@@mitchel4361 one ride shouldn’t ruin a day at a park unless it’s far and away the main reason you went. Think about all of the stuff that’s as open and that helps.
@@ThemeParkAvenue A park that really soured my day because of ride closures was Legoland Florida for both Flying School and Coastersaurus were down plus the park though had good dark rides were no where near to the extent in quality to what the rest of the Florida Parks had even the funspot parks had more charm to them
@@joecandish3923 you should be happy that Flying School was closed, trust me. Also I find the park much more charming and fun than much of Orlando, especially with Lost Kingdom Adventure.
@@ThemeParkAvenue Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my day and thought it did have some charm and quite a lot of the lands were great especially Lost Kingdom Adventure, Lego Ninjago: the RIde and Lego Movie: Masters of Flight. I think I just went on an off day so I will go back parks have good days and bad days
After my recent Florida trip, I gotta say Islands of Adventure beats Cedar Point for me. I loved the theming, immersiveness, and ride lineup of IOA. Cedar Point is great, I've never had a bad visit (and yes I visited back in June), but I enjoyed IOA so much I have to rank it #1 overall now. Also thanks for the advice on Busch Gardens Tampa, me and my wife had a great day there!
I'm glad my home park is number 1 this year in your opinion. It's nice seeing coaster enthusiasts putting Kings Island highly ranked. For their fiftieth birthday celebration, they really went all out. They might not have the most stand out coaster (yet). And, they didn't add a major attraction this year. They still did an amazing job. I'm so lucky to be near a park and a community that loves this park. The people who work there make it what it is.
I agree completely! I live 40 mins away from Cedar Point and 3hrs from KI but I still made it to Kings Island 12 or 13 times this season if I look at my season pass I could get the exact number for Kings Island was the better Park this year and this is the first year I've really really spent quality time at Kings Island so life is good when you have Cedar Point and Kings Island as your home parks and you can get them at any time any day....
The only people who disagree are the die hard bgw fans who whine about the shade of paint being used. 😅 love to see my home park being talked about positively !
My Top 10 parks: 1. Cedar Point: Elite Coasters- 5 in my Top 35 if you count TTD. Great location. This offsets the spotty operations which can be hit or miss. 2. Dollywood- Very run park. Good coasters. I like the setting a lot. Lightning Rod is a top 3 coaster for me. 3. Silver Dollar City- Elite setting. Great top 2 coasters that are both in my Top 25. Very good operations. 4. Six Flags Magic Mountain- Very deep coaster line-up- 4 in my Top 50. I really enjoy the top 8. Deepest line-up other than Cedar Point. Operations can be hit or miss but it was my home park for a while so I went on days when I knew it would be better. Setting is great as well. 5. Busch Gardens Williamsburg- Pantheon gives it the elite coaster it needed. Great Setting. Good operations as well. 6. Busch Gardens Tampa- Iron Gwazi gives it the number one it needed. Good setting. Needs more shade. 7. Hershey Park- Can't include the RMC, which could knock it up a spot or two. The layout is a little odd. Coaster line-up is really good. 8. Holiday World- Great top 4 that I really enjoy marathoning. Good setting. Good operations. 9. Six Flags Fiesta Texas- Best run Six Flags park and it isn't close. Operations and setting are elite. Coaster collection is maybe top 5 for Six Flags so it could improve a little. 10. Carowinds- I've been in the park numerous times and Fury's crew is quite good. Great top 4. Good layout. Good operations. Afterburn and Nighthawk seem to take more time. Just missed: Knott's Berry Farm: Operations are hit or miss. Great theming and great food. Roller Coaster line-up could improve after GhostRider and Xcelerator Six Flags Great America: Tend to agree with you about this park. Needs a number one coaster for me. Other drawback is the crowds. Always crowded. But a deep coaster line-up and generally good operations. And good point about its skyline. Islands of Adventure: I disagree with you about this park over Silver Dollar City. For me Velocicoaster is better