ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the range of architectures and structures, as well as corporate manipulations and rules of engagement in the makings of fantasy landscapes for public consumption. It emphasizes the historicity of public spaces of fantasy and how they were reflective of the public values, sentiments, and social transformation of the time. By looking at the precedent of such leisure spaces as well as contemporary manifestations, people can attend to the shifts in the cultural tone of society toward the notion of fantasy. It is not surprising that scholars early on were quick to use the term 'Disneyfication' to capture the globalizing of fantasy and mass cultural homogenization that pervades the media ecology. The metaphor of 'fantasy parks' reminds us that digital flaneuring, online marketing and branding, and the commercialism of gaming platforms and virtual worlds are in many ways rooted in theme parks of the past.
