The pedigree of pixie dust: Disneyland and theme parks as a remediation of playful places throughout history

Abstract

The original Disneyland in California that opened in 1955 was the only one personally built by Walt Disney, who notably disdained Coney Island’s amusement parks while conceiving, developing, and popularizing the successful design and business model for the modern theme park industry. A historical examination reveals many facets of Disneyland to be a remediation of not only seaside parks but an extensive lineage of playful places including Roman Saturnalia, festivals, carnivals, pleasure gardens, and world’s fairs. A wide array of aspects encompassing access, gate fees, passes, location, performative labor, temporal milieu, target audience, synergistic media consumerism, religious content, elite approval, edification versus entertainment, and anti-alienation attractions had been adopted and/or adapted for each iteration of the playful place up to the time of Disney’s eponymous theme park. Remediation provides a novel framework to chart and examine the past and present evolution of the playful place.