Welcome to Theme Park Place
Theme park place is the best place to get up to date infomation on theme parks. Whether you are interested in roller coasters, thrill rides, themed attractions, or gool old fashined family fun, you ahve come to the right place.
What's new for 2014
Here are some of the new and exciting things happening in 2012 at theme parks across the North American continent.
| Goliath (New 2014) Six Flags Great Americ |
 |
| It’s official. Coming in 2014, Six Flags Great America will introduce a brand new triple-record-breaking wooden coaster that will be the new staple of the park’s skyline. This giant new beast will feature impressive heights, astonishing speeds, and stomach-tightening inversions: Goliath will be the world’s fastest wooden coaster with the tallest and steepest drop, plunging riders down 180 feet and rocketing through twists and turns at 72 miles per hour. More... |
| Thunderbolt (New 2014) Coney Island |
 |
| Thunderbolt”, will be built at Coney Island and open for next year’s summer season. Thrilling riders with speeds of 65 miles per hour, the 125 foot tall roller coaster, featuring over 2,000 feet of track, will sit near the historic B&B Carousell and the new Steeplechase Plaza, and mark another important milestone in Coney Island’s rebirth. Thunderbolt will be built and operated by Central Amusement International (CAI), the operator of Luna Park, entirely through private investment. |
| Theme Park Place |
|
|
| Roller Coasters |
| Banshee Kings Island Ohio new 2014 |
 |
| The world’s longest inverted roller coaster, “Banshee,” makes its highly-anticipated debut this year at Kings Island. The first female-inspired thrill ride at a Cedar Fair Entertainment amusement park, Banshee will send riders screaming through 4124.1 feet of track and seven mind-bending inversions at speeds up to 68 miles per hour! |
| Transformers 3D (New 2014) |
 |
| Prepare for the greatest battle you’ll ever ride! The new TRANSFORMERS: The Ride–3D is an ultra-immersive, next generation thrill ride that blurs the line between fiction and reality! |
| Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (New 2014) Magic Kingdon |
Embark for family-friendly thrills as you enjoy the twistiest, turniest, rollickingest ride in New Fantasyland. Showcasing a first-of-its kind coaster system, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train cruises along through a fabulous mine—glittering with diamonds, emeralds and other precious gems—swinging and swaying Guests up large lifts, across sharp banks and around exhilarating turns. |
Theme parks have their origin int the early fairs of the 1500s. Fairs were a center of amusement with entertainment, food, games, and carnival-like freak-show attractions. Oktoberfest is not only a beer festival but also provided amusement park features beginning in 1810, when the first event was held in Munich, Germany. By the early 1900s, hundreds of amusement parks were operating in the United States and Canada.
Starting in 1920, farmer Walter Knott and his family developed their Buena Park berry farm into a popular tourist attraction. Originally selling berries, homemade berry preserves and pies from a roadside stand, Knott built a restaurant, shops and stores onto the property by the 1930s. These were then augmented with minor attractions and curiosities until Knott gradually created Ghost Town, transforming them from a way-point to a Western themed destination in 1940. World class rides were then built and free entertainment drew crowds.
Walt Disney was influenced by Knotts Berry Farm. Disney took berry fram influences and melded them with the popular Disney animated characters and his unique vision, and "Disneyland" was born. Disneyland officially opened in Anaheim, California in 1955 and changed the amusement industry forever. Key to the design process of Disney's new park was the replacement of architects with art directors from the film industry.