Sam
TS Member
Writing practice, yeaaaah. Enjoy, hopefully you might learn something. 
A Short History of Theme
The rocky road to immersive nirvana
By Sam Gregory
Theme can seem easy to define at first, but it's a deeply contested concept. Ideas of the nature of reality, simulacrum and replication cause the idea of a themed attraction to be fraught with philosophical difficulties. What is real? Is an object automatically real if it exists in the physical world? It seems second-nature to park-goers that the Matterhorn at Disneyland is 'fake', a mere replication of a mountain in Switzerland. The Matterhorn at Disneyland is not the 'real' Matterhorn. Or is it? It's probably more known about, and definitely visited more, than the Swiss mountain. What does it have to do to throw off the shackles of mere imitation and become 'real'?
Theme is difficult to define when it leaves the page or screen and enters the physical world. Not that you'd notice when you ride Splash Mountain, as theme obviously surrounds you, at least in the traditional sense of what enthusiasts call 'theming'. Theme is easier to recognise in its absence. Imagine how Expedition Everest would look – and ride – without its theming; with no mountain, no Nepalese village and no temperamental Yeti. It is fair to say that theme is absolutely crucial to what constitutes that ride, far more-so than any technical aspect of the ride system. When people refer to Millennium Force, they refer to the ride system. When people refer to Expedition Everest, they refer to the theme, the theming, the mountain. We seem to be living in a golden era of themed attractions, at least in terms of quantity and scale. How has theming (once seen as simple decoration, plain window-dressing on the mighty Scandinavian Rutschebanens) come to often take precedent over the track & train in what actually constitutes a particular ride? Let's start by looking at a ride that may not have been the first of its kind, but is chosen as it is still running today in a similar form to opening, and most UK enthusiasts will have ridden it.
At the dawn of the themed attraction, in the opening years of the 20th century, a faithful replication of geographical exotica drove the creation of theme. In the era before cheap air travel and holidays abroad, seaside resorts such as Coney Island and Blackpool were the ultimate destination for the working class, the extent of their holidaying possibilities, rather than the ironic throwback they are seen as today. For the working populations of Britain and America, the ability to travel to the mysterious foreign places they read about in newspapers and periodicals was non-existent, and early themed rides catered to the public's fascination with other cultures and races - often a gross exaggeration or even fabrication of reality. Opening at the Pleasure Beach in 1910, the then-called 'River Caves of the World' boat ride had already been “the rage of America in 1904”, and brought a whistle-stop simulacrum of the world's best bits to Blackpool.
Passengers paid a sixpence for a thrilling tour, taking them from Egypt's pyramids to the “Cave of Emeralds of Ceylon, the Coral Cave of the South Sea Islands, the Mysterious Dripping Well of Arizona and the Blue Grotto of Capri.” Even if the scenes were cheap and cheerful affairs, the aim of creating an educational and erudite experience is clear, even if it possesses little educational value today. In an era of television, everybody's over-familiarity with Egypt's pyramids means dark rides tackling the theme (such as Legoland's Laser Raiders, 2009) resort to cheeky kitsch and knowing naffness – a self-defeating acceptance that they can never hope to recreate in the 21st century the sense of wide-eyed wonder that the first passengers on the River Caves must have felt.
While rollercoasters became infinitely more advanced over the next half a century, and flat rides flourished, theming barely advanced from the standards set by the River Caves, or Old Mill rides as they were known in America. Theming remained a side-show, an afterthought. This may be because travelling fairs, where theming has always been seen as economically superfluous, formed a much larger part of the industry in that time, and amusement parks would mostly install permanent versions of fair favourites. If you look at the surviving classic coasters from this era, such as the Grand National (1935), Kennywood's Jack Rabbit (1920) and the Coney Island Cyclone (1927), theming is non-existent. It would take a radical move to bring theme into parity with the ride system, and it needed a visionary who would create the framework of the theme park industry that thrives to this present day.
Walt's dream
The greatest advance in the history of themed attractions occurred on the 17th July 1955. Overnight, the opening of Disneyland turned the theming of attractions from a novelty into the default for the new generation of amusement parks that followed it, now usually called theme parks. Before Disneyland, themed attractions were self-contained, the attraction isolated within its own bubble. Once you left the attraction, you were back on the generic midway, the themeless host of the individual bubbles. You might cross the path from the exit of a River Caves to the entrance of a Ghost Train. Walt Disney decided to divide his park into individual 'lands', grouping together multiple attractions, shops, restaurants and other amenities and amusements with the same theme. This allowed the visitor to indulge in a new level of immersion and authenticity, and allowed the Imagineers to tell more complex stories, that could be expanded through different mediums. A restaurant may masquerade as the private kitchen of a character from that area's major attraction, for example. Some parks, such as Disneyland take great care to ensure that from each themed area, you cannot see anything in another themed area, to ensure the illusion remains intact.
Of course, this is now the standard blueprint for nearly all theme parks. Sometimes the relation between the lands follows a theme itself (each land being a European country, as seen at Europa Park and Busch Gardens Williamsburg) and sometimes not (at Alton Towers, secret military facilities are within a stone's throw of pirate hideouts and Amazon enclaves). Often these parks have a neutral centre or entrance area (such as Disney's Main Street USA and Alton's Towers Street) that act as a transitory step, an airlock, between the real world of mundanity and the fantasy worlds that the visitor will soon be immersing themselves in. They also act as a neutral space for essential guest facilities and park administration. The 'hub', the centre of traditional Disney parks directly in front of the castle, serves as a palette cleanser to smooth the jarring transitions from one theme to another. Sometimes the transitional purpose is expressly highlighted, such as Islands of Adventure's Port of Entry.
Although the relations between the themes at Disney parks are usually non-existent (Tomorrowland and Frontierland for example), other parks have an extremely strong over-arching theme. Good examples include Japan's Space World and America's ill-fated Hard Rock Park. The unifying link can also be more subtle. Although Efteling has themes ranging from haunted castles to English myths to Islamic palaces, it's all loosely connected by a visual identity that binds park designers and rides chronologically. The park is famous for its distinct colour scheme ('Efteling red') and architectural style based on the drawing style of initial designer Anton Pieck. This has been passed down from Pieck to Ton van de Ven to Karel Willemen, and is applied rigidly to all new developments, whatever the individual theme. It could even be seen as a very early form of park branding, creating a visual identity that could be described as 'quintessentially Efteling'.
Back in 1955, Disneyland, and its additions over its first twenty years, established a lot of the 'meta-themes', the unquestionable titans of theme. Each has been attempted dozens of times, at parks all over the world, with varying success. They form the basic language of theme, instantly recognisable to park-goers in any culture, any country. Of course it's debatable, but I'd say the list is pirates, Wild West, Egyptian, apocalyptic devastation, the far east, fantasy, the future, Roman, ghosts & ghouls and the jungle. Most themed rides will at least vaguely fit into one of these categories, or have a loose connection to one or more. These are similar to, but much more limited than, basic film categories. There are no kitchen-sink rides, or police procedural rollercoasters. Rides obviously do not allow the narrative complexity of other forms of storytelling, such as books, films and the theatre.
Many individual Disney attractions have also reached a similar canonical status to the meta-themes: much copied, parodied, reinvented and remade, with variations. They are the theme park industry equivalent of the jazz standards – unquestionable classics, that newcomers can have an attempt at to prove their talents. This is what leads to enthusiasts unfairly criticising parks for 'copying' Disney. Their concepts have become so ingrained in public consciousness and the DNA of the industry that they've effectively become public property, timeless and fundamental. Half a century after their construction, we can't still accuse parks of simply 'copying' the classic Disney dark rides, for they have made such a seismic impact on the public imagination that they have effectively entered the public domain, and Disney have moved on to pastures new. Let's take a closer look at, arguably, the two most influential of Walt's rides, and the long tail they have produced in the rest of the industry.
The haunted house and the Blackbeard boat rides
The first is Pirates of the Caribbean, operating at Disneyland since 1967. Since then, the pirate themed boat ride has become popular in most major theme park countries where pirates have a significant cultural foothold. Examples of almost direct copies include Drayton Manor's Pirate Adventure (1990), Europa Park's Pirates in Batavia (1987) and Parque Espana's Adventure Lagoon. This basic genre has also branched off and diversified with cultural differences, but still keeping all the major elements of the original Disneyland Pirates. Examples of these variations on the theme include Blackpool's Valhalla (2000), Efteling's Fata Morgana (1986) and Universal Studios Singapore's Madagascar (2011). In 2003, the attraction that started it all managed another extraordinary first – reversing the usual food chain, as a movie based on a ride became wildly successful for the first time.
