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Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks

Edward M

Strata Poster
Had a surprising addition to my list. Great Adventure was just fantastic! Loved it there. Excited that it is going to be my new home park!!! Visited in 2017 in bold.

1. Tokyo Disneysea
2. Disneyland
3. Animal Kingdom
4. Magic Kingdom
5. Tokyo Disneyland
6. Islands of Adventure
7. Epcot
8. California Adventure
9. Silver Dollar City
10. Cedar Point
11. Universal Studios Hollywood
12. Six Flags Great Adventure
13. Knott's Berry Farm
14. Port Aventura
15. Dollywood
 
I don't think I could put them in any particular order, but these are my personal faves:

- Tokyo Disneysea
- Universal Japan
- Busch Tampa
- Alton Towers
- Disney California
- Port Aventura
- Gronalund
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach
- Silver Dollar City
- Cedar Point
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
After visiting some amazing amusement parks recently, I've decided to split up my list into two top 10s: one for theme parks and the other for amusement parks. I feel its a bit unfair to compare a park like Tokyo Disneysea with a park like Knoebels. One has $5.5 billion dollars put into it, and the other is a free admission public park with some rides that accept paper tickets. It's just a totally different kind of experience. So, anyway, here we go! Two lists. Visited in 2017 in italics. New in bold.

Theme Parks (Disney and Universal specifically)
  1. Tokyo Disneysea
  2. Disneyland
  3. Animal Kingdom
  4. Magic Kingdom
  5. Tokyo Disneyland
  6. Islands of Adventure
  7. Epcot
  8. Disney California Adventure
  9. Universal Studios Hollywood
  10. Universal Studios Florida

Amusement Parks (the rest)
  1. Silver Dollar City
  2. Knoebels
  3. Cedar Point
  4. Port Aventura
  5. Six Flags Great Adventure
  6. Hersheypark
  7. Knott's Berry Farm
  8. Busch Gardens Tampa
  9. Dollywood
  10. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2014 Edition
erm don't think I've done any in here before and it'll be not a patch on most of you well-travelled folks but I'll pad it out with detail none the less.

1. Port Aventura - Flown over twice solely to visit the park and overall have had 5 days there. On the surface it doesn't actually have that many good rides, it's just the quality of the ones they do have coupled with the climate and the overall presentation of the park make it amazing.

2. Alton Towers - Don't think I've ever had a bad trip, even when rides have been closed I've managed to find enough to entertain myself for a full day and leave with a smile on my face. Most enjoyable variety of coasters in the country for me.

3. Thorpe Park - Just a bit soulless really, lacks the sort of character that the first two do, but has a very good ride line-up that again I can spend the day enjoying and leave satisfied.

4. Flamingo Land - I've not had a bad visit to the place which may be why I rank it so highly, but I absolutely love the place. It's like a Lidl-Alton-Towers, the rides are all watered down versions of the stuff you get at Alton, but still greatly enjoyable, and the zoo is very good.

5. Adventure Island - Was tough to split the next few but I've gone with AI because of the general atmosphere within the park. There wasn't a massive amount of stuff I'd spend time re-riding, but the staff were great, Rage was very good and the overall park was exactly what a British seaside park should be today.

6. Chessington - Basically a very well polished Drayton Manor, a few 'big' rides, and more enjoyable to spend time in. Zoo was probably up there with Flamingo Land's.

7. Blackpool - Such an odd park, when I'm first inside I come over all nostalgiac and love the place, and the more time I spend there the more I realise how out-of-touch and dated the entire place seems. Doesn't have the rides to entice me to visit any time soon.

8. Fantasy Island - Which gives you an idea what I think about the other parks I've visited if this ranks in at 8th. It's a market with knock off Voi onesies and bb guns, with the best SLC in the country over the top of it. To be fair the indoors section is very well done and there's enough rides to kill a few hours on.

9. Drayton Manor - Everything just feels a bit grubby really, I've not been since they put in Thomas Land and Ben 10 so it may look and feel a lot fresher but my memories of the park and the 'zoo' aren't great.

