Category: Amusement Park

Coney Island is no ordinary amusement park, but a place to experience all that society has to offer in one location. As John F. Kasson, author of ‘Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (American Century)’, wrote, “the popular resort quickly became a symbol not only of fun and frolic but also of major changes in American manners and morals” (p.6). Coney Island was “designed not simply to amuse but to instruct their users in lessons of aesthetic taste and social responsibility, and to inspire them with a respect for cultural standards” (p.10). Coney Island became a place for anyone to learn about other cultures while also enjoying leisure time. The study and analysis of Coney Island Amusement Park is important to today’s world because it created a new mass culture by bringing all types of people together, allowed the people to be free from regulations, and provided a new kind of activity during leisure time.

‘Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (American Century)’ has taught me that even something as simple as an amusement park can bring people and cultures together. People from in state, out of state, and all over travelled to Coney Island to experience its incorporated new technological inventions, such as the roller coaster and electric lights. If Coney Island was simply a normal amusement park, why were the park’s visitors from all over the nation? Kasson stated that “some who could not afford no more than carfare still came to Coney” (p.39). All social classes were brought together in a way they had never seen before. This park combined roller coasters, movies, circus events, variety shows, libraries, art galleries, and museums all into one. Due to social statuses, many people could not afford to visit the park often, therefore, they would save their money to go on special occasions, which made Coney Island one of the biggest attractions in the nation. People went “merely for the joy of mixing with the crowd on the public street, and catching the live sense of humanity and of good humor that is everywhere”, as Kasson wrote (p.38). During the book’s period, many people did not have the time to experience other religions, customs, or lifestyles because they were forced to work extreme hours to survive. Coney brought the people a place to relax while embracing each other’s values. Due to the fact that everyone, despite their wealth or status, went to Coney, culture had the ability to mix and spread. Coney also focused on integrating immigrants and working-class groups into the mix to create one mass culture. This was attributed to the fact that the United States was getting closer to becoming one nation and one people. Kasson claimed that “it’s purest expression at this time lay in the realm of commercial amusements, which were creating symbols of the new cultural order, helping to knit a heterogeneous audience into a cohesive whole” (p.3). He was explaining that amusement parks at that time were the reason for this idea of a new mass culture. It is your personal responsibility to learn about other cultures. You cannot expect to grow or know if your decision is ethical without learning about other cultures first. Making an ethical decision is easier after knowing how your decision will affect the rest of your community or nation. This was one of the first times in history that all aspects of life were shown to society in one single location.

Coney Island was a place to get away from the daily hardships of life. People worked extreme hours hoping to make enough money just to survive. Kasson stated that unlike other parks and expositions, Coney “provided an area in which visitors were temporarily freed from normative demands” (p.41) and “it encouraged visitors to shed momentarily their accustomed roles and status” (p.41). Once entering the gates of Coney Island, there was a sense of holiday and relaxation. For just a few hours or a day, there was no need to worry about the realities of work, life, home, money or status. By letting go of these responsibilities, people were able to learn about others. It was one of the first places in history that worried more about breaking down personal restraints rather than reinforcing regular daily life into their experience. This brought about the idea of leisure time.

Leisure is free time that is mainly used for enjoyment purposes. At the time of Coney Island, many people barely had any time to get away from daily duties and work, but people would still find a way to go to Coney Island. Kasson ruled that “it represented a cultural accommodation to the developing urban-industrial society in a tighter integration of work and leisure than ever before” (p.106). Leisure is a vital aspect of one’s personal responsibility. It may seem absurd that leisure has anything to do with personal responsibility, but without the time to relax how can you expect someone to fully give their attention to their responsibilities? People used to be drained of having to work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, with almost no time away from work just to be making bare minimum. Personally, I need my time to relax and take my mind off of school so that I can come back mentally prepared to work my best throughout the week. Coney Island gave people this time to mentally check out so that they can mentally check back into work the next week. It is your personal responsibility to be prepared and focused throughout the workweek, but without a leisure time you would eventually give out. Finally, Kasson expressed that the American people “sensed the emergence of a large new heterogeneous audience who simultaneously desired the assurance of ‘wholesome’ entertainment and hungered for forms and themes that satisfied their task for sensory and emotional release” (p.35). Coney Island was a great place to get relief from life.

Not only was Coney Island an amusement park with roller coasters, electric lights, and fun activities, it was a place where a new mass culture was created, a place to be free from the emotional hardships of life, and a place to participate in fun activities during your leisure time. One’s ability to learn about other cultures, engage in their community, and make ethical decisions can all be cultivated at Coney Island. Learning about cultures will help you become an active participant in your community and teach you how to make the best decision not only for yourself but for everyone around you.