than anything at Silver Dollar City, but the Top 2 at SDC blows away the top 2 at IOA. Hulk is barely Top 100 for me. Hagrid's is one of the most overrated coasters. IOA just doesn't have enough coasters for me. Spiderman is good not great. I do think Forbidden Journey is an elite dark ride. I will say the operations at this park are just top notch, and the food is quite good and I did consider it for the #10 spot. The setting is underrated. Great sightline for the photographers. I always get excited walking into this place. Parks I honestly need to spend more time at: Knoebels: I didn't spend enough time in this park. Ride line-up is a little softer than the others listed, but this park appears to be charming. Great setting. Six Flags Great Adventure: Ka was closed for my visit. Jersey Devil wasn't open yet. I went on a rainy day in the 40's. Park was a ghost town. One positive was lapping El Toro when it finally opened. Other Park Comments: Kings Island- Overrated setting- I think it is fine but not elite. Park is over hyped. King Island Fan boys are a real thing. Ride line-up lacks an elite #1 coaster that a lot of the other parks have, This park does have elite operations and the staff are quite good. The operations and staff are easily top 3-5. Too crowded of a park. I would probably have this park around 15 or so in my rankings. If it gets what I consider to be a true #1, and improves the coaster line-up I would consider it for the Top 10. Six Flags Over Texas- At least Kings Island has a few coasters in the lower half of my Top 50 (And to be fair Mystic is in my 30's.) and has elite operations. SFOT is only better than SFDK in terms of the 9 SF parks I've been to. Poor operations when I went. Single train operations on a lot of rides when they were promoting spring break and the park was slammed. Tough to find things in this park. No rides in my overall Top 50. I don't think this park would be in my Top 30 parks.
@@ThemeParkAvenue I think the park is overhyped in terms of the coaster collection and setting. I don't have Beast in my Top 100. Banshee was slightly better in 2022 and is #99. Diamondback's rattle seems to be getting worse and I admit it gives great air time, but I have it at #43. Orion is #40. Mystic is #37 but every time I ride it I like it more and more. You compare that to SFMM- X2 #15, Twisted Colossus #18, Wonder Women #38, Tatsu #47, Apocalypse #72, Full Throttle #80, and West Coast Racers #95. It is just a deeper line-up at SFMM and some better coasters at the top. Cedar Point is even better. Steel Vengeance #1, Maverick #11, Magnum #20, TTD #32, Mily #33, Gatekeeper #70, Raptor #79, and Gemini #100. Again more top heavy and just a deeper line-up. I would take the setting at SFMM or Cedar Point over KI. The only thing KI has going for it is operations. But they staff really well in that area. You talked about Banshee, that ride will always have a ton of operators compared to Raptor or especially Batman at SFMM. It is how they choose to operate.
Keep up the great work Eric!👏I’m excited to do KI and CP next year, the things you said about KI gets me more pumped, and my #1 park is BGW the aesthetics, atmosphere, the collection is everything I look for so Pantheon is one of my favorite Intamin if not probably my favorite and Alpengeist my fav Invert, Verbolten was amazing, the collection is so balanced.
I’m glad that you put cedar point on here I feel like it’s underatted even tho it doesn’t have many themeing but the ride collection is WORLD CLASS I kinda like it over KI but that’s imo I don’t really know how KI beat cedar point but it’s ok!!
Absolutely. If I may be honest, Magic Mountain simply does not deserve a reputation as the best of the Six Flags chain or a park better than Cedar Point.
@@ThemeParkAvenue Whereas for me it’s easily the best Six Flags park. Experiences differ. Even coasters can seem completely different on a different day.
1. Universal’s Islands of Adventure 2. Carowinds 3. Six Flags Magic Mountain 4. Kings Island 5. Busch Gardens Tampa 6. Cedar Point 7. Six Flags Fiesta Texas 8. Dollywood 9. Knott’s Berry Farm 10. Six Flags Great America
My list: 1)phantasia land 2)cedar point 3)europa park 4)Alton towers 5)park astrix 6)Islands of adventure 7)silver dollar city 8)Kings island 9)Port Aventura 10)Thorpe park I have only been to a few of these and I am ranking them off of other peoples opinions.
