Spring Break
Video games can explore new world: the past
Scott Dennis
Issue date: 5/19/09 Section: Forum
It was just the other day that a visit to a particularly enchanting forest caused me to realize a great deficiency, and a great source of potential, in the video game industry. This revelation was quite extraordinary and makes clear that there are still untapped worlds ripe for innovation, the kind of innovation often introduced by students who've spend much of their free time "analyzing" and "studying" entertainment mediums like video games - but more on that stuff later.
Forty-five minutes away by car, or 25 by submarine, is the lone bastion of immersive frivolity in the Northwest. This park, a little over 35 years old, is the only amusement park in our corner of the country that even makes an attempt at real thing. With my fascination with theme parks and a relatively free Sunday, not to mention free tickets courtesy of a friend, my party and I ventured north to investigate this unique curiosity called Enchanted Forest.
The scorching midday sun baked the parking lot as we navigated our way to the main entrance, a literal hole in the wall. Always charming midi music floated on the breeze, setting our imaginations aflame with thoughts of the fantastical adventures we would soon experience.
We queued up at the entrance and were surprised to see none other than Roger Tofte himself headed toward us, no doubt on some super magical mission for the park. Roger, as you must know, is the founder and owner of Enchanted Forest. Seeing him at all would have been a huge treat, but before we'd even entered the park? Absolutely amazing.
In much of the text about this park, it is described as a cheaper version of Disneyland, and it is not hard to see why. Everything is on a smaller scale here, but there are a number of distinctive similarities, such as the iconic castle near the entrance and the snow-capped mountain up the hill.
This paradise in the woods is also distinguished by its penchant for the unusual. It has a log ride, as so many amusement parks do, but this one has a section where the log channel is replaced by roller coaster track. There is also the roller coaster, an amusement park staple, except that the cars on this one have canopies to keep riders from reaching for the scenic trees they miss by inches.
Forty-five minutes away by car, or 25 by submarine, is the lone bastion of immersive frivolity in the Northwest. This park, a little over 35 years old, is the only amusement park in our corner of the country that even makes an attempt at real thing. With my fascination with theme parks and a relatively free Sunday, not to mention free tickets courtesy of a friend, my party and I ventured north to investigate this unique curiosity called Enchanted Forest.
The scorching midday sun baked the parking lot as we navigated our way to the main entrance, a literal hole in the wall. Always charming midi music floated on the breeze, setting our imaginations aflame with thoughts of the fantastical adventures we would soon experience.
We queued up at the entrance and were surprised to see none other than Roger Tofte himself headed toward us, no doubt on some super magical mission for the park. Roger, as you must know, is the founder and owner of Enchanted Forest. Seeing him at all would have been a huge treat, but before we'd even entered the park? Absolutely amazing.
In much of the text about this park, it is described as a cheaper version of Disneyland, and it is not hard to see why. Everything is on a smaller scale here, but there are a number of distinctive similarities, such as the iconic castle near the entrance and the snow-capped mountain up the hill.
This paradise in the woods is also distinguished by its penchant for the unusual. It has a log ride, as so many amusement parks do, but this one has a section where the log channel is replaced by roller coaster track. There is also the roller coaster, an amusement park staple, except that the cars on this one have canopies to keep riders from reaching for the scenic trees they miss by inches.
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