Amusement Park vs Theme Park
There was a time when there were limited ways to get some entertainment and thrill outside one’s home. But today, there is a plethora of amusement parks and theme parks around the world to have some outdoor recreation and fun. These are facilities that people go to when they want to enjoy and have some moments of fun and relaxation in the company of friends and family. But different names of these two centers of recreation suggest that there is some fundamental difference between them. Though there are many similarities, there are some differences between amusement park and theme park that will be highlighted in this article.
Both theme parks, as well as amusement parks, serve the same purpose of providing outdoor fun and entertainment to people of all ages and both genders. However, theme parks embody a theme or a story to tell to the visitors and visitors can feel the underlying theme when they are enjoying its various features. As such, a theme park is just another amusement park but with a difference that can be felt when you visit it to enjoy the fun and entertainment that it has on offer.
Amusement Park
As the name implies, an amusement park is meant for amusement. If you look up the dictionary, you would find it defined as a park having different devices to provide fun and entertainment to the people using them. Most of the amusement parks are known for their joy rides such as the merry go round or the roller coasters. There can be many sections in an amusement park containing different rides and attractions, and there can be contradicting themes in these sections. Amusement parks are meant to provide unadulterated fun and thrill to the visitors, and there is no diversion from this dominant feature.
Theme Park
A theme park may have a central theme running throughout its various sections and features, but it remains an outdoor place for the recreation of the people. Thus, it is an amusement park basically with the concept of theme thrown in. The theme or the feel remains with the visitors wherever they go inside the park. It goes to the credit of one man, Walt Disney, to develop and perfect the concept of a theme park. In 1965, Walt Disney designed and developed a theme park called Disneyland that was devoted to the underlying theme of characters depicted in Disney cartoons and movies. The squeaky clean image of Disney and the entertainment he offered to the entire family became extremely popular and gave birth to the idea of theme parks all over the world.
What is the difference between Amusement Park and Theme Park?
• Both amusement parks, as well as theme parks, are outdoor facilities for fun and entertainment for people of all ages, especially kids.
• Amusement parks are known for their array of rides and other means of entertainment such as roller coaster, merry go round etc.
• The focus in amusement parks is solely upon thrill and entertainment, and they attract mostly young kids and teenagers.
• Theme parks are more interesting for a wider section of the society because of an underlying theme.
• It would be better to categorize a theme park as an amusement park with a theme such as Disneyland, which has Disney cartoons characters as the theme.