighted Star Tours, a simulator using the new ATLAS simulator system to bring the Star Wars universe to life. Eisner had relations with George Lucas from his time at Paramount and was able to convince him to license his characters to Disney’s parks. So in 1987, Star Tours was opened to lines stretching from Tomorrowland all the way down to Main Street. Park management had to keep the park open for three straight days. But the year before that George Lucas spoke with Steven Spielberg (who was close to Universal) and claimed that Universal could never build something like Star Tours. And like that, the first shots of the Studio Wars were fired, with Universal announcing plans to start construction on a theme park in Orlando in 1986, and planning to open by 1989.
Image Credit: Disney
Studio Wars
The next year, 1987, Disney announced that it would open its third Disney World park, Disney-MGM Studios in 1989, which like its competitor would have a working backlot. So, Universal knew that its world famous backlot tour would not work as a standalone attraction next to Disney World (especially now as Disney built one in Disney-MGM). So Universal divided up the segments of its California tour into individual attractions, such as Jaws, Disaster!, and Kongfrontation. But thanks to Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney was able to fast track the building permits for Disney-MGM and opened it on May 1st, 1989. The park had two major attractions: The Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride. The concept for the park started out as an EPCOT pavilion, but was turned into a park as a “half day” attraction—a complement to the rest of the resort. The Great Movie ride took one through some of the greatest scenes from the Golden Age of Hollywood and some “newer” films (Alien, Indiana Jones) which culminated in a giant Wizard of Oz finale. The rest of the park was themed to 1930s Hollywood and featured lost parts of Hollywood like the Brown Derby.
Image Credit: Universal
Universal Studios opened on June 7th, 1990 (delayed by one year) to great fanfare, but never since Disneyland’s Black Sunday had a park opening gone so horribly wrong. All three of the park’s major attractions (Jaws, Disaster!, and Kongfrontation) were not working and suffered major technical difficulties. Disaster! and Kongfrontation were fixed by the end of June, but Jaws had to be rebuilt and reopened three years later. However, Universal learned from opening day and started conducting exit surveys and special ticket deals.
Image Credit: Heather Cowper
What happened next in the theme park industry was very interesting, when Disney announced its intent to build a new Magic Kingdom in Europe, which opened in 1992. They finally settled on an area outside of Paris, France, but the mere idea of a Disney park in the middle of the pristine French countryside caused a burst of outrage among the French left. To meet the challenge (and to dispel the notion that Euro Disneyland was going to be a “cultural Chernobyl”), Eisner wanted to make this park the most beautiful and detailed Magic Kingdom to meet the Europeans’ sophisticated taste. Disney and their Imagineers also catered to European culture by removing Tomorrowland and replacing it with a Jules Vernian area called Discoveryland and building the largest Frontierland ever to appeal to the Europeans’ love of the American West. Unfortunately, a recession in the French economy and the immense public backlash against the park led to financial hardship, putting the park into debt. Even though today the park is the number one resort destination in Europe, it took a good amount of new attractions, such as Space Mountain, and time. Even though the Imagineers created arguably the most beautiful park with the most beautiful castle (The Sleeping Beauty Castle at Paris was designed to be very fanciful unlike most castles in Europe), it cut many great projects due to its high price tag and put Imagineering into an identity crisis.
Image Credit: Disney
However, this did not stop Disney from expanding Disney-MGM Studios with the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, in 1994, and building their fourth Walt Disney World park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Tower of Tower is themed to the classic TV horror series, The Twilight Zone, and has guests cross over from the abandoned Hollywood Tower Hotel into the 5th Dimension. The ride uses two ride systems: an elevator modified to drop guests faster than gravity and a trackless ride system, which allows the ride vehicle to travel forward, backward, and sideways into the 5th Dimension. This new trackless feature would influence many attractions in the years to come.
Image Credit: Disney
Disney’s Animal Kingdom was conceived in the late 80s and early 90s when Michael Eisner gave Imagineer Joe Rohde the task to design a “wild animal kingdom”. The park opened on Earth Day, 1998, to massive crowds. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the largest theme park in the world thanks to its African savanna that houses the African area’s animals. The savanna hosts the park’s signature attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris, which takes you on an African safari. The park, like a zoo, has areas themed to different continents such as Africa and Asia and holds their respective species. Unfortunately, when the park opened they only had 2 E-tickets (Kilimanjaro and Countdown to Extinction) and opened with four rides. The park was a victim of Disneyland Paris related budget cuts, but did not have it worse compared to what happened three years later.
