Independent vs Corporate parks

[Ian]

With a corporate chain such as Six Flags, Merlin, Compagnie des Alpes and Cedar Fair, we're likely to see major coasters, top notch theming and value for money through multi-park discounts, annual passes and so on. On the down side, they tend to look the same, have similar rides and are open to higher levels of enthusiast scrutiny.

Independently owned parks are quite the opposite.

There are exceptions. Occasionally an independent park opens a world class ride and some chain parks, like Herschend's, have individuality.

Think about your favourite rides, the parks you like visiting multiple times and who continually impresses you, which type edges it - corporate or independent?

 

[owentaylor121]

I'd have to say independent parks take the edge for me, I find them much less stressful and calm.
I could visit Pleasure Beach a good few times in a year and still have fun but one visit to Alton is enough for me. I do like Alton but I find the place lacking in any charm it used to have and any real identity.

The same goes for Thorpe, I still rate it was the best UK park, but only because of the rides, the place stresses me out, a park like Thorpe should not run single train operations but they do, areas look run down and some of the new additions leave alot to be desired.

Then on the otherhand I find PortAventura fantastic, maybe it's because they put the effort in, maybe it's Shambhala, I don't know but the company who owns PA clearly cares about the park and looks after it extremely well. Even with the Spanish school kids leaving a path of graffiti and chewing gum.

 

[ThomVD]

Independent parks appeal so much more to me. Phantasialand, Efteling, Europa Park, Liseberg etc. Even in the US I'd much rather visit parks like Dollywood and Silver Dollar City than Disney/Universal/Six Flags. There are exceptions, and it also has to do with the fact that existing IPs don't appeal to me either (give me a park's own creativity over cashing in on famous IPs anyday), but I generally don't get too excited by big chain parks.

My opinion could change once I visit more parks though.

 

[TilenB]

^ Both SDC and Dollywood are corporate parks, run by Herschends, who aren't a big corporation like Disney or Six Flags, but nevertheless still are. There are hardly any non-corporate major parks in the United States (the only ones I can think of at the moment are Lagoon and Kentucky Kingdom).

With a corporate chain such as Six Flags, Merlin, Compagnie des Alpes and Cedar Fair, we're likely to see major coasters, top notch theming and value for money through multi-park discounts, annual passes and so on.

Theming could be well discussed, but I find it rather better at independent park than at corporate owned ones (at least such is the case with those in Europe, perhaps different in United States, especially if you comparing Disney to some rather small independently owned parks elsewhere in the country).

As it goes for me, I'm kind of torn in between both. Corporate parks usually have top notch rides (SFMM), whereas independently owned ones 'win' at theming (Europa Park in my case). Considering both of these, I'd say corporate owned ones for USA and independently owned ones elsewhere.

 

[ThomVD]

^ Both SDC and Dollywood are corporate parks, run by Herschends, who aren't a big corporation like Disney or Six Flags, but nevertheless still are. There are hardly any non-corporate major parks in the United States (the only ones I can think of at the moment are Lagoon and Kentucky Kingdom).

You got me there! I was more thinking about big chain parks vs small chain/independent, because parks like Gröna Lund are also part of a (small) chain, but feel very much like independent parks. To me, SDC and Dollywood seem like parks with their own identity, rather than Six Flags, Cedar Point, Disney, Merlin, etc. which are all more or less similar (again, there are exceptions).

I agree with Tilen that, at least in Europe, the independent parks seem to have the most impressive (and original) theming.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Independent parks for sure.

Chain parks make me think of Cedar Fair and Six Flags mostly, and though those chains have a fantastic selection of creds and usually impress me for their sheer size, I don't think I've ever left one thinking it had that WOW factor. Of course, there are exceptions to this, as a few parks I really did like (Alton for instance is a personal favourite) were part of a chain.

It depends what we consider a chain here though. Are Dollywood and SDC considered a chain because they are both operated by Herschend Family Entertainment? What about Busch Gardens? All those parks were pretty stunning, but I don't know if people consider them true "chains" or not because there is more than one of them. Disney is also an exception, because it has that magic feeling, but obviously it's on a global scale and not a one off.

On the whole though, usually the independent parks have that character that a lot of chain parks lack. Their individuality and good selection of "diamond in the rough" coasters (yeah, the pain in the ass world class creds often in the middle of nowhere) give them the edge over corporate chains for me.

 

[Smithy]

Probably chain parks to be honest. Flamingo Land aside, I can't think of any independant park I've visited (I'm leaving PA out of it and thinking domestically, plus it used to be a chain park) that I'd want to visit regularly. I loved Adventure Island but don't think I'd visit it regularly. I could happily visit Alton, Thorpe and even Chessington several times a year (if they weren't a chore to get to for me) and enjoy myself.

 

[Brookes]

This is a tough one. On the one hand, I really dislike Six Flags. I hate their copy & paste policy and I don't think I've liked any of their parks I've been to. But on the other hand, they've given us Kingda Ka, El Toro, Tatsu, X2, Bizarro... the list goes on. Without the corporate element, it wouldn't have been financially viable to bring all these great coasters to life.

Different companies do different things with the parks they buy. Whereas Six Flags obvious had a plan for the parks they acquired, I feel like Alton, Thorpe and Chessington still maintain an identity whilst guests enjoy the benefits of them operating under Merlin such as annual pass entry and discounts etc. At the far end of the spectrum, it seems like Europa and PortAventura are their "own" parks, and you really get a sense of that when you visit.

I guess it depends. An independent park done well is really quite something, but where would we be without Universal, Disney, SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, Six Flags and Merlin.