10. Oakwood - Quite literally scrapes on because of Alpine Coaster and Speed, because it has nothing else going for it. Such a waste of potential in it's current state.

Terra Mitica and Lightwater Valley both would have ranked behind Wicksteed and only marginally ahead of Billing Aquadrome tbfh.



Liseberg goes in at 2. If I'd had a visit at night it'd probably just pip PA, but the climate and experiences at PA just swing it for me. Beautiful park, two stunning coasters, just a gorgeous park.

Pleasurewood Hills and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach don't really get close to top ten. Drayton was as bad this year as I remembered it in that post, if not worse.

Been a while since I thought about this and, even though I've not visited them since, after riding a few more rides and seeing a few more parks, I've had a few tweaks.

1. Liseberg - Just the park I most want to go back and visit. Maybe because I've been to PA a couple of times and only Liseberg the once, maybe because my top 2 coasters are there. Bit gutted I've missed the park at nighttime too.

2. Europa Park - Originally put this as 3 below PA, but upon thinking about it, if I had a choice of where to spend the day I'd choose Europa over PA right now. Just more to do, basically.

3. Port Aventura - Not sure if I'd find the park a bit 'meh' given the lack of recent additions since my last visit, and the roughness of Khan, but it's still a beautiful park.

4. Alton Towers - Mainly for Nemesis and Smiler.

5. Phantasialand - Below Alton probably because of how recently I visited and being in no rush to get back. Enjoyed the park and the combo of Taron/Mamba is better than Nemesis/Smiler, but there's a bit more to do at Alton if I was going to either park tomorrow.

6. Thorpe Park - Just a nice solid collection of coasters that I'd enjoy riding.

7. Flamingo Land - I just really love this place, even though there;s nothing o note new since my last visit, I just always really seem to enjoy my visits there.

8. BPB - Jumps ahead of a few parks, ignoring Icon, I just feel like I could use a trip to a cluster**** of a park. That's the thing about BPB, absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder.

9. Adventure Island - But only at night. It was a great visit I had there but, in truth, the line-up isn't as great as I remember it.

10. - Chessington - As before, ithe zoo aspect makes it a better day out than the rides alone.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
  1. Phantasialand

  2. Port Aventura

  3. Efteling

  4. Tivoli Gardens

  5. Blackpool Pleasure Beach

  6. Parc Asterix

  7. Toverland

  8. Alton Towers

  9. Parque Warner

  10. Plopsaland De Panne
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
I went away and did my criteria thing, then stared at the list for a month and ended up with this. Rather happy with the mix, 9 countries represented.

1) Liseberg
2) Universal Studios Singapore
3) Europa Park
4) Universal Studios Japan
5) Efteling
6) Hong Kong Disneyland
7) Everland
8) Fantawild Dreamland Zhengzhou
9) Hansa Park
10) Tivoli Gardens
 

astead04

Roller Poster
1. Universal's Islands of Adventure
2. PortAventura
3. Epcot
4. Magic Kingdom
5. Universal Studios Florida
6. Busch Gardens Tampa
7. Disney's Animal Kingdom
8. Disney's Hollywood Studios
9. Alton Towers
10. Thorpe Park
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
BUUUUUUMP. I thought a proper and thought out top 10 seemed necessary. This is in a semi-order, but I would say these are just my 10 favorites overall. Ranking parks is much harder for me than coasters because there are many more aspects I take into consideration like price, food, wait times, clientele, overall ride offering, atmosphere, and charm.

