| Show - 1 1 - 112 The Salt Lake Tribune I TRAVEL Sunday January 33 1994 - Theme parks give a taste of history but is it being sugarcoated to sell? : 1 i -- Are tourists who yearn for escape willing to : see Civil War horrors? Tr: EtN E CHICAGO GREAT FALLS Va — If and when the proposed 3000- - CHICAGO TRIBUNE Once upon a time a theme park was a theme park You hopped on a plane got out in a warm-weath- acre Disney's America theme park installs its own thrill-rid- e version of the country's history hard by the nation's capital a -response of coals to Newcastle" would not be inappropriate n In addition to the tourist sites in Washington proper there's a wide variety of historical attractions within two hours of the city In the capital's National Museum of American History you can find not only Washington's Revolutionary War headquarters tent and equipage but also several sets of his famously imperfect false teeth Also on view are Dolley Madison's dancing slippers and evening bag among other artifacts The museum is one of a dozen such in or adjoining the capital that belong to the Smithsonian Institution empire the largest museum complex in the world There also are numerous independent historical museums — among them the Daughters of the American Revolution's Memorial Continental Hall the Decatur House state where they grew oranges and held New Year's Day bowl games passed through a gate to a main street flanked by toylike storefronts and were greeted by a mouse with oversized ears In the : distance was a fairy-talcastle It was simple enough: You lived in the real world And you went to this fantasy world on vacation But increasingly the line that defines where reality stops and : fantasy begins is blurred These davs it's not enough for : the Walt Disney Co and its legions of imitators to confine themselves to fairy tales Now in the interest of fun for the whole family and grabbing a larger share of the tourist trade the e manufacturers of are stepping into the pages of history Already some pages have well-know- many-turrete- d e make-believ- hard edges been rewritten smoothed over significant architectural monuments trivialized and killers turned into friendly fellows you wouldn't hesitate to call your uncle cold-bloode- d and the new and enormously compelling Holocaust Museum Four great wars were fought in the capital region — the French and Indian War the American Revolution the War of 1812 and the Civil War At Gettysburg just an hour north of Washington across the Pennsylvania line there was little of the "serious fun" Disney's America hopes to provide It was not to be found either at Antietam an hour northwest in Maryland site of the Civil War's slaughter Fully 60 of the battles of the war were fought within the state of Virginia including the first and the last major clashes and the terrible second-greate- st heart-rendin- g fights at Fredericksburg Chancellorsville and the Wilderness The war was precipitated by the fanaticism of John Brown's raid in Harpers Ferry just across the Shenandoah in West Virginia The South directed its struggle from the Confederate White House now open to the public in Richmond The war ended at Appomattox now a fully reco- nstructed setting in south central Virginia there is more to come from this without getting on a plane "It's like travel or the movies" said Rich Melman president of Chicago's Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises whose themed restaurants include Scoozi! Bub City and Papagus "It transports you to a different time a different place" dream machine From Las Vegas to Chicago to Washington DC not to mention France and Japan the theme park and its smaller but equally slick cousin the themed entertainment attraction are upon us And in America at least we can't get enough of them Consider the year just past: CI safe ride: Or perhaps the everyday world is at once so threatA - Three wildly :1 popular with activiening and d ty that we need to escape to themed spots made their debuts 'in Chicago's trendy River North district including Capone's Chiof cago a Disney-styl- e the Prohibition era that trans forms the notorious mobster Al Capone into a smiling chipmunkcheeked character who might as well be known as Uncle Al II Las Vegas tourism officials announced their desire to compete with Disney World as a family vacation destination opening induct-jus three huge the Luxor a glass pyramid with a replica of the Sphinx out front and inside a reproduction of King Tut's tomb E Walt Disney Co unveiled plans for an American-histor- y theme park to be known as Disney's America outside Washington DC Its attractions will include mock Civil War battles and a ride through a steel mill If approved as expected by local authorities the park may open as 'early as 1993 : It A German entrepreneur tin veiled plans for a theme park 20 miles north of Berlin that would the old East Germany with fake secret police and banners instructing people to obey "socialist commandments" In a rare outburst of sentiment the mayor of the town for which the park was proposed called the idea "sheer insolence" and said he and the village council would block plans for the park Rarely has such opposition to theme parks surfaced in the United States In fact the commissioner of the National Basketball Association David Stern wished upon a star last year that his 27- team league could be just like the Disney company with its arenas operating like 27 Magic Kingdoms What does it say about Ameriy can culture that we need to command our