Crossing Into Other Worlds - How Magic Kingdoms are Engineered [Ice Cream Sundae]
I don’t know about where you are as you’re reading this, but I’m in London and the weather has been far from amazing. Low hanging grey clouds covering the horizon and drizzling rain showers for several days. It isn’t extremely enticing. It’s important not to hand over my mood to the weather in those times. It’s tempting, though it’s also just a bit too depressing too fast to mimic the weather’s mood.
As cheesy as it might sound, I made an effort to consider a few of my favourite things while thinking about this week’s newsletter. You know, like crisp apple strudels and schnitzel with noodles. I simply remember a few of my favourite things. And then I don’t feel so bad.
You can thank me for getting the tune stuck in your head later. You can have the Coltrane version if you’re feeling highbrow today. It’s awesome.
Now this Sundae has its theme music going through your head it might not come as a surprise that the Sound of Music is one of my all-time favourite movies. If you don’t understand you’ve probably never seen it. If so, go watch it. See you in three hours; I’ll be waiting here in your inbox. For those who just plain don’t like it, well I guess it’s just your loss. We can address that some other time.
As I looked at the raindrops out the window I didn’t see roses but thought of theme parks. Just the thought makes me smile. I guess you can think of this newsletter as a first in “A few of my favourite things” Sundae series.
I’m still not sure where it all started. It’s funny because as I mentioned previously I was terrified of roller coasters the time I visited Disney World in Florida when I was a child, before moving to France. I don’t remember much of that trip, but I’m pretty sure I was fascinated by the park, the colors, the buildings, the music, the distinct feeling of being somewhere else entirely, dedicated to masquerading as another world.
I own a few different books about theme parks, and occasionally read information about them online. What we know as modern theme parks draw inspiration from three main traditions.
The first and oldest are fairs, starting in the middle ages or even earlier depending on where you look. I wrote about Harvest and seasonal festivals for Halloween and they are similar: gathering of masses for festivities that started attracting entertainers like acrobats, jugglers, animal tamers, musicians, etc.
The second source of inspiration is landscaped gardens open to the public. They became particularly popular in England and France in the 18th century, though designers drew inspiration from other sources such as China and Japan. The English and the French of course presented differing ideas of what a nice garden should look like. Les jardins à la française were all about tamed and framed nature, shaped symmetrically like the gardens of Versailles. Even French writers at the time criticized this style of garden for imposing tyranny over nature. In contrast English gardens sought an idealised view of nature, showing picturesque views of an idyllic countryside. Both often included features known as a “follies”, like pergolas, pagodas, or fake ruins, for the landscape to look prettier. Remember the next time you enjoy the views walking around a park: it’s almost certain people thought it through and designed it to give you the feeling you have.
Apparently the last tradition that cemented the idea of fixed amusement parks during the 19th century industrial revolution is the beginning of World Fairs. Those tended to be fixed for a long period of time, of course attract the masses, and feature attractions to show off the industrial and technological advance of a country. It’s about the same time that Coney Island in New York and Blackpool in England became very popular.
Most consider it was really Walt Disney who brought all these different ideas together into what we think of theme parks today when he built Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom in California. To bring all these ideas together, Walt Disney was in part inspired by Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Opened in 1843 it is considered the second-oldest theme park in the world and still a very popular one today.
The park opened its doors on July 17th 1955 (fun fact, I was also born in July — a few years later though). The sign visitors can see at the entrance of famously reads:
“Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy.”
I love the sentence and it probably sums up why I love theme parks, for the pleasure in pretending to walk in an actual fantasy world for a little while. The same way you probably played at pretending to be a cop, a robber, a princess, Batman, a Jedi knight, or Indiana Jones. This time with the actual backdrop you’d only imagined.
I haven’t been to Copenhagen though I’d love to one of these days. On the other hand, I was lucky to go to Efteling twice, also one of the oldest theme parks in the world, open in 1952 in the Netherlands. I remember obsessing over the map of the park and being really excited about the attractions. I was fascinated with the big roller coaster but didn’t dare get on that time. I did brave my fear of the Haunted Castle, and was both glad and kind of disappointed when I realized it wasn’t that scary. I enjoyed the hologram show of skeletons, pretty advanced technology at the time I visited, or for my age at the time. The park itself is beautiful, very green, and the layout is very well thought out. The attractions and decorations revolve around traditional fairy tales, like Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood.
Meanwhile in France, before Disneyland, the first theme park to open was called Mirapolis. It didn’t last long. It was only open for five years from 1987 to 1991. The décor and attractions were based on famous French authors and stories, like La Fontaine’s fables. Rabelais’s Gargantua giant figure looked over the park. A giant dude holding a glass of red wine in one hand, and an entire skewered beef in the other. What better example for your kids? It’s just an abandoned ruin now, but I remember going with my brother when it was open. I was super excited about it. Once again I was really scared at the idea of going on the big rollercoaster though. People on it seemed to have so much fun. I eyed it the whole thing with awe and envy in equal measure.
The following French hero to have his own theme park was definitely more popular to begin with and endured to this day: Parc Asterix, opened in 1989. It’s particularly known for its great roller coasters, and of course antique civilization theme decors as they are portrayed in the Asterix stories. I liked the park, though I always thought it was not quite as well built or themed as Disney’s.
Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 and I loved it every time. I visited once with friends when I was 16 and decided to collect the autographs of all the characters we’d come across, queuing with small children to get them. I didn’t care, I just felt like it’s allowed to be like a kid in a candy shop there. As I returned and getting a little older I also appreciating rides like Pirates of the Caribbean more, noticing new details every time. It was the last attraction to be overseen by Walt Disney himself by the way. It’s an absolutely beautiful ride and the music is brilliant as well.
When I organised my brother’s stag do, I didn’t hesitate on the idea: a long weekend at another beautiful park I wanted to visit, Alton Towers. It was a fairly innocent though definitely highly fun weekend with just the four siblings. We hadn’t spent so much time together since we were kids, so I thought we might as well feel free to act as such.
There’s more but I’d just be writing a catalogue if I continue. Let’s just say if I go somewhere you can be sure I’ve discreetly looked up what parks are nearby and at least consider if I can squeeze in a visit. I don’t necessarily go, but I’ll have the idea in the back of my mind.
Some might think theme parks are just commercial tricks, and they might be right. What I know for sure is that great care goes into making visitors happy with their experience of the park. At least that’s what I went for when playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. Trickery or not, I choose to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the experience.
I guess what I’d like to leave you with this week is no matter what the weather is like outside, if you think of what made you happy as a child, chances are it makes you smile now too. If so it can be an experience to enjoy now, regardless of the current mood or weather.
As usual, please forward this to a friend if you enjoyed reading! And if you’d like to read more, I’ve published a post about shipping and marketing on my blog this week, a bit of a rant in response to a few other recent articles.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you next week!
Cheers
Willem
This newsletter was originally published via email on the 8th November 2015. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae on the Ice Cream for Everyone website.
