On this website you can find information about all the Luna Parks in the World.
Below you will find a list of all the fixed Luna Parks, followed by some general history about the Luna Parks. You can see a list of all the travelling Luna Parks here and all the closed Luna Parks here.
Europe
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
LunEur |
Italy, Rome |
1953 to 2008 and 2016 to present |
Active |
North America
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
South America
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
Asia
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
Oceania
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
Luna Park Sydney |
Australia, Sydney |
1935 to 1979, 1980 to 1988, 1995 to 1996, 2004 to present |
Active |
Africa
Name |
Location |
In operation |
Status |
History
Luna Park is a name for funfairs and amusement parks that has been in use since 1901 when the first Luna Park opened in Rexford, New York, near Schenectady.
The second Luna Park opened on Coney Island in 1903. This is considered as the “original” Luna Park and also the most famous of them all. The origin of the park’s name is uncertain. One theory is that is was named after an airship that was one of the main attractions of the park. Another theory is that it was named after one of the founders’ sister.
In 1905 a roller coaster engineer by the name of Frederick Ingersoll opened two new Luna Parks in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. In 1907 a fourth Luna Park was opened in Seattle, Washington, by Charles Loof who was also one of the founders of the first Luna Park on Coney Island.
Later on Frederic Ingersoll opened an additional 44 Luna Parks around the world. He thereby created the first chain of Luna Parks in the world. In order to distinguish them from the other Luna Parks which he had no connected to, he chose to rename them to “Ingersoll’s Luna Parks” for a short period of time. When he died in 1927 most of his parks closed. This event did however not stop the usage of the name in future parks.
After the Second World War independent showmen started to open amusement parks at fixed locations that was only open during the summer. The showmen was the owners of their individual attractions and gathered in order to attract more clients. Most of these parks opened around the mediterranean and atlantic coast areas and where called Luna Park. The main differences between these Luna Parks and the first ones, where 1) that these new parks where owned by several independent owners as opposed to one company, and 2) that the new parks where not amusement parks with attractions, but rather mobile funfairs.
Today, the term Luna Park (sometimes also spelled Lunapark) signifies “funfair” or “amusement park” in many languages, a bit the same way the word tivoli is associated with funfairs, gardens and movie theaters. In Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Turkish and Hebrew the direct meaning of the word Lunapark can be translated to “amusement park”.