It’s called a ‘theme’ park for a reason…

Well, after a week in north LA we’ve come to some interesting conclusions. Before we got here, we’d planned to spend three days at Six Flags Magic Mountain and two at Universal Studios. But despite the fact that Six Flags as 19 coasters, and Universal only 10 rides in total, we have changed our plans. I should say that this is not a poor reflection on Six Flags. They have some amazing coasters there. It’s just that Universal is so well themed that the atmosphere is intoxicating. We can spend an hour just walking around the Simpsons or Harry Potter areas at Universal without even going on a ride; we just soak in the detail. The fact that I was able to buy a ‘Bort’ key ring in the Simpsons area (and there were no ‘Bart’ key rings) makes me smile so much! It just goes to show that the very best theme parks create worlds in which you can lose yourself. Of course, they have excellent rides as well, but the themeing is so crucial.