Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks

[ECG]

Ian and I discussed starting a Top 10 Theme/Amusement Park topic during our recent trip through Southwest America, so here it is. Whether you judge a park strictly by its coasters/rides, atmosphere, operations or a combination of the three is up to you. Here's my list, what's yours?

1. Universal Studios parks in Orlando (yes, I count both parks as one)
2. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
3. Phantasialand
4. Alton Towers
5. Silver Dollar City
6. Europa Park
7. Dollywood
8. Six Flags Magic Mountain
9. Hersheypark
10. Canada's Wonderland
--
11. Tivoli Gardens
12. Cedar Point
13. Busch Gardens Tampa
14. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
15. Knoebels
16. Heide Park
17. Morey's Piers
18. SeaWorld Orlando
19. Xetulul
20. Oktoberfest (not a park, but I enjoy it almost as much as any park I've visited)

What? No Disney parks. What the hell?
Yeah, I know but they are just too crowded for me to enjoy as much as I do the parks above and none of the Disney parks I've visited (Florida, California & Paris) have a strong enough coaster lineup IMO.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Park: 2013 Edition

For me it would be:

1: Busch Gardens Tampa
2: Magic Kingdom WDW
3: Universal Florida Parks
4: Hollywood Studios WDW
5: EPCOT
6: Animal Kingdom
7: Sea World Orlando
8: Alton Towers
And then my list goes a bit......
9: Thorpe Park
10: Flamingoland

 

[TilenB]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Park: 2013 Edition

Ok, here we go:
1. Six Flags Magic Mountain
2. Europa Park
3. Mirabilandia
4. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
5. Gardaland
6. Busch Gardens Tampa
7. Universal Studios Hollywood
8. Movieland Studios
9. Wiener Prater (it was quite decent on 1st of May)
10. Disneyland Paris (both parks)

 

[kimahri]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

Definetly have enough for a Top 5 now.

1. Silver Dollar City. New
2. Knoebels
3. Hershey Park
4. BGE
5. Alton Towers

 

[owentaylor121]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. PortAventura
2. Thorpe Park
3. Drayton Manor
4. Pleasure Beach
5. Busch Gardens Tampa
6. Islands Of Adventure
7. Flamingo Land
8. Alton Towers
9. Magic Kingdom
10. Sand Castle Water Park (Its actually really good for a indoor waterpark)

 

[Ian]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

I'm basing mine on ride selection, atmosphere and sense of adventure/theme.

1. PortAventura
2. SF Fiesta Texas
3. Dollywood
4. Busch Gardens Tampa
5. Silver Dollar City
6. Alton Towers
7. Blackpool Pleasure Blackpool
8. Gardaland
9. Thorpe Park
10. Cedar Point

 

[AquaTrax]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. PortAventura
2. Dollywood
3. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
4. Islands of Adventure
5. Universal Studios Japan
6. Phantasialand
7. Toverland
8. Disneyland Hong Kong
9. Happy Valley Shanghai
10. Cedar Point

 

[Mike]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

Edit: Need a rethink

 

[Chris Coasters]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. Dollywood
2. Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure
3. Hersheypark
4. Dorney
5. Luna Park NYC/Scream Zone
6. Lake Compounce
7. Canobie Lake Park
8. Six Flags New England
9. Magic Kingdom
10. SeaWorld Orlando

I was running out of parks so I tossed Magic Kingdom and Seaworld in there. I went to them when I was 9 or 10 and don't remember them that much other than the fact of thinking Disney was like I died and gone to heaven and didn't really care for SeaWorld.

 

[Hutch]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

Here's all he parks that I've visited:

1. Cedar Point
2. Busch Gardens Williamsburg (very, VERY close second)
3. Islands of Adventure (I count these as two parks)
4. SeaWorld Orlando
5. Universal Studios Orlando
6. Six Flags New England
7. Canobie Lake Park
8. Disney's Hollywood Studios
9. Magic Kingdom
10. Disney's Animal Kingdom*
11. Epcot*

*Only been to these two parks once when I was 5, and I only did like two rides. So Hess don't really have a fair count, but I put there anyway

 

[Jer]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

For now nothing new, after july i'm sure it will change

1. Knoebels
2. Hershey Park
3. Lake Compounce
4. Disney's Hollywood Studios
5. Six Flags Great Adventure

I only have it in my for a top 5, anything past that and it get desperate.

 

[CookieCoasters]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. SFMM: really for the coasters as it has an incredible collection.