Although Pirates was only loosely inspired by the Old Mill and River Caves rides of the early 20th century, the Haunted Mansion owes a bigger debt to early dark rides. Although it hugely advanced and perfected the genre, the idea of ride cars moving through a haunted house wasn't original. Haunted 'shows', utilising the Pepper's Ghost effect invented in 1862, evolved into the Ghost Trains in the 1930s, first for permanent amusement parks, and later for the travelling market. The first to use the name 'Ghost Train' was Blackpool's (1930), later expanded by Joseph Emberton in 1936 to become the multi-story ride that operates today. A 1968 book 'Fairground Architecture' describes these early Ghost Trains: “At discreet intervals, dummy trains running on an energised rail, carrying no more than two passengers, penetrate the darkened booth. A labyrinth of hair-raising spectacles, optical tricks and sudden cloying tactility awaits them". It almost reads like an early brief for Disney's Mansion.
The Mansion ushered in a new generation of haunted rides, and consigned the traditional Ghost Train to kitsch seaside throwback status. A major shift was the change from the single cars of the Ghost Trains to the high-throughput Omnimover systems, built by Arrow, Schwarzkopf and Mack. Examples of Omnimover rides that were inspired by the Mansion include Geister Rikscha at Phantasialand (1981, Schwarzkopf), Phantom Theatre at Kings Island (1992, Morgan), Geisterschloss at Europa Park (1982, Mack), Burg Falkenstein at Holiday Park (1987, Mack) and Manoir Hanté at Nigloland (1994, Mack). Disney have also opened further Haunted Mansions in Florida (1971) and Tokyo (1983) as well as a slight variation, Phantom Manor in Paris (1992).
The idea has also seen substantial variation and development. Some take on a darker tone than the Mansion, while some, especially children's spook rides, take a more light-hearted approach. Some have experimented with bringing back the single cars of the Ghost Train for a feeling of isolation, but combining it with the scale and atmosphere of Mansion-style haunt rides, such as the Haunted House at Alton Towers (1992, Mack). Some ditch the ride system all together for a return to the 1800s 'haunted show', such as Spookslot at Efteling (1978). Disney's latest update of the idea is set to open in Hong Kong in 2013 as Mystic Manor, and feature trackless individual cars. Including their variations and family of relatives, the Mansion-style haunt ride and the pirate boat ride account for a sizeable chunk of the world's dark rides.
Park layouts: lakes & spokes
The popularity of the themed area began a process of dramatic improvement in the quantity and quality of theme which has steadily continued until the present day. This has mostly been led by the Disney parks (with milestones in immersive theme such as Pirates, the Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure and the Tower of Terror), although the 1990 opening of Universal Studios Florida has seen a fierce rivalry in innovative theming emerge between the two companies (with Universal responsible for boundary-expanding rides such as Jaws, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, and more recently, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey). The Harry Potter dark ride may mark the first time since 1955 where the best dark ride in the world by general consensus isn't at a Disney-owned park.
For the most part, new-build parks with themed areas have two common layouts. Firstly, the hub-and-spoke design pioneered at Disneyland. Here, the park is planned around a central focus point (at Magic Kingdom-style Disney parks, this is always the fairytale castle) with each themed area branching off from it. Moving between the areas is very easy, either by returning to the central hub or by rotating around the areas in a circular fashion. Probably the most common layout for new-build parks (as chosen for PortAventura, Rainbow Magicland and Islands of Adventure) is themed areas arranged around a lake. Simply the hub-and-spoke layout, but with the centre point taken out. However, often the 'crossing the centre' function provided by the central point is replaced with a boat service, offering short-cuts from one side of the lake to the other. The lake can also act as a focal point of the park by playing host to a spectacular show (such as EPCOT's IllumiNations).
Intellectual Property (IP)
Aside from the invention of themed areas, the other major change in theme has been the invasion of outside influences, otherwise known as Intellectual Property (IP). This has mostly taken the form of rides themed to Hollywood film franchises, but television shows and comics are also a significant part of the IP goldmine. Again, this was pioneered by Uncle Walt, using his own back-catalogue. In opening year 1955, Disneyland had attractions based on their Dumbo (1941), Snow White (1937), Peter Pan (1953) and Alice in Wonderland (1951) films. But they also packed the park with original ideas and new stories including Rocket to the Moon, Autopia and most notably, Jungle Cruise. These were ambitious attractions and a risky gamble, not just rides playing second-fiddle to their film-based siblings.
This seems unusual to us now, where almost every major new Disney ride is based on a hit film from the last decade. IP-based rides have swept the industry like wildfire, and taken the frontier of the theming revolution from the Orlando mega-destinations to smaller, local parks. IP has been seen as a golden ticket into theme by parks and park chains that historically lack a strong creative element as a company, such as Six Flags and Cedar Fair. The distinction between the way that the 'giants of theme' (Universal and Disney) design their attractions and how smaller, regional parks have adopted theme is best illustrated by the competition between the two major publishers of American comic books, DC and Marvel.
Marvel (whose roster of characters include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk) licensed out their IP to Universal, notably for the Marvel Super Hero Island at Islands of Adventure. Their characters have been lavished. In top-end attractions such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk Coaster, the ride hardware is tied closely to the theme, and the ride experience is a complete unbroken journey through the Marvel Universe, where no expense is spared. Most importantly, the rides and area have clearly been designed with the theme in mind from day one on the drawing board. It is integral, and has been incorporated at every step in the design process.
DC (whose roster count Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern and Mr Freeze among their number) licensed out their IP to Six Flags, who have taken a somewhat different approach. Six Flags primarily use their superhero IP to apply to rollercoasters such as the 'Superman – Ultimate Flight' ride in four parks, and the eight iterations of 'Batman The Ride' at their various properties. There are also six other Superman themed rides at SF parks, and two other Batman rides. Often these coasters are similar or identical in both hardware and theming. The actual substance of the theming is usually a lot more minimal and patchy. They give a 'tacked-on' feel, like the theme has been shoe-horned in to fit a ride that could have worked with any number of IPs. Queues are often simple, unthemed cattlepens, and theming often stops entirely once you're dispatched from the station – it becomes a bare-bones rollercoaster taking place over a patch of scrubland.
There are exceptions – the theming at some of the Batman clones is surprisingly high-quality and the Mr Freeze rides are atmospheric. But there are also Six Flags rides where the IP barely makes any connection to the hardware supposedly taking the rider on their journey, such as the new Green Lantern and Lex Luthor rides at Magic Mountain. Six Flags' lazy theming is cleverly satirised by The Onion with their spoof article 'This Roller Coaster Fails To Capture The Spirit Of My Heroic Adventures'. According to Green Lantern: “I, who saved the universe from the Sinestro Corps when they spilled forth from Qward to instill fear in all whom they encountered, no longer feel honored [sic]. Now I merely feel like a guy whose name has been cheaply plastered all over a poorly planned, woefully unrepresentative green roller coaster.”
Although Disney were the first parks to use IP from another wing of their business, they weren't the first to borrow from outside material for a theme park. Although not based on hit films, Efteling utilised traditional fairytales for the Fairy Tale Forest area, bringing classic children's literature into physical reality through life-size scenes and dioramas. Opening in 1952 as the only attraction in the then-nature park, the area enchanted Dutch children with scenes including the Frog Prince and the Nightingale. Like Disney, they also mixed these proto-IPs with a heavy dose of their own original fairytales, such as the Magic Clock and the Talking Parrot. The inclusion of the Nightingale, by Hans Christian Andersen and the Frog Prince, by the Brothers Grimm showcased the influence of European whimsical storytelling on the area's creator, Anton Pieck. Similar to the way fairytales are passed down, with each new generation claiming it as their own, the Fairytale Forest still operates and expands at Efteling, now enjoyed by children several generations removed from the kids who visited in the 50s.
Education & religion
Theme parks have always been seen as 'dumb entertainment' for the simple-minded masses. They have a reputation as being culturally bankrupt, a dumbed-down caricature of the real world. French theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine's infamous labelling of Euro Disney as “a cultural Cherynobl” shows how deep opposition to modern theme parks can run in public intellectual circles. It's no surprise then that some parks have sought to shake off their lowlife image by incorporating more educational elements into their rides and attractions. If a park can do this successfully, it can persuade both parents and school trip organisers of the benefits of a lucrative trip with the kids, over much cheaper museums or other genuinely cultural attractions.
Earlier rides such as the River Caves could sell themselves on a promise to show the rider exotic parts of the world that they would have no other way to access. In an age of television and global communication, this basic public service was no longer needed – besides, those cultural caricatures were looking less acceptable as mainstream culture was infiltrated by more genuine world influences. What was needed was not a spoof, but the real deal. An authentic and respectful representation of the countries of the world, fit for the 80s. Enter EPCOT. As the opening year guide book puts it: “Nine nations open their doors to you, sharing their accomplishments and cultures in exciting shows, attractions, restaurants and shops.”
