I'm old. I just barely made it into the Baby Boomer generation by a few months. And as it happened, I chanced to live in the Los Angeles area a couple of times during the middle and late 1960s when I was quite young, then again in the mid-1970s when I was early into my teens. In between and after, I've wandered all over most of the US. All along the way in my misspent youth, I went to what were called, back then, "amusement parks". I confess that this whole "theme park" phrase is rather new to me.
Anyway, back in the 60s, there were a bunch of small amusement parks in nearly every town. Pier parks, fun fairs, that sort of thing. Midway games, some flat rides, and maybe a rickety old woody if you were lucky. And of course the travelling carnies that would set up shop for a week or so in the parking lot of the local supermarket. These had Scramblers, Kickflips, double-ended ferris wheels, and midway games. And they'd leave town hurriedly whenever somebody got killed.
But Los Angeles was ahead of the curve on all that. Back then, it had what was then the 1-and-only Disneyland and a Busch Gardens, plus Knott's Berry Farm. All were way bigger and way different than what you could find elsewhere in the US at that time. But they were still just "amusement parks", not "theme parks". And they were very different than they are today. Which is what I want to talk about.
So let's start with Disneyland in the 60s-70s. It was good in some ways and sucked in others. The suckage was the ticket books. You weren't free to choose what rides you went on how often. Instead, when you paid to get in, you got a ticket book, which had tickets for specific rides in it. You could buy several different versions of the ticket book, each of which had more or less tickets for various rides, but no matter which you bought, you weren't at all interested in half the rides you got tickets for, and never enough for the rides you really liked. But otherwise, you could tell the place was a cut above normal. It had more rides and they were usually much better, but the theming wasn't as thick as it later become. For example, the Matterhorm was a hollow shell. When the bobsleds went inside it, you could see the inside of the outer shell all held up by scaffolding sitting on a concrete slab, with various bits of litter scattered about, dropped there by folks on the skyride or maybe employees. I wouldn't call it a "theme" park because it had no theme. This patch was Main Street USA, this patch was Frontierland, this patch was Tomorrowland. IOW, a bunch of random things thrown together. And they closed the park early so you watched the fireworks from the parking lot while sitting on the roof of your car. You could even come just for the fireworks, paying a nominal parking fee.
Busch Gardens was just a garden full of macaws. The only ride, other than the brewery tour, was a boat pretending it was in the Amazon, with macaws on every tree. And there was a show of trained macaws. The macaws were usually drunk, as were most of the guests, because there was free beer everywhere. Everything was aboutbeer lager. Which I suppose is a theme.
Then there was Knott's Berry Farm. I went to this most often because for some months I lived in a motel right across the street. Back then, it was still a berry farm, with rows of berry bushes occupying much of its acreage, right in the middle of L.A. The main attractions were watching various jellies and candies being made. But it did have a steam carousel and a live steam train that got robbed by bandits who chased it down on horses, swung aboard, and had a shootout in each car with any lawmen who were riding along. The whole thing was themed Old West. I found it the most interesting of all these places.
Anyway, back in the 60s, there were a bunch of small amusement parks in nearly every town. Pier parks, fun fairs, that sort of thing. Midway games, some flat rides, and maybe a rickety old woody if you were lucky. And of course the travelling carnies that would set up shop for a week or so in the parking lot of the local supermarket. These had Scramblers, Kickflips, double-ended ferris wheels, and midway games. And they'd leave town hurriedly whenever somebody got killed.
But Los Angeles was ahead of the curve on all that. Back then, it had what was then the 1-and-only Disneyland and a Busch Gardens, plus Knott's Berry Farm. All were way bigger and way different than what you could find elsewhere in the US at that time. But they were still just "amusement parks", not "theme parks". And they were very different than they are today. Which is what I want to talk about.
So let's start with Disneyland in the 60s-70s. It was good in some ways and sucked in others. The suckage was the ticket books. You weren't free to choose what rides you went on how often. Instead, when you paid to get in, you got a ticket book, which had tickets for specific rides in it. You could buy several different versions of the ticket book, each of which had more or less tickets for various rides, but no matter which you bought, you weren't at all interested in half the rides you got tickets for, and never enough for the rides you really liked. But otherwise, you could tell the place was a cut above normal. It had more rides and they were usually much better, but the theming wasn't as thick as it later become. For example, the Matterhorm was a hollow shell. When the bobsleds went inside it, you could see the inside of the outer shell all held up by scaffolding sitting on a concrete slab, with various bits of litter scattered about, dropped there by folks on the skyride or maybe employees. I wouldn't call it a "theme" park because it had no theme. This patch was Main Street USA, this patch was Frontierland, this patch was Tomorrowland. IOW, a bunch of random things thrown together. And they closed the park early so you watched the fireworks from the parking lot while sitting on the roof of your car. You could even come just for the fireworks, paying a nominal parking fee.
Busch Gardens was just a garden full of macaws. The only ride, other than the brewery tour, was a boat pretending it was in the Amazon, with macaws on every tree. And there was a show of trained macaws. The macaws were usually drunk, as were most of the guests, because there was free beer everywhere. Everything was about
Then there was Knott's Berry Farm. I went to this most often because for some months I lived in a motel right across the street. Back then, it was still a berry farm, with rows of berry bushes occupying much of its acreage, right in the middle of L.A. The main attractions were watching various jellies and candies being made. But it did have a steam carousel and a live steam train that got robbed by bandits who chased it down on horses, swung aboard, and had a shootout in each car with any lawmen who were riding along. The whole thing was themed Old West. I found it the most interesting of all these places.
. And the transitions between areas got smoother and more stuff got added and/or reworked. Eventually it evolved into what it is today. But I think a big part of that was them starting from scratch in Florida, then retrofitting the original with some of those ideas. Political correctness has also impacted it. Originally, the operator of the jungle boat ride would shoot blanks at animatronic hippos attacking the boat, and there were Indians massacring a frontier family by their burning cabin. Don't see that anymore.
