Theme Parks: Bavarian Themes?

I have noted the use of Germanic or Bavarian themes in at least 2 Ohio amusement parks. Is/was this a common trend accross the country? German heritage has relevance especially in the Cincinatti area, home of (now Paramount's) King's Island which has a traditional Octoberfest event and architectural affects. Cedar Point, in Sandusky Ohio, sports similar architecture (as well as possible remnants of polynesian style). Could be some all but lost pop-culture history.
-FB

Clearly Old Walt visited lots of old world places when he built Disneyland...The original Disneyland had tons of influance from Northern Europe...(The original Type face was really Bavarian on the sign out front)

Most Beer Gardens have a German thing going on.

There are a few towns that in post war California got wierd themes. Kingsburg on 99 is Sweedish, and Solvang on 1 is Danish.

There too is a wierd German place in Huntington Beach that was built in the late 70's...fake rocks, and cute houses. It's pretty cool...I think it was called "Old World"
While attending Golden West College, I staggered out of the Ratskeller more than once. (tired from study)

There's a town in Washington where everything's Suisse or German. It's tidy and quite a surprize if you just happen onto it.

I think it's called Levenworth, but I may be mixing it up with someplace else.

Another place kind of like that in Nova Scotia is called Lunenburg. It was a German settlement, and remains sort of differnt from the towns around it of it's own age.

Not really parks tho...

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-11-24 18:38 ]

On 2004-11-24 18:36, Gigantalope wrote:
There's a town in Washington where everything's Suisse or German.

Bavarian ~ not a theme park, per se ~ will post pics after christmas, as that's where we're going (our friends are renting a ski lodge, but we really dislike his mother-in-law, so we're getting a room elsewhere :) ) weird christmas if you ask me... dragging all our stuff over the river & thru the woods.. i'm trying to be excited about this adventure. well, at least my dogs will have fun in the snow!

http://www.leavenworth.org

Frankenmuth. Michigan, is a sort of Bavarian themed town, plus they have the world's largest Christmas store - Bonner's! Crazy! You can get christmas ornaments of tacos, cactus, fish, pickles, whatever you are into, they have it. Come to think of it, Im sure they must have had a hula or tiki ornament but I never thought to look for it...

I almost forgot about Michigan -- Frankenmuethe (SP?) and Holland. Both kitchy themed tourist spots. Frankenmuethe has a year round Christmas store that is quite surreal. I'm not particularly into the theme but both are worthy of the road trip.
-FB

Tikifish- we must have posted these at the same time. Wierd!

[ Edited by: FreakBear on 2004-11-24 21:27 ]

Whooo, that is weird! Holly, Michigan, on the way to Frankenmuth, used to have a cool old tiki bar too... long gone.

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1821&forum=5

THAT's a wierd German thing.
the pickle on the Christmas Tree.

I seem to remember Busch Gardens in Williamsburg Virginia having a "German / Bavarian" section. Of course that was back in 1997.

On 2004-11-24 21:53, Gigantalope wrote:
THAT's a wierd German thing.
the pickle on the Christmas Tree.

My mom started doing that pickle thing a few X-mas's ago. We do have quite a bit of German in our geneology. Used to get a lot of Gelt-style chocolate on the holiday too.

On 2004-11-24 21:41, tikifish wrote:
Whooo, that is weird! Holly, Michigan, on the way to Frankenmuth, used to have a cool old tiki bar too... long gone.

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1821&forum=5

I love the menu pic of this! Cool "Zombie" and "Mister Foo" mugs!

-FB

[ Edited by: FreakBear on 2004-11-24 23:34 ]

More info on the German Pickle Tradition from http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth11.htm

Bottom line? Don't buy into it.

Here's an excerpt:
It never fails. Every December someone asks about the German Christmas pickle ornament that's supposed to have a long tradition in Germany.

Here's the pickle “legend” from one Web site: “A very old Christmas eve tradition in Germany was to hide a pickle [ornament] deep in the branches of the family Christmas Tree. The parents hung the pickle last after all the other ornaments were in place. In the morning they knew the most observant child would receive an extra gift from St. Nicholas. The first adult who finds the pickle traditionally gets good luck for the whole year.” This Christmas pickle story, with a few minor variations, can be found all over the Web and in print inside the ornament package. It says that Germans hang a pickle-shaped glass ornament on the Christmas tree hidden away so it's difficult to find. The first child to find it on Christmas morning gets a special treat.

Of course, anyone familiar with German Christmas customs can see the flaws in this “legend.” First of all, the German St. Nick doesn't show up on Christmas Eve. He arrives on the 5th or 6th of December. Nor do German children open their presents on Christmas morning. That happens on Christmas Eve in Germany. (See our German Christmas Guide for more about German Christmas customs.)

But the biggest problem with the German pickle (saure Gurke) tradition is that no one in Germany has ever heard of it. Over the years this question has often come up on the AATG (German Teachers) forum. Teachers of German in the US and in Europe have never been able to find a native German who has even heard of the pickle legend, much less carried out this Christmas custom. It seems to have been some German-American invention by someone who wanted to sell more glass ornaments for Christmas.