  1. Tokyo Disneysea: The park is far superior to any other park I've visited. Every inch of it is breathtaking. It's absolutely incredible and will be very, very hard to beat.
  2. Disneyland: The history here really does shine through, but it also just has so much to offer from atmosphere to charm to ride collection. I imagine that Star Wars Land will elevate the park even more.
  3. Silver Dollar City: Such a great park to just be in. I love the atmosphere and lush foilage, and it has so much to offer. People come to this park, don't ride any rides, and still feel satisfied. Definitely can't say that for many parks.
  4. Knoebels: Just a lovely place to be. My visit here was very short, but it certainly left an impact on me. It's a bygone era of parks with paper tickets and free entry. It felt like a public community park with guests coming just to hang out there, plus there's tons of dogs around. Such an authentic park.
  5. Magic Kingdom: While it has fallen from grace from lack of repairs and far too many guests, I have a personal attachment to it I can't deny. I've visited this park more than any other, and it has a certain comfort for me as a result.
  6. Tokyo Disneyland: While it has many elements that are recycled from other parks, it is one of the best looking and maintained parks in the world. The lineup is impeccable, and the unique elements make up for a lack of originality in some places.
  7. Animal Kingdom: Avatar Land has rounded out the park's ride lineup, so the park's already incredible theming and atmosphere is able to shine as a fully formed park.
  8. Universal Orlando Resort: I have my issues with Universal and their tendency to make pretty bleh rides (That Jimmy Fallon s**t is the angriest I've been on a ride), but the resort as a whole has many standouts and some very high peaks. Diagon Alley alone is worth the visit.
  9. Cedar Point: I have a lot of nostalgia for the park as it is where I really became an enthusiast. It has the best coaster lineup in the world now with Steel Vengeance, and it also has a real personality and charm to it.
  10. Dollywood: While it pales in comparison to SDC, it's still a great park that fires on all cylinders. My main issue is the layout of the park, but it's a great park to be in.

Fiesta Texas, Alabama Adventure, and Great Adventure didn't make the cut, but they are all unique and memorable parks in their own way. Quite honorable mentions.
 

Will

Strata Poster
1. Europa Park
2. Liseberg
3. Phantasialand
4. Efteling
5. Alton Towers
6. Hansa Park
7. Toverland
8. Canada's Wonderland
9. Mirabilandia
10. Port Aventura

Of course, there are a few parks on my list that I've not been to for a few years (the likes of Gronalund & Gardaland) that will have improved, possibly to the point of deserving a place. This was actually quite a hard list to put together, so I may review it when I'm bored later...
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I don't think I've tried ranking parks yet, and I've visited few enough that it should be easy. Let's see...

1. Magic Kingdom. It has its flaws, and it's constantly chock-full, but man what a park it is. It's clear everywhere you look that the company is fully committed to justifying the price of entry to this place. The themeing is superb. The ride lineup is varied. The attention to detail is not matched by any park I've ever been to (granted, it's not an impressive list). Overall, the place is hugely enjoyable. A park of great quality. Despite the creep factor.

2. Liseberg. Another park that has shown some real commitment to quality recently, even though it doesn't have the near-unlimited budget or expansion room that Disney has. It's situated in the middle of a city that's just big enough to give it constant traffic and good income. It has a genial two-tier pricing system (cheap entry for those who don't want to ride anything, additional mark-up for wristbands for the rides) that makes it suitable for all kinds of families. Its development policy is also admirable, focusing on one section of the park every year. It's not afraid to make investments, even in areas that work just fine already. It has built some really nice coasters and pretty good flats too. It's a park I expect to deliver quality for decades to come.

3. Legoland Billund. Yeah, it's a top three park for me. My list, my rules. I grew up with Lego and still take out some bricks and build from time to time. Legoland was a must-visit on Denmark trips with my family when I grew up (there's no Norwegian holiday pastime so well-honored as a car trip to Denmark). The awe-inspiring creations in Miniland alone is worth the entry ticket for me, and the attractions aren't half bad either. I also believe this park has one of the best water ride lineups in the world. The log flume is a highlight of every visit.

4. Epcot. I think I could easily have spent a day here without going on any attractions, just looking around at all the nice things. There's so much to see, and hear, and smell, and taste. The themeing is very varied (is Epcot the park with the highest number of themed lands?), the foliage is well-maintained, the view of the lake is spectacular, and it's way less stressful than Magic Kingdom.