Image Credit: Universal
In the early 90s after the opening of Universal Studios Florida, Universal sought to build a second theme park, one aimed more towards children and their families. Universal acquired the theme park rights to many properties including Marvel and Dr. Seuss to build the park around. In 1999, Universal Studios opened Universal Studios Islands of Adventure under the new resort name Universal Studios Escape. The park was allegedly designed by former Disney Imagineers who left after the financial disaster of Disneyland Paris. Islands of Adventure is highly detailed, all centered around intellectual properties related to literature, including Jurassic Park, world mythology, Dr. Seuss, Marvel comics, and cartoon characters like Popeye (who was in comic strips). So with this, we see the first “IP” park which is highly themed to specific brands and has stellar rides such as the Jurassic Park River Adventure (in the “real” Jurassic Park) and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (in a comic book environment). However, despite the fact that Universal had created a great park, the marketing (such as the title Universal Studios Escape) and the official name for the Islands of Adventure (Universal Studios Islands of Adventure) confused tourists and made them think that the Islands of Adventure was just an expansion to Universal Studios Florida, causing a financial slump for Universal Studios, and the Islands of Adventure would not be expanded for 11 years.
Image Credit: Disney
2001 was a big year in theme park history. Two Disney parks were opened in the same year on different sides of the Pacific Rim. Both Universal and Disney were opening new parks in Japan (Universal Studios Japan was Universal's first overseas expansion, and is similar to its Floridian sister). For Disney, this year would be a year of triumph and failure. In the late 80s, the Oriental Land Company (the owners and operators of Tokyo Disneyland resort which opened in 1983) wanted a second park. None of the current non-Magic Kingdom parks satisfied the Japanese, but one concept thrown away for Disneyland's second gate inspired a new one: DisneySea. Tokyo DisneySea is themed after stories based on the ocean and nautical adventure. It was constructed at a cost of ¥335 billion and opened on September 4, 2001. The park’s two signature attractions are a modernized version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey To The Center of The Earth. The park was a hit with the public, and tops many Disney park rankings as the greatest Disney park of all time. However, what opened earlier that year was a tale of woe.
Image Credit: Tony "WiseBearAZ" Moore, via Yesterland
In the early 90s, Eisner wanted to make Disneyland in the image of Walt Disney World’s resort style. Plans were made for multiple hotels (such as one based off of the Grand Floridian Hotel) and a new west coast version of EPCOT, called WESTCOT. WESTCOT never came to be due to local opposition from residents, rising costs, and the financial fallout of Disneyland Paris. After a corporate retreat in Colorado, Disney executives decided to make a park themed to California so that guests could experience all of California within the confines of the Disneyland Resort and would be built across from Disneyland on its 100 acre parking lot. Disney’s California Adventure would be the largest disaster Disney ever had because unlike Disneyland, it was set in the modern day and spoofed modern day California with its cheap, insincere, flat backdrops. The park would be adult focused, sell fine food, and serve alcohol. California Adventure would also have far more shops than attractions, as the park on opening would only have one real E ticket attraction, and the only dark ride in it was the worst Disney ride to date. Super Star Limo was about you: a movie star on your way to your movie premiere. It contained grotesque mannequins of B-list movie stars, no animatronics, and very cheap looking backgrounds. When the park opened on February 8th, 2001, it received a chilly reception for its lack of attractions, poor environment (for example, Hollywood Studios Backlot was themed to a modern day movie backlot of modern day Hollywood), and overemphasis on retail and dining. When John Hench (an original Imagineer who worked with Walt and was a chief creative executive at Imagineering since Imagineering was founded) was asked for his opinion on the park, he reportedly said, “I preferred the parking lot.” The only success of Disney’s California Adventure was the debut of Soarin’ Over California, which was highly popular because of its hang glider-simulator ride system that made guests feel as if they were flying over the Golden State. Unfortunately, Disney produced two more failures like it. Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris was the second Disneyland Paris park and was built out of necessity. Disney had to build a second park or risk losing the land to the French government. The park opened March 16th, 2002, with only three rides and California Adventure style theming. However, Hong Kong Disneyland was higher quality than the other black sheep, but still lacked the number of attractions that was needed, just like California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park. It opened on September 12, 2005, with only four lands, and had exorbitant wait times on opening day for everything from rides to food. Due to the decline in quality in everything from theme park quality to animation revenue, Disney’s shareholders revolted and ousted Micheal Eisner in 2004. In September 2005, Bob Iger was chosen as his successor. One of his very first moves in the theme park unit was to fix Disney’s California Adventure, by adding more attractions, Disney characters (which the park lacked), better environment, and celebrating California instead of spoofing it. The plan was announced in 2007, and with it the largest redesign of a theme park ever done at the time. But around the same time as Disney was promising to fix their worst mistake ever, something else was in the works, something that would forever change the course of entertainment history: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Image Credit: Universal
An Arms Race
In the early 2000s, a new pop culture phenomenon occurred: the soaring popularity of the Harry Potter book series written by J.K Rowling. Universal and Disney entered a bidding war over the theme park rights to the books, but Disney seemed to have won after Rowling signed a letter of intent with Disney. However, Rowling was disappointed with Disney’s small-scale plans to install an omnimover attraction themed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with one shop and one restaurant in the former submarine lagoon at Magic Kingdom. She was also displeased with the lack of creative control she had and exited the deal. She went to Universal next and was also displeased with the initial plan to redress the Islands of Adventure’s Lost Continent area. To remedy this, J.K Rowling wrestled creative control from Universal and forced them to make the land a full scale, hyper realistic re-creation of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts without being a refurbishment of an existing area. No detail was spared, from the inclusion of all of Hogsmeade’s establishments, to the crooked chimneys, and the moss on the side of The Three Broomsticks tavern. The main attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, is a modern marvel for its use of the KUKA robot arm technology as its ride system and is able to include all of the major locales from the movies. The project was announced in 2007 and in 2010 the land was opened to the public and made Universal a must visit destination. The next round of the Disney-Universal Theme Park War had begun.
Image Credit: Disney/ Disney Tourist Blog
Disney countered with projects similar to Wizarding World such as the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in 2012-2014 and Cars Land: part of the new Disney California Adventure. After that fateful 2007 announcement, Disney began redoing areas of California Adventure and making them like Disneyland’s areas: timeless, reverent, and historical. After five years of construction, Disney California Adventure opened to the public on June 15, 2012 after a symbolic day of being closed. The new opening land, Buena Vista Street, recreates the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles in the 1920s when Walt first came to Hollywood to start his cartoon studio, the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (now the Walt Disney Company). Hollywood Pictures Backlot has now become Hollywood Land (modeled after 30s Hollywood), Grizzly Peak (the national park) was brought into the 1950s from the modern day, Paradise Pier into the turn of the century (also from the modern day), and the cornerstone of the project, Cars Land, is the first Wizarding World style land that Disney created.
Image Credit: Disney
Similar to how Wizarding World is an almost exact copy of Hogsmeade, Cars Land is an almost exact, full scale re-creation of Radiator Springs from the popular Pixar film Cars. From the massive Cadillac Mountain Range (whose peaks are Cadillac tail fins from the mid-20th century), to the faithful layout of the town from the film, to the sand in the Racers area, this land is highly detailed and is the most popular attraction at California Adventure, even after a decade of being open. The land is anchored by Radiator Springs Racers, a state of the art slot car dark ride, which has full scale animatronics of all the characters from the movie (referred to as automatronics). The new Disney California Adventure received highly positive reviews and is a star example of how to fix something that is fundamentally broken.
