US Parks vs. Foreign Parks

[Skramp]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but why is that when we see these PTR of parks in Europe, Asia, South America or wherever, they always have such incredible theming? I mean the recent Europa Park TR shows some beautiful areas as does every other Europe TR with the exception of Blackpool (haha!), but there are very few parks here in the US that even attempt to put any theming into rides or their surrounding areas?

 

Of course we have the Disney chain, Busch Gardens and a few select others, but for the most part we are blessed with asphalt theming and nothing else. My home park is KI and it's got pretty much non-existent theming. You have Tomb Raider who's que theming is good, Flight of Fear and adventure express. All the rest just seem to be placed randomly.

 

It just seems weird that there is no theming existent at really any park. Is it cultural, geographical or just typical American laziness?

[Shavethewhales]

^I think there's quite a few parks out there that do a pretty good job at theming, it's just that theming is not always centered on for certain rides. Theming is great, no doubt, but many parks just like to keep it simple and cool and provide the basic thrills everyone wants.

 

I think more parks could benefit greatly by going with a little extra theming and attention to details on their attractions, but most of the time they are simply too caught up in the works of just building and opening the attraction itself. Theming is often viewed as a secondary thing in the overall process.

[robbalvey]

I would agree that, on the average, theming at parks in Europe & Asia is actually better than most parks in the US - Disney, Busch, and Universal aside. And even while a park like Blackpool doesn't have a lot of overall "theming" it does have "charm" that even some of the US parks lack.

 

When you see an "asphault" type of park in Europe, it's fairly unusual. Although oddly enough Disney Studios Paris kind of fits that category.

 

--Robb

[hemmy]

Depends what you want.

 

Personally, walking around in a park like Cedar Point with rides all around is just as enjoyable as walking around in a less crowded; heavily themed park.

 

The only parks I have been to outside of North America are Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Disneyland Paris

 

Oh yeah, something else to add. Based on the pictures and trip reports from many of the Japanese and Chinese parks might have had nice theming but rides were seemingly sub-par.

 

I am not really hugely into the extensive theming thing if it means sacrificing rides.

[FeelTheFORCE]

That is true, now that you mention it, they are better themed from the pictures I have seen. Personally, though, I could care less about theming. I am a thrill seeker who goes to parks for the rides and thrills only, whether they are themed or not, I don't care. If I wanted to go somewhere where there were a lot of trees, grass, flowers and open space, I'd go to a regular park, but that's just me.

[Skramp]

I wasn't necessarily talking about trees, trash cans and "bench" the ride, I more mean theming on the rides themselves. CP has done a nice job on Maverick with the canyons and such and some other parks have too. But, I think it would enhance the ride experience to have some theming involved.

 

Think about it Dueling Dragons at IOA. You go through this amazing que with great theming, only to ride a roller coaster in an open field that absolutely kills the whole pre-ride build-up. It just seems that there is no effort at all on the part of American parks to "showcase" the whole ride experience.

 

CP's best effort though has to be Disaster Transport. As horrible of a ride as it is, you have the que build-up and then the ride itself follows the theming all the way through.

 

It seems that we only have a few dark rides that give this full experience, DarKastle comes to mind. I just think that this would completely enhance the experience. Imagine TTD with a tunnel all the way up the spike then suddenly it opens up and you're 420 ft above the ground only to plummet back down into another dark tunnel and reappear on the ground, that would completely mess with your head.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Yeah, I worded that weird. What I meant to say was that I prefer the thrill, rather than the theming. I would take SCREAM! at SFMM over Expedition Everest any day.

[Goliath513]

^ Finally someone agrees that even with no theming, a coaster like Scream can be good. I'll bet the fact that Expedition Everest is a Vekoma and Scream is a B&M has something to do with preferred ridership.

[CycloneMan]

Well I'll list the foreign parks I've been to in order and put a little description!

 

La Ronde

I've been to La Ronde a few times now and each time I love it. It has a unique feel I've never found in a US park. it has theming on a different level and Le Dragon was a really huge suprise to us when we first rode it back in 2003! From the pictures I've seen, this park reminds me of a European Park.

