Parks in the 70's?

[RollerC]

Anyone else notice that most parks in the 70's looked really clean, had awesome landscaping and looked downright awesome compared to what they looked like today? ONes that stick out to me are the Marriot Parks. I was looking at pictures of them and they looked so nice compared to what they look like now.

[Airtime&Gravity]

^Cause the former Marriott parks look bad now?

 

Keep in mind that they looked clean because they were new, if they were corporate owned, the companies were a lot smaller. The parks also catered to families, and the parks kept them family friendly by keeping the parks clean.

[Scaparri]

I have to disagree. I've never seen pictures that make a park looker cleaner and nicer in the seventies than they do now. Sure, the coasters look newer, but that's a given. Other than that, I can't think of a single example. I'm sure the Cali people will probably say SFMM, but I don't have any personal examples.

 

I really like SFGAm and feel like it's gone on to bigger and better things. It is definitely one of the nicer and better themed parks in the chain, so I don't really see the correlation with that one. Again, I can't speak for KGA.

[ginzo]

I've noticed this phenomenon to some degree, especially with Kings Island. The old pictures of Kings Island from the 70s and 80s that I've seen show a much nicer looking park.

 

Yeah, I think being newer does help a lot, but I also think parks are a lot more slack on upkeep in general these days. Would the faded paint on Xcelerator fly back then? Something tells me not.

 

Parks are also a lot bigger these days, which means removing trees and landscaping to install new rides. The focus seems to be more on rides than aesthetics. And bigger parks are also more of a pain to keep up.

[MisterP]

No doubt SFSTL was way nicer and cleaner in the 1970's. Parks just seemed to have more heart in that era.

[swampfox]

Kings Dominion also looked much better in the seventies. Just watch the movie Rollercoaster, and it show's Kings Dominion in it's 2nd or 3rd year of operation. (I find it hilarious that they gave away cigarette cartons as prizes for games)

 

Here's a site with old Kings Dominion pics for y'all to check out.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/419637432CUOxsq/14

[Holtskee]

I love the old Kings Dominion photos - that park looked amazing when it first opened. Carowinds comes to mind as well. Some pics of this park from back in the day below:

 

Retro Carowinds

 

The original Six Flags parks use to be very nice...for years SFOG was considered to be one of the top regional parks in the country.

Anyone else notice that most parks in the 70's looked really clean, had awesome landscaping and looked downright awesome compared to what they looked like today?

Basically, the corporate chain parks don't value that sort of thing anymore. Parks are more streamlined for maximum profitability these days...they don't have to spend a lot of money on landscaping, themeing, etc, so they don't. (Perhaps the exception is the Busch parks)

 

You have to go to the smaller parks like Silver Dollar City and Dollywood to find the fully rounded experience now.

[swampfox]

Yeah, KECO made some great parks originally. I love how Magic Mountain looked in Rollercoaster as well, and in a Kidsongs vid I had when I was 4 back in like 1989. Also looked good in National Lampoon's Vacation.

 

I wonder how Hersheypark looked in the 70s/80s. Seems that's one park that is better now than it used to be.

[Ccron10]

^ Hersheypark? Well, where should I start....

 

Before the 70's, the park looked very dirty and was filled with crime.

 

1970- A 5 or 6 phase plan was created to turn the park into "the Disneyland of the Northeast". A contemperary, Indian Village, New England fishing town, and a few other lands were planned to be built, but only Minetown, Carrousel Circle, and Pioneer Frontier were built. The park's name was changed from Hershey Park to what it is today.

 

1972-Carrousel Circle was built which included the Giant Wheel, Monster, Twin Tobbogans, and Scrambler which is still at it's original location.

 

1973- Tudor Square and Rhineland was built. Also the Coal Cracker.

 

1974- Trailblazer and the removed Sky Ride was built. In 1992, it was sold to Dreamland Park and is still there today.

 

1975 or 1976- The Kissing Tower and Twin Turnpike was built.

 

1977- Sooperdooperlooper was built.

[DarkMeasures]

Funny thing about this thread. I am building a park in rollercoastertycoon 3 that is based on the year 1978. I chose 1978 just because of better ride technology, but I really wanted to capture the feel of the parks of the time.

 

And then it will go through 30 years of abuse and turn into a modern park. Lets see if the original topic creator's theory hold's true.

 

I placed my link in the sig because I don't know if I am actually allowed to post links.

[Holtskee]

Funny thing about this thread. I am building a park in rollercoastertycoon 3 that is based on the year 1978. I chose 1978 just because of better ride technology, but I really wanted to capture the feel of the parks of the time.

 

I use to do that back when I was hooked on the game in the RCT/RCT2 days. When I'd make a park I'd set an opening year (like 1970) and then add new rides corresponding to the years they were first built. I tried to capture the feel of parks in that time period as well.

[benzo41190]

Kings Dominion also looked much better in the seventies. Just watch the movie Rollercoaster, and it show's Kings Dominion in it's 2nd or 3rd year of operation. (I find it hilarious that they gave away cigarette cartons as prizes for games)

 

Here's a site with old Kings Dominion pics for y'all to check out.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/419637432CUOxsq/14

 

Are there two movies named "roller coaster"? Because I saw one that was in Canada at Play land.

[swampfox]

Yeah, there's some odd independent movie from the late 90s that I haven't seen. Looks like a drama.

 

The one I'm talking about is a suspense movie that came out in 1977 or 78 and stars George Segal.

[Nrthwnd]

^ That one with Segal ended up using MM's Revolution for it's ultimate climax sequence, in the movie.

 

And it was also one of the few movies at that time, to (gag) use the new movie experience called... SENSURROUND...