attention? Perhaps it's simply a desire to leave behind the everyday world casino-hotel- jam-packe- feel-goo- roller-coast- are d ll full-scal- e - that places simultaneously dynamic and entertaining "You want to do something wonderful and magical But it's got to be safe" said Faith Popcorn a New York marketing-trenforecaster Whatever the underlying reason for theme parks the collection preservation and interpretation of authentic objects often is not enough to sustain our interest anymore That is what museums do And they certainly have had their troubles attracting people of late Some like the Art Institute of Chicago even have resorted to holding singles nights — disevents guised as — to get people in the door The is other sure-firthe blockbuster show complete with a publicity barrage worthy of PT Barnum A theme park's mission is different It can pick selectively between history and entertainment concocting whatever mix it likes in order to draw crowds and make money Some call it "edutainment" But make no mistake: The conflict between reality and fantasy always is roiling below the surface Consider how difficult it will be for Disney to reconcile the apparently conflicting visions for Disney's America set forth by its executives g 352-foot-ta- d crowd-grabb- e er ry te er Disney Chairman Michael Eisner said the park will include "painful disturbing and agonizing" exhibits on slavery American Indian life and the Vietnam War The park's general manager Mark Neal& said: "The idea is to walk out of Disney's America with a smile on your face We don't want people to come out with a dour face It is going to be fun with a capital F" hyper-realit- operating its theme park outside Paris (The company also runs a highly successful theme park in Japan) That financial drain raises a question about Disney's America: Will Disney be able to resist sugarcoating history in this theme park where tickets are expected to cost roughly $25 a day when the enterprise is competing with so many free attractions in the nation's capital? Disney claims that its theme park will complement traditional Washington attractions instead of compete with them But like a movie come to life the Disney experience has the power to convince the visitor that the copy is more real than the original So why bother with the original at all? Why visit the actual Civil War battlefields around Disney's America when you feel as if you've witnessed the real thing at the theme park? Most Americans associate the rise of theme parks with Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando But the of America may have gotten its start in colonial Williamsburg the historic Virginia town that was settled in 1633 and renovated in the late 1920s with the backing of millions of dollars from John D Rockefeller Jr In an essay on themed environments that appeared last year in The New York Review of Books the architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable described what happened during the renovation of Williamsburg A cut-odate of 1770 was arbitrarily set by historical researchers and preservation architects and buildings constructed after that date were torn down as if they had never existed Seven theme-parkin- g ff hundred buildings thirty-on- e were demolished Eighty-on- e were renovated and 413 were reconstructed on their original sites Some renovated buildings were moved to lots occupied by those that were demolished To e mafinish the stage set as such the Capitol jor buildings were rebuilt And furnishings — most not actually from Williamsburg but "of the period" as preservationists are wont to say — were placed inside the renovated long-gon- quarters DOD DOD : Then as HuxTourist trade-otable put it carriages and costumes and all the makings of ff sugar pill: Disney lost nearly $1 billion in the first fiscal year of A The commercial success of Williamsburg and the scholarly imprint it put on what Huxtable calls "the studious fudging of facts" paved the way for Disneyland which opened in 1955 What the two have in common Huxtable wrote "is their suspension of disbelief the expertise of their illusion and their promotion of a skillfully edited engineered and marketed version of a chosen place or theme" Tellingly perhaps it was after a visit to Williamsburg that Eisner and other Disney executives dreamed up the idea for Disney's America The park is to be built on a 3000-acr- e tract about 30 miles west of Washington near Manassas Va One of its featured attracCivil tions will be a War fort where "soldiers" in blue and gray will act out a battle The fort will be ringed by nine modules depicting such locales as an American Indian village and Ellis Island Visitors will enter the e park by crossing an old War-er- a to a bridge town to be known as Crossroads I mow mowtomic Ir" I : : 4 '''''''''': '1' 1 0 '1 y 'f A : : ' 0 irr rt ' ' i AND C MAC'S CAM°HOTEL NEICZA CROSSING Wendover Needa Nevada Tours is located at 150 West 500 S001 Salt Laka City 8 Phorblik"Aeo in 5- - e--- t g 1 i - r1z its - INAGkOitP°Ilek t SON-STO- iv 4 P 7II ' — 1 U LI - vi S t tit 1 S' :FI I - Something 040 Inflo C11 LI L - l'- LiroCIA e 31110-- 41 et is coming April 28th Inf Al Israel Airline's Board El - Cr! 114 to 91:110 inaugural flight of a non-sto- p 11 Solt : Boeing bound for the 747-40- 0 LI:" r- - '41 !')r) Holy Land Fly with it lg'VIII - ts and Israeli dignitaries Enjoy t tIP 10 " the latest in air and travel n I 3-- D 14111I privileges like having a TV at VII 441 every seat SINP L This once-in-a-lifeti- I ' W1Ct