 

Hanayashiki

This park was my first Japanese park. And it was very compact and very different. Everything was on buildings, in layers, and surrounded by city. it was definately the most compact park i've ever been to!

 

LaQua

This was one of the most bizzare parks ever. It's devided into three sections. The first one being LaQua where the Big-O, Pacari Sweat, and Thunder Dolphin are. it's, once again on different floors but outside! And the center looked like a shoping mall!

 

The second area is Geopolis, where they have the indoor section under a rough and the indoor section. The indoor section reminded me of a Science Center. It had a huge floor and a Jumbo Tron.

 

The last section was Parachute Land that reminded me of Hanayashiki.

 

Tokyo DisneySea

Simply amazing, but Disney so it really can't count.

 

Tokyo Disneyland

Same as above.

 

Tokyo Tower

Yes they had rides on the roof of the tower, but a roof at the bottom.

 

Fuji-Q Highlands

Besides it being on Mt Fuji, it felt like being a Six Flags park. Nothing special (except for the view of the summit of Mt Fuji from Fujiyama!)

 

Ueno Park

It had a little carnival thingy inside of the park, that once again, was built into layers and was compact.

 

Aqua Stadium

Aqua Stadium was our last park...if you can call it that. It was inside a mall, with the Galaxy Express 999, pretty well hidden, but hidden in a corner was a Pirate Ship and all this cool stuff.

 

Aside from Tokyo Disney Resort and Fujikyu, I have found international parks to be completely different than American. Even at LaQua, there was bizzare theming in Geopanic. All the dark rides in Japan were themed and I noticed a trend of walk through spook houses with no actors. All anomatronics. Including The 13 Doors in LaQua, which was single handedly the most amazing walk through ever!

 

-Dainan "That's my view on my list of international parks" Rafferty

[Menghini]

I think theming or not theming also has a more historical explanation: Europeans always had theming.

 

Six Flags once was in Europe and bought a "few" parks and just put some coasters in it. The crowds didn't buy it that way, so six flags is gone again. The parks are still recovering.

 

Many Europeans (and I mostly mean the ones that won't go as often as we do) just like to see theming: they are attracted to it. I can't think of any ride in Europe that has no theming at all, except maybe at the former Six Flags parks.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ Finally someone agrees that even with no theming, a coaster like Scream can be good. I'll bet the fact that Expedition Everest is a Vekoma and Scream is a B&M has something to do with preferred ridership.

 

Yeah, that was a bad example, especially because I have never actually ridden EE. Let me use another example. I would take SCREAM! at SFMM over Alpengeist, any day.

[IceDragon]

I think theming or not theming also has a more historical explanation: Europeans always had theming.

 

Six Flags once was in Europe and bought a "few" parks and just put some coasters in it. The crowds didn't buy it that way, so six flags is gone again. The parks are still recovering.

 

Many Europeans (and I mostly mean the ones that won't go as often as we do) just like to see theming: they are attracted to it. I can't think of any ride in Europe that has no theming at all, except maybe at the former Six Flags parks.

 

The whole of Adventure Island, no theming except 'colours'...

 

Blackpool Pleasure Beach too...

 

The Tussauds parks certainly have been concentrated on scenery these last 10 to 20 years though...

[Goliath513]

^^ Another good way of saying that might be someone who prefers SFMM over DLR (like myself).

[AstroDan]

There are certainly parks in Europa that have unthemed rides - take Expedition Ge Force, for example. Or Super Wirbel - both at Holiday Park. You could take a check on some of the North European parks - or those at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, or even the smaller English parks.

 

The Tussauds parks generally have theming on their rides, albeit loose in some cases (Rita, Spinball Whizzer, Stealth) - but it is there. Continental Europe certainly houses some fabulous theming (Black Mamba, Winjas, Poseidon, Euro Mir) and some parks have great theming - such as PortAventura, Europa-Park and Phantasialand.

 

Although we can still do 'car park coasters' - check Silver Star as an example of this.