A common narrative in theme parks

The first official "park" we visited during our trip was the San Diego zoo. In addition, we went to Legoland and Seaworld and despite the significant differences in the intent, design and content of the parks, there appeared to be some common themes threaded throughout.
For instance, one common narrative that I noticed was that the visitor is either explicitly or implicitly marked as someone on a great adventure in the process of either "discovering," something new  or "destroying" a bad guy. In these parks, the target visitor is the child between the ages of 3-13.
At the Zoo, the child is positioned to take the "Polar Bear plunge" and discover the polar bear in what  I would argue is a futuristic exhibit of the Arctic (e.i no polar ice caps). There is a great visual on the declining icecaps and the role of the human species in that decline but much of it is not in language that children understand or even at their eye level. Another example of this is the "Elephant Odyssey."I was unsure whether, we the visitors, were on a journey to see the elephants, or the elephants themselves were on an extended voyage of sorts. To me, these animals have always been there in their habitat and we are not discovering them in the sense that if we had not seen them  then there is no intrinsic value to them. I feel that the titles of these exhibits convey this ever so slightly. What I wish they would instead convey is, "come see what you can learn from these animals with whom we share the Earth"

At Legoland the narrative of adventure was ubiquitous. Our first ride was the Pharoah's revenge at the Land of Adventure. On that ride, we boarded an open tram that seated 4 to each and were given laser guns (yes guns to my 3 year old!) to shoot the bad guys so that we may help recover the treasure. Very much like Indiana Jones. During that ride every possible essentialization of Egyptian culture was realized, including mummies, Pharoah, writing to mimic heiroglyphics etc. According to Lego website and wikepedia, the Pharoah's quest is a themed lego set in which this ride is based on. In this set the heroes are all human and have Western names. The creatures are mummies and are evil. This is concerning on several levels. One it spreads misinformation about a culture by distilling that culture to its ancient history. It is like having people from another country going on a ride called "Paul Revere's Ride" and having that represent America! Next, it perpetuates this concept of the "other" and simplified notions of good and bad to the next generation and basically that anyone who does not look like us can not be good.

 The picture represents the ride Dune Raiders, a continuation of the Egypt theme. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this. Snake charming happens, not in Egypt, but in India. This is like teaching our kids that Muslims were the head turbans like Sikhs. Geographical and historical accuracy is so important. Having said that, it is pretty neat that this whole thing is built of Legos!

Other rides, under the Land of Adventure section, include Lost Kingdom Adventure, Cargo Ace and a market called Pippin's Bazaar. Directly from the site: 

"Visitors can take a piece of the Lost Kingdom home when they stop by this diverse market. This shop also offers LEGO toys featuring our favorite whip-cracking archaeologist, Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia."

More to come on Seaworld!