While Future World offered interesting attractions based on science and technology, the World Showcase remains the genius-core of EPCOT. As the name implies, it proudly presents countries to a mostly American audience, rather than the colonial tone of attractions such as River Caves. The United States is in the middle, of course, but it's surrounded by surprisingly progressive choices such as China (run by communists) and culturally-alien Japan. Instead of a cartoon 'greatest hits' of each countries postcard landmarks, the pavilions often try to faithfully recreate local architectural styles and national customs. Imagineers even deliberately inserted 'mistakes' into the Moroccan pavilion, respectfully adhering to Islamic belief that only Allah is perfect.
Of course, the marriage between amusement park and classroom goes way back (Disneyland opened with a 'House of the Future') but EPCOT was the first time that had an educational aim encompassed into an entire park, right from the initial design stages. It has seen many imitators. Opening five years after EPCOT, France's Futuroscope (1987) blends technology-orientated popular science exhibitions with theme park and 4D cinema technology, including a 360° cinema (1989) and Roboarms (2006), to create a sort of permanent World's Fair, with glittering pavilions of glass and steel. Despite having no rollercoasters, Futuroscope is still the 13th most visited park in Europe, with an attendance figure of 1,741,000 in 2011. Puy du Fou (1989), a French park with no rides at all but shows and street scenes depicting French history, attracted 1,481,000 guests in 2011 – more than Italy's Miribilandia and Germany's Heide Park.
Others have not been as successful, notably the numerous attempts to build educational Christian theme parks. The failures of Christian parks has even been parodied in an episode of the Simpsons, 'I'm Goin' to Praiseland' (2001). In an example of life imitating art, The Holy Land Experience opened in suburban Orlando in the same year. What it lacks in any sort of actual rides, it makes up for with exhibits depicting Biblical scenes, such as Jesus' Garden Tomb, and a character dining experience where guests can eat Last Supper with Jesus. If you're baulking at the sheer tackiness of the venture, you're not alone. Declining attendance saw the park collect debts of $8 million by 2007, and it was sold to televagelist network Trinity Broadcasting, with the sacking of 50 employees. But despite all the kitsch, it does have a bit of educational credibility. The park's Scriptorium (2002) has “one of the largest private assemblages of rare Bibles, scrolls, artifacts [sic], and biblical manuscripts in the world”, including a Latin bible from 1479. Whatever you think of the rest of the park, it must be one of the only theme parks on earth to display a large collection of actual historical relics, rather than mock-ups and recreations.
Even more of a failure was Heritage USA and companion waterpark Heritage Island, opening in 1978 – four years before EPCOT. With actual rides presumably deemed disrespectful to God, the park aped Disneyland, with flimsy versions of Main Street USA and Sleeping Beauty Castle, that you'd expect more from Nara Dreamland than South Carolina. The park even constructed a seriously impressive hotel, the Heritage Grand Tower. The park also boasted Go-Karts, a park train and Antique Cars, though the main attraction was the extensive waterpark. A sign in the castle reveals the park's mission statement: “To provide quality family entertainment in a Christian atmosphere which will give honor[sic] and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The park became a huge success during the early 80s, as the religious right and televangelism reached their zenith, and Heritage USA attracted six million guests a year at its peak. The operation fell apart as the authorities revoked their tax exemption, and ordered Heritage to pay retroactive tax from 1978 onward. Compounding the problem, owner James Bakker had oversold lifetime membership guaranteeing an annual three-day stay at the park, and had to launch a building frenzy to accommodate everyone. Attendance started to drop after publicity surrounding Bakker's affair, and a hurricane finally finished the park off in 1989. It remains to be seen if anyone will make a success from the religious theme park concept, though if it can't be done in the United States, it seems unlikely anywhere. An Islamic themed park seems improbable due to the solemnity of the faith, though the tacky Abraj Al-Bait Towers at Mecca, near the Kaaba, look like something straight out of Disney, or Las Vegas.
Studios
As you'll have noticed, almost all major innovations in theming have been sparked by Disney since 1955, each one leaving a long tail of imitators, variations and further developments. But in 1989, it was Disney's turn to be the imitator with the opening of Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, now named Disney's Hollywood Studios. Rival film studio Universal had been slowly turning their Hollywood film-making facility into a theme park since 1964, with the ever-expanding backlot tour. Major attractions such as King Kong Encounter (1986) and E.T. Adventure (1991) completed the transformation into a full-blown theme park, beating Disney by several years.
Since Universal began offering tours, Walt had considered a similar venture at Disney, but practicalities made this impossible. But 23 years after Walt's death, these plans were to become reality in a spectacularly expanded fashion, as Universal threatened Disney's monopoly – Florida. Universal had looked on jealously as Disney began building their Floridian empire without any competition. Visitors would often sleep at Disney, eat at Disney, shop at Disney, visit the two parks and leave. By the late 80s, they were ready to make their plans reality, and began designing a huge new theme park, closely aping the hybrid theme-park-cum-movie-studios that their Hollywood property had evolved into.
Finding out about the plans, Disney panicked. Michael Eisner set his heart on beating Universal, and publicly announced Disney-MGM Studios in 1985, with construction commencing the following year. Lack of scale was the key to opening first – the park could go from design to opening in such short time as it was so small. The park opened in 1989 with a grand total of four attractions, including a blatant Universal rip-off, The Backlot Tour. Eisner betted that as long as he opened the park before Universal, the Disney name would carry them through the first few years, until they could begin bringing it up to Disney standards with Star Tours (December 1989), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (1999) and most successfully, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (1994). The gamble worked, and the park was immensely popular from the starting blocks, including an opening attended by President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Its success wouldn't be Universal's failure though.
Opening in 1990, Universal jettisoned the tram tour they'd invented, in favour of full stand-alone rides such as Jaws, Kongfrontation and E.T. Adventure. Like Disney, their concept of a park built to resemble (and to a limited extent, actually function as) a movie studio has been extremely successful – it is now the 15th most visited park in the world, and second-gate Islands of Adventure (1999) is 10th. Although of incredible quality, IOA is actually quite conventional in the way it is themed, and doesn't warrant more than a mention in this article. It conforms to a simple round-a-lake layout, neatly dividing mostly unrelated theme areas such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (2010) and Seuss Landing (1999).
Even more so than the educational theme park, the 'studios park' has become an immensely successful format worldwide. This must be because it's such a relatively cheap theme – rather than costly attempts to hide backstage areas and show buildings, they become part of the concept. They turn a problem into a feature (although Disney fans would argue that the company took this for granted with the opening of Walt Disney Studios in Paris). Warner opened classic 'studios parks' in Australia (1991), Germany (1996) and Spain (2002). Italy's Movieland Park (1993) even has direct rip-offs such as their 'Hollywood Action Tower', a cheap take on the Tower of Terror, 'Terminator 5-D' copying Universal's T2 3-D and their own budget backstage tour. Universal have opened further 'studios parks' in Japan (2001) and Singapore (2010), while Disney have opened a second 'studios park' in Paris (2002), and a similar area in their California Adventure park (2001), back in Hollywood.
Nationalism & nations
Patriotism and nationalism has rarely played a major role in theme parks in any country except the United States. RCDb lists seven coasters with the word 'America' or 'American' in their title. I can't think of a single ride explicitly themed to British nationalism, excuse the occasional Union Flag-decorated train at the Pleasure Beach. It's just not the British way, or the way of the rest of the world it seems. A Maryland park in the Six Flags chain goes by the name of 'Six Flags America', and not to be outdone, an Illinois park goes by the name 'Six Flags Great America'.
A good example of American nationalistic theming is Holiday World's '4th of July' area, celebrating the independence of the United States from the UK in 1776. Rides include 'The Freedom Train', the 'Star Spangled Carousel' and 'Liberty Launch' – all decked out in a healthy dose of the red, white & blue. New for 2012 is 'Sparkler', a Zamperla Vertical Swing laden with yet more American flags. It has double seats “so you can snuggle up with your little patriot as you fly”, in their own words. Holiday World's mascot, Holidog, even has a costume made up of the stars and stripes. Of the major theme park countries of the world, this phenomenon seems entirely isolated to the United States. How does a well-known European theme park handle the countries of the world, compared to an American counterpart?
At Germany's Europa Park, all the major rides are located in areas representing European neighbours, from Iceland to Russia. Yet the Germany themed land is almost a non-area, a peaceful garden at the periphery of the park. In contrast, EPCOT's World Showcase has 'The American Adventure' at the centre of its world-vision, with other country's pavilions taking a supporting role on either side. Whereas such powers as the UK, China and Japan have to make do with restaurants, gift-shops and the occasional minor boat ride at EPCOT, the palatial American pavilion contains an Audio-Animatronic spectacular, where America's global economic and cultural hegemony is celebrated every half hour.
