When traveling around the world, it is always interesting to see places that reflect the history, culture and people of a new location. Anyone who expects the most popular attractions in different cities to be the local folk festival or a World Heritage Site may be surprised by what they find. From Tokyo to Paris, or from Shanghai to Anaheim, theme parks based on American entertainment and cultural icons are becoming top attractions that both residents and tourists enjoy.

We have included theme parks as stops on a few of our trips to other countries and around the United States. Some of the more interesting places we have visited include the following attractions.

Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea: Japanese families and children have embraced Disney with the same fervor they show for video games, anime and Pokemon GO. The Disneyland and Disneysea theme parks opened in 1983 and 2001, respectively, on a waterfront site just north of Tokyo Bay, and they attract more than 30 million visitors annually. When we visited the parks recently, it was startling to see how many of the pre-teen and older children were outfitted as Disney characters, or were carrying stuffed animals of the latest Japanese Disney craze, “Duffy the Bear.”

The Tokyo parks are also outstanding in design. The centerpiece of Disneysea is a huge manmade volcano located in the middle of a lake, which served as the location for rides based on Jules Verne’s’ “20,000 Leagues under the Sea,” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” The Tokyo resort also contains replicas of places ranging from the canals of Venice to a New England fishing village that is a dead ringer for Mystic or Cape Cod. Tokyo Disney is one of the world’s best theme parks.

Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens: One of the world’s oldest theme parks, Tivoli Gardens opened as a recreation and entertainment stop for Danes and Scandinavians in 1845. The park’s cleanliness and organization later influenced Walt Disney’s plans for an American theme park when he visited it in the 1950s with Art Linkletter. Still popular today, Tivoli Gardens attracts more than 4 million people annually.

It is notable at Tivoli Gardens how much of the place retains the character of a public park, where nightly music festivals, elaborate gardens and eating halls exist side by side with adventure rides based on various fables. There was an American Big Band performance underway the night we visited there. Meanwhile, our son enjoyed the haunted house and shooting gallery.

Universal Studies Singapore: Singapore has gone all out trying to become a vacation hub for East Asia. Investors recently built a large Universal Studios theme park there as part of the Resorts World casino and entertainment complex on Sentosa Island. Singapore’s version of Universal contains five entertainment zones including a “Jurassic Park Lost World” zone, a “Sci-fi City” zone based on the “Transformers” and “Battlestar Galactica” series, an “Ancient Egypt” zone based on the Mummy movies, a “Far Far Away” zone based on “Shrek,” and a “Madagascar” zone. Each zone has rides and exhibits featuring these concepts with an emphasis on elaborate roller coasters.

To add to the mood, there is a New York zone and a Hollywood zone. It seems unusual to be in the tropics in Singapore watching a Four Seasons tribute band singing “Walk Like a Man” outside of a traditional American diner, while down the street Marilyn Monroe and James Dean lookalikes stroll by. Nevertheless, it works somehow and the mostly Asian visitors take dozens of selfies of each movie creation.

EPCOT: Disney World in Orlando is the world’s largest theme park. Its four separate parks — Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios and EPCOT — attract over 53 million visitors annually. In my view, EPCOT at Disney World is the penultimate theme park, offering a wide range of attractions for adults and kids. Originally designed to be just one part of a complete community to the collective Environmentally Planned Community of Tomorrow, EPCOT now features large rides based on various technologies such as transportation (“Test Track”), space (“Mission to Mars”), energy (“Ellen’s Energy Adventure”), agriculture (“Living with the Land”) and communication (“Spaceship Earth”).

EPCOT also doubles as a permanent world’s fair with 11 pavilions from diverse nations offering food, stores, cultural shows and other entertainment. Not everyone can travel overseas, but EPCOT visitors can still see a display of the Terra Cotta Warriors at the China pavilion, enjoy a belly dancer and wear a fez at the Morocco pavilion, or be thrilled by an aerial movie of the “Wonders of France” at that nation’s exhibition. EPCOT has plenty for kids to enjoy too, including the humorous “Figment of Imagination” ride, “Frozen Ever After” and the popular “Dino-Soarin’” attraction. The spacious layout of EPCOT’s grounds and the themes of its attractions make EPCOT a cut above most other theme parks and amusements.

Other Notable Theme Parks: Latin America and the Middle East are not particularly known for their theme parks. However, Dubai further enhanced its reputation as an entertainment destination by opening a huge indoor theme park last month known as IMG’s World of Adventure, which features many attractions based on Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network characters. In Europe, Disneyland Paris, located in the nearby countryside, is easily reached by commuter train and attracts almost 10 million visitors each year, but somehow this park lacks the spirit of its counterparts in California, Florida, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

In Australia, a place known as Dream World is the continent’s largest theme park with 2.3 million visitors to its site on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane. Its diverse attractions include the Dreamworks Experience, Screamworld, Motorsports, Tiger Island and a kid’s entertainment area known as Wiggles World. Meanwhile, China’s new Disney theme park, reportedly built for $5.5 billion, opened in Shanghai in June 2016, and is attempting to blend Disney favorites with Chinese culture.

Theme park visits can be a surprisingly enjoyable part of a trip to another part of the country or the world. When you laugh, sing or yell along with other families and have a shared experience, it can be more enjoyable than just visiting the top tourist stops on a bus tour. Seeing people enjoying these activities has also demonstrated to me the continuing economic power and attraction of American culture to people around the world.

Glenn Carberry of Norwich is a local attorney who practices in New London. A frequent world traveler, he has visited more than 50 countries and more than 100 World Heritage sites. He writes for The Day about the places to which he has traveled with his wife, Kimberly.