Top / Best Amusement Park (s)

[odene497]

I think I'd have too hard a time really organizing my favorites in order. But here's a general list in no particular way.

 

Lake Compounce

Silver Dollar City

Dollywood

SFOG

SFNE

Waldameer

Kennywood

Knoebel's

Phantasialand

Europa Park

Efteling

[beatle11]

My 3 favorites as of now.

 

1. Knobels

2. Disney World

3. Kennywood

[WFChris]

Wow, this is an old thread. I was wondering if this list has changed in the last 6 years, Elissa?

 

Hmmm...I don't think I can put them in order...

 

WDW

TDR

IOA/Uni

Europa Park

SDC

Knoebels

Blackpool

Dells

SFGAd

Busch Gardens Tampa

[JuanSe_Colombia]

1. Six Flags Magic Mountain

2.Islands Of Adventure / Universal

3.Disney World

4.Busch Gardens Tampa

5.Disneyland

6.Universal Hollywood

7.Knott's Berry Farm

8.Sea World San Diego

9.Parque del Cafe (Colombia)

10. Salitre Mágico (Colombia)

[SharkTums]

^^That's a good question!

 

Well I can tell you that IOA/Uni and the Dells have certainly fallen off that list. I would probably replace them with some Scandi parks like GronaLund and Liseberg...maybe throw Legoland California in there now too.

[TJ27]

My top 5

1 Cedar Point

2 Six Flags Magic Mountain

3 Knott's (Haven't been since 2004)

4 Disneyland

5 DCA

[triggernel]

1. IOA

2. Disneyland

3. USO

4. Indiana Beach

5. Holiday World

7. Cedar Point

8. Dollywood

9. Kings Island

10. MGM Studios!

[Andrewoplis]

Mine has change quite a bit here my top ten ( In no order)

 

1.Disneyland

2.lagoon

3.Adventureland

4.Six Flags Discovery kingdom

5.Cedar Point

6.Valleyfair!

7.Enchanted Forrest

8.Nick Universe

9.Legoland Ca

10.Santa Cruz Beach Board Walk

[rcdude]

Instead of a top ten, I'll do a top five for each category.

 

Major Parks:

 

1. Holiday World

2. Dollywood

3. Busch Gardens Williamsburg

4. Disneyland

* Disney California Adventure Park (upon opening of Cars Land)

5. Cedar Point

 

Mid-Size Parks:

 

1. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

2. Lake Compounce

3. California's Great America

4. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

5. La Ronde

 

Small/Minor Parks:

 

1. Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park

2. Funtown Splashtown U.S.A.

3. Canobie Lake Park

4. Castle Amusement Park

5. Adventuredome

[simon8899]

Top Theming/Atmosphere:

1: De Efteling

2: Disneyland

3: Tivoli Gardens

 

Top Rides:

1: SFMM

2: German Carnival

3: Heide-Park

[Sir Clinksalot]

1) EPCOT

2) Disneyland

3) USF/IOA

4) DAK

5) MK

6) Knoebels

7) Hersheypark

8) SFGAdv

9) DCA

10) SFOG

 

Honorable mention goes to DHS simply for "Good Tower".

[XYZ]

1) EPCOT

2) Knott's Berry Farm

3) Disney's Hollywood Studios

4) Magic Kingdom

5) Disneyland

6) California Adventure

7) Animal Kingdom

8) California's Great America

9) Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

10) Coney Island

 

Honorable Mention: Belmont Park

 

I went to SFMM and SFDK (When it was SFMW), though I was less than 8, and I didn't enjoy coasters that much so I will leave both parks out.

[Geauga Dog]

My top favorites (not a full 10):

 

1. Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Outside of Disney BGW sets a standard to what a theme park should be. Attention to detail, quality coasters (not worried about quantity), excellent food and entertainment, and gorgeous landscaping.

 

2. Hersheypark - A corporate park that doesn't feel like one. Great atmosphere, decent theming, and a good variety of coasters and flats.

 

3. Six Flags Great America - Marriott did a great job with the design of this park and I'm glad that Six Flags has retained a lot of it. Plus it has a solid variety of coasters and, for a Six Flags, has a large selection of flats.

 

4. Six Flags Over Georgia - A beautiful park with a very solid lineup of coasters. It seems the orignal Six Flags parks have the most charm compared to the ones Six Flags eventually bought.

 

5. Kings Island - Always been my favorite Ohio park. It also has one of my favorite park layouts. Despite CF taking some of the atmosphere away in recent years there is still a bit of charm left in the park.

 

6. Six Flags St. Louis - Just like its sister SFOG, this park is also beautiful in spots and has a solid lineup of coasters.