Probably the most overt of the nationalistic themes is Worlds of Fun's Patriot. The ride “boasts the red, white, and blue colors [sic] of the American flag” according to the press release – the jingoistic imagery of eagles and hyper-masculine machinery are impossible to ignore. It is big, it is intimidating, it is American. The ride, of course, was designed and engineered in Switzerland - an irony considering America is rapidly losing dominance in the areas of construction and manufacturing to Europe and the Far East.
Self-referential theme
Probably the most fascinating development in themed attractions in the last twenty years has been self-referential, or self-knowing, themed rides or areas. Here, the theme is amusement parks themselves, often amusement parks of a bygone era. These rides do not try and pretend they are anything but rides, and sometimes even include fake rollercoaster theming to try and make them look more like 'real' rollercoasters, bizarrely. The best example of this is California Screamin' (2001) at Disney's California Adventure, a rollercoaster themed to classic wooden coasters of the 1920s. Although it is a modern Intamin steel ride with an LIM launch and a vertical loop, it is dressed up as a dream mix'n'match from the collective public memory of parks like Coney Island and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – creating a pastiche of an iconic ride that never really existed in the first place. Although the supports are steel, they are made to look like the dense superstructure of wooden supports.
This is a huge U-turn for Disney, who usually try and disguise their rollercoasters to allow you to see as little of the ride hardware as possible, to convince you you're really speeding through space or riding a runaway train. They are often regarded as the pioneers and masters of this art. Here, they've gone out of their way to not only make the ride hardware as visible as possible, but create fake ride hardware. They clearly decided that just the real rollercoaster on its own didn't look enough like a real rollercoaster. Ironically, Walt Disney's insistence on quality and minimal supports for his new Matterhorn Bobsleds ride at the original Disneyland led Arrow Dynamics to design the tubular steel rollercoaster in 1959, ushering in the era of steel coasters which have dominated traditional wooden coasters to this day.
Looking more widely, the entire California Adventure park is themed to classic amusement parks of the early 20th and late 19th centuries, especially the Paradise Pier area. The name hints at the idyllic intentions of its designers – to recreate the American amusement park in the image of Disney: safe, sanitised, comfortable, controlled. The rickety wooden rollercoaster would have to go, in favour of the much more comfortable Screamin'. The Golden Zephyr ride is possibly the most explicitly self-referential. It is an almost exact copy of Harry G. Traver's circle swing rides, of which none remain. Imagineers even flew to Blackpool Pleasure Beach to study Hiram Maxim's Flying Machines, a similar ride, and the closest to Traver's original design operating until the opening of Golden Zephyr. The imagineers literally went out of their way to make their ride look like, well, like a ride. Paradise Pier and the renaissance in amusement park aesthetics that have followed it are significant – for decades, theme parks were going out of their way to distance themselves from the kitschy amusement parks they saw as their predecessors and inferiors.
Culturally alternative themes
Ride themes that dissent from mainstream norms and values are almost unheard of. The economics of amusement parks, compared to books, films and even television, leaves no space for alternative expression. Rides must appeal to the broadest audience possible, and must utilise well-known cultural reference points and touchstones to create an experience that will resonate with everyone. Apart from varying degrees of physical intensity (coasters that appeal only to thrill-seekers or children), rides cannot afford to be targeted at a niche audience. Rides that deviate from the cultural or political mainstream are therefore extraordinarily rare.
'Nights in White Satin: The Trip' (2008, ETF and Sally) was the flagship dark ride at the now-defunct Hard Rock Park. Although not explicitly stated, the tongue-firmly-in-cheek aim is obvious: to simulate an LSD trip. The ride used psychedelic visuals and optical illusions on a standard dark ride system, accompanied by the song that gave the ride its name, by the Moody Blues. Predictably, amid the American 'culture wars', particularly the infamous 'War on Drugs', the ride didn't last long. When Hard Rock Park died, the ride died with it, and was reopened in 2009 as the Halloween-themed 'Monstars of Rock' at Freestyle Park. It closed again with the park at the end of the season. Winjas (2002, Maurer Söhne) at Phantasialand is part of Wuze Town, an underground society run by women. Although this imaginative matriarchal society seems radical (at least, relatively for the theme park industry), it seems to be barely mentioned in the park itself – it's certainly not obvious to the guest.
There are of course, political rides. Disneyland's “it's a small world” (1966) promotes a message of racial tolerance, uncontroversial now perhaps, but a lot more politically charged in the 1960s, with the growing influence of the civil rights movement. The boat-ride takes guests on a whistle-stop tour of the countries of the world, each singing the famous song promoting global unity and cultural exchange and understanding. Notably, for an American ride built in the 60s, the animatronics of each nation are allowed to sing the tune in their own language – a real step-forwards from the colonial attitude taken by older 'round-the-world' dark rides such as the River Caves. This would provide the stepping-stone to EPCOT's World Showcase, opened 16 years later.
Rides can also be used for propaganda. Early Disneyland had a 'House of the Future', which allowed visitors to experience futuristic domestic technology, and experimental architecture. The implication was that it was a vision of a better America that would be enabled by the attraction's sponsors, biotech giant Monsanto. More recently at Disneyland, NASA paid for an exhibition called 'The American Space Experience' (1998-2003), designed to make the case for continued costly exploration of space to the American public. The Chinese government even opened a park in Orlando, 'Splendid China' (1993-2003), sort of a giant tourism advert crossed with pro-communist party propaganda.
The future of theme
The future of themed attractions looks stronger than ever. This is not just due to the ever-increasing number of parks, and new attractions in existing parks that open every year, especially in China. Established parks are also giving their new rides more elaborate and expansive theming, with ever-more complex and detailed back-stories to compliment the hardware. Theme park audiences are becoming more sophisticated. Parks don't necessarily have to be a 'dumb' form of entertainment anymore. In the next few decades, themes will become less cartoon-ish, and more cerebral and authentic. In the past, themes have often drawn from a very narrow pool of the 'meta-themes', as we have seen. Although perfected by Disney, the law of diminishing returns ensures a declining quality as the same ideas are repeated over and over, to the point of tedium. Future themes will often be more unique, as parks strive to stand-out in an era of increasing competition for the day-out dollar. Inventive ideas such as Europa Park's Iceland themed area will capture the public's attention, even if it's not done on a Disney budget.
While theming was traditionally undertaken in-house, a browse of the Euro Attractions Show offers an increasing number of companies whose business model is to design and build themed attraction concepts for smaller parks to help them make the leap from amusement to theme park, with the ride system left to a traditional industry company. Probably the best known example are Falcon's Treehouse, designers of The Curse of DarKastle (2005). Mack Rides have also begun to offer theming services for other parks under their Mack Solutions banner, the long-time in-house design team at Europa Park.
Although IP themes, especially movies but increasingly games, will still be immensely popular, we'll see a resurgence of original themes. Disney's Grizzly Gulch (2012) and Mystic Point (2013) prove there is still a market for original themes with huge budgets, even if they're both only small departures from established meta-themes. Despite this, Disney is to be commended for not shoehorning one of its latest films into either of the rides. Disneyland Shanghai will give an indication as to whether Disney will continue down this innovative route or resort to low-risk movie tie-ins (rumours of a Tron 'Cyclecoaster' replacing Space Mountain are worrying) that'll need re-theming in a decade.
It goes without saying that interactivity is the biggest trend in dark rides today, and will grow even bigger. We can see it in the rise to dominance of 'shooting dark rides', Disney's 'next-gen' queue-lines and various manufacturer's attempts to create 'augmented reality' systems (Mack). Computer graphics, screens and projection technology have had an incalculably huge effect on the industry, though not entirely a positive one. In terms of scale, budget, ride system and critical acclaim, Indiana Jones Adventure (1995) at Disneyland and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) at Islands of Adventure are very similar. But in four years, projection technology revolutionised the make-up of a modern E-Ticket dark ride. Whereas Indiana Jones relies almost entirely on physical effects and animatronics, Spider-Man mostly utilises 3D screens with the addition of 4D cinema style effects to augment the film vignettes, blasts of fire and the like.
I think this was a step backwards. Screens have their place in dark rides, but as a support to breathtaking physical effects – the pendulum had swung too far the other way. Some recent big-budget dark rides such as Harry Potter (2010) have taken this onboard, and used a mix. The brand-new Radiator Springs Racers (2012) at California Adventure has rejected screens almost entirely, in favour of a huge cast of cutting-edge animatronics. Interestingly, the new Transformers ride at Universal Studios Singapore (2011) and Hollywood (2012) uses the Spiderman-style virtual experience, and hasn't been nearly as critically adored as Potter and Cars. As screens come to dominate more and more of everyday life, perhaps people will start looking to theme parks for a retreat back into the physical world. Theme, when executed well, transports us to another world. It is the closest we can get to venturing into the fictional world, and the continued growth of the industry can only go hand-in-hand with the continued expansion and improvement of theme.
