I.

Introduction

Funfairs and Amusement Parks, outdoor recreation attractions, with a variety of mechanical rides, games, and other facilities that people pay to use. Both funfairs and amusement parks have their roots in the network of leisure patterns that existed in pre-industrial Europe, with the concept of the theme park, where an entrance fee is set, being a 20th-century practice. The roots of the modern amusement park industry can be traced back to medieval Europe and Britain, when pleasure gardens began to spring up on the outskirts of many major European cities.

II.

Early History

Pleasure gardens flourished in Britain in the 18th century, due in part to a relatively stable and democratic government and thriving international trade, much of which passed through London. The most famous of these pleasure gardens was Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661, with the height of its popularity being in the early 19th century. Other European gardens included Bakken, in Denmark, which opened in 1583 and is the oldest operating amusement park in the world. Vauxhall Gardens became a model for the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen (1843), and numerous other pleasure gardens around Europe. Argued by some historians to be a forerunner of modern amusement parks, the entertainments on offer included theatre shows, firework displays, and dancing and drinking booths. Such was the success of both Vauxhall and the later Tivoli Gardens that both names became generic terms for other pleasure gardens in Europe and the United States. Vauxhall, unlike its continental European counterparts, fell into decay and by 1859 it had closed, with historians blaming the growth of the railway and holiday excursions as a reason for its declining visitor numbers. However, new-style gardens at the edges of large industrial centres, combining the old-style pleasure gardens with other newer attractions were opening, including Belle Vue in Manchester in 1836 and Crystal Palace in London, which opened in 1871.

III.

Travelling Funfairs

Ironically, the advent of the railway and the arrival of the Industrial Revolution resulted in a new lease of life for the travelling fairs in the mid-19th century. Travelling fairs had flourished despite centuries of war, civil unrest, plague, and famine in Europe and owed their existence to an international pattern of trade and commerce that underpinned the medieval economy. By the middle of the 19th century, travelling fairs were under threat in Europe with the impact of the urban economy and the Industrial Revolution threatening their existence as markets of trade. The Victorian fairground in its pre-industrial days was seen as a venue for the pursuit of pleasure—a carnival in which all strata of society could mingle and participate in a multitude of experiences and vices. The fairground needed a new attraction, a marvel that would reflect the technical innovations that were prevalent in Victorian society; they needed an industrial revolution. One which would lay the foundations for the modern travelling amusement business: the introduction of steam-powered roundabouts.

IV.

Technological Advancements

The harnessing of steam to power a simple roundabout or merry-go-round is first mentioned in 1863 at the Midsummer Fair at Halifax in England. Manufacturers started to produce these revolutionary wonders and the 1880s saw the exploitation of the steam-powered roundabouts by the agricultural machinery company Savages of King’s Lynn in Norfolk. Continental European and American manufacturers adapted the principles of such British manufacturers for their own markets. All manner of previously outdated, wooden, hand-operated rides were transformed into modern-age marvels.

From the 1870s onwards a range of differing rides and designs emerged, including the “Switchback” in 1888 and the English 'Gallopers' in 1891; produced by Frederick Savage, this classic ride became known in Europe and the United States as the “Carousel”. European manufacturers, including Friedrich Heyn of the Molbitz-Neustadt Carousel Industry, and Fritz Bothmann & Gluck, adapted the British concept of a merry-go-round. The continental European and American versions differed from their British counterpart in that the original ride operated in an anti-clockwise direction. The mechanical-technical innovations imported from Europe developed as part of a unique American experience from Coney Island (see below) onwards. The growth of the amusement park there was influenced directly by the concept of the “midway”—an area of a fair set aside for sideshows and other amusements. Complete with the first-ever Ferris Wheel, designed by bridge architect George Washington Ferris, the midway of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, with its wide array of rides and concessions, was a huge success and dictated amusement park design in the United States for years to come.

V.

Early Amusement Parks

Coney Island in New York was developed as a resort by Paul Boyton, who moved there after the success of the world’s first amusement park, Paul Boyton’s Water Chutes, on Chicago’s South Side. This first venture used rides as its main draw, instead of picnic facilities or a lake. The success of Boyton’s Chicago park inspired him to open a similar facility at the fledgling Coney Island resort in 1895. During its peak Coney Island was home to three amusement parks alongside dozens of smaller attractions, including the famous sideshows. By the turn of the 20th century, amusement parks were opening throughout the United States.

The amusement park industry in the United States grew rapidly over the next three decades. This new, permanently located entertainment venue was open daily all year round and new innovations provided greater and more intense thrills for the growing crowds. The New York Carousal Manufacturing Company, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, and William Johnson and William Mangels produced roundabouts specifically for parks rather than for touring; by 1919 there were over 1,500 amusement parks in operation in the United States.

VI.

European Amusement Parks and Seaside Funfairs

The concept of the amusement park was exported to Europe and transformed the outdated pleasure gardens, with new rides and attractions being commissioned to draw the people in. The Prater in Vienna became home to a large Ferris-style wheel designed by William Bassett; it was followed by another in Blackpool in 1900. Blackpool developed into the most successful early seaside amusement park in Europe. William Bean visited Coney Island in New York and returned to England impressed by what he had seen; he bought 12 hectares (30 acres) of land in Blackpool and opened a funfair there in 1896. Blackpool had previously been home to a scenic railway, a ride popular throughout Europe, but Bean introduced larger and more technologically advanced rides, such as the first roller coaster, a switchback railway that debuted in 1904. However, the legacy of the travelling fair continued to dominate the fairground industry in Europe, with the latest developments in ride technology (with the exception of the roller coaster) being linked to the operational needs of the travelling exhibitor.

