"with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs, pleasure gardens and large picnic areas, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and other types of international expositions also influenced the emergence of the amusement park industry. Lake Compounce opened in 1846 and is considered the oldest continuously-operating amusement park in North America. The first theme parks emerged in the mid-twentieth century with the opening of Santa Claus Land in 1946, Santa's Workshop in 1949, and Disneyland in 1955. The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions: traveling"
"Disneyland Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built to completion under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. It was originally the only attraction on the property; its official name was changed to Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s. Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent"
"at the same time. On July 18, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland was previewed with a live television broadcast hosted by Robert Cummings, Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. A major expansion in 1959 included the addition of America's first monorail system. For the 1964 New York World's Fair, Disney prepared four separate attractions for various sponsors, each of which would find its way to Disneyland in one form or another. During this"
"Wood Notes Disneyland Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built to completion under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. It was originally the only attraction on the property; its official name was changed to Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s. Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist"
"of building the entire park in 1955, the ride opened to throngs of patrons, many of whom dressed up as ""Star Wars"" characters for the occasion. In celebration, Disneyland remained open for a 60-hour marathon from January 9 at 10 a.m. to January 11 at 10 p.m. On August 14, 2010, Walt Disney World hosted the ""Last Tour To Endor"" event exclusively for Celebration V attendees at Disney's Hollywood Studios from 8pm to 1am. Entertainment features and events at ""Last Tour To Endor"" included George Lucas, character appearances, Jedi Training Academy, Death Star Disco, Bespin Stage Dance Party, ""Raiders Of"
"original attractions. Another early design for the park included a narrow-gauge steam railroad encircling it, a feature which was retained in the park's final design. Disneyland, and the Disneyland Railroad encircling the park, opened on July 17, 1955. The Disneyland Railroad's No. 1 locomotive, the ""C.K. Holliday"", bears a strong resemblance to the CPRR's ""Lilly Belle"" locomotive, since their designs were based on the same blueprints. In addition to the Disneyland Railroad, there are steam railroad attractions in the Magic Kingdom within Walt Disney World in the vicinity of Orlando, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland next to Tokyo, Japan; and Disneyland Park"
"modern day theme park. Santa Claus Land (renamed Holiday World in 1984) opened in 1946 in Santa Claus, Indiana and many people will argue that it was the first true Theme Park despite Knott's history. In the 1950s the Herschend family took over operation of the tourist attraction, Marvel Cave near Branson, Missouri. Over the next decade they modernized the cave, which led to large numbers of people waiting to take the tour. The Herschend family opened a recreation of the old mining town that once existed atop Marvel Cave. The small village eventually became the theme park, Silver Dollar"
"Danish groups such as TV-2, Nephew, Hanne Boel, Raveonettes and Thomas Helmig. During Copenhagen Jazz Festival Tivoli Gardens is one of the many Copenhagen localities that serves as a venue for concerts. Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, also in Denmark. With 4.6 million visitors in 2017, Tivoli is the second-most popular seasonal amusement park in the world after Europa-Park. Tivoli is the most-visited theme park in"
"Happiest Homecoming on Earth The Happiest Homecoming on Earth was the eighteen-month-long celebration (May 5, 2005 through September 30, 2006) of the 50th anniversary of the Disneyland theme park, which opened on July 17, 1955. The Happiest Celebration on Earth commemorated fifty years of Disney theme parks, and celebrated Disneyland's milestone throughout Disney parks all over the globe. Disneyland's 50th anniversary was July 17, 2005, but the celebration was launched on May 5, 2005 in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Disneyland Park was actually closed to the public on this date, the first planned closure of the park in decades"
"theme parks hosted over 140.4 million guests, making Disney Parks the world's most visited theme park company worldwide,<ref name=""TEA/AECOM""></ref> with United Kingdom-based Merlin Entertainments coming in second. It is by far Disney's largest business segment according to employee headcount, with approximately 130,000 of the company's 180,000 employees as of 2015. In March 2018, Parks and Resorts was merged with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media to form Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products. In 1949, Ice Capades added a Disney segment to its performances. Costumes from those shows were used at the opening of Disneyland in 1955 with some"
"is due to open in 2019. Opened in 2001, Disney California Adventure Park was built on the site of Disneyland's original parking lot. Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with 708 million visitors since it opened (as of December 2017). In 2017, the park had approximately 18.3 million visitors, making it the second most visited amusement park in the world that year, behind only Magic Kingdom. According to a March 2005 Disney report, 65,700 jobs are supported by the Disneyland Resort, including about 20,000 direct Disney employees and 3,800 third-party employees (independent"
"as attractions. Some examples include: The attractions are arranged in nine areas of the park. A tenth area, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, opened on 15 July 2014 with its flagship attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The area was modeled on the areas of the same names at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. There are also attractions that are not in the U.S. and are unique to Universal Studios Japan, such as Black Lake and Hogwarts Express Photo Op. Themed to Hollywood. Based on the city of New York City, New York. Based on the city"
"Denmark's famous amusement park and pleasure garden Tivoli Gardens. The park, alluding by its name to the Jardin de Tivoli that existed in Paris, was opened on 15 August 1843, and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg. Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totaled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points."
"Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio. Opened in 1870, it is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the United States behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and operated by Cedar Fair and is considered the flagship of the amusement park chain. Known as ""America's Roller Coast"", the park features a world-record 71 rides, including 17 roller coasters – the second-most in the world behind Six Flags Magic Mountain. Its newest roller coaster, Steel Vengeance, opened to the public on May 5, 2018. Cedar Point's normal operating season runs"
"Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division and is home to two theme parks (Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure), three hotels, and a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex known as Downtown Disney. The resort was developed by Walt Disney in the 1950s. When it opened to guests on July 17, 1955, the property consisted of Disneyland, its 100-acre parking lot (which had 15,167 spaces), and the Disneyland Hotel, owned and operated by"
"the park's opening in 1955. The ride is based on the 1949 film ""The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad"", itself developed (in part) from Grahame's 1908 novel. A Magic Kingdom version of the ride operated upon the park's Orlando, Florida, opening in 1971, but was closed and replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1998. In Chinese culture, the Money Toad (or Frog) Jin Chan appears as a Feng Shui charm for prosperity. Toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs,"
"the complex. Without him spearheading the construction, the company built a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the experimental concepts for a planned community. Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex, in 1971, followed by Epcot (1982), Disney's Hollywood Studios (1989), and Disney's Animal Kingdom (the newest, 1998). Today, Walt Disney World is the most visited vacation resort in the world, with average annual attendance of more than 52 million. The resort is the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a popular staple in American culture. In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began"
"Company has mentioned that it wanted to keep Tomorrowland from becoming ""Yesterdayland"". As a self-referential joke along this line, the 2007 Walt Disney Animation Studios film ""Meet the Robinsons"" (which is set mainly in the year 2037) features an amusement park called ""Todayland"", which has rides that look similar to Space Mountain and Disneyland's original Rocket Jets. The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 17, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a"
"fire. Only one park that was given the White City name continues to operate today: Denver's White City, opened in 1908, is currently Lakeside Amusement Park. The enormously successful 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago attracted 26 million visitors and featured a section that is now commonly considered the first amusement park: a midway (the mile-long Midway Plaisance), the world's first Ferris wheel (constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.), a forerunner of the modern roller coaster (Thomas Rankin's Snow and Ice Railway, later moved to Coney Island), lighting and attractions powered by alternating current (Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti had"
"Kingdom, as that park's popularity grew. The new park maintained the idea of showcasing modern innovation through avant-garde edutainment attractions, as well as the addition of a world nations exposition. The newly-designed park, featuring two sections—Future World and World Showcase—opened as EPCOT Center in 1982. In 2017, Epcot hosted about 12.2 million guests, ranking it as the fourth-most-visited theme park in North America and the seventh-most-visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere that also serves as an attraction. The theme park opened on October 1, 1982. The dedication plaque near the"
"one of many companies that sponsored attractions in the park with its 5-year sponsorship of all Disneyland trains and stations at the park's opening agreed. Rear Admiral Joseph W. Fowler was hired in April 1954 as senior vice president for engineering and construction to oversee building Disneyland. Work began on the site in July with the removal of the first orange tree. A 1955 strike by the Orange County plumbers and asphalt workers puts the Disneyland building schedule in jeopardy. On July 17, 1955 at 2 PM, the Disneyland park with Five themed ""lands"" containing eighteen attractions opened. 15 thousand"
"Lake Compounce Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest, continuously-operating amusement park in the United States. It spans , which includes a beach and a water park called Crocodile Cove included in the price of admission. The park was acquired from Kennywood Entertainment Company by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos. In addition to the 14th oldest wooden roller coaster in the world, Wildcat, its newer wooden roller coaster, Boulder Dash, has won the Golden Ticket Award for the #1 Wooden Coaster in the World for"
"Legoland Billund Resort Legoland Billund, the original Legoland park, opened on June 7, 1968 in Billund, Denmark. The park is located next to the original Lego factory and Billund Airport, Denmark's second-busiest airport. Over 1.9 million guests visited the park in 2011 and since the opening more than 50 million guests have visited the park. This makes Legoland the largest tourist attraction in Denmark outside Copenhagen. The Legoland parks that have since been built are modelled upon Legoland Billund, most noticeably the Miniland area, which is made up of millions of plastic Lego bricks. The first Legoland was built adjacent"