Disney did another project similar to this one in 2012 by adding a 12 acre expansion to Hong Kong Disneyland with a Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch (a Frontierland equivalent), and Mystic Manor (a modern take on the Haunted Mansion). Mystic Manor is a trackless dark ride that focuses on Lord Henry Mystic’s antiquities collection coming to life. Walt Disney Studios Park added a trackless dark ride as well, themed to Ratatouille and helped add an exclusive, culturally appealing attraction to help boost attendance. By the time this attraction was added in 2014, Disneyland Paris was the number one resort destination in Europe and still is to this day, averaging 10 million visitors per year: a dramatic improvement over its initial attendance numbers. That same year, Universal Orlando Resort opened its next Harry Potter land in Universal Studios Florida, Diagon Alley, yet another hyper detailed and faithful re-creation of one of the major locations in Harry Potter. This land has all of the major shops and restaurants from Diagon Alley, such as the Leaky Cauldron and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, and the land even has a recreation of Knockturn Alley.
Image Credit: Disney
While Universal was plussing its parks with copies of Wizarding World: Hogsmeade and adding various new lands, Disney was expanding into the Chinese mainland. During the late 90s, when Micheal Eisner was still CEO, Bob Iger was in charge of international affairs. He started negotiations to buy land and build Disney’s sixth Magic Kingdom in Pudong, Shanghai, China. After about 10 years of negotiations, the park started construction in the early 2010s and opened in 2016. Walt built the most charming park, Roy built the most spectacular one, Eisner built the most beautiful one, and Iger built the most unique one. In order to cater to Chinese culture, it was required to remove traditional Magic Kingdom elements such as “it’s a small world”, Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion, the Americana in Main Street, and all of Frontierland. Frontierland was replaced with Treasure Cove, a land themed to the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and houses one of the greatest dark rides of all time, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle For the Sunken Treasure. Its ride system uses magnets which allow the boats to spin 360°, go backwards, sideways, and create the sensation of sinking. The ride also features full-scale pirate ships and many advanced animatronics of the infamous “Captain” Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, and his crew. Adventure Isle replaces Adventureland and has its own backstory. Tomorrowland is more modern, unlike the other space age Tomorrowlands around the globe, and reflects the look of Shanghai’s skyline. Tomorrowland is also where Tron: Lightcycle Run first debuted: a unique roller coaster that raises the bar in terms of a roller coaster’s aesthetics. Shanghai Disneyland’s Fantasyland is the largest land in the park and is composed of mini-lands themed to different characters. Fantasyland is also home to the largest Disney castle ever, Enchanted Storybook Castle, dedicated to all of the Disney princesses. Like many areas of the park it tries to pay homage to the overall theme of the park, “authentically Disney distinctly Chinese”, by topping the castle with a 24 carat golden peony, a Chinese symbol, along with another topping piece representing the 12 Disney princesses. The rest of this park also reflects this theme with culturally appropriate gardens with a Disney touch. The park was a success with 10 million visitors in its first year.
Image Credit: Disney
Back at home in 2017, Disney fired its next shot in the Disney-Universal War, a new Wizarding World style land, Pandora: The World of Avatar. In September 2011, Iger and Disney announced Pandora: World of Avatar, a land that was coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The land was co-designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and Lightstorm Entertainment, the group behind Avatar. Many were skeptical that an entire land themed to a movie that left no pop cultural impression would make for a successful land. In spite of this, the land was a huge creative success when it opened on May 27th, 2017, and was yet another Wizarding World type land. The land fits within Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s message of conserving the natural environment and added a much needed must see attraction to the park’s lineup. The land itself feels like stepping into an alien world, with its bioluminescent foliage, floating mountains, and signs of an extraterrestrial culture (the giant hand woven depiction of a Na’vi which appears to have been made by a Na’vi). The land has two major attractions, Avatar: Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. The former is an evolution of the Soarin’ ride system (in the Imagineering Story the attraction was referred to as, “Soarin’ over Pandora”), which is the star attraction of the land which takes guests on a flight on the back of a banshee (a dragon-like apex predator from Pandora), which uses high quality graphics and 4D effects to make the world of Pandora come to life. The land was an instant hit, but the next Wizarding World Disney built force-grabbed the pop-culture world’s attention: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Image Credit: Disney