experience ) will allow you to o' 111-1- Govrr see Israel - like uivi4 !:77 — NEVER BEFORE Ay! class Stay in first i accommodations 2 Enjoy e lectures from our a — G h- & eValtWitY L ''''' ("n "16 44'4 I ed y - z ROBERT L BACKMAN II 7 bt MARION D HANKS BRUCE SATTERFIELD II to name a few - t years" All Weis could not answer how graphic battle scenes would be at Disney's America But already it is clear the battle lines of reality vs fantasy have been drawn meals tips and gratuities o"i 64 are included Best of all our quality p 11-d- 1 to e' tour is only ay qr gingi Q0 ve t 0 Fiji c11 1 1858 - 8 days Call All fares in th - 11045 1590 SAN FRANCISCO THEATRE TOUR July 14 - 4 days RI air 3 nights accommodation at deluxe Se Francis Drake Hotel orchestra seats "Phantom of the Opera clinner at top SF restaurant sighteeeing persoiwAly escorted by Bob Guymon Sah Lake ad ye City-521-7- 521-705- gat to change without notice 359-591- 9 11025 6 days Includes RI air SICKansas City first class Wets 7 shows (top names) ID meats pereonsity escorted July 28 Pocatello Twin Falls Phoenix Honolulu 11475 LONDON THEATRE TOUR -8 days Includes RT air 6 night hotel accommodations breakfast sights and 4 top theatre performances ill escorted by Bob Guymon A 1 Elk0 - BoLce Burley Mesa 11M-71- Btackfoo( empleyee-owne- ill 'IC 121C Murdock Travel is an 3 Ogden Falls Reaburg cptr: 4417' St George628-363- 1 6:00 Saturdals) (Open li19:00wedAills Restrictions moy liolladay--277-4- 850 Eagle Gate 0 Lopn---75- 3-2544 BRANSONOZARKS dikswawmalt"4001PookgM"44!boiwodtsfois1t4m0!)1004f0)fpM4 fr 1590 Jun 17 - 7 dem Includes 5 top theatre performances deluxe hotel RT air transfers and sights Escorted by Bob Guymon Aug 9 Ow air 4 days Join Bob Guymon for a weekend theatre tour RI air 3 nights accommodations at deluxe Century Plaza orchestra seat to 'Sunset Boulevard Andrew Lloyd Webbees latest hit starring Glen aose Dinner M Top Los Angeies restaurant Sightseeing A "A Asikka ' k ‘t Compressed facts: "Think of what we do as a movie" said Bob Weis senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering who is in charge of the park's design "Filmmakers do a lot of things to make their point that either alter the scale of buildings or compress time And that's very much like what we would do in the park It doesnt make a historical film less authentic" But it is one thing to feel the emotions of participating in an event it is quite another to understand the underlying causes that led to that event Perhaps museinnlike exhibits will get that side of the story across at Disney's America Even if they can there will remain the question of how "real" to make history parof the ticularly the Civil War The Civil War an illustrated history of the conflict by Geoffrey Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns shows surviving Civil War soldiers with their arms shot off heaps of human skulls about to be tossed into freshly dug graves a Union prisoner who resembled a human skeleton as a result of inhumane treatment at a Confederate prison Describing the battle of Gettysburg half a century after it occurred a Massachusetts private recalled the terrible sound of war: "the screaming and bursting of shells cannister and shrapnel as they tore through the struggling masses of humanity the death screams of wounded animals the groans of their human companions wounded and dying and trampled underfoot by hurrying batteries riderless horses and the moving lines of battle" It was this soldier recalled "a perfect hell on Earth never perhaps to be equaled certainly not to be surpassed nor ever to be forgotten in a raan's lifetime It has never been effaced from my memory day or night for 50 BEST OF BROADWAY 363-930- 0 - —bd- - -4 t ODD LOS ANGELES THEATRE TOUR nights a week Call Nevada Tours at or toll free for more information (Cash-bac- k offer may vary for weekends holidays and special events) - - y May 12 Mac's Casino is so sure youll have fun we're willing to give you $I 1 cash back when you buy a $12 ticket on one of our Nevada Tours Fun Buses Wel even throw in a free $10 Mac's Fun Package good for complimentary beverage meat discounts fun bucks and more Our buses run seven days and " Itittotto Though Disney officials have said the park will take pains to be realistic many of the same stockin-trade techniques employed at Disneyland and Disney World — including miniaturized buildings that put visitors at ease on Main Street USA — are likely to be used at Disney's America For the masters of illusion the idea is to create a sense of the participatory — the feeling of what it must have been like to be part of a historical event Not uncoincidentally the park techwill employ virtual-realitnology which uses advanced computer graphics to simulate actual experience as part of its fusion of Hollywood and history Washington DC Gettysburg Williamsburg litortbcello Jamestown Mt Vernon Valley Forge Annapoks Philadelphia first class hotels 12 meals deluxe touring personally escorted (Use your S011iOt citizen coupons) t ' Mk elLIAroo USA HISTORIC EAST IN BLOOM : d 4— dt::fr A Gr-- i e- '2495 May ' CC es train-trestl- T 1 4 amp - IN" I e NM l ! morwimwmtr — 111 11e 1:1111A'CisAl pre-Civ- il DOD Slick cousin: Surely wri 1 trade" There's plenty of real history out there too By Blair Kamin 1 interest of greater reality of course as well as of the tourist I Ey Michael Kilian took over –in the make-believ- e d - KWJAC:cdivIZ-- 4 TP-1- company - Buy your travd from 2n 4 It4P474votritokkesit4moo6avo041mtIN4tbolAPmpo r 4 4' la |
