Amusement Park Industry

An amusement park is a permanent, stationary park featuring rides, games and other attractions for entertainment, distinct from temporary traveling carnivals, with theme parks forming a variant that organizes its attractions around a central theme. Parks generate revenue either by charging low or no admission and selling tickets for individual rides, or by charging a single admission price that covers most attractions, supplemented by parking, food, beverage and souvenir sales. The industry traces back to European fairs and pleasure gardens, with Bakken in Denmark, opened in 1583, recognized as the world oldest amusement park and Lake Compounce, opened in 1846, the oldest continuously operating park in North America; the modern theme park era began with Walt Disney Disneyland in 1955, and by 2015 theme parks in the United States generated about 8 billion dollars in revenue against 4.6 billion dollars in China, with China market expected to overtake that of the United States by 2020.