Sam Gregory
A Short History of Theme
The rocky road to immersive nirvana
By Sam Gregory
Theme can seem easy to define at first, but it's a deeply contested concept. Ideas of the nature of reality, simulacrum and replication cause the idea of a themed attraction to be fraught with philosophical difficulties. What is real? Is an object automatically real if it exists in the physical world? It seems second-nature to park-goers that the Matterhorn at Disneyland is 'fake', a mere replication of a mountain in Switzerland. The Matterhorn at Disneyland is not the 'real' Matterhorn. Or is it? It's probably more known about, and definitely visited more, than the Swiss mountain. What does it have to do to throw off the shackles of mere imitation and become 'real'?
Theme is difficult to define when it leaves the page or screen and enters the physical world. Not that you'd notice when you ride Splash Mountain, as theme obviously surrounds you, at least in the traditional sense of what enthusiasts call 'theming'. Theme is easier to recognise in its absence. Imagine how Expedition Everest would look – and ride – without its theming; with no mountain, no Nepalese village and no temperamental Yeti. It is fair to say that theme is absolutely crucial to what constitutes that ride, far more-so than any technical aspect of the ride system. When people refer to Millennium Force, they refer to the ride system. When people refer to Expedition Everest, they refer to the theme, the theming, the mountain. We seem to be living in a golden era of themed attractions, at least in terms of quantity and scale. How has theming (once seen as simple decoration, plain window-dressing on the mighty Scandinavian Rutschebanens) come to often take precedent over the track & train in what actually constitutes a particular ride? Let's start by looking at a ride that may not have been the first of its kind, but is chosen as it is still running today in a similar form to opening, and most UK enthusiasts will have ridden it.
At the dawn of the themed attraction, in the opening years of the 20th century, a faithful replication of geographical exotica drove the creation of theme. In the era before cheap air travel and holidays abroad, seaside resorts such as Coney Island and Blackpool were the ultimate destination for the working class, the extent of their holidaying possibilities, rather than the ironic throwback they are seen as today. For the working populations of Britain and America, the ability to travel to the mysterious foreign places they read about in newspapers and periodicals was non-existent, and early themed rides catered to the public's fascination with other cultures and races - often a gross exaggeration or even fabrication of reality. Opening at the Pleasure Beach in 1910, the then-called 'River Caves of the World' boat ride had already been “the rage of America in 1904”, and brought a whistle-stop simulacrum of the world's best bits to Blackpool.
Passengers paid a sixpence for a thrilling tour, taking them from Egypt's pyramids to the “Cave of Emeralds of Ceylon, the Coral Cave of the South Sea Islands, the Mysterious Dripping Well of Arizona and the Blue Grotto of Capri.” Even if the scenes were cheap and cheerful affairs, the aim of creating an educational and erudite experience is clear, even if it possesses little educational value today. In an era of television, everybody's over-familiarity with Egypt's pyramids means dark rides tackling the theme (such as Legoland's Laser Raiders, 2009) resort to cheeky kitsch and knowing naffness – a self-defeating acceptance that they can never hope to recreate in the 21st century the sense of wide-eyed wonder that the first passengers on the River Caves must have felt.
While rollercoasters became infinitely more advanced over the next half a century, and flat rides flourished, theming barely advanced from the standards set by the River Caves, or Old Mill rides as they were known in America. Theming remained a side-show, an afterthought. This may be because travelling fairs, where theming has always been seen as economically superfluous, formed a much larger part of the industry in that time, and amusement parks would mostly install permanent versions of fair favourites. If you look at the surviving classic coasters from this era, such as the Grand National (1935), Kennywood's Jack Rabbit (1920) and the Coney Island Cyclone (1927), theming is non-existent. It would take a radical move to bring theme into parity with the ride system, and it needed a visionary who would create the framework of the theme park industry that thrives to this present day.
Walt's dream
The greatest advance in the history of themed attractions occurred on the 17th July 1955. Overnight, the opening of Disneyland turned the theming of attractions from a novelty into the default for the new generation of amusement parks that followed it, now usually called theme parks. Before Disneyland, themed attractions were self-contained, the attraction isolated within its own bubble. Once you left the attraction, you were back on the generic midway, the themeless host of the individual bubbles. You might cross the path from the exit of a River Caves to the entrance of a Ghost Train. Walt Disney decided to divide his park into individual 'lands', grouping together multiple attractions, shops, restaurants and other amenities and amusements with the same theme. This allowed the visitor to indulge in a new level of immersion and authenticity, and allowed the Imagineers to tell more complex stories, that could be expanded through different mediums. A restaurant may masquerade as the private kitchen of a character from that area's major attraction, for example. Some parks, such as Disneyland take great care to ensure that from each themed area, you cannot see anything in another themed area, to ensure the illusion remains intact.
Of course, this is now the standard blueprint for nearly all theme parks. Sometimes the relation between the lands follows a theme itself (each land being a European country, as seen at Europa Park and Busch Gardens Williamsburg) and sometimes not (at Alton Towers, secret military facilities are within a stone's throw of pirate hideouts and Amazon enclaves). Often these parks have a neutral centre or entrance area (such as Disney's Main Street USA and Alton's Towers Street) that act as a transitory step, an airlock, between the real world of mundanity and the fantasy worlds that the visitor will soon be immersing themselves in. They also act as a neutral space for essential guest facilities and park administration. The 'hub', the centre of traditional Disney parks directly in front of the castle, serves as a palette cleanser to smooth the jarring transitions from one theme to another. Sometimes the transitional purpose is expressly highlighted, such as Islands of Adventure's Port of Entry.
Although the relations between the themes at Disney parks are usually non-existent (Tomorrowland and Frontierland for example), other parks have an extremely strong over-arching theme. Good examples include Japan's Space World and America's ill-fated Hard Rock Park. The unifying link can also be more subtle. Although Efteling has themes ranging from haunted castles to English myths to Islamic palaces, it's all loosely connected by a visual identity that binds park designers and rides chronologically. The park is famous for its distinct colour scheme ('Efteling red') and architectural style based on the drawing style of initial designer Anton Pieck. This has been passed down from Pieck to Ton van de Ven to Karel Willemen, and is applied rigidly to all new developments, whatever the individual theme. It could even be seen as a very early form of park branding, creating a visual identity that could be described as 'quintessentially Efteling'.
Back in 1955, Disneyland, and its additions over its first twenty years, established a lot of the 'meta-themes', the unquestionable titans of theme. Each has been attempted dozens of times, at parks all over the world, with varying success. They form the basic language of theme, instantly recognisable to park-goers in any culture, any country. Of course it's debatable, but I'd say the list is pirates, Wild West, Egyptian, apocalyptic devastation, the far east, fantasy, the future, Roman, ghosts & ghouls and the jungle. Most themed rides will at least vaguely fit into one of these categories, or have a loose connection to one or more. These are similar to, but much more limited than, basic film categories. There are no kitchen-sink rides, or police procedural rollercoasters. Rides obviously do not allow the narrative complexity of other forms of storytelling, such as books, films and the theatre.
Many individual Disney attractions have also reached a similar canonical status to the meta-themes: much copied, parodied, reinvented and remade, with variations. They are the theme park industry equivalent of the jazz standards – unquestionable classics, that newcomers can have an attempt at to prove their talents. This is what leads to enthusiasts unfairly criticising parks for 'copying' Disney. Their concepts have become so ingrained in public consciousness and the DNA of the industry that they've effectively become public property, timeless and fundamental. Half a century after their construction, we can't still accuse parks of simply 'copying' the classic Disney dark rides, for they have made such a seismic impact on the public imagination that they have effectively entered the public domain, and Disney have moved on to pastures new. Let's take a closer look at, arguably, the two most influential of Walt's rides, and the long tail they have produced in the rest of the industry.
The haunted house and the Blackbeard boat rides
The first is Pirates of the Caribbean, operating at Disneyland since 1967. Since then, the pirate themed boat ride has become popular in most major theme park countries where pirates have a significant cultural foothold. Examples of almost direct copies include Drayton Manor's Pirate Adventure (1990), Europa Park's Pirates in Batavia (1987) and Parque Espana's Adventure Lagoon. This basic genre has also branched off and diversified with cultural differences, but still keeping all the major elements of the original Disneyland Pirates. Examples of these variations on the theme include Blackpool's Valhalla (2000), Efteling's Fata Morgana (1986) and Universal Studios Singapore's Madagascar (2011). In 2003, the attraction that started it all managed another extraordinary first – reversing the usual food chain, as a movie based on a ride became wildly successful for the first time.