VII.

Amusements in the 20th Century

The late 1920s saw a downturn for the amusement industry in the United States, especially after 1929 when the country entered the Great Depression. Only 400 amusement parks remained by 1935, and many of these were struggling to survive. World War II further affected the industry. Many parks closed and others were unable to afford new attractions. In Europe, German manufacturers became the staple of both the fairground and the seaside amusement park from the 1920s onwards. New electric fairground rides began to illuminate the fairground landscape with futuristic designs. The clamour for new and modern sensations saw the advent of exciting rides, with many of the old attractions being superseded by the Whip, the Caterpillar and the Wall of Death. Bygone steam-powered relics were replaced by Chair-o-planes from Germany and in 1928 by the Dodgems. These innovative and thrill-packed rides captured the mood of the time, and the attractions were invoked by names such as the Skid, the Swirl, and the Waltzer. The pursuit of speed saw the widespread use of rides linked to flight, speed, and technology.

VIII.

Post-War Entertainments

Following World War II, the US amusement park industry enjoyed post-war prosperity. Attendances and revenues grew as more parks opened across the country. New ideas were introduced, including “Kiddieland”—an amusement park for children that introduced a younger generation in the rapidly growing suburbs to the joys of the amusement park. Unfortunately, this resurgence was short-lived: emerging youth cultures, including rock and roll, and the growth of television took their toll on the ageing, urban amusement park. In Europe, too, the dawn of the rock-and-roll age announced a new era for the leisure industry taking it away from its 1940s austerity and rationing. However, as in the 19th century when the fairground industry appeared outdated and out of fashion, an injection of modern ideas was needed to entice back the public, and it arrived with the introduction of the theme park.

IX.

Theme Parks

Theme parks were pioneered in the United States in the 1950s by Walt Disney when he opened Disneyland in California in 1955. It was intended as a safe, sanitized, and closed environment, unspoiled by the carnivalesque atmosphere of the amusement parks personified by Coney Island. Disney was unlike other parks in that it did not offer a “midway” with freak shows, fortune-tellers, and white-knuckle rides, but instead consisted of five distinct themed areas, providing “guests” with the fantasy of travel to different lands and times. Entrance to the overall park and attractions on offer was by way of a one-price ticket, unlike traditional parks where entrance was free but rides and shows were paid for individually. Although predicted to be a commercial disaster, Disneyland was an immediate triumph and imitators followed throughout the United States, with Six Flags Over Texas (built in 1961) the most successful. The theme park era was born and new attractions were opened at major cities throughout the United States. Walt Disney World in Florida followed in 1971 and is now regarded as one of the most visited theme parks in the world; Disney theme park franchises also operate in Tokyo and Paris.

In England the theme park era was introduced by John Broome at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. He introduced the one-ticket entry scheme, complete with a new roller coaster attraction called “the Corkscrew”. Prior to that, the latest rides and park innovations had been introduced at the amusement parks and Blackpool’s seafront funfair, and in continental Europe on the travelling fairs. The theme park revolution in the 1980s meant the amusement industry in general entered a new phase, with many old-style amusement parks substituting a one-ticket entry system in place of the more traditional payments per ride. In order to attract the thrill-seeking public, the amusement park industry started to invest in bigger and more high-tech white-knuckle rides. Largely built by Dutch and Italian companies, the fairground ride manufacturing business diversified for the theme park and amusement industry in the United States and the travelling and permanent park industry in Europe.

Theme park development slowed in the late 1980s in the United States but saw spectacular growth in Europe, personified by the opening of Euro Disney in Paris (now known as Disneyland Paris) in 1992 which, although not an immediate success, adapted its US-style story books to reflect the original European origin of many of the Disney fairy tales. Other theme parks dedicated to local cultures and traditions opened in France, including one based on the comic strip series Asterix the Gaul. The theme park industry in the United States was boosted by the construction of the Universal Studio Tours in Universal City, California, with its innovative Back to the Future ride opening in 1991 being inspired by the popular film.

X.

Recent Developments

Following the growth and expansion of the theme park industry in the late 1980s many commentators predicted the end of the more traditional travelling funfairs and the more sedate, old-fashioned amusement parks. Coney Island, for example, has rapidly declined since the 1970s but its counterpart in England—Blackpool Pleasure Beach—is still one of the largest visitor attractions in England, with 7 million visitors a year. Innovations in ride technology and the allure of the travelling fair tradition in Europe mean the popularity of the funfair is undimmed. The annual Oktoberfest, held in Munich, Germany, since 1810, attracts more than 6 million visitors each autumn, and annual fairs held at Hull and Nottingham (Nottingham Goose Fair), in England attract 1 million visitors. Hundreds of travelling fairs operate in Europe. Old, established fairs such as those at Leipzig in Germany and Tilburg in the Netherlands offer every form of modern high-tech attraction that can be found within a theme park, including roller coasters. The modern amusement industry now operates at both macro and micro levels: large-scale theme parks on the edges of towns and cities co-exist alongside the travelling funfair and the slightly slower-paced amusement park located by the sea or in urban parklands.