Theme Parks U.K.

The Theme Park owes it's existence to the imagination and flair of Walt Disney. From his original 1948 concept of an amusement park on an eleven acre site owned by the Disney Studio in Anaheim, California, has sprung an international industry - and a source of joy for millions of visitors the world over.

From its opening in 1955 and despite 'opening day'  teething troubles, the idea caught the imagination of the public. It was the success of that early venture that encouraged the Disney organisation to expand the Amusement Park concept through the 70's, 80's and 90's. the three decades seeing parks open in Florida, Tokyo and Paris.

The UK has several major Themed Amusement Parks and links to most can be found on these pages, including Alton Towers (1979),  Chessington World of Adventure (1979) and Legoland, Windsor (1996)

Walt Disney's original idea was for a 'self-contained' town with its own fire-station, police station, various stores, etc.  The fire station would contain functional fire-fighting equipment and the 'police' station would act as an information centre and lost property office - and a restaurant with rooms for birthday parties.... even a functioning post office.

We can see many of the original ideas still hold good, with the larger Theme Parks having their own utilities, medical centres and security, etc. And with the more recent descendents of Disney's idea, the goal remains the same: One of Disney's screenwriters, Bill Walsh, annotated the early ideas:

"It will be a place for people to find happiness and knowledge. It will be a place for parents and children to share pleasant times in one another's company: a place for teachers and pupils to discover greater ways of understanding and education. Here the older generation can recapture the nostalgia of days gone by, and the younger generation can savor the challenge of the future. Here will be the wonders of Nature and Man for all to see and understand.....It will be filled with the accomplishments, the joys, the hopes of the world we live in. And it will remind us and show us how to make these wonders part of our own lives..."