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Cedar Fair Rankings


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Here's my list based on the Cedar Fair parks I've visited so far.

 

1. Cedar Point

2. Canada's Wonderland

3. Knotts Berry Farm

4. Kings Island

5. Valleyfair

6. Worlds of Fun

7. Dorney Park

8. California's Great America

9. Michigan's Adventure

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I have yet to visit one Cedar Fair park that I did not 'like,' so this is my list from most to least favorite:

1. Cedar Point

One of the best coaster lineups in the world, combined with some good operations.

2. Kings Dominion

A decently operated park with a great lineup, especially with I305

3. Carowinds

I think that this is the nicest CF park out there. The lineup is pretty solid, with an intense B&M, a unique flying coaster, and a nice hyper.

4. Kings Island

A large coaster selection that mixes classics (Racer, The Beast) with newer designs (Firehawk, Banshee, Diamondback)

5. Knott's Berry Farm

Has the best theming of any CF park. However, it is no higher on this list because it has by far the worst operations.

6. California's Great America

Has a great 1-2 punch with an intense B&M and a great new GCI. However, there is not much else in this park to write about.

7. Dorney Park

This is a pretty well operated park. But, the coaster lineup is just 'meh.' I would still rank it above at least half of my Six Flags parks, though.

 

More notes on Dorney:

Dorney Park is a bit of a conundrum for me. It has everything that a coaster lineup should have to be amazing, including an invert, floorless, hyper, and classic wooden coaster. On paper, this sounds like it would be such a fantastic selection. However, their coasters in all four of these categories are some of the weakest I have ridden in all of them. The shuttle coasters are fun, but nothing to write home about. I still feel bad placing it in last, as it is well-operated.

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I like the Cedar Fair parks in general, but to rank those I've been to:

1. Cedar Point

2. Knotts

3. Kings Dominion

4. Kings Island

5. California's Great America

6. Dorney Park

 

My highest ranked Six Flags park would be Great Adventure, probably coming in between Kings Island and CGA.

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^ I'd have to say that CP and KI are my preferred parks in the Cedar Fair chain; I also really enjoy the charm of Knott's (plus it's one of the WCB parks-which obviously bolsters its appeal even more); that said, I'd probably put Great Adventure after those three; and although it does have El Toro and Nitro, I'll look at the entire experience.

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I only have 3 under my belt.

 

1. Cedar Point

2. Kings Island

3. Kings Dominion

 

I consider Kings Island to be nearly on par with Cedar Point, the operations are phenomenal there and I really like the atmosphere. Kings Dominion is still a close 3rd because I305 is my #1 and the park looks amazing, however operations weren't AS good (When you're competing with CP & KI it's pretty hard to keep up) and while it looked good the overall atmosphere didn't feel as nice. Still a really great park. Next one I want to knock out is Carowinds!

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From the parks I've been to.

 

1. Cedar Point- Obviously

2. Kings Dominion- I305 is my favorite coaster and overall I really enjoy visiting this park

3. Kings Island- Close tie with KD. KI was my home park for years and recently its lineup has became pretty impressive.

4. Worlds of Fun- I just love this park so much, great atmosphere, unique flats, and Patriot and Prowler are very great (and underrated) coasters!

5. Carowinds- Intimidator and Afterburn are both standout coasters, the rest of the collection is average but they're still fun rides! (I haven't been since 2010 so I need to try out Fury.)

6. Michigan's Adventure- Shivering Timbers is wonderful, and of course there is also Wolverine Wildcat which is fairly good and Thunderhawk which is the only smooth SLC I've ridden so far!

 

I recently moved to from Indianapolis to Washington D.C. so I should be able to visit Dorney Park and re-visit Carowinds and KD here soon (plus get to go to Hershey, SFA, SFGAdv, and BGW.)

Edited by angryemobeaver
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My ranking are based on the ride selection from kid rides to the big thrills.

1. Kings Island

2. Carowinds

3. Cedar Point

4. Canada's Wonderland

5. Kings Dominion

6. Worlds of Fun

7. ValleyFair

8. Dorney Park

9. Knott's Berry Farm

10. California's Great America

11. Michigan's Adventure

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I haven't been to Knott's, but I've been to the rest. As I started thinking, I was amazed that it's been almost a decade since I've been to some of these parks. So, some things might have changed.