Although Pirates was only loosely inspired by the Old Mill and River Caves rides of the early 20th century, the Haunted Mansion owes a bigger debt to early dark rides. Although it hugely advanced and perfected the genre, the idea of ride cars moving through a haunted house wasn't original. Haunted 'shows', utilising the Pepper's Ghost effect invented in 1862, evolved into the Ghost Trains in the 1930s, first for permanent amusement parks, and later for the travelling market. The first to use the name 'Ghost Train' was Blackpool's (1930), later expanded by Joseph Emberton in 1936 to become the multi-story ride that operates today. A 1968 book 'Fairground Architecture' describes these early Ghost Trains: “At discreet intervals, dummy trains running on an energised rail, carrying no more than two passengers, penetrate the darkened booth. A labyrinth of hair-raising spectacles, optical tricks and sudden cloying tactility awaits them". It almost reads like an early brief for Disney's Mansion.
The Mansion ushered in a new generation of haunted rides, and consigned the traditional Ghost Train to kitsch seaside throwback status. A major shift was the change from the single cars of the Ghost Trains to the high-throughput Omnimover systems, built by Arrow, Schwarzkopf and Mack. Examples of Omnimover rides that were inspired by the Mansion include Geister Rikscha at Phantasialand (1981, Schwarzkopf), Phantom Theatre at Kings Island (1992, Morgan), Geisterschloss at Europa Park (1982, Mack), Burg Falkenstein at Holiday Park (1987, Mack) and Manoir Hanté at Nigloland (1994, Mack). Disney have also opened further Haunted Mansions in Florida (1971) and Tokyo (1983) as well as a slight variation, Phantom Manor in Paris (1992).
The idea has also seen substantial variation and development. Some take on a darker tone than the Mansion, while some, especially children's spook rides, take a more light-hearted approach. Some have experimented with bringing back the single cars of the Ghost Train for a feeling of isolation, but combining it with the scale and atmosphere of Mansion-style haunt rides, such as the Haunted House at Alton Towers (1992, Mack). Some ditch the ride system all together for a return to the 1800s 'haunted show', such as Spookslot at Efteling (1978). Disney's latest update of the idea is set to open in Hong Kong in 2013 as Mystic Manor, and feature trackless individual cars. Including their variations and family of relatives, the Mansion-style haunt ride and the pirate boat ride account for a sizeable chunk of the world's dark rides.
Park layouts: lakes & spokes
The popularity of the themed area began a process of dramatic improvement in the quantity and quality of theme which has steadily continued until the present day. This has mostly been led by the Disney parks (with milestones in immersive theme such as Pirates, the Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure and the Tower of Terror), although the 1990 opening of Universal Studios Florida has seen a fierce rivalry in innovative theming emerge between the two companies (with Universal responsible for boundary-expanding rides such as Jaws, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, and more recently, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey). The Harry Potter dark ride may mark the first time since 1955 where the best dark ride in the world by general consensus isn't at a Disney-owned park.
For the most part, new-build parks with themed areas have two common layouts. Firstly, the hub-and-spoke design pioneered at Disneyland. Here, the park is planned around a central focus point (at Magic Kingdom-style Disney parks, this is always the fairytale castle) with each themed area branching off from it. Moving between the areas is very easy, either by returning to the central hub or by rotating around the areas in a circular fashion. Probably the most common layout for new-build parks (as chosen for PortAventura, Rainbow Magicland and Islands of Adventure) is themed areas arranged around a lake. Simply the hub-and-spoke layout, but with the centre point taken out. However, often the 'crossing the centre' function provided by the central point is replaced with a boat service, offering short-cuts from one side of the lake to the other. The lake can also act as a focal point of the park by playing host to a spectacular show (such as EPCOT's IllumiNations).
Intellectual Property (IP)
Aside from the invention of themed areas, the other major change in theme has been the invasion of outside influences, otherwise known as Intellectual Property (IP). This has mostly taken the form of rides themed to Hollywood film franchises, but television shows and comics are also a significant part of the IP goldmine. Again, this was pioneered by Uncle Walt, using his own back-catalogue. In opening year 1955, Disneyland had attractions based on their Dumbo (1941), Snow White (1937), Peter Pan (1953) and Alice in Wonderland (1951) films. But they also packed the park with original ideas and new stories including Rocket to the Moon, Autopia and most notably, Jungle Cruise. These were ambitious attractions and a risky gamble, not just rides playing second-fiddle to their film-based siblings.
This seems unusual to us now, where almost every major new Disney ride is based on a hit film from the last decade. IP-based rides have swept the industry like wildfire, and taken the frontier of the theming revolution from the Orlando mega-destinations to smaller, local parks. IP has been seen as a golden ticket into theme by parks and park chains that historically lack a strong creative element as a company, such as Six Flags and Cedar Fair. The distinction between the way that the 'giants of theme' (Universal and Disney) design their attractions and how smaller, regional parks have adopted theme is best illustrated by the competition between the two major publishers of American comic books, DC and Marvel.
Marvel (whose roster of characters include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk) licensed out their IP to Universal, notably for the Marvel Super Hero Island at Islands of Adventure. Their characters have been lavished. In top-end attractions such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk Coaster, the ride hardware is tied closely to the theme, and the ride experience is a complete unbroken journey through the Marvel Universe, where no expense is spared. Most importantly, the rides and area have clearly been designed with the theme in mind from day one on the drawing board. It is integral, and has been incorporated at every step in the design process.
DC (whose roster count Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern and Mr Freeze among their number) licensed out their IP to Six Flags, who have taken a somewhat different approach. Six Flags primarily use their superhero IP to apply to rollercoasters such as the 'Superman – Ultimate Flight' ride in four parks, and the eight iterations of 'Batman The Ride' at their various properties. There are also six other Superman themed rides at SF parks, and two other Batman rides. Often these coasters are similar or identical in both hardware and theming. The actual substance of the theming is usually a lot more minimal and patchy. They give a 'tacked-on' feel, like the theme has been shoe-horned in to fit a ride that could have worked with any number of IPs. Queues are often simple, unthemed cattlepens, and theming often stops entirely once you're dispatched from the station – it becomes a bare-bones rollercoaster taking place over a patch of scrubland.
There are exceptions – the theming at some of the Batman clones is surprisingly high-quality and the Mr Freeze rides are atmospheric. But there are also Six Flags rides where the IP barely makes any connection to the hardware supposedly taking the rider on their journey, such as the new Green Lantern and Lex Luthor rides at Magic Mountain. Six Flags' lazy theming is cleverly satirised by The Onion with their spoof article 'This Roller Coaster Fails To Capture The Spirit Of My Heroic Adventures'. According to Green Lantern: “I, who saved the universe from the Sinestro Corps when they spilled forth from Qward to instill fear in all whom they encountered, no longer feel honored [sic]. Now I merely feel like a guy whose name has been cheaply plastered all over a poorly planned, woefully unrepresentative green roller coaster.”
Although Disney were the first parks to use IP from another wing of their business, they weren't the first to borrow from outside material for a theme park. Although not based on hit films, Efteling utilised traditional fairytales for the Fairy Tale Forest area, bringing classic children's literature into physical reality through life-size scenes and dioramas. Opening in 1952 as the only attraction in the then-nature park, the area enchanted Dutch children with scenes including the Frog Prince and the Nightingale. Like Disney, they also mixed these proto-IPs with a heavy dose of their own original fairytales, such as the Magic Clock and the Talking Parrot. The inclusion of the Nightingale, by Hans Christian Andersen and the Frog Prince, by the Brothers Grimm showcased the influence of European whimsical storytelling on the area's creator, Anton Pieck. Similar to the way fairytales are passed down, with each new generation claiming it as their own, the Fairytale Forest still operates and expands at Efteling, now enjoyed by children several generations removed from the kids who visited in the 50s.
Education & religion
Theme parks have always been seen as 'dumb entertainment' for the simple-minded masses. They have a reputation as being culturally bankrupt, a dumbed-down caricature of the real world. French theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine's infamous labelling of Euro Disney as “a cultural Cherynobl” shows how deep opposition to modern theme parks can run in public intellectual circles. It's no surprise then that some parks have sought to shake off their lowlife image by incorporating more educational elements into their rides and attractions. If a park can do this successfully, it can persuade both parents and school trip organisers of the benefits of a lucrative trip with the kids, over much cheaper museums or other genuinely cultural attractions.
Earlier rides such as the River Caves could sell themselves on a promise to show the rider exotic parts of the world that they would have no other way to access. In an age of television and global communication, this basic public service was no longer needed – besides, those cultural caricatures were looking less acceptable as mainstream culture was infiltrated by more genuine world influences. What was needed was not a spoof, but the real deal. An authentic and respectful representation of the countries of the world, fit for the 80s. Enter EPCOT. As the opening year guide book puts it: “Nine nations open their doors to you, sharing their accomplishments and cultures in exciting shows, attractions, restaurants and shops.”
