Pleasure Gardens
Amusement parks all started with pleasure gardens. These were located in Medieval Europe and had live entertainment, fireworks, dancing, games and some rides. They were popular until the 1700s when political situations caused a lot of them to close down. Bakken, a pleasure garden north of Copenhagen, is still standing. It opened in 1583 and with the world's oldenst operating amusement park.

Taking Hold in the U.S.
In the late 1800s amusement parks started taking hold in the United States. Most amusement parks were built at the end of a trolley line. They usually had picinic areas, dance halls, restaurants, games and a few rides. They were immediately successful!

The Beginning of the Future
In 1893, amusement parks started to become extremely popular. The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago introduced the ferris wheel and the midway. The midway had a wide variety of rides and concessions and largely influenced amusement park design.

In 1894, Paul Boynton opened the world's first modern amusement park, Paul Boynton's Water Chutes. It charged admission and used rides to draw people to it. In 1895, he also opend a park at Coney Island. Coney Island was central to the amusment park industry. Once it had three big amusement parks, plus smaller attractions.

Over the years, trolley parks expanded, new amusement parks opened and new rides were created. Over 1,500 amusement parks were opened by 1919 in the United States.

Amusement Park Decline
During the Great Depression, amusement park attendance went down greatly. In, 1935, there were only about 400 amusement parks and World War II didn't help matters. Many parks closed during the war and others had to stop adding new rides in order to stay open.

After World War II
After World War II, amusement parks had a sudden popularity boom. New parks opened as more and more people came. Kiddieland was developed for younger kids. It did not last long, however.

Disneyland and Theme Parks
In the 1950s people started to lose interest as the parks grew older. It was during this time that Disneyland was created. It opened in 1955. Many people doubted it would last long. However, Disneyland was an immediate success. Instead of having a midway, it had themed places.

Many people tried, unsuccessfully, to copy Disneyland. In 1961, one company finally succeeded: Six Flags Over Texas. However, as more people grew interested in theme parks, traditional amusement parks started to shut down. Some were able to stay open by copying ideas from theme parks.

Today
Theme parks are still enjoying success. New technology is creating types of rides that were once unattainable. Who knows what the future holds!