 

1) Cedar Point - mmm, how can you not love Cedar Point?

2) King's Island

3) Worlds of Fun

4) King's Dominion

5) Carowinds

6) Dorney

7) Valleyfair

8) Canada's Wonderland

9) Michigan's Adventure

10) California's Great America

 

Couple thoughts -

I love the feel of backwoods feel of King's Island, and what WoF did with Prowler was wonderful. King's Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland all have this generic mega park feel with a lot of filler rides, but to be fair, I went to those parks before Fury 325 and Leviathan. King's Dominion gets major points for I325, Volcano, and Dominator, and Carowinds has Afterburn, which I could ride all day. CGA, this get's last place for me, but this was before the GCI. Back when I went, there wasn't too much to love, even with Flight Deck. Shivering Timbers is heaven, which is Michigan's Adventures' only salvation. Thinking back on Dorney and Valleyfair, they both have a similar medium-size park feel to them that makes them accessible and a little more intimate - nothing spectacular, but certainly far from 'not nice'.

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1) Cedar Point

2) Kings Dominion

3) Kings Island

4) Canada's Wonderland (I love their flats)

5) Carowinds

6) Worlds of Fun

7) Knott's Berry Farm

8) Dorney Park

9) California Great America

10) Valleyfair

11) Michigan's Adventure

 

Gilroy Gardens doesn't really count because it is not owned by Cedar Fair.

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More notes on Dorney:

Dorney Park is a bit of a conundrum for me. It has everything that a coaster lineup should have to be amazing, including an invert, floorless, hyper, and classic wooden coaster. On paper, this sounds like it would be such a fantastic selection. However, their coasters in all four of these categories are some of the weakest I have ridden in all of them. The shuttle coasters are fun, but nothing to write home about. I still feel bad placing it in last, as it is well-operated.

 

I agree with this completely. Steel Force is one of the dullest hypers anywhere though if you ride it in the front seat it does become a very good ride, Talon is the best of the bunch and it's great but it's a middle of the road invert, floorless coasters in general never blow anyone away but Hydra is on the lower end of the spectrum. Hydra is kind of a shame as it's an extremely rare example of B&M completely breaking the mold and building a unique layout. It has a straight drop, it starts out with a turnaround after the drop and not an inversion, it has the jojo roll, has no vertical loop or dive loop and the first 3 inversions are barrel roll style inversions. It's cool and it's a good ride but it's not amazing. Posessed is great but it's still an impulse coaster, Thunderhawk has the potential to be amazing with it's random moments of OMFG ejector airtime in the front car but it's over-trimmed and rough as hell and Stinger sucks.

 

The closest thing they have to a forceful coaster is unfortunately Posessed now that Laser is gone, all of Dorney's coasters are fun but they need a stand out ride. I think one major addition could really change the perception of their coaster lineup but I don't see them making the investment in a star coaster to watch it be a walk on all the time and send half empty trains all day which it would probably do at Dorney where family rides and the waterpark seem to be the major draws.

 

Luckily a park isn't all about coasters and the park is very well maintained, has a nice flat ride collection, has a very good waterpark and has 2 star non-coaster stand out attractions with Demon Drop and Thunder Creek Mountain.

 

Oh... and Chickie and Pete's.

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^Demon Drop is really the main reason I would go to Dorney (personally). I'm sure I'd enjoy the rest of the park, but the only thing that is actually making me want to travel there is Demon Drop.

 

I loved it when I rode it at Cedar Point, and there's hardly any of them left operating.

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Demon Drop alone makes Dorney one of my favorite parks. And even though Thunderhawk is overly trimmed, those moments of ejector airtime in the front row are more fun (to me) than the airtime on most newer coasters. Also it's a classic. Hydra is my favorite floorless due to the jojo role and unique layout. Talon is a great ride but somewhere in the middle of my list of inverts. And I love Steel Force. It may not be as forceful as Magnum or modern-day hypers, but something about it feels so majestic. Idk I'm a weirdo who doesn't care about forces, they never determine how much I love a ride. And a lot of times I prefer a ride where I feel like I'm gliding thru the sky as opposed to be thrown out of my seat. That's just my opinion. I will admit that Stinger is kinda lame and wish I had a chance to ride Laser instead. As for ranking the Cedar Fair parks, Cedar Point is by far my favorite, but Dorney isn't too far behind!

