Grand Tour: As We Know It In The 21st Century

 Theme Parks, Magic Wands and a Pandemic

So since I was very little, I remember being mesmerised and enchanted by every meaningful cartoon movie or character... so much  that I just wanted to meet them all so badly! Fortunately my sweet mother always supported my dreams and ambitions. She wanted to encourage my creativity and imagination by exposing my little mind to new experiences. So by the time I was 7 years old, just the two of us, went on my first trip and it was... you guessed it: A theme park! But not just any theme park, THE theme park. We visited Disnelyand Park in beautiful Paris! Since I was born and raised in a relativly small island, you can imagine how mind-blown I was by the new experience. So mind blown that I still remember the feelings some of the extraordinary games filled me with. So what are theme parks up to, during the pandemic?

First of all; theme parks as a definition are amusement parks with a central theme, such as the movie or the historical background of its owner's interest (Wikipedia, 23 November 2020). Some of the best ones hve an attendane of millions of people per year! Such as Disneyland Park that had over 9 million in 2019 (Owen, R. 7 September 2020). They are a magical experience that brings together all types of celebrations. It began in England in the late 1800s and appeared in the United States not long  after. Amusement parks feature lights, moving objects, rides, and games of competition. When Walt Disney opened Disneyland in 1955 he revolutionized the definition off the amusement park industry (Sun, LH. and Uysal, M., January 1994)

Although this sounds amusing (pun intended); and trust me it is, due to the huge number of attraction amusement parks have, according to Dr. Rosemary Olivero playgrounds fro kids are a higher risk activitiy during the pandemic because of the number of surfaces that everyone’s touching (Guevara, 13 June 2020). This is definetly a bump in the road but that doesn't mean there isn't going to be comeback said new Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek (Bilbao, R., February 2020).

Amusement parks in my personal oppinion are concidered a kids happiest experience. No kid with the ability to go should ever be dinied the opportunity. So please stay safe and let's help the little ones return as fast as possible back to this magical experience! Wear your masks and wash your hands regularly.

Recources

Anon. (23 November 2020 ) Wikipedia, Theme Park, Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_park [Accessed 24 November 2020]

Owen, R. (7 September 2020) Blooloop, The top 20 theme parks and amusement parks in Europe, Available at: https://blooloop.com/features/top-theme-parks-europe/ [Accessed 29 November 2020]

Guevara, S. (13 June 2020) WSBT, Experts rank the risk of spreading coronavirus during popular summertime activities, Available at: https://wsbt.com/news/local/experts-rank-the-risk-of-spreading-coronavirus-during-popular-summertime-activities [Accessed 29 November 2020]

Bilbao, R. (February 2020) Orlando Business Journal, Local theme parks monitor threat of coronavirus outbreak, Available at:https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/02/28/local-theme-parks-monitor-threat-of-coronavirus.html [Accessed 29 November 2020]

Sun, LH. and Uysal, M. (January 1994) The Role of Theme Parks in Tourism, Hospitality Review: Vol. 12 : Iss. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/hospitalityreview/vol12/iss1/8 [Accessed 29 November 2020]