Curiosities in the world of amusement parks

The Italian name for amusement parks is Luna Park. Where did this name come from? 

In honour of the Coney Island Amusement Park in New York, which opened in 1903 under the name “Luna Park”.  A short but quirky story. 

Although “luna” is an Italian word (meaning “moon”), the origin of the name “luna park” is, in fact, American.

In 1901, an attraction called “A trip to the moon”, inspired by Jules Verne's book “From the Earth to the Moon”, was presented at the Boston trade fair. The ride was a mock airship bound for the moon. The creators of this attraction were Frederic Thompson and Elmer Dundy, who decided to name the airship “Luna” (the Latin name for the moon) after Dundy's sister, whose name was Luna. 

This attraction was then brought to Coney Island (a neighbourhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York), to an amusement park which was opened in 1903 and given the name of the attraction in question (Luna). 

Hence the name “LUNA PARK”, which over the years has become synonymous with amusement parks all over the world. Luna Park was operational until 1944 when it was destroyed by a fire and was abandoned for two years before being finally demolished. 

With over 50 years of experience and a reputation as one of the top 5 amusement park builders in the world, the Italian Zamperla Group chose to revive the famous Luna Park in 2010...  

Today Luna Park is back to proudly offering public amusement through renovated historical games and dizzying machines created with the most advanced technology, thanks to Italian enterprise.  

The Cyclone

The Cyclone rollercoaster, built in 1927, is one of the oldest still-functioning wooden rollercoasters in the United States. Hugely popular with rollercoaster enthusiasts, the Cyclone reaches a maximum height of 26 metres, a descent of 85 metres and a 60° incline. 

The name Luna Park, therefore, derives from one of the first amusement parks with fixed attractions to bear this name, built in Coney Island (New York) in 1903. In the years immediately following, dozens of parks were built with the same philosophy and named after their first model. In Italian, in particular (but not in other languages), the name “luna park” has remained as a generic term for amusement parks. In Denmark, the equivalent term is Tivoli, from the Paris Jardin de Tivoli amusement parks, built as an imitation of the gardens of the Renaissance Villa d'Este of Tivoli in Lazio, Italy. 

The world's largest amusement park 

The largest amusement park in the world is the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Owned by the company Disney, it consists of 4 parks together covering an area of approximately 122 square kilometres.
The first amusement park is Disneyland, on the west coast near Los Angeles. 

The vast and spectacular Walt Disney World Resort park in Orlando, Florida 

Also worth mentioning is the huge tourist centre of Dubailand, near Dubai (United Arab Emirates). This complex covers an area of 278 square kilometres and includes numerous theme parks, water parks, educational parks, wildlife parks, all kinds of sports areas, a formula 1 racetrack, and numerous hotels and shopping centres.

The oldest amusement park in the world 

The Prater Park in Vienna (known as the Wiener Prater or simply as the Prater) is considered the oldest in the world and its 19th-century Ferris wheel (the Riesenrad) has become one of the symbols of the city of Vienna.  

Permanent amusement parks in Italy 

In Italy, the permanent amusement park sector began to take its first steps in the mid-1960s when the first facilities dedicated to family fun were opened: Edenlandia in Naples was built in 1964 and Fiabilandia opened the following year in Rivazzurra in Rimini. In the beginning, both amusement parks were very simple and offered mostly amusement park or playground attractions for children. 

In the mid-1970s a group of entrepreneurs from the Veneto region working in the sector of travelling shows were inspired after one of them took a trip to California and visited Disneyland. They decided to join forces and plan something similar on the shores of Lake Garda. Thus, Gardaland, an Italian example of an amusement park based on the American model, was opened on 19th July 1975. 

Over the years, the sector in Italy has evolved a great deal, revenues have reached dizzying heights and facilities of various kinds have been created: water parks, wildlife parks, educational parks and theme parks. 

Today there are hundreds of amusement venues in Italy, mostly family-run and aimed at local visitors, but there are also more important parks that attract tourists from all over Italy, such as Mirabilandia, located just outside Ravenna, Movieland Park in Lazise on Lake Garda, Rainbow Magicland and Cinecittà World, located near Rome, and Etnaland, the largest amusement park in southern Italy. 

In Italy there are around 170 permanent water, wildlife and theme parks, while there are about 5,000 family-operated companies that are inclined to travelling. 

Italy's first permanent amusement park - Lido di Milano 1925