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^ WOF over KBF? Interesting opinion. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that.

 

I like Prowler better than Xcelerator as the top coaster at either park, and I really enjoyed Black Mamba (I like many of those old Morgan). Also liked the overall atmosphere of the park and old school flats. Ans Kansas folk are nicer than Southern Cal people.

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^ WOF over KBF? Interesting opinion. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that.

 

I like Prowler better than Xcelerator as the top coaster at either park, and I really enjoyed Black Mamba (I like many of those old Morgan). Also liked the overall atmosphere of the park and old school flats. Ans Kansas folk are nicer than Southern Cal people.

Thanks for the compliment, but Worlds of Fun isn't in Kansas. It's in Missouri.

Edited by ytterbiumanalyst
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Of the ones I've been to:

 

1. Cedar Point (A park that exceeded my expectations. I'd go so far to call it my all-time favorite non-Disney amusement park)

2. Knott's Berry Farm (I've only been there once a few years ago, but I enjoyed it for what it was and it definitely lived up to my expectations, with the exception of Ghostrider)

3. Kings Island (It was a great park with an excellent wooden coaster. But compared to CP, there were a few elements that seemed underwhelming)

4. California's Great America (my home park)

 

I'd love to visit the other parks and give my opinion on them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

1. Cedar Point: It has a lot to live up to, yet still exceeds the hype. While there may be specific things that aren't perfect, I'm never one to call it overrated. The ride collection is top-notch with plenty of quality rides and the rest at least enhanced by their setting, and the atmosphere is only exceeded by the best traditional parks or true theme parks. While not as legendary as they once were, I find the operations are still mostly outstanding at both Ohio CF parks. I also love how there's so much to do in the resort area beyond riding coasters.

 

2. Kings Island: I'm giving this the edge over Kings Dominion due to fresher memories and one visit over KD. The atmosphere isn't the most inspired, but fairly relaxing. Even though it's far from one of my top parks in general, I had a near-perfect visit last year (despite skipping one of my favorites, FoF). Plus, at least for a non-fanboy, I'm a pretty big Beast fan. I hope they keep up the astonishingly efficient operations on Banshee (at least as long as warranted).

 

3. Kings Dominion: I might put the atmosphere of this park over KI. Another park that's not outstanding to me, yet garners few complaints beyond typical Cedar Fair quibbles. It sounds like they made a lot of improvements during 2014, though I've heard some bad reports from the start of this season (not sure if that's ongoing or typical opening issues).

 

4. Knott's Berry Farm: As with many Cedar Fair parks, the atmosphere is not my favorite, but there's definitely plenty of character here, and some well-preserved themed rides. I used to regard this park fairly poorly, but it's pretty well-rounded for a Cedar Fair park, and its reputation seems to be on an upswing.

 

5. Worlds of Fun: While it seems to be one of the most disdained, it's another park where I like the atmosphere more than people give it credit for. I probably wouldn't like the ride collection as much today as my once outspoken enthusiasm for Morgan hypers wanes, but it's certainly not the worst.

 

6. Valleyfair!: Another park that, while lackluster, is more enjoyable than one might imagine. The ride collection leaves a lot to desire, but the park itself is pleasant and relaxing.

 

7. California's Great America: Although a couple rides have lush settings, this park never gave me a great impression, and is pretty lacking in character.

 

8. Dorney Park: Boring!!! I used to actually enjoy the ride collection, but no more. Plus, the flat rides are operated with astounding inefficiency. However, despite its classic character having been decimated years ago, parts of the park do have a refreshing, scenic atmosphere.

 

9. Carowinds: The worst in just about every way. Uninspired rides (though I did really enjoy Intimidator in 2012), Concrete Fair setting.

 

Unranked: Gilroy Gardens. Beautiful park with decent, creatively themed family rides; I wouldn't recommend it to all enthusiasts, but I will happily say it's worth a short visit.

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