Amusement park and theme park are terms for a group of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground, usually providing attractions meant to cater to children, teenagers, and adults.
A theme park is differentiated from an amusement park by its various 'lands' (sections) devoted to telling a particular story. These lands are characterized by the idea that the immersive environment they create contains architecture, landscaping, stores, rides, and even food that support a specific theme. Visual intrusion from other 'lands', or from outside the park, are considered undesirable. Non-theme amusement park rides will usually have little in terms of theming or additional design elements. Also, a single themed attraction by itself does not qualify an amusement park as a theme park. It takes a multiplicity of elements in a common area to define a 'land', and numerous lands to constitute a theme park. The original theme park, and archetype of the designation is Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Amusement parks evolved in Europe from fairs and pleasure gardens which were created for people’s recreation. The oldest amusement park of the world (opened 1583) is Bakken, at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. In the United States, world's fairs and expositions were another influence on development of the amusement park industry.[1]
Most amusement parks have a fixed location, as compared to traveling funfairs and carnivals. These temporary types of amusement parks, are usually present for a few days or weeks per year, such as funfairs in the United Kingdom, and carnivals (temporarily set up in a vacant lot or parking lots) and fairs (temporarily operated in a fair ground) in the United States. The temporary nature of these fairs helps to convey the feeling that people are in a different place or time.