5. Universal Studios Florida. Another nice park, whose image and rides pack a little more punch than Disney. The themeing is still nice, and the park looks gorgeous, although I think it lacks the charm of Magic Kingdom. Still, it's a place I'd like to return to one day. The Diagon Alley section in particular is absolutely amazing.

6. Disney's Animal Kingdom. It has jumped a bit on my list after my recent revisit, as I think Avatar Land really bolstered its lineup. The queues are horrendous in that section of the park, but Flight of Passage is an amazing ride. It also has Dinosaur and Expedition Everest among its memorable rides, and for some reason I really like the safari. The river rapids are nice too, if a little short.

7. Kongeparken. This one is the odd one out, I guess. This little park in the southwest of Norway doesn't have much in terms of coasters, but it's very nicely themed and its flat ride lineup is great. Unlike TusenFryd, it actually makes investments every year, pretty decent ones too, and it's clear that they build as good as they can, instead of as little as they can get away with. The level of commitment to development really impressed me. I suspect many of the rapid changes in its lineup is due to leasing, however, as the flats tend to be of the portable type and only stay in the park for a few seasons.

8. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. I visited before Flying Aces opened, but Formula Rossa was still awesome, Fiorano GT or-whatever-it's-called was enjoyable, and the dome itself pretty cool as well. It had a little too many simulator rides, but the park clearly had great potential. Besides, it's not like I have any other park to place in here.

9. Thorpe Park. I haven't been there since '09, and we were dumb enough to go during a bank holiday so the place was absolutely packed, but I remember it being a pretty cool place still. Its coasters were decent (that is, the two we got to ride, plus Flying Fish), the flats were great fun, and there was a lot of foliage that made the park pretty lush. Not a bad park at all, really, I hope to go back one day soon.

10. Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's another very nice park, certainly above the three or so other parks I remember well enough to form an opinion about, but as of my last visit it is the weakest of the big four parks in Disney World. Tower of Terror is awesome, Rock'n'Rollercoaster is nice if a little dated, Toy Story Mania is fun except the ungodly long queue, and... well, that's the issue. There's not a lot more to do there. Frozen Singalong is charming, Indiana Jones Stunt Show is cool, and Star Tours is also neat (bonus points for having a full-scale AT-AT outside the entrance), but as far as rides go it's a bit bare-bones at the moment. That being said, with Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opening, the lineup will probably be buffed out a bit more.

Honorable mentions go to:
- Islands of Adventure. The park closed a couple hours earlier than anticipated, so I only got to experience the Hogsmeade area. It was really cool, but I never saw enough of the park to get an impression of the place as a whole.
- Djurs Sommerland/Fårup Sommerland. I've only been to both places once, and both trips were many years ago. I don't remember them well enough to rate them properly.
- TusenFryd. A park that did a lot of things right until the rotten Parques Reunidos takeover in 2007. Throw the dirty scum of a company out, I'll gladly provide torches and pitchforks, and the place will probably be up to shape within a few seasons.
- Kristiansand Dyrepark. A Norwegian park/zoo without coasters, but pretty awesome themeing. It's actually the biggest and most visited park in Norway, but a little off the radar for CF purposes. Alas, I haven't been there in over 20 years, so can't really rate it. It's a great place to bring kids, though, so maybe I'll go there again in a few years.
- Berjaya Times Square Theme Park. Absolutely WTF themeing, a good-looking if dull coaster, and probably some other rides we didn't bother with. Only spent an hour or so here, and it was nice enough, but not a place I'll rush to revisit.

That's pretty much every park I can remember going to. At least at this time of the evening. Don't think I've missed any significant ones, though.
 

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
Actually coming back from a trip with a new favorite park!