On 2002-12-01 17:35, tikifish wrote:
...Welcome to Holly Gardens Rehab Centre, formerly Hawaiian Gardens! Tai'd on one too many Mai Tai's? Experiencing Rumaki Remorse? You've come to the right place!

Hey I think I stayed here around '95 or '96! At the time it was a German-themed motel. The room and especially bathroom was a step into the 50s!
-FB

Cool place. I stayed there last week.

It's funny that the people I know who are German-Americans (Italians have this in common) seem to have a stronger feeling about Germany as a whole. My friends actually from Germany have very fragmented views of other Germans actually being as German as themselves.

Schwabians thinking Bavarians are not authentic Germans...they don't speak TRU German etc.

As an outsider, it's comical.

Anybody else experiance this?

I bought the pickle ornament at Bonner's and indeed, it had a listing of the german pickle legend printed in the box. However, I just thought it was cool to have a pickle on the tree.

That re-hab tiki village is great. It wouldn't be as frightfull if it had morphed into anything else.

The Dutch have some traditions too (Zebra can elaborate on this) Besides Sinterklaas is Zwarte Piet (Swarte Pyt?) who accompanies thier Father Christmas.

He is from Afrika and if you are a bad kid, as I understand it, he will haul your ass away. The The picures I've seen of show in in a huge yellow and orange hat and I must say he looks like an illustrated version of "Rooster" from "Baretta"

Anyone else know this one?

I grew up in a heavily German/Polish part of Wisconsin. Lots of polka music and dancing, beer drinking, bratwurst and sausages, and all that stuff. I always associate the Bavarian architecture trimmings with the festive reception halls where the polka music would be played.

Polka music had its peak cultural impact in the U.S. during the early/mid 1950's, so perhaps for a certain generation (those born in the 1920's-30's) the Bavarian theme was the wild, partying theme of the day. The people who seem to have the fondest views of the touristy Bavarian themed towns (Solvang, Leavenworth)are the older generation who experienced that time period firsthand.

My theory is that when this generation got tired from too much polka dancing, they slid into the more quiet and sedate Polynesian/tiki culture, where they only had to swing their hips to an occasional hula dance, rather than sustain long, fast, amd mostly sweaty polkas on the dance floor.

Vern

Dutch Sinterklaas references? Was he in the tiki rehab too?

For the best explanation of Dutch Sinterklaas traditions, read David Sedaris' essay, "Six To Eight Black Men" in his newest book, "Dress Your Family In Corduroy."

The real story is very, very strange. Highlights: Sinterklaas currently lives in Spain, yes, Spain, semi-retired, and not Spanish speaking, in his former career, he was the Bishop of Turkey, which is where he gets his wardrobe influences. On December 5th, he arrives in the Netherlands via a boat fron Spain, astride his white horse, along with 6 to 8 Moorish 'helpers', Schwarte Piet being the lead helper. Supposedly, Dutch children are told that if they are bad, Sinterklaas will hit them with a switch, and throw them into a large burlap sack & send them to live in Spain for a year...
or the referbished tiki rehab center.

Now back to Bavarian Amusements... Dahcshund Races anyone?

Alpine Village still exists in Torrance California.

They used to have some rides and a petting zoo. Now it's just a few shops still run by the economic stragglers that haven't realized it's on its way out.

They still have an Oktoberfest every year in a beergarten.

But the parkinglot is still the economic powerhouse. Swap meet there every weekend.

http://www.alpinevillage.net/index.html

Found a website.

On 2004-11-25 11:38, ZebraTiki wrote:
Sinterklaas currently lives in Spain, yes, Spain, semi-retired, and not Spanish speaking, in his former career, he was the Bishop of Turkey, which is where he gets his wardrobe influences. On December 5th, he arrives in the Netherlands via a boat fron Spain, astride his white horse, along with 6 to 8 Moorish 'helpers', Schwarte Piet being the lead helper.

I was living in Holland a few years back and the Main News actually has as a headline the arrival of Sinterklaas as the top news item, then every until (i think) the 10th it reprts which part of holland he is visting.
Schwarte Piet is Sinterklaas top spy he goes around checking all the kids, and what kids have to do is put their clog by the fire each night from the 5th until the 10th and if there is a sweet in it in the morning it means old piets been checking up.
The black helpers of santa are common through out europe in the Czech Republic Schwarte Piet is a little black devil.

Der Schlitterbahn! Never personally been there. Yet.

Also, Bush Gardens in Tampa has some bits that that are German themed.

Hey, why don't you take this over to Bavarian Central, huh? I'm sure you'll find lots to talk about there...

On another note, there're a bunch of houses in the next neighborhood over from me that have A-Frame roofs that look like a cross between Bali Hai & Heidi. Some of the places have gingerbread on the A-Frames, some have a polynesian up-sweep to them, very strange.