Parks that Don't Get Crowded

[coasternate]

I was wondering if there are any US theme parks that are often uncrowded. I heard Dorney is like this; are there others?

[beenagins87]

I was wondering if there are any US theme parks that are often uncrowded. I heard Dorney is like this; are there others?

 

Excluding holidays that happen to fall on a weekday, SFOG is pretty dead during the week, it's a madhouse on Saturday, and Sundays can pull in crowds as well.

[Cullvion]

Michigan's Adventure has almost no lines whenever I go, so that's one park to go to.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Dollywood barely had 20 minute waits when I went

 

Santa's Land in North Carolina is also rarely crowded

[OrlandoGuy]

King's Doninion and Knotts Berry Farm are two parks that I have only ever visited in the middle of the summer and yet have been very, very manageable in terms of crowds. Also, Im hard-pressed to think of a time Fun Spot America ever had enough crowds to warrant more than a one-cycle wait on any ride.

[sonoma15]

Dollywood

[mike541x]

Kings Dominion is great to go on a weekday during summer as most rides never really have waits. Six Flag America is another one. Even on the weekends, they tend to have very small crowds, in fact I don't even remember the last time any of the coaster's switchbacks have been used.

[thrillseeker4552]

I've never been to the park, but I've heard that Wild Adventures is always fairly manageable with crowds.

[ian1808]

Valleyfair. I think the only times I've waited over a half an hour for a ride was for Renegade and Xtreme Swing once. Every other time it is usually very short waits or walk ons.

[madsecar]

^ Valleyfair can actually get really busy. If you go on a Saturday or Friday during the summer, the lines can get really long. I've waited in line for 2 hours for Renegade.

[WFChris]

Haven't been but I understand Gilroy Gardens here in California is never very busy.

 

And from personal experience, I can tell you that Mundo Divertido in Tijuana, MEX has not been crowded the two times I've been there!

[ScreaminNewEngland]

Lake Compounce never gets insane. Dorney was packed when I went on a satuday in july, both the water park and amusement park. Which I was happy to see, fastlane sure was nice though.

 

 

 

How are Funspot America's crowds? I'm going next week after universal closes for the night.

[StuckInSD]

If you're really desperate for credits, you could hit Adventure City (weekdays) or Castle Park (Sunday evening) down here, since the "big guys" sorta suck the crowds away. Knott's also doesn't really get as crowded when it isn't holiday season (October-December). If you're lucky enough and it's raining in SoCal, absolutely GO to Disneyland; tourists hate rain and stay away.

[rcdude]

In California:

 

-Knott's is usually the least busy of the major parks. I have seen them get some pretty significant crowds during holiday periods and on Saturdays, but even during the summer if you visit on a weekday you typically don't see lines over 30 minutes except for reduced capacity attractions.

 

-Castle Amusement Park has been dead every time I've visited. Even on a Saturday during winter break nothing was more than a 10 minute wait.

 

-Gilroy Gardens was empty on both my visits (both summer weekends). Both times I planned about 4 hours for the park and rode everything I wanted to ride within 2.

 

-In my experience California's Great America has never been crowded outside of the waterpark. I've heard it can get busy on Saturdays, but on all three of my visits most rides have been walk-ons and even when I visited last year the brand new Gold Striker only had a 15 minute wait.

 

There isn't any park outside of California that I've been to enough to say it doesn't get crowded, but I will say that Dollywood, Kings Dominion, Six Flags St. Louis, Indiana Beach, and Dorney Park were all significantly less crowded than I expected them to be when I visited.

[bill_s]

Most parks have times they aren't crowded and other times they're a madhouse. It's all about figuring out what others do, and doing the opposite. It would be shorter to list the parks that tend to be crowded (the ones everyone wants to go to most). It would be interesting to know if even these have their slack times.

 

There are some factors other than basic crowd draw. Hershey has some twilight and last 2 hours +next day deals so there is less tapering off late. SFA closes early-ish so there is less tapering too, plus running one train often means little wait but few rerides.

[VF15]

Valleyfair can get relatively crowded on Saturdays and some Sundays during Summer, but on weekdays, there really aren't any lines longer than 15, maybe 20 minutes. It's nice to be able to marathon almost anything in the park when you go on a weekday.

[xXCcsc918Xx]

Six flags STL

 

Six flags Discovery Kingdom

 

Kings dominion

 

and sometimes Six Flags Great America

 

and Six flags OG never seems to have lines when i go

[CPmillenia94]

KD, and this past year sfgadv..

[coasterbill]

People swear that Dorney gets crowded but even on it's most crowded day you'll never wait more than 15-30 minutes for the major coasters. The water park is a different story though.

 

^ Kings Dominion can get absolutely slammed during Haunt (though that's true of most parks not named Dorney). Last year when we went on a Haunt Saturday Volcano had a 3 hour wait, Even Windseeker and Drop Tower were posting hour plus waits. We had Fastlane though so we didn't care.

[scooterdoug]

Dorney Park baffles me. I finally went for my first time early last August on the Mini East Coast Tour. It was a Saturday, and the park was absolutely dead. Before lunch I had ridden every major coaster, as well as plenty of re-rides on the ones I liked. It was weird.

[hey...hey]

^Saturday was dead, however rain was in the forecast. I rode all 5 coasters numerous times in three hours.

[Sue]

I wouldn't agree about Lake Compounce not being crowded. As much as I love the park, I wouldn't go near there on a summer weekend due to crowds and horrible line jumping. Haunted Graveyard in October also gets massive crowds. Of course, they don't help matters any by constantly running 1 train on Boulder Dash.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Hong Kong Disneyland. Compared to its mother in California, Hong Kong Disneyland is more of a place to relax.

[smallpox]

hmm, drive 6.5 hours to wait two hours for Millenium Force, or drive one hour and walk on to i305 ... decisions, decisions ....

[Sharman19]

Indiana Beach isn't crowded at all, and no lines! Except for LCOSM. It's getting a LOT of publicity!