  1. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  2. Cedar Point
  3. Hersheypark
  4. Silver Dollar City
  5. Dollywood
  6. Busch Gardens Tampa
  7. Holiday World
  8. Knoebels
  9. Canada’s Wonderland
  10. Six Flags Great America
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
Well, I've decided to rank all of the parks that I've been to, omitting the 7 where I only got the +1 and nothing else and 2 that I honestly can't remember much about at this point. I feel there might be some controversial opinions in here, so feel free to ask anything (I'm just too lazy to write an opinion on most);
1. Europa Park
2. Phantasialand
3. Six Flags Magic Mountain
4. Mirabilandia
5. Erlebnispark Tripsdrill
6. Toverland
7. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
8. Tibidabo
9. Walibi Belgium
10. Familypark
11. Holiday Park
12. Osteria Ai Pioppi
13. BillyBird Park Hemelrijk

14. Efteling
15. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
16. Walibi Holland
17. Plopsa Coo
18. Sea World
19. Wiener Prater
20. Dreamworld
21. Pleasure Beach Blackpool
22. Gardaland
23. Freizeitpark Familienland
24. Skyline Park
25. Dinopark Funtana
26. De Waarbeek

27. Busch Gardens Tampa
28. Alton Towers
29. Isla Mágica
30. Thorpe Park
31. Movie Park Germany
32. Universal Studios Hollywood

33. Avonturenpark Hellendoorn
34. Luna Park
35. Drievliet Family Park
36. Disneyland Paris - Disneyland Park
37. Speelpark Oud Valkeveen
38. Bobbejaanland
39. New Jesolandia
40. Gulliverlandia

41. Tivoli Friheden
42. Duinrell
43. Attractiepark Slagharen
44. Disneyland Paris - Walt Disney Studios Park
45. Brean Leisure Park
46. Plopsaland De Panne
47. PortAventura Park
48. Warner Bros. Movie World
49. Amusementspark Tivoli

green - I loved it
orange - I liked it
blue - I thought it was decent
red - meh
violet - I hated it
 
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Howie

Donkey in a hat
^You damn right there's some controversial opinions in there! :D
Where do I start? Walibi Belgium so high up? Billybird above Efteling??? Plopsaland and PortAventura so low? Lower than Brean f***ing Leisure Park in fact?? WTF? And what's so special about Santa Cruz Boardwalk?
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
^You damn right there's some controversial opinions in there! :D
Where do I start? Walibi Belgium so high up? Billybird above Efteling??? Plopsaland and PortAventura so low? Lower than Brean f***ing Leisure Park in fact?? WTF? And what's so special about Santa Cruz Boardwalk?
And Busch Gardens Tampa so far below Wiener Prater?
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
And what's so special about Santa Cruz Boardwalk?

Yes. Yes, this. Wtf is Santa Cruz Boardwalk doing so high up?!? The rest of the list can boil down to personal opinion, but I'm genuinely interested why that boardwalk seemed so special. I just thought it was so insanely gross and unlikable. I have my qualms with the rest of the list, but I can see why you'd love/hate every other park. It's just that damn boardwalk.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Right, I can't really do a top 10, as I've only visited 12 parks, but I can do a top 5, so here goes. I do have these posted in my signature, but here's a little explanation behind my choices:
  1. Alton Towers - It was my first ever theme park, and I still adore it to this day. When I visit Alton, I get a feeling inside of me that I don't quite get at any other theme park. The theming at Alton is brilliant, the rides are brilliant; the whole experience is second to none for me, and I'm happy to say that even after visiting Florida, Alton Towers still stacks up to the big American theme parks.
  2. Universal's Islands of Adventure - I may have just said all that about Alton Towers above, but Islands of Adventure is not very far behind Alton at all, in my opinion! Some of the best theming I've ever seen and some of the best rides I've ever experienced are within this park; it truly is a must-visit if you're ever in Florida!
  3. Disney's Animal Kingdom - Animal Kingdom may not have that many huge thrill rides, but it has a sense of realism and grandiose quite unlike that of any park I've ever visited! This is the park that put a 199ft mountain around a Vekoma family coaster, so it must be grand to some degree, surely? Well I can tell you it is! Each themed land has really immersive theming that sets the scene brilliantly, and the rides are great, too! Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids are two particular favourites of mine, and Kilimanjaro Safaris is stunning, too!
  4. Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Now Blackpool is quite different to any other park I've ever visited, because it doesn't really focus on theming, but the atmosphere is very unique, in my opinion! I don't think I've ever been to a park and looked around in awe so much! They really don't spare any space here, and it's amazing! You can go on a ride and interact with 4 or 5 other rides during the ride! Speaking of the rides, they're great! I adore Icon, and I also really liked Streak, Dipper, Revolution and Avalanche amongst other rides! So all in all, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is a place like no other I've visited!
  5. SeaWorld Orlando - I had a hard time deciding between SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa for this place, but I decided to go for SeaWorld as it has a really nice atmosphere, in my opinion! It's very chilled at SeaWorld; there's no rush to go and ride things or experience something. At SeaWorld, you feel as though you can take things at your own pace, which I really like! The coasters at SeaWorld are fantastic, too; Mako is my current number 1 coaster I've ever experienced! The theming is also quite good in areas, in my opinion, and Infinity Falls looks set to add to that! Overall, SeaWorld is a very nice park, and somewhere that I'd personally recommend if you're in Florida!
Honourable mentions go to Busch Gardens Tampa and Universal Studios Florida.
 