First announced in 2015, this land is the culmination of the Wizarding World land design formula with its many backstories, elaborate world building, cutting edge attractions, in-world food and souvenirs (like lightsabers with actual metal hilts and blue milk), and timeline accuracy. The land was opened at Disneyland on May 31st, 2019, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 29th, 2019. Both lands are identical (save for the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and unlike all of the other Wizarding World formula lands, it does not recreate a place seen on screen, but a new place in Star Wars lore in order to create a place where new stories could be told and to appease the entire fanbase. The settlement of Black Spire Outpost was designed to fulfill this role, located on the planet of Batuu. The land itself feels like Tatooine, because of its architectural similarities to Tatooine’s buildings, sand beige color scheme, weathered look, and use of the “used future” aesthetic. The land’s first attraction, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, is an interactive simulator ride that takes guests on a job from Hondo Ohnaka (owner of smuggling firm Ohnaka Transport Solutions) to steal coaxium from the First Order. The attraction allows guests to pilot the ship, operate its guns, and repair it during the experience. Unknown to guests, multiple turntables allow many simulators to operate simultaneously, allowing the attraction to accommodate thousands of guests per hour. The land’s star attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, is without a doubt the most advanced theme park attraction in existence, thanks to its use of three ride systems (a simulator, a trackless dark ride, and a drop tower) and cutting edge A-1000 animatronics. The attraction stars guests as Resistance recruits who are captured by the First Order and attempt to escape, which culminates in an epic battle which is a victory for the Resistance. Initially when the land opened, critics loved how the land was heavily immersive, but felt it was missing something. Rise of the Resistance filled that void and was universally praised on opening by critics. It is seen as one of the greatest theme park rides of all time for its storytelling, state of the art technology, and epic scale.
Theme parks’ history and evolution is not necessarily straightforward and clean. It can be convoluted and messy with all of its various influences, leaps forward, and connections to various entertainment venues in history that don’t seem to be related to theme parks (like pleasure gardens). Theme parks may appear to be such an obscure thing to write a proper history about, but they deserve it because of the large impacts on the public consciousness (Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney parks fandom, Wizarding World of Harry Potter), the amount of money and jobs it creates each year (in 2020, the industry’s revenue was valued at $53.9 billion), and the widespread impact it has on average ordinary people through regional parks and once in a lifetime Disney World visits.
Sources/Bibliography
Niles, Robert. “Are Theme Park Attractions an Art Form? Some Creators Say Yes.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 24 Nov. 2017, https://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/24/515680/.
Earlychurchhistory. “Pleasure Gardens In The Ancient World.” Early Church History, https://earlychurchhistory.org/daily-life/pleasure-gardens-in-the-ancient-world/.
“History of Pleasure Gardens.” GARDEN OF IDEAS, https://www.gardenofideas.org/history-of-pleasure-gardens.html.
Seferou, Aliki. “A Look at the World's Oldest Amusement Park.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 12 Jan. 2018, https://theculturetrip.com/europe/denmark/copenhagen/articles/a-look-at-the-worlds-oldest-amusement-park/.
Thom, Daniel. “The History of London's Pleasure Gardens.” Museum of London, 24 Oct. 2017, https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/vauxhall-pleasure-gardens.
“Ranelagh Gardens.” City of London, 17 May 2022, https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/london-metropolitan-archives/collections/ranelagh-gardens.
“Vauxhall Gardens Brief History.” Vauxhall Gardens, http://www.vauxhallgardens.com/vauxhall_gardens_briefhistory_page.html.
Levine, Arthur. “The Complete Guide to Bakken, the World's Oldest Amusement Park.” TripSavvy, TripSavvy, 9 Feb. 2021, https://www.tripsavvy.com/bakken-amusement-park-5095899.
Metcalfe, Rebecca. “Pleasure Gardens Past.” National Museums Liverpool, 2022, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/pleasure-gardens-past.
Klein, Christopher. “Hanging Gardens Existed, but Not in Babylon.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 14 May 2013, https://www.history.com/news/hanging-gardens-existed-but-not-in-babylon.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/place/Hanging-Gardens-of-Babylon.
Platner, Samuel. “Gardens of Sallust.” Gardens of Sallust, http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/GD-008.html.
Perrot, Roy. “Gardening.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998, https://www.britannica.com/science/gardening.