 

Actually it was quite cool, (for us) at the time. When any coaster in the movie was diving into it's dips, these "sepecial speakers" (2 at the front of the theater, on either side of the screen and 2 at the back of the theater) would vibrate in low tones and the whole theater would 'feel' the vibrations of the coaster, heh heh.

 

First done with the original "Earthquake."

 

(EDIT: Actually, since that was off topic... I have a bunch of Viewmaster Reels of theme parks across the states, all probably made after these parks opened! And all of them, to a park, showed clean tidy places to take the wife and kids, heh heh. But then, that was part of the PR, 'way back when' LOL. Any way they could do it, including the Reels .)

[John Peck]

Many of the big theme parks "looked" cleaner in the 1970's is because:

 

A. Frankly, there were like 15 Big Theme Parks Built in the United States during that time, and were clean and shiney

 

2. The trees haden't grown in yet

 

C. Many of the 70's picts we see are from Professional Photo Shoots

 

But think about this...

Most major parks had between 2 and 3 really big, high throughput rides and the parks still brought in close to the number of guests they do today.

 

Imagine the lines with those slower-loading flats!

[Sparebear75]

I may go out on a limb here, but back then, people were more mannerly and courteous. I won't say there was no disregard for throwing trash on the ground or anything like that, but it certainly was less common.

[Nrthwnd]

The "Golden Age of Theme Parks," I'd say...

 

Mid to late 70's. Twenty years after Disney started His Land.

 

Young and (dare I say?) "innocent".

 

 

Shows you what time, history, and population can do, hmm?

[speedracer]

I think a major factor was that back in the day, parks modeled themselves after and tried to be local versions of DL. Tried to offer an equal, or as close as possible to, a DL park experience and everything that entails. Once the steel looping craze caught fire, they began moving away from the family oriented offerings and became more thrill park oriented.

 

The media giants jumped in the park business in the late 80's-early 90's and further moved them away from a DL-like parks to simply use them as billboards, without any regards whether the parks offered a DL-like experience or not. Just became another outlet for them to advertise their latest products.

 

And I agree with the OP, GA here in Cali looks and feels nothing at all like the original beautiful Marriott park. KECO did a good job of keeping much of the original park intact, but Paramount came in and basically strip-mined all the original theming, classic rides, charm and great atmosphere it once had.

 

Out of all the big themers from the time though, I think the Busch parks are the exception to the rule, still as beautiful and gorgeous as they were back in the day.

[haiderodes]

Obviously I wasn't alive in the 70s BUT I do have to say that Knott Berry Farm of the past was a much better place. The whole atmosphere of the park has changed. Outside of the Ghost Town area its a big concrete jungle with lots of open space with no shade and a million trash cans.

[FlyingScooter]

I think they were cleaner in the 70's. Here's my reasons for this:

1. The average person worked harder and cared more about their job then people do now, even in summer jobs.

2. the public in general was cleaner. When i was a kid, in the 70's, if we didn't put our trash in a garbage can, our folks got pissed. These days, few seem to care where they toss the trash.ike they have the attitude: Hey, somebody gets paid to pick it up...

 

 

just my opinion.

[larrygator]

I think they were cleaner in the 70's. Here's my reasons for this:

1. The average person worked harder and cared more about their job then people do now, even in summer jobs.

2. the public in general was cleaner. When i was a kid, in the 70's, if we didn't put our trash in a garbage can, our folks got pissed. These days, few seem to care where they toss the trash.ike they have the attitude: Hey, somebody gets paid to pick it up...

 

 

just my opinion.

 

Totally agree with these points. Also, those with summer jobs in the 70's worked to earn money to spend on themselves. They took pride in their jobs because they needed the money. In my experience, with my parents and friends, parents were not as willing to just give money to their children.

 

Also, parents were less apt to drop kids off and use the park as a babysitting service. All amusement parks were not just family friendly but a family experience.

[bgwfreak]

I don't know if I'd call them cleaner, but they weren't as "corporate" back then with brand names and such.

 

Carowinds used to have all their sections themed to the history of the Carolinas, beginning with the Native Americans and then the British Colonies and so on.

 

Now the only Carolina stuff left is Cyclone, Carolina Boardwalk, Skytower and a few others.

 

Most of the park was made over by Paramount and in some respects it wasn't for the best (themeing, not the actual rides).

 

But I can't say that the park is cleaner or dirtier. It seems pretty clean to me.

[ginzo]

The "Golden Age of Theme Parks," I'd say...

 

Mid to late 70's. Twenty years after Disney started His Land.

 

Young and (dare I say?) "innocent".

 

 

Shows you what time, history, and population can do, hmm?

 

I believe that the 1920s are typically considered the "Golden Age" of amusement parks. There were supposedly ~2,000 parks in the US alone. Of course, you're talking about theme parks, which are a different animal.

[bgwfreak]

The "Golden Age of Theme Parks," I'd say...

 

Mid to late 70's. Twenty years after Disney started His Land.

 

Young and (dare I say?) "innocent".

 

 

Shows you what time, history, and population can do, hmm?

 

I believe that the 1920s are typically considered the "Golden Age" of amusement parks. There were supposedly ~2,000 parks in the US alone. Of course, you're talking about theme parks, which are a different animal.

 

 

Many call the 70s the Second Golden Age of the wooden coaster, maybe that's what he meant.

 

I'd love to go back in time and ride some of those crazy creations back in the 20s.

[Nrthwnd]

^ & ^^

 

Believe me, everything probably felt more "golden" when I first (on my own, circa.1975) visited parks like MM, Knotts and DL, heh heh.

 

I do remember reading and hearing all about parks "back then," about there being something like 2000+ coasters built thru-out the USA?

 

Couldn't imagine how amazing that must have been, even if (probably) half of them could be potential 'killers' or "prone to causing heart attacks" LOL.

 

Ah - the good old daysss.