2. Europa Park: A lovely park with some good rides and high level of theming and landscaping

3. Phantasialand: Small park where almost every ride is fab doubled with great theming

4. Busch Gardens Tampa: Multiple great coasters and just has a general really nice atmosphere

5. Parque Warner Madrid: Best park in Europe for coasters IMO, with some good other rides and decent theming.

6. Islands of Adventure: Jaw dropping OTT theming with a good selection of rides (especially water rides)

7. Mirabilandia: a nice park with 2 fantastic coasters and an a few other really good rides.

8. Heide Park: has a lot of crap, but is a beautiful park with three standout attractions.

9. Liseberg: It is in a lovely location and has my favourite woodie and one of my favourite flumes, as well as some other good rides.

10. Alton Towers: Nemesis is the only amazing ride, but has a few other good ones and is one of the nicest to walk around.


Notable mentions too:

Port Aventura: probably will be in my top 10 when i ride shambhala.

Thorpe Park: never really liked the park itself, but i cannot deny it has some great rides

Efteling: Not the best on the ride front, but the park is really really pretty, and the theming is fab.

 

[CPSFMMCW]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

This is my top 10 parks I've been to:

1. Six Flags Great Adventure
2. Kings Dominion
3. Hersheypark
4. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
5. Universals Islands Of Adventure
6. Six Flags America
7. Luna Park, Coney Island
8. California Adventure
9. Magic Kingdom
10. Disney Land

I live for the thrills, so the last 3 parks didn't have much to offer me, so I found them least enjoyable.

 

[Glumanda]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. Pleasure Beach Blackpool
2. Erlebnispark Tripsdrill
3. Europapark
4. Alton Towers
5. Phantasialand
6. SFMM
7. Hansa Park
8. Disneys California Adventure
9. Disneyland
10. Holiday Park

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. Dollywood (I love how it is getting all the love in this topic!)
2. Animal Kingdom (Why does it get hate? I love this place!)
3. EPCOT (Having the desire to travel makes this place awesome for me! Mission Space <3)
4. Magic Kingdom (A bit overrated, but I still love it so much)
5. Cedar Point (I should have ridden the good rides so this is why it is low on my list)
6. Hollywood Studios (This park made me feel uncomfortable)
7. Dixie Landin' (HORRIBLE)

 

[ECG]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

^Nice job of posting parks that you've visited.
TBH - I was expecting a list of top 10 parks that you've never been to.

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

^?

 

[andrus]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1) HersheyPark - Loads of coasters whereof three amazing ones! Really nice and lush atmosphere as well

2) PortAventura - The best landscaped park in the world! Beautiful, it's just a shame the top two coasters have aged badly..

3) Europa Park - Everything about this park is great. If it only had one intense ride it would be complete and jump straight to #1!

4) Mirabilandia - Underrated park. Lush, beautiful environment and two of the best coasters in the world!

5) Phantasialand - All the rides are great, a bit cramped though. Black Mamba <3

6) Djurs Sommerland - A big surprice for me. All the coasters are above average and the atmosphere is just so relaxed! I love all the trampolines, obstacle courses etc that you can do when you pause from the coasters

7) Six Flags Great Adventure - Some parts are disgusting others are fine. What makes this park great are the coasters!

8) Kings Dominion - Same as SFGAdv.

9) Heide Park - A bit underrated too. Some amazing rides and a very beautiful park

10) Busch Gardens Williamsburg - I wanted to love this park, I mean it is beautiful. But it just didn't do it for me. I guess it's down to the fact that all the rides are below average compared to others of their type (Apollo, Griffon and Alpengeist are all rather low ranked compared to other B&Ms of their type in my rankings). It is still a good park though!


Honorable mentions goes to Knoebels and Toverland. Both are just very nice places to hang out in And both of them have a world class woodie! If they improve and get some more interesting stuff they will most likely qualify for the next top 10.

 

[gavin]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

Apart from number 1, these won't really be in a top ten order, rather more of a ten favourite parks overall.

1. Tokyo DisneySea
2. Lotte World
3. Phantasialand
4. Alton Towers
5. Port Aventura
6. Universal Studios Japan
7. Dollywood
8. Six Flags Magic Mountain
9. Canada's Wonderland
10. Disneyland Hong Kong

 

[steel]

Re: Top 10 Theme/Amusement Parks: 2013 Edition

1. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
2. Alton Towers
3. Cedar Point

The rest are in no particular order:
Thorpe Park
Kings Island
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Silver Dollar City
Hersheypark
Islands of Adventure
Holiday World