Thanks so much for the shoutout again! I really loved the one Winterfest day I had at KI and Mystic is awesome, they were doing a really great job there but I have to go back an actually ride all the B&Ms they are closed after Oct. lol. Interestingly enough I love all the thought you put behind this list but I would only have to disagree with Six Flags Great Adventure, as the one day I was able to go this year was terrible. El Toro had had it’s matinence accident so it was shut down, but Kingda Ka and several other smaller rides were also shut down for staffing, anything that was open was on one train with the exception of Jersey Devil. Gotta go in the summer. I’m actually at CGA right now so if your ever there say hi!
I plan to go to CGA next summer, so I’ll be sure to say hi if I see you! Great Adventure is a park so many seem to hate, but perhaps I’ve gotten very lucky or the park speaks to me in a different way. Certainly respectable if somebody else doesn’t love the park, but it’s one I very much enjoy.
I honestly prefer Hersheypark to Six Flags Great Adventure. While I do feel like their coaster lineups are neck and neck (Although Hersheypark’s will be better once Wildcat’s Revenge opens), I thought that Hersheypark beats Great Adventure in most park aspects, such as atmosphere, locker policy, and food. I do like Great Adventure quite a bit, and I thought the operations were better there. But Hersheypark is just better overall to me, especially with Wildcat’s Revenge coming up.
For me, Islands of Adventure is my favorite park of all time, it's just amazing. I hope to revisit BGT because I didn't get the full experience, it was in the triple digits and there's some stuff we missed
My top ten is: 1. Hersheypark 2. Kings Island 3. Cedar Point 4. Busch Gardens Tampa 5. Silver Dollar City 6. Carowinds 7. Universals Islands of Adventure 8. Six Flags Fiesta Texas 9. Universal Studios Hollywood 10. Six Flags Great America
My favorite amusement park is Busch Gardens Tampa, followed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SeaWorld Orlando, Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Universal's Islands of Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, SeaWorld San Diego, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags New England, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Kennywood, EPCOT, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld San Antonio, Six Flags America, Lake Compounce, Mt. Olympus, Valleyfair, Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America, Adventureland Iowa, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Circus Circus Adventuredome, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Legoland California, Arnold's Park, and Wild Waves.
Going to Six Flags Magic Mountain is on my bucket list but I'm well aware that I am going to have to bring comfortable shoes especially when going to Superman Escape From Krypton like you had said.
Ayyyy my home park is number five. I'll take it. We definitely need a clear number one at some point but I also die on the hill that we have no duds and that brings our average up on par with just about any park
Weird because when I went to Carowinds in the 2021 summer and Fury had amazing operations. They only kept the gates open for 3 seconds no matter what and made lines move really quick.
I personally prefer true theme parks over traditional amusement parks so I rank Disney, Universal, SeaWorld/Busch Gardens and top two Herschend parks above any Cedar Fair or Six Flags park. But I prefer a well rounded experience with great theming, food, entertainment, shopping, atmosphere and possibly dark rides over just a great coaster collection. That's just my personal preference. But because of that the only traditional amusement parks that make my top 10 are Cedar Point and Hersheypark which are number 9 and 10 respectively. I personally find it hard to rank a strict amusement park against an immersive theme park. Picking between something like Cedar Point and Islands of Adventure really comes down to what you care about because either one is phenomenal depending on what you want. A strict coaster enthusiasts might complain that Islands of Adventure needs more depth to its coaster collection but a theme park enthusiast (like myself) will complain that Cedar Point has boring queue lines and not enough variety when it comes to the non-ride offerings. Who's right? Well, both and neither. It's just a matter of opinion.