In the summer of 2018, I had the terrifying experience of my life. I planned to go out with my friends on a beautiful sunny day. We went on a trip to Michigan’s Adventure. I thought it would be an exciting day for me, but everything was out of my control. I had never felt so scared in my life.

After coming back from my extended summer vacation in Vietnam, I was planning to travel to Chicago with my friends. But due to job reasons, we couldn’t have a long time for a trip. So, we changed our plans and decided to go to Michigan’s Adventure in Muskegon County, Michigan. It is a long-standing entertainment district. It was originally founded in 1956 as a zoo. But until 1988, it was renamed Michigan’s Adventure. That shows the amusement park has not stopped and continues to grow until now to attract guests of all ages and to bring joy to them.

It took us about fifty-three minutes to arrive. Although I have been in the United States for almost four years, this is the first time I went to this amusement park. So, I was impressed by its brilliant appearance and flashiness. Its bustle mixed with the airy, making everyone come here feeling refreshed and relaxed. Its area is vast, and it divides into two regions. The games will be arranged in front to make customers when they first enter easily feel the appeal of it by roller coasters, giant wheels and flying games, etc. In the rear is the water games area. I think this layout is ingenious. Because most passengers will start the game that they were impressed by at first glance. They will then look to water games to soothe the heat of the weather and begin to relax. So, we chose a roller coaster game ‘Corkscrew’ to start the day exploring this place. Everything seemed reasonable until we got on the ship to prepare to play. I began to feel nervous, my heart pounding and chilling. I began to comfort myself because this is not my first time playing roller coaster. But I swear I think I held my breath during that game.

When the roller coaster had just started, I could open my eyes to observe, and my breathing began to get more evenly because the speed at this time was nothing scary. But then after a few seconds, the roller coaster started to go faster with reversals and to whirl in a spiral. My eyes could not open at that moment, they were utterly closed, I began to grit my teeth. I caught my breath, and my body started to freeze as if trying not to fall off the train. I was trying to stay calm and relaxed while being frightened is not easy. While my body was trying to hold on, my mind had a flashback of a movie I had seen. That is the movie ‘Final Destination 3’, an American horror film directed by James Wong. It’s about a high school girl and her friends going to an amusement park. They were playing the roller coaster once she dreamed that the roller coaster would derail and fall; everyone will die. After awakening, she talked about what she saw in her dream, and she advised everyone to leave that roller coaster. Although she helped people escape death, it wasn’t long before everyone had to pay for that escape. Fear welled up when I thought of the scene that would happen to me. The roller coaster started to slow down to prepare to enter the stop. At that moment, I could open my eyes but still could not breathe again until the roller coaster completely stopped at the station. When the roller coaster came to a complete stop, the seat belt began to open. I was the one who stood up the fastest and left that game area first. I feel like my mind and body seem to be dead. I just want to get out of there and forget about my personal belongings. My friends had to bring it for me.

It was the first time in my life that I felt so scared to breathe, and my heart seemed to stop. I could not determine what my fear was. If people say I’m afraid of death, that’s completely wrong. I still remember when I was little, it was a summer outing. I accidentally slipped into the hotel pool, but no one discovered that. I struggled until my father saved me. After that incident, I was not wholly obsessed and afraid of water. Although up to the present time, I still can’t swim, I always enjoyed playing underwater or sailing in the middle of the lake without a life jacket.

To talk about fear, there are many fears in human life. Based on a post by Corinne O’Keefe Osborn, “A phobia is an irrational fear of something that’s unlikely to cause harm. The word itself comes from the Greek word ‘phobos’, which means fear or horror”. It shows that although what we are afraid of will not be harmful, it can cause obsession and affect the daily activities in our lives. Most phobias are common in adults, but not everyone can identify the causes of that fear. From that article, we can see that for common phobias, we can easily confirm this: for example, hydrophobia – fear of water, acrophobia – fear of heights, hemophobia – fear of blood, etc. Unlike different phobias, we can hardly identify the cause of fear because the factors are too usual, for example, alektorophobia – fear of chickens, cryophobia – fear of ice or cold, etc.

