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How Did Disneyland Change American Culture

900 Words4 Pages

Disneyland has been creating magic for children and adults since it opened in the summer of 1955. Known for its Mickey Ears and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Disneyland emulates the power of imagination for which Walt Disney believed. While the Disney parks are located around the world, the original “Happiest Place on Earth” rests in America and is the only one that was designed by Disney himself. This year, Disneyland celebrated its 60th year of magic. Disneyland’s presence in America has transformed American pop culture and entertainment. The opening of Disneyland has affected American culture by revolutionizing American amusement parks, increasing American leisure activities, and altering the American family vacation. Disneyland opened its …show more content…

Before Disneyland, there was Coney Island. Coney Island was a run-down amusement park with Carnival rides and kid attractions. However, the amusement park was not the style Disney had in mind for his dream. “The Disney organization made every effort to disassociate itself from all other amusement parks of the day” (Weinstein 132). He wanted a park that was appealing to both children and adults. This view allowed Disney to focus on the thematic entertainment of his park. Coney Island and other amusement parks put the vision of a Disney park in Walt Disney’s head, but Disney twisted the ideas behind amusement parks to create his own park that became labeled as a “theme park”. Instead of centralizing around rides like the typical amusement park, Disney’s park revolved around a theme of magic and imagination. This focus lead Disneyland to be the first theme park. Disney changed the American perspective on entertainment parks. Parks were no longer just amusement parks. Now, they had the possibility of being theme parks. The difference between an amusement park and a theme park was how entertainment is created. Amusement parks use adrenaline rides to attract visitors while theme park use a centralized foundation of correlating subjects. While Disney included elements of carnival rides, he did so by matching them with the theme of the park. These subjects for Disney were the ideas of magic,

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