Bredera

Roller Poster
I haven't visited many parks outside my direct environment so my top 10 are mostly dutch theme parks ;)
1. Efteling
2. Toverland
3. Phantasialand
4. Tivoli gardens
5. Seaworld Orlando
6. Disney Paris
7. Movie park Germany
8. Hellendoorn
9. Slagharen
10. Duinrel
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
First of all, my list is extremely subjective in that I pretty much only ranked these parks based on how much I enjoyed myself on the day I visited. And I only visited a small percentage of these parks on more than occasion. To be exact just 15% of the ones listed (Europa Park, Phantasialand, Mirabilandia, Familypark, Efteling, Wiener Prater, Gardaland). The fact that the lowest rated of these is Gardaland at 22nd place, probably shows that I might only dislike some of the parks because I caught them on a really bad day (or like some of them, because I caught them on a good day).

^You damn right there's some controversial opinions in there! :D
Where do I start? Walibi Belgium so high up? Billybird above Efteling??? Plopsaland and PortAventura so low? Lower than Brean f***ing Leisure Park in fact?? WTF? And what's so special about Santa Cruz Boardwalk?
  • Walibi Belgium: Yeah, this might be a case of catching a park on a really good day. And I think I also have to thank @Tomatron, to 'show me around' a bit, so I managed to clear off the fairly average rides before they gained a huge queue and spend the afternoon hours on rides that I loved and weirdly enough didn't have much of a queue (Pulsar was a walk-on with SRQ and Challenge of Tutankhamon was fairly light on queue as well). It was truly one of the parks where I didn't get bored at all and I stayed from opening till closing. Hell, I didn't even manage to grab any lunch while there!
  • I think Billybird was sort of a perfect spot for me. I don't know how to exactly word it, but I think, in a way, it felt sort of like amusement parks were like a 100 years ago. You know, those Trolley parks, if you've ever heard of them? Like a relaxed picnic place that happens to have a couple of amusement rides and a beach. I don't think they were ever particularly common in Europe, but it was certainly nice to experience a park like it (now I'm sad I didn't spend a little bit longer there, but hell, there was a cred to get at DippieDoe).
  • I think Efteling is a great park, but I couldn't exactly love it, simply because I had a pretty dreadful 2nd day there. @ThomVD convinced me to spend 2 days there. First day was with him to show me around the park and to experience it, like it should be experienced and the 2nd day was meant as a solo visit for me to grab some rerides on the stuff I liked. And that did not go down as planned. It was a random Monday during school period (no sort of Holidays or work-free days, Thom had Uni, his parents went to work, etc.), but the park was inexplicably packed. Joris had more than an hour of queue and other major rides were constantly above 30 minutes as well. I think I spent most of the day just walking around and taking photos, which wasn't bad in a park like Efteling, but certainly not what I expected from the day. I don't think I can blame the park for that (apart from only running one train per side on Joris, while they were running two on the much quieter Friday), but I simply can't 'love it', not yet.
  • Plopsaland: As you might've guessed I had a dreadful visit. I went into the park with completely wrong expectations. I only really knew that they had 7 creds, one of them being a launched multi-inverting Gerstlauer, so I assumed it wasn't exactly a kids park (that was the season before Heidi opened). But yeah, I got sick of the place after an hour and a half and I don't think I ever wanted to leave a park as much as I wanted to leave Plopsaland then. I powered on for a couple more hours, mainly due to the staggered openings of some of the rides, but called it quits way before I expected I would and just went to the beach instead. PS: The color of the water on some of the rides was another insult to the injury regarding my experience with the park...