Eckbo, Garrett. “Historical Development of Gardens and Landscape.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/art/garden-and-landscape-design/Historical-development#ref26244.
Britannica. “Choice of Plants.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/science/gardening/Choice-of-plants#ref34669.
Olya, Gabrielle. “Running Disneyland for Just One Day Costs an Insane Amount of Money (Especially during a Pandemic).” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, 2020, https://www.yahoo.com/video/running-disneyland-just-one-day-090258484.html.
Seferou, Aliki. “Tivoli Gardens: 9 Things You Need to Know about Denmark's Playground.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 8 Mar. 2017, https://theculturetrip.com/europe/denmark/copenhagen/articles/tivoli-gardens-9-things-you-need-to-know-about-denmarks-playground/.
Visit Copenhagen. “Tivoli Gardens: Theme Park in Copenhagen.” VisitCopenhagen, https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/tivoli-gardens-gdk424504.
“World's Fair.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/worlds-fair.
Baker, Rani. “The Untold Truth of Carnivals.” Grunge, Grunge, 13 Feb. 2020, https://www.grunge.com/65216/untold-truth-carnivals/.
Sullivan, David. “The Comprehensive History of Coney Island.” Heart of Coney Island, 2015, https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/west-brighton-coney-island-history.html.
Sullivan, David. “Coney Island History: Sea Lion Park: Captain Paul Boyton.” Heart of Coney Island, 2015, https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/sea-lion-park-coney-island.html.
Sullivan, David. “Coney Island History: Luna Park.” Heart of Coney Island, 2015, https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/luna-park-coney-island.html.
“Cedar Point.” Cedar Point - Ohio History Central, https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cedar_Point.
Point, Cedar. “Cedar Point Timeline 1870 - 1969.” Amusement Park in Ohio, 7 Jan. 2021, https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/media-center/cedar-point-timeline-1870-1969.
Adams, Judith. “The American Amusement Park Industry : A History of Technology and Thrills : Adams, Judith a : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Boston : Twayne Publishers, 1 Jan. 1991, https://archive.org/details/americanamusemen00adam/page/n3/mode/2up.
“Walt Disney Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/walt_disney_100644.
Johnson, Lauren. “8 Oldest Amusement Parks in the World.” Oldest.org, 15 Apr. 2022, https://www.oldest.org/entertainment/amusement-parks/.
Wright, Lisa. “A Guide to the Best of Copenhagen's Pleasure Garden.” TheTravel, 10 Feb. 2022, https://www.thetravel.com/copenhagen-pleasure-garden-tivoli-guide/.
Brigandi, Phil. “Breaking New Ground the Early Years of Knott's Berry Farm.” Orange County Historical Society, 2008, https://www.orangecountyhistory.org/wp/?page_id=251.
“Walt Disney.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2022, https://www.biography.com/business-figure/walt-disney.
Iwerks, Leslie, director. The Imagineering Story. Walt Disney Studios, 2019.
Nichols, Chris. Walt Disney's Disneyland. Taschen GmbH, 2020.
Niles, Robert. “Theme Park History: A Short History of Universal Studios Hollywood.” Theme Park Insider, 2013, https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201307/3564/.
Krosnick, Brian. “Non Omnis Moriar: The Heartbreaking Haunting of Disneyland Paris' Phantom Manor - Page 2 of 5.” Park Lore, 12 Apr. 2022, https://parklore.com/main/phantom-manor/2/.
“History.” SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Company History | SeaWorld Entertainment, https://seaworldentertainment.com/about-us/history/.
“Company History.” – Six Flags, https://investors.sixflags.com/investor-overview/company-history.
Nolte, Foxx. “Disney's Haunted Mansion and the Invention of Halloween as You Know It.” MiceChat, 11 Jan. 2022,
Krosnick, Brian. “Space Mountain: Launching Disney’s Space Age Interstellar Modern Marvel.” Park Lore, 21 Feb. 2021, parklore.com/main/modern-marvel/space-mountain/.
Krosnick, Brian. “River Country: The Hoot ‘n Holler History of Walt Disney World’s Original, Ole Time Swimmin’ Hole.” Park Lore, 24 Jan. 2023, parklore.com/main/river-country/.