While Future World offered interesting attractions based on science and technology, the World Showcase remains the genius-core of EPCOT. As the name implies, it proudly presents countries to a mostly American audience, rather than the colonial tone of attractions such as River Caves. The United States is in the middle, of course, but it's surrounded by surprisingly progressive choices such as China (run by communists) and culturally-alien Japan. Instead of a cartoon 'greatest hits' of each countries postcard landmarks, the pavilions often try to faithfully recreate local architectural styles and national customs. Imagineers even deliberately inserted 'mistakes' into the Moroccan pavilion, respectfully adhering to Islamic belief that only Allah is perfect.
Of course, the marriage between amusement park and classroom goes way back (Disneyland opened with a 'House of the Future') but EPCOT was the first time that had an educational aim encompassed into an entire park, right from the initial design stages. It has seen many imitators. Opening five years after EPCOT, France's Futuroscope (1987) blends technology-orientated popular science exhibitions with theme park and 4D cinema technology, including a 360° cinema (1989) and Roboarms (2006), to create a sort of permanent World's Fair, with glittering pavilions of glass and steel. Despite having no rollercoasters, Futuroscope is still the 13th most visited park in Europe, with an attendance figure of 1,741,000 in 2011. Puy du Fou (1989), a French park with no rides at all but shows and street scenes depicting French history, attracted 1,481,000 guests in 2011 – more than Italy's Miribilandia and Germany's Heide Park.
Others have not been as successful, notably the numerous attempts to build educational Christian theme parks. The failures of Christian parks has even been parodied in an episode of the Simpsons, 'I'm Goin' to Praiseland' (2001). In an example of life imitating art, The Holy Land Experience opened in suburban Orlando in the same year. What it lacks in any sort of actual rides, it makes up for with exhibits depicting Biblical scenes, such as Jesus' Garden Tomb, and a character dining experience where guests can eat Last Supper with Jesus. If you're baulking at the sheer tackiness of the venture, you're not alone. Declining attendance saw the park collect debts of $8 million by 2007, and it was sold to televagelist network Trinity Broadcasting, with the sacking of 50 employees. But despite all the kitsch, it does have a bit of educational credibility. The park's Scriptorium (2002) has “one of the largest private assemblages of rare Bibles, scrolls, artifacts [sic], and biblical manuscripts in the world”, including a Latin bible from 1479. Whatever you think of the rest of the park, it must be one of the only theme parks on earth to display a large collection of actual historical relics, rather than mock-ups and recreations.
Even more of a failure was Heritage USA and companion waterpark Heritage Island, opening in 1978 – four years before EPCOT. With actual rides presumably deemed disrespectful to God, the park aped Disneyland, with flimsy versions of Main Street USA and Sleeping Beauty Castle, that you'd expect more from Nara Dreamland than South Carolina. The park even constructed a seriously impressive hotel, the Heritage Grand Tower. The park also boasted Go-Karts, a park train and Antique Cars, though the main attraction was the extensive waterpark. A sign in the castle reveals the park's mission statement: “To provide quality family entertainment in a Christian atmosphere which will give honor[sic] and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The park became a huge success during the early 80s, as the religious right and televangelism reached their zenith, and Heritage USA attracted six million guests a year at its peak. The operation fell apart as the authorities revoked their tax exemption, and ordered Heritage to pay retroactive tax from 1978 onward. Compounding the problem, owner James Bakker had oversold lifetime membership guaranteeing an annual three-day stay at the park, and had to launch a building frenzy to accommodate everyone. Attendance started to drop after publicity surrounding Bakker's affair, and a hurricane finally finished the park off in 1989. It remains to be seen if anyone will make a success from the religious theme park concept, though if it can't be done in the United States, it seems unlikely anywhere. An Islamic themed park seems improbable due to the solemnity of the faith, though the tacky Abraj Al-Bait Towers at Mecca, near the Kaaba, look like something straight out of Disney, or Las Vegas.
Studios
As you'll have noticed, almost all major innovations in theming have been sparked by Disney since 1955, each one leaving a long tail of imitators, variations and further developments. But in 1989, it was Disney's turn to be the imitator with the opening of Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, now named Disney's Hollywood Studios. Rival film studio Universal had been slowly turning their Hollywood film-making facility into a theme park since 1964, with the ever-expanding backlot tour. Major attractions such as King Kong Encounter (1986) and E.T. Adventure (1991) completed the transformation into a full-blown theme park, beating Disney by several years.
Since Universal began offering tours, Walt had considered a similar venture at Disney, but practicalities made this impossible. But 23 years after Walt's death, these plans were to become reality in a spectacularly expanded fashion, as Universal threatened Disney's monopoly – Florida. Universal had looked on jealously as Disney began building their Floridian empire without any competition. Visitors would often sleep at Disney, eat at Disney, shop at Disney, visit the two parks and leave. By the late 80s, they were ready to make their plans reality, and began designing a huge new theme park, closely aping the hybrid theme-park-cum-movie-studios that their Hollywood property had evolved into.
Finding out about the plans, Disney panicked. Michael Eisner set his heart on beating Universal, and publicly announced Disney-MGM Studios in 1985, with construction commencing the following year. Lack of scale was the key to opening first – the park could go from design to opening in such short time as it was so small. The park opened in 1989 with a grand total of four attractions, including a blatant Universal rip-off, The Backlot Tour. Eisner betted that as long as he opened the park before Universal, the Disney name would carry them through the first few years, until they could begin bringing it up to Disney standards with Star Tours (December 1989), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (1999) and most successfully, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (1994). The gamble worked, and the park was immensely popular from the starting blocks, including an opening attended by President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Its success wouldn't be Universal's failure though.
Opening in 1990, Universal jettisoned the tram tour they'd invented, in favour of full stand-alone rides such as Jaws, Kongfrontation and E.T. Adventure. Like Disney, their concept of a park built to resemble (and to a limited extent, actually function as) a movie studio has been extremely successful – it is now the 15th most visited park in the world, and second-gate Islands of Adventure (1999) is 10th. Although of incredible quality, IOA is actually quite conventional in the way it is themed, and doesn't warrant more than a mention in this article. It conforms to a simple round-a-lake layout, neatly dividing mostly unrelated theme areas such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (2010) and Seuss Landing (1999).
Even more so than the educational theme park, the 'studios park' has become an immensely successful format worldwide. This must be because it's such a relatively cheap theme – rather than costly attempts to hide backstage areas and show buildings, they become part of the concept. They turn a problem into a feature (although Disney fans would argue that the company took this for granted with the opening of Walt Disney Studios in Paris). Warner opened classic 'studios parks' in Australia (1991), Germany (1996) and Spain (2002). Italy's Movieland Park (1993) even has direct rip-offs such as their 'Hollywood Action Tower', a cheap take on the Tower of Terror, 'Terminator 5-D' copying Universal's T2 3-D and their own budget backstage tour. Universal have opened further 'studios parks' in Japan (2001) and Singapore (2010), while Disney have opened a second 'studios park' in Paris (2002), and a similar area in their California Adventure park (2001), back in Hollywood.
Nationalism & nations
Patriotism and nationalism has rarely played a major role in theme parks in any country except the United States. RCDb lists seven coasters with the word 'America' or 'American' in their title. I can't think of a single ride explicitly themed to British nationalism, excuse the occasional Union Flag-decorated train at the Pleasure Beach. It's just not the British way, or the way of the rest of the world it seems. A Maryland park in the Six Flags chain goes by the name of 'Six Flags America', and not to be outdone, an Illinois park goes by the name 'Six Flags Great America'.
A good example of American nationalistic theming is Holiday World's '4th of July' area, celebrating the independence of the United States from the UK in 1776. Rides include 'The Freedom Train', the 'Star Spangled Carousel' and 'Liberty Launch' – all decked out in a healthy dose of the red, white & blue. New for 2012 is 'Sparkler', a Zamperla Vertical Swing laden with yet more American flags. It has double seats “so you can snuggle up with your little patriot as you fly”, in their own words. Holiday World's mascot, Holidog, even has a costume made up of the stars and stripes. Of the major theme park countries of the world, this phenomenon seems entirely isolated to the United States. How does a well-known European theme park handle the countries of the world, compared to an American counterpart?
At Germany's Europa Park, all the major rides are located in areas representing European neighbours, from Iceland to Russia. Yet the Germany themed land is almost a non-area, a peaceful garden at the periphery of the park. In contrast, EPCOT's World Showcase has 'The American Adventure' at the centre of its world-vision, with other country's pavilions taking a supporting role on either side. Whereas such powers as the UK, China and Japan have to make do with restaurants, gift-shops and the occasional minor boat ride at EPCOT, the palatial American pavilion contains an Audio-Animatronic spectacular, where America's global economic and cultural hegemony is celebrated every half hour.