As for what I’ve felt throughout the game, I can verify that my fear is acrophobia. It comes from my obsession with horror movies I’ve seen, so I always think they will happen to me. I have thought many times that I would avoid things related to that fear. But it seems that fear is making me miss out on the great things, the exciting things that I should try and feel. To overcome my fears, I have been attempting to look up a lot about how to overcome them and cure my anxiety. And the results were achieved beyond my expectations. There are many ways I can apply them; one of them is a combination of treatment and medicine. According to the research of Antoine Verger et al., “Brain metabolism and related connectivity in patients with acrophobia treated by virtual reality therapy”, they use virtual reality to create a treatment course and rely on the brain’s metabolism to determine the effectiveness of the treatment process. Initially, the patients will be treated with medication and psychiatric therapy for about eight weeks so that the patients can stabilize themselves. They then began to combine with exposure to virtual reality called ‘VRET’. Background in the virtual world will have a bridge made of colorful wooden planks; it is set between two high hills. The bridge will have no handrails and strikingly colored wooden planks will be considered gaps. The patient must cross the bridge. At the same time, the instructor will use the scanner to observe the metabolism of the patient’s brain, as well as the areas affected by fear. Throughout the process, the instructor will assist patients in overcoming their doubts by asking questions and giving advice. This course will take about two months, and of course, the results are valid if cured acrophobia. Patients can overcome the fear they are suffering.

But people will think about whether their fear is necessary to use and spend a lot of time on that treatment. There is still another solution, which is I must overcome fear by myself. Based on the article of MacNeil and Charlotte Haigh, “You might need an action plan to get over your fears so you can achieve the things you readily want to do”. That plan will help me learn to stay away from negative thoughts and stay calm before everything is happening, not try to hold on to negative thoughts, and I will fall into an uncontrollable self. Next, I will write or think in my head about the reasons that scare me and the evidence that these things will happen. I would then realize that it was the absurd phobia that I always thought was true and that it was reality.

Typically, after the fear of roller coaster games, I did not want to participate in any other games. Although my friends advised me a lot, I still refused. But after a long time later, when we arrived at the water play area, I felt the fear begin to pass. So, I decided to join my friends on the water slide. While playing this game, my feeling of dread almost repeated. But I try not to think of other thoughts in my head and try to blend in with my surroundings. But I failed, I still close my eyes, don’t scream, and tried to brace myself. But I didn’t give up and decided to play it a second time. I have set a goal for myself to open my eyes and be able to scream whenever I feel scared. And the second time I overcame my fear, I started to feel more relaxed and relaxed with the rhythm of the waterfall. The feeling when playing is really refreshing and extremely enjoyable. So, I was able to join and relax with my friends in other games later.

At the end of the day, my friends and I have dinner and take souvenir photos. It was a beautiful trip to Michigan’s Adventure, and it was also a day full of memories of what happened, as well as my fear. More specifically, I’ve gained experience and can overcome my fears by facing them. It also proves that everyone can overcome their fears if they are willing to face challenges to challenge themselves and conquer new experiences.

Works Cited

1. Champion, Brandon. Looking Back at Michigan’s Adventure Amusement Park, Deer Park Through Photos, 20 Jan.2019, www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2015/05/looking_back_at_michigans_adve.html
2. Osborn, Corinne O. Common and Unique Fears Explained, 3 Jan.2019, www.healthline.com/health/list-of-phobias
3. Verger, Antoine, et al. Brain Metabolism and Related Connectivity in Patients with Acrophobia Treated by Virtual Reality Therapy: An 18F-FDG PET Pilot Study Sensitized by Virtual Exposure, 2018, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13550-018-0446-9#citeas
4. MacNeil, Charlotte H. ‘OVERCOME Your Fears’. Health & Fitness, 06, 2015, pp. 45. ProQuest, http://grcc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.grcc.idm.oclc.org/docview/1680664931?accountid=11183

Amusement parks are mainly known as the most exciting places in the world. They are mostly visited in the summer by families. It is a place where you can strengthen your bond between family and friends. Amusement parks are great because they offer a great choice of attractions for all different types of age groups. In many families, it becomes a tradition to visit an amusement park once in a while as a family. Since a young child, I was always taken to Sesame Place, so, therefore, it has become a tradition to always take my son.

As you wait in the long lines to get in, you experience a lot of different things. You see young kids getting yelled at by the parent to stay still. You can see the tall roller coasters going up very slowly and down very fast, causing riders to scream. While in line you can smell anything, from sweets from the candy store to the hot dog stand and the body odor of people running and walking around. All you hear is ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool’ from tourists, witnessing a heart-dropping moment from a ride.

Next is when the real stress began, deciding on what ride to go first. The Flying Fish Ride was the first we encountered. As my son gets ready to be buckled up, I could see the excitement on his face, while several other parents and I had a frighten look on our face, scared of what might happen. The ride first started slowly by going up and down. In a matter of seconds, the speed started to increase. When the ride stopped you saw the satisfaction look on every kid’s face. Next was time for the Mini Monster Clubhouse.

The park food offerings were better than you would expect, it had many healthful options available. The prices for the food were really expensive, but it was worth it. We ate pizza with tenders and fries. Everything was fresh, the fries were very crispy and the pizza had the perfect amount of mozzarella cheese. The best part of lunchtime was the characters who were also dining with us. When the character walked, in every child’s face was lit up. Elmo, Ernie, Bert, and Abby were able to put on a show. The characters were very friendly and did a great job of choosing how to interact in ways that were best for both the kids and parents. It could be said that everyone was comfortable.