Sandy , Adam. “Late 70s: Roller Coaster History.” Late 70s | Roller Coaster History, 1996, www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/1960_1970/late_70s.shtml.
“History of the Universal Orlando ResortTM.” Orlandovacation.Com, 13 Aug. 2021, www.orlandovacation.com/articles/uor-history/.
Krosnick , Brian. “Back to the Future: The Ride – How a Trip to the Past Propelled Universal into the Future... - Page 2 of 4.” Park Lore, 21 Feb. 2023, parklore.com/main/back-to-the-future/2/.
Staff. “Complete Guide & History to Universal Studios Florida.” Orlando Informer, 13 July 2021, orlandoinformer.com/universal/universal-studios-florida/.
Staff. “Complete Guide & History to Universal’s Islands of Adventure.” Orlando Informer, 1 Sept. 2021, orlandoinformer.com/universal/islands-of-adventure/.
Staff. “Disney-MGM Studios Becomes Disney’s Hollywood Studios.” History.Com, 13 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/disney-mgm-studios-becomes-disneys-hollywood-studios.
Krosnick, Brian. “The Backstage Studio Tour: Behind the Screens of the Death of the Disney-MGM Studios.” Park Lore, 1 May 2021, parklore.com/main/declassified-disaster/backstage-studio-tour/.
Staff. “History.” History:Universal Studios Japan Site, 2021, www.usj.co.jp/company/company_e/history.html.
Krosnick, Brian. “The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: The inside Scoop on Universal’s Web-Slinging Marvel - Page 2 of 4.” Park Lore, 28 May 2021, parklore.com/main/modern-marvel/spider-man/2/.
Herbert, Jeremy. “Universal Studios Escape: An Advertising Cautionary Tale.” Theme Park Tourist, 22 May 2021, www.themeparktourist.com/features/20210417/31545/universal-studios-escape-advertising-cautionary-tale.
Delpozo, Brian. “What Might Have Been: Port Disney and California’s DisneySea.” AllEars.Net, 30 Nov. 2020, allears.net/2020/12/01/what-might-have-been-port-disney-and-californias-disneysea/.
Bricker, Tom. “Best & Worst Disney Parks in the World.” Disney Tourist Blog, 28 Nov. 2022, www.disneytouristblog.com/best-worst-disney-theme-parks-world/.
Chapman, Dean. “All the Disney Parks around the World - Ranked.” Parksavers.Com, 25 Mar. 2023, www.parksavers.com/all-the-disney-parks-around-the-world-ranked/.
Smith, Christopher. “Ranking the Best and Worst Disney Theme Parks in the World.” Orange County Register, 10 Dec. 2019, www.ocregister.com/2019/12/09/ranking-the-best-and-worst-disney-theme-parks-in-the-world/.
Krosnick , Brian. “Westcot: Inside the Abandoned Park Plans That Would’ve Changed Disneyland Forever.” Park Lore, 17 Jan. 2021, parklore.com/main/westcot/.
Krosnick, Brian. “Inside the Undoing of California Adventure: Is Disney Making Its Biggest Mistake All over Again?” Theme Park Tourist, 23 Mar. 2020, www.themeparktourist.com/features/20180603/33914/declassified-disaster-disneys-california-adventure-part-2.
Orlando, Sentinel. “Wizarding World of Harry Potter Timeline.” Orlando Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2019, www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/universal-orlando/os-harry-potter-timeline-20100618-story.html.
Delpozo, Brian. “How ‘Harry Potter’ Almost Ended up at Disney World - and Why the Deal Fell Apart.” AllEars.Net, 6 June 2020, allears.net/2020/06/07/how-harry-potter-almost-ended-up-at-disney-world-and-why-the-deal-fell-apart/.
Stella, Alicia. “How Universal Pays J.K. Rowling for the Harry Potter Theme Park Rights - Exploring the Contract.” Orlando ParkStop, 18 Jan. 2022, orlandoparkstop.com/news/theme-park-news/how-much-does-universal-pay-j-k-rowling-for-the-harry-potter-theme-park-rights-exploring-the-contract/.
Widmar, Aaron. “6 Dopey Facts about the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.” WDW Magazine, 19 July 2021, www.wdw-magazine.com/6-dopey-facts-about-the-seven-dwarfs-mine-train/.