Probably the most overt of the nationalistic themes is Worlds of Fun's Patriot. The ride “boasts the red, white, and blue colors [sic] of the American flag” according to the press release – the jingoistic imagery of eagles and hyper-masculine machinery are impossible to ignore. It is big, it is intimidating, it is American. The ride, of course, was designed and engineered in Switzerland - an irony considering America is rapidly losing dominance in the areas of construction and manufacturing to Europe and the Far East.
Self-referential theme
Probably the most fascinating development in themed attractions in the last twenty years has been self-referential, or self-knowing, themed rides or areas. Here, the theme is amusement parks themselves, often amusement parks of a bygone era. These rides do not try and pretend they are anything but rides, and sometimes even include fake rollercoaster theming to try and make them look more like 'real' rollercoasters, bizarrely. The best example of this is California Screamin' (2001) at Disney's California Adventure, a rollercoaster themed to classic wooden coasters of the 1920s. Although it is a modern Intamin steel ride with an LIM launch and a vertical loop, it is dressed up as a dream mix'n'match from the collective public memory of parks like Coney Island and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – creating a pastiche of an iconic ride that never really existed in the first place. Although the supports are steel, they are made to look like the dense superstructure of wooden supports.
This is a huge U-turn for Disney, who usually try and disguise their rollercoasters to allow you to see as little of the ride hardware as possible, to convince you you're really speeding through space or riding a runaway train. They are often regarded as the pioneers and masters of this art. Here, they've gone out of their way to not only make the ride hardware as visible as possible, but create fake ride hardware. They clearly decided that just the real rollercoaster on its own didn't look enough like a real rollercoaster. Ironically, Walt Disney's insistence on quality and minimal supports for his new Matterhorn Bobsleds ride at the original Disneyland led Arrow Dynamics to design the tubular steel rollercoaster in 1959, ushering in the era of steel coasters which have dominated traditional wooden coasters to this day.
Looking more widely, the entire California Adventure park is themed to classic amusement parks of the early 20th and late 19th centuries, especially the Paradise Pier area. The name hints at the idyllic intentions of its designers – to recreate the American amusement park in the image of Disney: safe, sanitised, comfortable, controlled. The rickety wooden rollercoaster would have to go, in favour of the much more comfortable Screamin'. The Golden Zephyr ride is possibly the most explicitly self-referential. It is an almost exact copy of Harry G. Traver's circle swing rides, of which none remain. Imagineers even flew to Blackpool Pleasure Beach to study Hiram Maxim's Flying Machines, a similar ride, and the closest to Traver's original design operating until the opening of Golden Zephyr. The imagineers literally went out of their way to make their ride look like, well, like a ride. Paradise Pier and the renaissance in amusement park aesthetics that have followed it are significant – for decades, theme parks were going out of their way to distance themselves from the kitschy amusement parks they saw as their predecessors and inferiors.
Culturally alternative themes
Ride themes that dissent from mainstream norms and values are almost unheard of. The economics of amusement parks, compared to books, films and even television, leaves no space for alternative expression. Rides must appeal to the broadest audience possible, and must utilise well-known cultural reference points and touchstones to create an experience that will resonate with everyone. Apart from varying degrees of physical intensity (coasters that appeal only to thrill-seekers or children), rides cannot afford to be targeted at a niche audience. Rides that deviate from the cultural or political mainstream are therefore extraordinarily rare.
'Nights in White Satin: The Trip' (2008, ETF and Sally) was the flagship dark ride at the now-defunct Hard Rock Park. Although not explicitly stated, the tongue-firmly-in-cheek aim is obvious: to simulate an LSD trip. The ride used psychedelic visuals and optical illusions on a standard dark ride system, accompanied by the song that gave the ride its name, by the Moody Blues. Predictably, amid the American 'culture wars', particularly the infamous 'War on Drugs', the ride didn't last long. When Hard Rock Park died, the ride died with it, and was reopened in 2009 as the Halloween-themed 'Monstars of Rock' at Freestyle Park. It closed again with the park at the end of the season. Winjas (2002, Maurer Söhne) at Phantasialand is part of Wuze Town, an underground society run by women. Although this imaginative matriarchal society seems radical (at least, relatively for the theme park industry), it seems to be barely mentioned in the park itself – it's certainly not obvious to the guest.
There are of course, political rides. Disneyland's “it's a small world” (1966) promotes a message of racial tolerance, uncontroversial now perhaps, but a lot more politically charged in the 1960s, with the growing influence of the civil rights movement. The boat-ride takes guests on a whistle-stop tour of the countries of the world, each singing the famous song promoting global unity and cultural exchange and understanding. Notably, for an American ride built in the 60s, the animatronics of each nation are allowed to sing the tune in their own language – a real step-forwards from the colonial attitude taken by older 'round-the-world' dark rides such as the River Caves. This would provide the stepping-stone to EPCOT's World Showcase, opened 16 years later.
Rides can also be used for propaganda. Early Disneyland had a 'House of the Future', which allowed visitors to experience futuristic domestic technology, and experimental architecture. The implication was that it was a vision of a better America that would be enabled by the attraction's sponsors, biotech giant Monsanto. More recently at Disneyland, NASA paid for an exhibition called 'The American Space Experience' (1998-2003), designed to make the case for continued costly exploration of space to the American public. The Chinese government even opened a park in Orlando, 'Splendid China' (1993-2003), sort of a giant tourism advert crossed with pro-communist party propaganda.
The future of theme
The future of themed attractions looks stronger than ever. This is not just due to the ever-increasing number of parks, and new attractions in existing parks that open every year, especially in China. Established parks are also giving their new rides more elaborate and expansive theming, with ever-more complex and detailed back-stories to compliment the hardware. Theme park audiences are becoming more sophisticated. Parks don't necessarily have to be a 'dumb' form of entertainment anymore. In the next few decades, themes will become less cartoon-ish, and more cerebral and authentic. In the past, themes have often drawn from a very narrow pool of the 'meta-themes', as we have seen. Although perfected by Disney, the law of diminishing returns ensures a declining quality as the same ideas are repeated over and over, to the point of tedium. Future themes will often be more unique, as parks strive to stand-out in an era of increasing competition for the day-out dollar. Inventive ideas such as Europa Park's Iceland themed area will capture the public's attention, even if it's not done on a Disney budget.
While theming was traditionally undertaken in-house, a browse of the Euro Attractions Show offers an increasing number of companies whose business model is to design and build themed attraction concepts for smaller parks to help them make the leap from amusement to theme park, with the ride system left to a traditional industry company. Probably the best known example are Falcon's Treehouse, designers of The Curse of DarKastle (2005). Mack Rides have also begun to offer theming services for other parks under their Mack Solutions banner, the long-time in-house design team at Europa Park.
Although IP themes, especially movies but increasingly games, will still be immensely popular, we'll see a resurgence of original themes. Disney's Grizzly Gulch (2012) and Mystic Point (2013) prove there is still a market for original themes with huge budgets, even if they're both only small departures from established meta-themes. Despite this, Disney is to be commended for not shoehorning one of its latest films into either of the rides. Disneyland Shanghai will give an indication as to whether Disney will continue down this innovative route or resort to low-risk movie tie-ins (rumours of a Tron 'Cyclecoaster' replacing Space Mountain are worrying) that'll need re-theming in a decade.
It goes without saying that interactivity is the biggest trend in dark rides today, and will grow even bigger. We can see it in the rise to dominance of 'shooting dark rides', Disney's 'next-gen' queue-lines and various manufacturer's attempts to create 'augmented reality' systems (Mack). Computer graphics, screens and projection technology have had an incalculably huge effect on the industry, though not entirely a positive one. In terms of scale, budget, ride system and critical acclaim, Indiana Jones Adventure (1995) at Disneyland and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) at Islands of Adventure are very similar. But in four years, projection technology revolutionised the make-up of a modern E-Ticket dark ride. Whereas Indiana Jones relies almost entirely on physical effects and animatronics, Spider-Man mostly utilises 3D screens with the addition of 4D cinema style effects to augment the film vignettes, blasts of fire and the like.
I think this was a step backwards. Screens have their place in dark rides, but as a support to breathtaking physical effects – the pendulum had swung too far the other way. Some recent big-budget dark rides such as Harry Potter (2010) have taken this onboard, and used a mix. The brand-new Radiator Springs Racers (2012) at California Adventure has rejected screens almost entirely, in favour of a huge cast of cutting-edge animatronics. Interestingly, the new Transformers ride at Universal Studios Singapore (2011) and Hollywood (2012) uses the Spiderman-style virtual experience, and hasn't been nearly as critically adored as Potter and Cars. As screens come to dominate more and more of everyday life, perhaps people will start looking to theme parks for a retreat back into the physical world. Theme, when executed well, transports us to another world. It is the closest we can get to venturing into the fictional world, and the continued growth of the industry can only go hand-in-hand with the continued expansion and improvement of theme.
Sam Gregory
