Amusement park
The 2000s

In the early 90s after the opening of Universal Studios Florida, Universal sought to build a second theme park, one aimed more towards children and their families. Universal acquired the theme park rights to many properties including Marvel and Dr. Seuss to build the park around. In 1999, Universal Studios opened Universal Studios Islands of Adventure under the new resort name Universal Studios Escape. The park was allegedly designed by former Disney Imagineers who left after the financial disaster of Disneyland Paris. In the late 80s, the Oriental Land Company (the owners and operators of Tokyo Disneyland resort which opened in 1983) wanted a second park. None of the current non-Magic Kingdom parks satisfied the Japanese, but one concept thrown away for Disneyland's second gate inspired a new one: DisneySea. Tokyo DisneySea is themed after stories based on the ocean and nautical adventure. It was constructed at a cost of ¥335 billion and opened on September 4, 2001. The park's two signature attractions are a modernized version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey To The Center of The Earth.

In the early 90s, Michael Eisner wanted to make Disneyland in the image of Walt Disney World 's resort style. Plans were made for multiple hotels (such as one based on the Grand Floridian Hotel) and a new west coast version of EPCOT, called WESTCOT. WESTCOT never came to be due to local opposition from residents, rising costs, and the financial fallout of Disneyland Paris. After a corporate retreat in Colorado, Disney executives decided to make a park themed to California so that guests could experience all of California within the confines of the Disneyland Resort and would be built across from Disneyland on its 100-acre parking lot. Disney's California Adventure would be the largest disaster Disney ever created because unlike Disneyland, it would be set in the modern day and spoof modern-day California with its cheap, insincere, and flat backdrops. The park would be adult focused, sell fine food, and serve alcohol. When the park opened on February 8, 2001, it received a chilly reception for its lack of attractions, poor environment (for example, Hollywood Studios Backlot was themed to a modern-day movie backlot of modern-day Hollywood), and overemphasis on retail and dining. When John Hench (an original Imagineer who worked with Walt and was a chief creative executive at Imagineering since Imagineering was founded) was asked for his opinion on the park, he reportedly said, "I preferred the parking lot."

Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris was the second Disneyland Paris park. Disney had to build a second park or risk losing the land to the French government. The park opened March 16, 2002, with only three rides and California Adventure style theming. However, Hong Kong Disneyland was higher quality than the other black sheep, but still lacked the number of attractions that was needed, just like California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park. It opened on September 12, 2005, with only four lands, and had exorbitant wait times on opening day for everything from rides to food.

In the early 2000s, the Harry Potter book series written by J.K Rowling had become a pop culture phenomenon. Universal and Disney entered a bidding war over the theme park rights to the books, but Disney seemed to have won after Rowling signed a letter of intent with Disney. However, Rowling was disappointed with Disney's small-scale plans to install an omnimover attraction themed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with one shop and one restaurant in the former submarine lagoon at Magic Kingdom. She was also displeased with the lack of creative control she had and exited the deal. She went to Universal next and was also displeased with the initial plan to redress the Islands of Adventure's Lost Continent area. To remedy this, J.K Rowling wrestled creative control from Universal and forced them to make the land a full scale, realistic re-creation of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts without being a refurbishment of an existing area. The project was announced in 2007 and in 2010 the land was opened to the public and made Universal Orlando a must visit destination.

Today, there are over 475 amusement parks in the United States, ranging from mega-parks and those that are operated by Warner Bros., Disney, Six Flags and NBCUniversal.
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