Staff. “Magic Kingdom Fantasyland Expansion.” AllEars.Net, 18 Sept. 2018, allears.net/magic-kingdom/magic-kingdom-fantasyland-expansion/.
Macdonald, Brady. “Disney California Adventure Shops to Reflect Walt’s History.” Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2011, www.latimes.com/travel/la-xpm-2011-aug-20-la-trb-buena-vista-street-disney-california-adventure-08201120-story.html.
Staff. “Grizzly Gulch Opens at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.” Disney Parks Blog, 19 July 2012, disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/07/grizzly-gulch-opens-at-hong-kong-disneyland-resort/.
Iger, Robert. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Random House Large Print, 2019.
"TEA/AECOM 2014 Global Attractions Attendance Report Report" (PDF). Themed Entertainment Association. 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
"TEA/AECOM 2016 Global Attractions Attendance Report Report" (PDF). Themed Entertainment Association. 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
Taylor, Drew. “This Is Why Disney Spent Half a Billion Dollars on an Avatar Theme Park.” Vulture, 14 July 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/07/disney-world-pandora-avatar-theme-park.html.
Krosnick, Brian. “Before Avatar, We Could’ve Pictured These 7 ‘Blue Sky’ Lands at Animal Kingdom.” Theme Park Tourist, 13 June 2019, www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140731/19802/7-disney-animal-kingdom-lands-make-more-sense-avatar.
Krosnick , Brian. “Lands of Legend: The Fantastic Tale of Disney and Universal’s Lost Mythical Worlds.” Theme Park Tourist, 6 Jan. 2020, www.themeparktourist.com/features/20170504/32739/lost-legends-lost-continent?page=5.
Correll, Robyn. “Diagon Alley at Harry Potter World: The Complete Guide.” TripSavvy, 9 May 2019, www.tripsavvy.com/diagon-alley-the-complete-guide-4580137.
Staff. “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.” Walt Disney Imagineering, 10 Apr. 2021, sites.disney.com/waltdisneyimagineering/star-wars-galaxys-edge/.
Corless, Tom. “Review: Star Wars - Rise of the Resistance Is a Return to Form for Imagineering, a Modern Classic Disney Attraction.” WDW News Today, 5 Dec. 2019, wdwnt.com/2019/12/review-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-is-a-return-to-form-for-imagineering-a-modern-classic-disney-attraction/.
Prudom, Laura. “Disney’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Ride Review.” IGN, 26 Feb. 2022, www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-disney-world-ride-review.
Hibbard, James. “Disney’s ‘Rise of the Resistance’: First Reviews and 22 New Photos.” EW.Com, 4 Dec. 2019, ew.com/movies/2019/12/04/disney-rise-of-the-resistance-reviews/.
Martens, Todd. “A Showstopping Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance - a New Hope for Galaxy’s Edge?” Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2019, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-04/disney-rise-of-the-resistance-ride-galaxys-edge.
Bricker, Tom. “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Review: A Land like No Other.” Disney Tourist Blog, 25 June 2019, www.disneytouristblog.com/star-wars-land-review/.
Lussier, Germain. “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Is Here: The Good, the Bad, and the Incredible.” Gizmodo, 31 May 2019, gizmodo.com/star-wars-galaxys-edge-is-here-the-good-the-bad-and-1835129231.
Orellana, Vanessa Hand. “Inside Disneyland’s Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.” CNET, 30 May 2019, www.cnet.com/culture/star-wars-land-disney-galaxys-edge-every-angle-inside-disney-latest-theme-park-smugglers-run-ride-millenium-falcon/.
Staff. “Amusement Parks Market Share: Industry Trends Report, 2018-2025.” Amusement Parks Market Share | Industry Trends Report, 2018-2025, 2018, www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/amusement-parks-market.
Sims, Nick. “Mickey Mouse Park: The Story of Walt Disney’s Lost First Theme Park.” Theme Park Tourist, 5 Aug. 2019, www.themeparktourist.com/features/20150415/30162/mickey-mouse-park-lost-theme-park-designed-walt-disney-himself.
Comments