Your childhood is filled with many wonderful memories, especially the first memories you have for the first time at a theme park.  Especially living in Southern California where there are many options such as Sea World, Legoland, Disneyland, Six Flags, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Universal Studios – but as we grow up we come to find out that wonderful memories seem to only be a dream, when you begin to point out the negatives at these parks.

So here are the top four positives and negatives to these theme parks!

1. Increase in jobs (positive)- Theme parks –  especially those like Disneyland and Universal Studios – create a huge increase in jobs, from engineers to even a ticket taker. As of last year, Disneyland had 32,000 cast members on their staff, as compared to a Taco Bell corporate building that only has 800 members. This shows  that amusement parks create jobs at a rate that  average corporations that cannot keep up (New York Times).
2. Expense (negative)- Many theme parks are very expensive, being $80 to $ 5,000 for just one person. For many families they just can’t afford to visit these parks, especially families of 5- 10. This causes many children to miss out on an experience they shouldn’t miss out on, and prices for these amusement parks prices aren’t going down either – they are doing quite the opposite. For Disneyland a day for one of their parks for one ticket in 2022 is $369, proving that these ever rising prices are terrible for us as a society. ( Diland.com)
3. New experiences (positive)- Theme parks give people a chance they have never experienced before; for example the rides give people that adrenaline rush they might have never had. Giving people happiness can brighten a person’s day.
4. Air pollution (negative) – although fun and exciting, the rides at theme parks do more than bring excitement to guests. The power from all these rides using fossil fuel pollutes the area more than any other buildings, causing guests to have trouble breathing, and etc. (Bizfluet).

What do you think? Have you ever thought of the negative of theme parks? Will you still go? Do the negatives outweigh the positives? As a student at YL states, “Although I love theme parks, I will be more aware of the negatives, and from this information it makes me dislike theme parks a little more”( James Vas 10).

What do you think? Are you more impacted now?