Amusement/theme parks in topical discussions

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I am a huge fan of amusement and theme parks, especially Disney parks, and I thought it deserves its own page in the "topical discussions" section.

This thread is the most you can hope for, unless Alex (the owner) decides to reconfigure the entire website.

Why not do it here, in the very thread you started?

As for myself, I wonder how many members of this website have ever been to an amusement park, and I speculate that for most Aspies, the crowds, the noise, the flashing lights, and especially the smells would rapidly induce sensory overload and invert what would be a pleasant experience into one of maximum anxiety.

The Disney properties can be enjoyable for a few hours, but once fatigue sets in, they become progressively more torturous for an Aspie like me.

My best times at Disneyland were on cold, rainy days (a rarity for Anaheim), when the crowds were dispersed, and the lines were short.

The only time I attended Disneyworld ended in their infirmary as I recovered from borderline heatstroke.

Universal Studios was somewhere in-between, and I have no desire to return.

Bob-Lo Island was pleasant enough because I went there alone and left when I wanted to.

Cementland in Missouri was the only amusement park that did not rattle my nerves.  It was abandoned about 12 (?) years ago, and exploring its quiet, decaying ruins was one of the most relaxing experiences I have had at an amusement park.

There, that ↑ should start a few conversations.

I don't like Disneyland because of the animatronics, I find them creepy, especially when they malfunction, and it's like the uncanny valley for me.

I love theme parks but I seem to lack oxygen on fast rollercoasters and come off feeling all lightheaded and unwell. I never used to get like that, and other people my age don't. So it's a bit disappointing there.

Amusement parks are like my worst nightmare.
Usually crowded, "touristy", tacky, noisy and expensive.
You have to walk for miles in the blazing sun.
You have to queue for everything.
There's over tired, whiny children.
The food is second rate, sometimes inedible.

But if they're your thing, they're your thing, I suppose.

I'd much rather go to a botanic garden, art gallery or museum.

Open question. Which do you like better, amusement parks or theme parks?

I liked the rides that spin and roller coasters,but hate the crowds and the noise.
Haven’t been to one since the kids were small.Silver Dollar City.It’s amazingly clean and has lots of trees and landscaping.
Been to others when I was little during family vacations.Six Flags over Georgia, Astroworld, Dogpatch and Opryland.Didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
If I had to recommend one it would be Silver Dollar City.

I tend to prefer fair midway rides instead of amusement parks, because I don't like most roller-coasters. I love coasters that go side to side, but I can't stand up & down & big drops. I'll do the right line/side (only) of Space Mountain in the Magic Kingdom, but I even find the Beastie at King's Island unpleasant (but that one I will ride... once per visit). I even dislike the 14' drop on the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Midway rides tend to be things like the space ship (gravitron), viking/rocket ship (back & forth swinging, even going upside down is fine on these), etc. I'd love a park that has many types of those kinds of rides. I won't do the straight down drop ones, tho.

Walt Disney World was the main group of parks I was exposed to in the 80s & 90s. I loved all of them. But I really don't like what the parks are like now. To me, all the changes have made them lose the magic. And they're so much more crowded! (My modern experience is pre-Covid, & I'm unlikely to go back.)

Parks tended to mean I spent a lot of time talking & standing in lines, & then holding everyone's stuff while they rode coasters. Big waste of money.

One reason I brought up this topic of amusement and theme parks is because one of my little hobbies is armchair Imagineering, where you come up with ideas for how you would improve Disney and other parks if you could.

I've done it for years, but few, if anyone, ever responds to them, and most of the time, it's just a "like" reaction anyway. Most of the time, it's just me posting back-to-back, which is allowed, but really no fun. It's like talking to yourself.

I've been wanting to branch out and try to find other places to do armchair ideas, but the places to do it have been shrinking away to almost nothing. Discussion forums appear to be on the way out. I've tried to post on Reddit and Facebook, both of which do have spaces for this kind of thing, but the problem is that there's not a lot of demand for this sort of thing. Reddit does have a spot to put these things, but no one has ever been there in years. As for Facebook, I've tried to find dedicated spaces for this, and while one does exist, it's kind of a private page, which requires a membership. I've tried to access it, but it's been about a year now, and it's still pending! There are only five members!

There are also blogs out there, like Imagineerland, but like all blogs, only one person posts things and any responses they get are in the comments below. I actually have a blog of my own, but none of them ever seem to see me. I'm lucky to get some views, but I get no feedback whatsoever on my ideas. It only seems like I'm posting to myself, which seems no better than just keeping these ideas to myself, where I know I won't get feedback. I just feel like I'm getting burned out just limiting my ideas to just a single forum.

In desperation, I was advised by my therapist to maybe try this place, which is one reason I signed up with this forum. But I found there is no dedicated space to parks, the same way there are for games, movies, TV, art, music, science, technology, religion, politics, etc.

So I tried posting about it on the only place that did not have a specific topic: "Random Discussion", which as the description said could be about anything at all not covered in other areas of the forum. But the responses I got were mostly complaints about heat, noise, and crowds, any/all of which are overwhelming to someone who is autistic. Admittedly, I'm no fan of anything of the sort, but that just goes with the territory at a Disney park.

But if so many people hate parks, then this is really not the best place for me to post my ideas, I don't think.

Many of us enjoy the rides, maybe parks should have one day for people with sensory issues where they turn the music down, limit crowds and dim the lights.

In general I hate the rides. I just don't seem to enjoy the sensations of gravity on my body. Seems to be getting worse as I get older. These days I can get pretty nauseous on a playground swing or roundabout. On the few miserable occasions I've found myself on a roller coaster I shut my eyes, tense every muscle in my body and cling on to the knowledge that it will, at some point, end.

There was a ride I loved though at Thorpe Park which is a theme park in UK. It says, I think, what people call a 'dark ride'. It was all gothic architecture and bones everywhere. You just sat in a car and it took you past all these scenes, most of them historical, but gory. Sweeny Todd, executions, corpses dancing. That sort of thing. It was called Phantom Fantasia. It burned down in the early 90s though.