The relationship of atmosphere, experience, fantastic imagination, happiness and eudaimony in theme parks

Destinations can be considered as a geographical cluster that are visited temporarily in which visitors perform more leisure activities depending on the number and distribution of different characteristics of attractions and events. In the process starting from the ancient Greeks to the present day places, which is the basis of the relationship between the human and the environment and which attributed meaning with aesthetic elements, are marketed and turned into destinations. The theme embodies the viewpoint of visitors to the fiction created within the space in an environment structured based on the multiple senses and imaginative experiences of these spaces. Within the scope of this study, beyond theming related to the destination covering regions, cities and neighborhoods, theming issues of service businesses were examined and themed parks and their atmospheric characteristics were discussed. Amusement parks, religious festivals, carnivals and trade fairs from antiquity and medieval times, were considered as the origins of themed parks, and Disneyland, which opened in 1955, is the first themed park. In the scope of this study the effects of themed park (evaluated as a destination) atmospheric crıterıa on visitors examined. To explain it in a more descriptive way, the study is carried out in order to create a road map by examining the atmosphere criteria of themed parks, their relationship with visitors' experiences, fantasy imagery, happiness and eudaimonies. In this sense, the relations between the variables were examined within the scope of the hypotheses specified in the research process by using SPSS and Smart-PLS programs. The findings of the research revealed that the atmosphere in the theme parks is evaluated in terms of readability, design, facilities and activities and originality. These dimensions reveal statistically significant relationships with escape experience, fantastic imagination, hedonic happiness and eudaimonia. In addition, it is observed that experience and fantastic imagination have mediating effect on the relationship between atmosphere and hedonic happiness and eudaimonia.