Dollywood is an icon of the South. Located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the theme park is a southern staple, ordained with the people and places of the old south and crowned by the charm of country queen Dolly Parton herself. After opening in the early twentieth century as a simple coal fired railroad attraction, the Read More…
Disney’s America
Our previous post explored the disastrous downfall of what is now Disneyland Paris, and how that park’s failure destroyed thousands of plans and dashed the ideas of hundreds of Walt Disney Imagineers. Today we’ll take a look at one of the most ambitious of those ideas – Disney’s America. Disney’s America was intended to be Read More…
€uro Disneyland: Economic Disaster
On April 12, 1992, the Walt Disney Company officially opened the first Disney-owned theme park outside of the United States. The ill-titled Euro Disney Resort opened with the Euro Disneyland Park, the Disney Village shopping center, and six resort hotels with nearly 6000 rooms ready for guests. The Walt Disney Imagineers had, for the first Read More…
IP Heaven: Brands Galore
Yesterday afternoon, upon the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the Walt Disney Company’s individual share worth was $114.01. For Disney, this is equivalent to a $169.96 billion market cap. This is a colossal number for one of the largest media conglomerates on Earth. To put such a value into perspective, we can look Read More…
Home, Sweet Home
Today I am going to take a more personal look at theme parks. Actually, in this post, we’ll more than likely be looking at amusement parks. Though very similar, there is, in fact, a difference between the two. Amusement parks are like theme parks, but with less of an emphasis on thematic immersion and more Read More…
Magic is Universal: The Competition Era
While the Walt Disney Company had been the outright king of the theme park industry for nearly a decade at the time, Universal Studios Hollywood opened in 1964 as a different type of amusement experience. Truthfully, it was not much of a competitor to Walt’s wonderland. It was more of a side trip for tourists Read More…
The Dream Called EPCOT
Since the dawn of time, humans have drawn pictures to tell stories. In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce captured the first photograph. In 1888, Louis Le Prince presented the first motion picture. In 1927, The Jazz Singer introduced sound to movies. However, in 1955, Walt Disney introduced the world to the most immersive form of entertainment Read More…