Disney Vs Traditional Amusement Parks

[stdragon03]

Do you prefer Disney theme Parks or even other themeparks(Universal,BuschGardens) , or like me a person who prefers traditional amusement parks Knoebels,Dollywood,Kennywood? (on a side note i wonder if Dolly is still with Kenny these days)? After a few years travelling through America and Japan I tend to get in a debate about Disneyland or other Disney parks and how do I find them compared with other Amusement Parks. My answer these days is that Disney Parks are over commercialised and really when you think about it,it is only good for the kids.Yeah Disney is well theme but to me its not real.Point being why go to California Adventure when you can go to Santa Cruz Beachwalk or Rye Playland in Newyork and get the same experience. People say to me Disney parks are some of the most visited parks in the world but i say that doesn't make them any better.A good example would be McDonalds its popular but dosen't make it better than a homecooked meal. The Traditional Parks like Kennywood,Knoebels,Lake compounce even Nagashima Spaland off alot more than DisneyParks in terms of History,Nostalgic and the people are local and not tourists.Even the Amusement rides are alot more Fun. In the end i find traditional and local Amusement parks better because they are more Peresonifying than Disney parks or even other theme parks.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

each offers a different experience, one is an amusement park... a conglomeration of rides of varying degrees of insanity designed to give you a rush, and make some money in the process. The other is a THEME park, and the single word difference in the description makes all the difference. the theming is what makes the park. You said the amusement parks are more personifying, and that the Disney parks are not "real"... and thats the main point - a theme park is there for you to forget your troubles... and escape to a world where everything is "good". there are no gang wars, shootings and stabbings and violent street crime in a place that is literally out of this world. I visited Disneyland in 1996, and to be honest, when we were inside the park, we could not see anything outside the park walls but sky. It was very easy to forget that on the other side of the walls was the bustling LA traffic. Theme Parks are a place to escape, have fun and forget about life for a while. Amusement Parks do not allow a patron to do so to the same extent. I do not think the two can be compared, because they are so very different in concept and design.

[stdragon03]

First and foremost im not trying to upset anyone i visited Disneyland with my family in 1999 and had a great time but my point some of the tradition Amusement parks do take you to another escape even more so than Disney Parks and they dont try to theme,They have more character due to their history, Nostalga and they represent who they are.There not just a bunch of rides thrown together. This has nothing to do with layout setup or theming this topic about how people's feelings and experiences.