"changed it to Disneyland two years later, when excavation of the site began. Construction began on July 16, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened one year and one day later. U.S. Route 101 (later Interstate 5) was under construction at the same time just north of the site; in preparation for the traffic Disneyland was expected to bring, two more lanes were added to the freeway before the park was finished. Disneyland was dedicated at an ""International Press Preview"" event held on Sunday, July 17, 1955, which was only open to invited guests and the"
"Hirakata Park Hirakata Park is the oldest amusement park in Osaka, Japan. It opened in 1910, when Kikuningyō-ten, the ""Chrysanthemum Figure Exhibition,"" was held near Keihan Hirakata Station (later renamed Hirakata-kōen Station). In 1965, a public pool was built, which promoted swimming at Hirakata Park. Seven years later an ice rink was built to increase the park's attendance during the winter months. In 1988, the “Red Falcon"" roller-coaster was built, followed by the construction of a Ferris wheel in 1991. Around 2000, Hirakata Park's was touched by the general decline of the industry, resulting in the closure of many amusement"
"of 5.6 million. Visitor numbers fell 20% in the second year to 4 million, inciting criticisms from local legislators. However, the park attendance jumped by 8% in the third year, attracting a total of 4.5 million visitors in 2007. In 2009, the park attendance again increased by 2% to 4.8 million visitors. The attendance continued to surge and received 5.23 million guests in the 2009/2010 fiscal year. Since the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, the theme park has hosted over 25 million guests. According to AECOM and TEA, Hong Kong Disneyland is the 13th most visited theme park in the"
"the 1910s and 1920s despite Ingersoll's never-ending money problems. The oldest Luna Park that is still in operation (Melbourne, Australia) opened in 1912; while the Mexico City Luna Park was short-lived, Luna Loca is currently in operation on the site, while Athens' Ta Aikonada is a descendant of Ingersoll's Luna Park. At its peak, his amusement park empire had 44 sites; his construction company had built 277 roller coaster rides, many of them for parks that competed against his Luna Parks at one time or another, from Charleston, West Virginia to Buenos Aires (the latter later becoming the site of"
"the grounds formerly occupied by the park, and it operated there from 1972 to 2012. However, it was removed in 2012 for reconstruction of the shopping center, and it remains in storage . The carousel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 but was removed in 2008. Jantzen Beach Amusement Park Jantzen Beach Amusement Park was a popular amusement park from 1928 to 1970 in Portland, Oregon, on Hayden Island in the middle of the Columbia River. """"The Coney Island of the West"""" opened on May 26, 1928 as the largest amusement park in the nation,"
"Liseberg Liseberg is an amusement park located in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened in 1923. It is one of the most visited amusement parks in Scandinavia, attracting about three million visitors annually. Among the noteworthy attractions is the wooden roller coaster Balder, twice (2003 and 2005) voted as the ""Best Wooden Tracked Roller Coaster"" in the world in a major international poll. The park itself has also been chosen as one of the top ten amusement parks in the world (2005) by ""Forbes"" magazine. Additional to the summer season, the park is also open during November and December, albeit with fewer"
"referring to the circus as ""Holidayland,"" including a November 25, 1955 Los Angeles Times article declaring ""Holidayland was a roaring success. The kids consumed great amounts of popcorn, and [Walt] Disney enjoyed himself as much as anybody. Holidayland Holidayland was a grassy picnic ground located along the western edge of Disneyland, near the area that is now New Orleans Square. It is often referred to as the ""lost"" land of Disneyland. Opening on June 16, 1957, Holidayland had its own admission gate into Disneyland and could hold up to 7,000 guests for large events. It also had playgrounds, horseshoes, baseball"
"Epcot Epcot is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division. Inspired by the unrealized concept developed by Walt Disney, the park opened on October 1, 1982 as EPCOT Center, and was the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World, after the Magic Kingdom. Spanning , more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom park, Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often"
"to emergency situations that occur away from the first aid stations. Fire and rescue services beyond the capability of the DFD and/or the nursing staff are handled by the Anaheim Fire Department (AFD), which has a station just east of the Resort property. AFD also maintains a constant paramedic presence at the Resort. The 2015 issue of ""TEA/AECOM 2015 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report"" reported the following attendance estimates for 2015 compiled by the Themed Entertainment Association: Approximately 60,000 people visited the park on Disneyland's opening day, July 17, 1955, when park admission was priced"
"Jurassic Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, based on the popular ""Harry Potter"" franchise, is the only island added after the park opened; it opened to the public on June 18, 2010. Universal CityWalk Orlando opened in 1999, over the former parking lot and entrance, as part of the expansion that created the Universal Orlando Resort. Guests arrive at the resort park in one of two multi-story parking structures, then travel via covered moving sidewalks over Universal Boulevard into CityWalk. From there, guests can proceed"