With that bit of timeless insight, Tivoli Gardens' charter was put forth and approved by the king in the mid-nineteeth century. Back then it was outside of the protected walls of the city, but today it is located squarely between the Danish Design Center and The Ascot, so a Tivoli visit was inevitable. But first, a little history is in order (thanks Wikipedia).... Tivoli Gardens is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on August 15, 1843 and, except for Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, it is the oldest amusement park which has survived intact to the present day.
When we visited, however, Tivoli was closed. Imagine the Griswold trip to Wallyworld but put Wallyworld on another continent and replace the comic relief of Randy Quaid with the stern disapproval of the McIntire Business School's Dean. It was kind of like that.
Anyway, while Dean Zeithaml lacks the comic timing of Randy Quaid, he has wicked connections and arranged for us an exclusive lecture and behind-the-scenes tour of the place with the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Designer. And this was all without shooting anyone with a pellet gun (as far as we know).
For those of us who toil away at jobs moving around numbers and championing abstract concepts, please take a moment to respect the blending of concept and life-or-death reality that the Tivoi Designer must orchetrate. This is a man who displayed for us the napkin on which he designed a massive multi-story amusement ride. The ride that he oversaw the creation of and the ride which drew massive amounts of people to Tivoli, just to experience the thrill. He talked to us about the creative process and getting things done under pressure.
We then went on a behind-the-scenes tour of Tivoli and learned a ton about the history, the way it operates, and the way it makes money. We ate at an Asian noodle place with the coolest name ever. It was a wonderful trip, but unfortunately it was just a stop. We left Tivoli en route to the movie studio Zentropa, but that's for the next post. I'll try my best to do that one quicker than I did this time.