    29446752873_9eaff7cbb8_o.jpg
  • PortAventura: Okay, I really hated this place and here's why. It really felt that this park must've been pretty darn good around the time Furius Baco opened (mid 2000s), but when I visited it just seemed that the owners cared 100% about their wallets and 0% about customer satisfaction. They try their best to make the queues as long as possible, while giving an instant front-of-the-line access to people that paid double for their entrance (e.g. bought fast passes, stay in one of their on-site hotels, etc.). I don't think the park has seen much investment in recent years (apart from Shambhala in 2012) and while it still looks really nice, it felt like the current owners would also leave that go to hell, if they figured out people would still pay big time in order to be there. I think their current market philosophy is nowhere more evident than in that 2nd gate they recently opened. A small park filled with crap, but with one giant interesting attraction for which people would still overpay in order to enter... Blegh, such an uninviting place and I believe I'm not even the only enthusiast that feels about it this way...
  • ...and I won't comment on Brean. It's a crappy place, but I didn't spend enough time there in order to properly hate it... :p
And Busch Gardens Tampa so far below Wiener Prater?

  • I think Wiener Prater can be a very charming place on Weekend/Holiday evenings. There's plenty of people around and it just feels so... lively. And also it still has a bit of a cult status, even in Slovenia. But true, it's very dependant on when you visit. On a random weekday afternoon, you'll get a ****hole, but in the right sort of time, you'll get a lively social place. Probably not quite on-par with Northern European city parks, but not a million miles away either.
  • It's been years since I visited Busch Gardens Tampa (February 2011), but the thing that got stuck in my memory the most was the fact we'd spent the first hour of our visit trying to open the lockers in order to store our food that we weren't allowed to bring in for some reason. Note that this was my first experience with an American amusement park, so it could've just been a rather unfriendly 'Welcome to the USA' sort of deal, but it certainly put a sour patch on my experience. The rest of the park was fine, but that's why it's where it is.
Yes. Yes, this. Wtf is Santa Cruz Boardwalk doing so high up?!? The rest of the list can boil down to personal opinion, but I'm genuinely interested why that boardwalk seemed so special. I just thought it was so insanely gross and unlikable. I have my qualms with the rest of the list, but I can see why you'd love/hate every other park. It's just that damn boardwalk.
  • Yeah, another place that I only visited once years ago (in August 2011), but I really liked the few hours I've spent there. It was probably also just a really good time to visit, since all of the rides were 1$ apiece, due to an event that was taking place on some of the Summer weekdays. The park also had that classic amusement park feel that I've always loved and Giant Dipper was an excellent cherry on top of the cake. :D
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Yeah, another place that I only visited once years ago (in August 2011), but I really liked the few hours I've spent there. It was probably also just a really good time to visit, since all of the rides were 1$ apiece, due to an event that was taking place on some of the Summer weekdays. The park also had that classic amusement park feel that I've always loved and Giant Dipper was an excellent cherry on top of the cake. :D

Just realized I was thinking of Santa Monica, which would be odd in a top ten. D’oh. Haven’t been to Santa Cruz but it looks like the kinda place I’d enjoy.
 
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