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Background Of The Parks

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Nineteenth Century
The Boredom of the Public and the End of the Tivolis

Soon the public became bored with the proliferation of Tivolis. The attractions were either too violent or too tame. And all of that had become too commonplace.
As a result, in the middle of the eighteenth century, they had almost all disappeared. These elaborate places were used for other purposes, for dances accompanied by orchestras, for example. As for the attractions, they were now relegated to small parks, and their presence at fairs was becoming more obvious. They were therefore discovered at the time of the universal exhibitions, which had taken on considerable importance.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the attractions underwent great changes.
There were the first Big Eights, made of wood, with up to 200 metres of tracks, launched their carriages at 35 miles an hour; and the toboggans, which were made of wicker, and on which one slid, seated on a mat, were 25 metres up. Also there were ghost trains.
The merry-go-rounds had taken on a more modern appearance. Remember that originally one rode real horses, which were harnessed to a treadmill. To add to the attraction, one had to throw rings over a pole, and that is what was known as hoopla. Then one day someone thought of creating a ditch under the carrousel, in which donkeys or men could turn the axis; wooden horses or other seats were then suspended. Finally, someone had the idea not to turn the frame, but to create turntable with stationary seats.
It was thanks to technical progress, steam (1865), then electricity (1890), that these attractions gathered momentum. The merry-go-rounds became more powerful and easier to control. New sensations and movements such as galloping, swaying, and pitching (and in the big dipper, undulating) could now be experienced.

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