 

7. Geauga Lake - Despite the rocky history with different owners it was a park that had an amazing lakeside setting. As SFWoA it had the potential to be something great.

 

8. Kennywood - I like how the tunnel is like a time transport as you go from the real world to the fantasy. It's a great example of how you can add newer rides and attractions without greatly disturbing the classic, old-timey park feel and charm KW has.

 

9. Darien Lake - While majority of TPR would never consider Darien Lake a top park I do like the park for its diverse flat ride collection and with the lack of development around the property it truly feels out of the way. Plus it reminds me of Geauga Lake.

[Bryce]

1. Islands of Adventure - My favorite theme park. Ever. Incredible theming + high-tech rides + 3 awesome coasters = amazing.

2. Magic Kingdom

3. Universal Studios Florida

4. Disney's Hollywood Studios

5. Dollywood

6. Busch Gardens

7. Disney's Animal Kingdom

8. Epcot - I really do love Epcot. It's just the last park I would visit on a WDW vacation...

9. SeaWorld Orlando

[Condor]

1. Cedar Point

2. Hersheypark

3. Epcot

4. Knoebels

5. Busch Gardens Tampa

6. Disneyland

7. Universal Studios Orlando

8. Six Flags Over Georgia

9. Six Flags Great Adventure

10. Islands of Adventure (used to be higher, but now everywhere outside of Wizarding World feels neglected)

 

11. Six Flags Magic Mountain

[Kafka]

1. Cedar Point

2. Holiday World

3. Kings Island

4. Six Flags St Louis-Its my home park, it may not be the best but I still have a lot of great memories here

5. Universal Studios Orlando

6. Worlds Of Fun

7. Disney World- Im a coaster guy, so this park doesnt rank high for me. Its beautiful and I had a lot of fun on Expedition Everest and Space Mountain, but everything else just wasnt my thing. I can see why this park is amazing for some though.

[thrillrideseeker]

1.) Disney's EPCOT

2.) Disney's Animal Kingdom

3.) Disney's Magic Kingdom

4.) Disney's Hollywood Studios

5.) Islands Of Adventure

6.) Universal Studios Orlando

7.) Cedar Point

8.) Busch Gardens Tampa

9.) Silver Dollar City

10.) Six Flags Over Texas

~Matt

[XII]

Hmm. Hard to choose, but here is a Top 10 List I composed. Wouldn't really say its 100% accurate since I constantly change it and its hard to judge since parks are good for different reasons, but here's what I came up with for now.

 

10. Kennywood

9. Heide Park

8. Mirabilandia

7. Busch Gardens Tampa

6. Knoebels

5. Islands of Adventures

4. Tie between the rest of the Disney Parks in CA, FL, and Paris (minus Epcot)

3. Silver Dollar City

2. Europa Park

1. Epcot

[Bryce]

10. Islands of Adventure (used to be higher, but now everywhere outside of Wizarding World feels neglected)

Actually, a lot was just re-painted like Port of Entry, Seuss Landing, The Incredible Hulk, Toon Lagoon, etc.

[alpengeist04]

^Very true. They are putting a lot of money into both parks right now and not just for Harry Potter. Just give them another year or two and you'll definitely see and feel the difference.

[GayCoasterGuy]

Knoebels!

Holiday World

Kennywood

Dollywood

 

as far as the BIG BIG parks go, my favorite is SF Great America (my home park, I'm biased!)

 

I used to be a big CP fanboy decades ago... but I will admit, it is easy to have *fun* there with so much to do and a great operation!

 

After being such a *critic* over the years, I'm finding I can have fun at even the cruddiest park if I'm with good company. I'm getting soft in my old age

[fraroc]

My Top Five Amusement Parks

 

5.Adventureland in Farmingdale, NY: Even though this is just a kiddie park, this place holds tons of memories for me. The SDC Hurricane is awesome and very Schwarzkopf-esque. Other than a Wave Swinger, a Huss Standard-Issue Frisbee, a pirate ship, and a log flume, this park really dosen't have much to offer for the thrill seeker. It used to have a Mondial Top Scan, but they got rid of it after an accident occured when a restraint opened during the ride an a woman was violently slammed to the ground to her death.

 

4. Dorney Park: Dorney was the place where I mainly got over my fear of coasters. As much as I love Dorney. I wish that Dorney could go back to before they got rid of Lazer. Even though Hydra and Talon are two great B&Ms, their trains are so disgusting, there is literally mildew growing on Hydra's trains (puking face) Anyway, Stinger is Ok, It would definetly benifit the park if they would work out the kinks on that ride because there is so much wrong with it.

