Portal:Amusement parks
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An amusement park is a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a fairly large group of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground and caters for all ages. Amusement parks evolved in Europe from pleasure gardens, which existed for the recreation of the people, while charging a fee. In the United States, expositions were another influence on the amusement park. Amusement parks were the historical precursors to modern theme parks as well as the more traditional midway arcades and rides at county and state fairs (in the United States). Today, amusement parks have largely been replaced by theme parks, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. The oldest amusement park in the world is Bakken, at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark, which opened in 1583. Amusement parks collect much of their revenue from admission fees paid by guests attending the park. Other revenue sources include parking fees, food and beverage sales and souvenirs. Some parks charge an entry fee which allows unlimited access to all attractions, whereas others offer free admission but charge guests for each attraction. Selected article
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (February 14, 1859 - November 22, 1896) was an engineer born in Galesburg, Illinois. He is most well known for inventing the Ferris wheel, constructed for the World's Columbian Exposition in an attempt to create something as impressive as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
His family moved to Carson City, Nevada when Ferris was five years old. The family house in Carson City is on the historic tour list. His family later relocated to California, and Ferris attended high school in Oakland. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was a Charter Member of the Chi Phi Fraternity, in the class of 1881 with a degree in civil engineering. After that, he began a career in the railroad industry and was interested in bridge building. He founded a company, G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to test and inspect metals for railroads and bridge builders. Selected pictureOcean Park Hong Kong is a theme park in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. The Mine Train (pictured above) opened in 2000 and is located in the Adventure Land section of the park. Main topicsSelected amusement park
La Ronde is the largest theme park in the province of Quebec and the second largest in Canada after Canada's Wonderland, with about 2.5 million visitors in 2006. The park covers 146 acres (591,000 m²) and is located on Saint Helen's Island in Montreal, Canada. It lies on the former site of the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. The park hosts L’International des Feux Loto-Québec, an international fireworks competition.
La Ronde was opened in 1967 as a part of Expo 67 and now features 39 rides, including nine roller coasters. Among them is Le Monstre, a 40 metre (131 ft) high wooden double-tracked roller coaster which currently holds the record for highest double-tracked roller coaster in the world. Did you know...
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