A lot of people really make too much of the whole theme park vs amusement park, a lot of it is just because in English there are two common terms 'theme park' and 'amusement park', but they really mean the same thing, parks like Universal and Disney just have placed the bar much higher, that is really all. In different languages I think the difference is not there. I know in mu native Dutch, both 'theme park' and 'amusement park' would be called 'pretpark' (literally translates to fun park). French is parque d'attractions and German is Freizeitpark (literally -respectively- attraction park and leisure park).
As for bare coasters, I find some coasters to be highly aesthetic, especially when done the way BGT does them.