Portal:Amusement parks

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edit   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 Today, amusement parks have largely been replaced by theme parks, and the two terms are often used interchangeably.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. View new selections below (purge) edit   Selected article A carousel is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating platform with seats for passengers. The "seats" are traditionally in the form of wooden horses or animals, which are often moved mechanically up and down to simulate galloping. This leads to one of the machine's alternative names; "the galloper". Other popular names are "merry-go-rounds", "roundabouts" and "flying horses". Usually, music is looped while the rides spins. Although modern carousels are mainly populated with horses, carousels from earlier periods frequently included diverse varieties of animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, and deer, to name a few. edit   Selected picture Alpengeist is the tallest complete circuit inverted roller coaster in the world. The ride is located at Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built by Swiss manufacturers Bolliger & Mabillard, Alpengeist features six inversions: an immelmann loop, a vertical loop, a cobra roll (pictured), a zero-g roll, and a wing over. edit   Main topics Amusement parks • Funfairs • Marine mammal parks • Miniature parks • Pleasure gardens • Waterparks Amusement rides • Carousels • Drop towers • Ferris wheels • Log flumes • Observation towers • River rafting rides • Roller coasters • Water slides Adventure Parks Group • Busch Entertainment Corporation • Cedar Fair Entertainment Company • Compagnie des Alpes • Daytona Lagoon • Merlin Entertainments • PARC Management • Six Flags • Themeparks LLC • Universal Studios Theme Parks • Walibi • Walt Disney Parks and Resorts edit   Selected 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 (59.1 ha) 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. edit   Did you know... ...that some modern water slides feature uphill slopes? ...that the Matterhorn structure at Disneyland contains a small basketball court? ... that in 2012 Six Flags Magic Mountain plans to open Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom, the world's tallest vertical drop ride? edit   Recent news January 8: Overall Six Flags attendance up 4% during 2007 season. (Fox Business) December 19: Shares in the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company fall to a five-year low. (Sandusky Register) December 17: Led Zeppelin - The Ride begins testing at the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (Charlotte Observer) edit   Categories ► Amusement parks ► Roller coasters edit   Things you can do From the Roller Coaster WikiProject: Collaboration: Arrow Dynamics • Kingda Ka Clear backlog: Category:Roller coaster articles without coordinates (coordinates can be taken from RCDB) Cleanup: Arkansas Twister • Cascabel (roller coaster) • Futuroscope • Harry Traver • Montaña Infinitum • Olympia Looping • Sarajevo Bobsled • The Bat (Kings Island) • The Jester (roller coaster) • The Space Diver • Ultimate Ride Expand: Hanna-Barbera theme parks • Batman: La Fuga • Blue Streak (Cedar Point) • Cascabel (roller coaster) • Cedar Creek Mine Ride • Cobra (La Ronde) • Corkscrew (Michigan's Adventure) • Crystal Wings • Cyclone (Six Flags New England) • Dania Beach Hurricane • Diavlo • Diving Machine G5 • Euro-Mir (de) • Formule X • Gemini (roller coaster) • Goliath (Six Flags Fiesta Texas) • Goudurix (fr) • Insane Speed • Jaguar! • Kentucky Rumbler • Klondike Gold Mine (roller coaster) • Mack Rides (de)(fr) • Mad Mouse (Valleyfair) • Mantis (roller coaster) • Mine Train roller coaster (de)(fr) • Led Zeppelin - The Ride • Lightning (roller coaster) • Olympia Looping • Phaethon (roller coaster) • Premier Rides • Pyrenees (roller coaster) • Racecoaster • Roar (Six Flags America) • Shivering Timbers (roller coaster) • Steel Hawg • Steel Venom (Valleyfair) • Superman: La Atracción de Acero • Tonnerre de Zeus • Villain (roller coaster) • WildCat (Cedar Point) • Winjas (de) • Woodstock Express • Vertical Coaster Merge/Split: Requests: Alpenexpress Enzian • Big Loop • Eurosat • Fürsten Forest • Tornado (Parque de Atracciones de Madrid) Stubs: Bobsled roller coaster • Diving Machine • Floorless roller coaster • Pipeline roller coaster • Wild Mouse roller coaster • more... Wikify: edit   Related WikiProjects Amusement parks • Disneyland • Roller coasters • UK theme parks edit   Related portals Business and economics Culture Engineering Society Technology edit   Associated Wikimedia What are portals? List of portals Featured portals