 

3. Hersheypark: Hersheypark is a pretty awesome place with a good variety of coasters. We have 3 world class woodies, Lightning Racer being my favorite out of all of them. A classic Schwarzkopf looper, a loud-as-hell B&M Invert. And 3 awesome Intamin coasters. Stormrunner being the best out of all of them (Skyrush was busted when I went) My only complaint is that the place can get rather crowded, even on days when it's cold. But those ride-ops really hustled and kept the waits under an hour.

 

2. Cedar Point: This place rocks my socks. An awesome collection of coasters, basically taking one of each type. Its also a very athsetically appealing park in my opinion as it seems very serene by the lake. This park loses the postition to number one basically because of its absolutley ridiculous size restrictions, you can actually be too tall to go on a coaster! Also this place seems much more restrictive to weight than other Cedar Fair parks and if you are over 40 inches in the belly you can forget about Millenium Force or TTD. Total BS.

 

1. Kings Dominion: This place is one of the most beautiful and most thrilling places I have ever been to. It has very good collection of roller coasters with probably two of the best ones in the entire nation. Volcano-The Blast Coaster and Intimidator 305. Anaconda is a good ride, a bit rough but good. Shockwave was not nearly as bad as I thought and was actually very good. Flight of Fear was pure awesome and Backlot Stunt Coaster was a really cute ride, almost like a Mini-Maverick! Lines are like Dorney's on the day I went, almost non existent with Volcano being the exception. My only complaint about that place was that people there can come off as a little rude.

[Arrow Dynamics fan]

I haven't been to a lot just yet, but this is how they rank as the last time I attended not taking into account additions which would definitely adjust the position of some:

 

1. King's Island (2012)

2. Cedar Point (2012)

3. Six Flags St. Louis (2012)

4. Six Flags Over Texas (2011)

5. Six Flags Fiesta Texas (2011)

6. Worlds of Fun (2012)

7. Universal Studios (2009)

8. Disney World (1993)

9. Holiday World (2002)

10. Silver Dollar City (1996)

 

 

King's Island is my favorite due to their collection of some of the best Arrows ever (Vortex, Flight Deck), the Beast is one of my favorite woodies. Cedar does great with Awesome Intamins (Maverick and Millennium Force), the iconic Magnum XL-200, but it falls below KI because of the lack of a good woodie. Although some of SFSTL's line up is older in the steel category, it makes up for everything in the woodies, but it has to get some new steel to beat KI and CP and Boomerang has only hurt it in my image. Six Flags Over Texas has one of the most intense hypers (it nearly made me black out) and a neat classic Schwarzkopf, but the rest is clones SFSTL already has and they lack a good woodie (NTAG is nice but in my book not a woodie). Six Flags Fiesta Texas has my favorite B&M (that's right, I do like some B&Ms) the Superman Krypton Coaster and I like the Poltergiest (much better than the Flight of Fear due to being able to see and anticipate rough spots in coaster, and they have one of the coolest Log Flumes ever, but the Rattler was the worst I ever experienced in a woodie and that was their only one plus they have a Boomerang. Worlds of Fun has an okay hyper, a decent B&M Inverted coast (I still prefer Batman but at least it is a new experience), a great woodie (Prowler), but the Timber Wolf does not impress me, you already know how I feel about Boomerangs, and if they would have fixed the Orient Express, it would have beaten the SFFT for sure if not SFOT but it still feels like something is missing. Universal Studios was fun, but I am more a coaster fan and even though I didn't get to do exactly everything, it just isn't for me at this point in my life. Disney World's ranking was hurt significantly because I was hit with a really bad stomach flu and so much as watching the 3D videos made me nauseous, plus really long lines and doesn't really have much in the rollercoaster department, not really for me. Holiday World is definitely a good park, it just isn't for me until they decide to get a unique steel coaster. SDC only had the Thunderation at the time, now I am sure it would rank better.

 

The other I have been in the past were Opryland USA and Frontier City way back in sometime around the 1987-1990 timeframe, but I don't remember very much aside from flashbacks and I know that Frontier City would not rank well today. I have been to Oklahoma City many times and have never went due to their coaster line up not impressing me. I might someday, but it is not really a priority.

[Angle O. Descent]

I was thinking about this today. My pick is Busch Gardens VA. Only 5 adult coasters... EACH one top notch.

Honourable mention goes to Kennywood.

[GnastyGnoric7]

Although I only went to Cedar Point once and to Hersheypark countless times, they are tied for my favorite parks. Each park has a unique coaster, Stormrunner is something really fun and Maverick was one of the coasters I enjoyed along with all of them. Skyrush may have painful restraints, but I don't mind. Waldameer in Erie and Knoebles are very unique and feature fun.