Sesame Place is the perfect theme park for little kids. Everything is meant for children, both under and over 42 inches. They have plenty of activities to take part in. A lot of things have changed from the food menus to the rides. One thing that hasn’t changed is the educational child appropriation entertainment, which is why a lot of families enjoy visiting with the young ones. Here, not only a child will have the best time of his life, but also an adult’s inner child can come out.

A marine theme park, sometimes called an aquarium, is where marine animals are kept and open for public viewing for both entertainment and educational purposes. Marine theme parks have grown extremely popular over the years, and according to Gusset (2011), there are more than 700 million visits to aquariums per annum. Thus, it is obvious that the potential of marine theme parks to play a significant role in public education and marine animal conservation is noteworthy. Although it is to be said that marine theme parks are against ethics, however, it should not be banned as it is highly beneficial as education centers and helps in marine animal research purposes.

Marine theme parks, as educational centers, provide great learning opportunities by allowing visitors to have a greater understanding of marine animals. Visitors expressed now being able to understand marine animals better, despite the on-site visit being only conducted for a few hours with minimum formal education sessions, and that they have realized that marine animals deserve much respect just as any other living beings (Packer & Ballantyne, 2010). Statistics of a study at the National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB), dated March to July 1999, also show that up to 93% of exiting visitors expressed being able to receive an impactful message, meanwhile, 12% of visitors came out feeling grateful and showed appreciation for the environment (Adelman, Falk & James, 2010). A short-term increase in conservation-related knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviors can be observed from participants of on-site interaction programs like dolphin shows, and all of these three attributes are significantly higher when compared to participants’ entry-level (Miller et al., 2013). Additionally, an increase in long-term conservation-based knowledge is also shown by participants, which there is a significant difference between participants and non-participants when putting their conservation knowledge in comparison (Miller et al., 2012).

Marine parks also serve as a research base for wildlife researchers and marine biologists. Routine behavior monitoring is being performed on animals kept in aquariums for research purposes. Regular behavioral monitoring can help to keep animals’ physiological and physical status on track, whereas sound behavioral monitoring is used to recognize atypical behavior in animals (Watters et al., 2008). With something as minor as weight gain and nutritional intake in question, the cost and effort come into the picture if the animal is not held captive in the aquarium but is instead in the wild. One of the most notable studies carried out in marine theme parks includes the stimulation of climate change, in terms of temperature change and salinity shift, to observe the effect of climate change on fish growth, breeding, and behavior. Plenty of species that are managed in the marine park are not studied in the wild, therefore aquariums provide excellent opportunities for researchers and scientists to collect data for the study of stress exerted on marine animals by climate change without the concerns of high costs (Barbosa, 2009).

However, animal advocates protested that keeping marine animals in captivity is in fact inhumane and immoral for marine animals deserve the right to live freely as much as other living beings do. Animal philosophers have raised their voices that animals in captivity should be given rights and moral considerations equal to what is given to human beings, and they believed that any form of human use on animals is wrong (Kreger & Hutchins, 2010). Marine parks are also being criticized for the possibility of the facility exploiting marine animals for commercial gain, as the necessity of marine animals to be held in captivity for the sake of public education has caused arguments (Kreger & Hutchins, 2010). Even though there is no doubt that keeping marine animals in captivity is indeed unethical, however, this action is unavoidable as it is essential for animals to be in aquariums in order to perform conservation procedures for marine animals on the brink of extinction. Comparing the alternative between ‘letting marine animals face extinction in the wild than keeping them in captivity’ and ‘keeping marine animals in aquariums but ensuring that their species is not endangered’, the latter serves as a better option when being analyzed this way, as it is not moral either to let marine animals face extinction without taking any action. In this case, zoos, the land counterparts of aquariums, have performed ex-situ breeding and proved successful results with the restoration of the Arabian oryx, the black-footed ferret, and the California Condor, which all of them previously were endangered but were brought back through conservation procedures in a controlled environment (Minteer & Collins, 2013). Therefore, despite keeping marine animals in captivity is immoral and inhumane, letting them face extinction in the wild without taking any action is not any better either.

In conclusion, marine theme parks should not be banned as they benefit society in terms of public education and scientific research. Despite keeping marine animals in captivity may sound inhumane to some, this may be the best alternative in order to keep the marine system functioning now that the marine environment has been facing destruction due to the activities of humans, with the direct victims of such acts being the marine life population. Therefore, with combined forces of educating the public, researching, and conserving marine life, the marine environment may see a light of hope before things worsen.