I personally hated Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I visited in July of 2019, and the experience was about as bad as it can get. Iron Rattler was closed, there was one train ops on several coasters, the operations were very slow, and the crowds were absolutely massive. Despite having 3 trains, Wonder Woman’s line was through all the switchbacks and outside the ride entrance. And they also had the worst S&S free spin I had ridden, and free spins are my least favorite coaster model. If I go back to Texas and I know Iron Rattler will be closed, I will be skipping the park. My least favorite Six Flags park by far
@@ThemeParkAvenue the more I flip on free spins, the more I dislike them. Batman I flipped 6 times, and each flip was extremely uncomfortable. It was also the jerkiest free spin, and I slammed my head against the headrest because it suddenly jerked in the opposite direction, and I was in a lot of pain afterwards. Given how this happened along with the other negatives this park had when I went, there wasn’t really anything I liked about it
KI operations are the best outside of Disney or Universal. Their collection of coasters is solid. Lots of shade, lots of bathrooms, lots of drinking fountains.
I know people don’t really like Disney, but I think Disneyland park is easily a top 10 park and is easily the best Disney park in America the atmosphere is some of the best and amazing dark rides some that rival the Amazing Spiderman especially Indiana Jones and Rise witch I haven’t experienced Rise yet unfortunately. in my experience I’ve always thought the two primer theme parks in America are Disneyland and island of adventure easily. All though I think Disneylands only downside is the Tommorowland witch is definitely a well known issue..
I personally agree with this and Disneyland is my overall number one park. That said, it can be hard to compare it to other non-Disney/Universal parks. Most people who follow channels like this focus on coasters and Disneyland (specifically the Disneyland Park) doesn't have thrill coasters. But if you love dark rides Disneyland is unbeatable. It also has a really great collection of water rides, though most are slow moving like It's a Small World, Storybook Land Canal and Jungle Cruise. But if you enjoy a true "theme" park I think it is only rivaled by Islands of Adventure, though I think Disneyland still wins because of the vast variety of attractions and thematic cohesion. But if you are focused on coasters and thrills then you'd be less inclined to rank Disneyland highly. It really is more a matter of personal preference even considering that any of these lists are inherently subjective.
I don’t agree with this list. For the simple reason that the European parks should be dominant particularly the Germany ones but I like the American parks chosen 👍
Nice video and I enjoy the content but I must say, the criteria you're using in ranking these top 10 parks seem highly circumstantial and inconsistent.
They are. It’s hard to rank parks that vary in so many different ways based on justifiable criteria. This is basically my top 10 park experiences with some coaster opinions mixed in. Similarly, having one day at most parks definitely influences my opinion.
bgt is ranked a little to high the lineup is good. the ops are horrible. worst ive ever seen 300 seconds for iron gwazi. montu on one train. cheetah hunt down every other cycle and kumba is overated for me. still better than bgw though
Kings island is my home park and don’t get me wrong, i love it. I’m probably just spoiled but it’s really missing that strong number one. Orion is cool but really not different enough to diamondback. Tons of fantastic rides but no top 5 worthy coaster that other parks seem to fill.
17:02 the only problem I have with that park when I went to it… is how the path ways work. Your going to a ride but ended up on the wrong side of it!!! 😂The cheetah wasn’t very cheetah-a-re, it was more like cheetah zoom and drop not hunt… 😂it’s good but the B&M’s kinda defended the purpose of the cheetah being thrilling. It’s like the people that made the park were like… “where are we gonna put this strange park themed ride at…” “OH I know in the middle of the park so people would know that’s it’s not boring and it’s there to look good… So they’ll have to ride it and get lost again from where they’re at” 🤣
Personally I like great America over cedar point, Goliath and raging bull are top tier. American eagle is my favorite wood coaster and is was raining and humid so everyling was running fast and 2 trains
IMO Islands Of Adventure should be #1 and I dont thk its even close. You have fantastic theming, Great Dark rides (Spiderman, Forbidden Journey, Kong), 3 elite coasters (Velocicoaster, Hulk, Hagrids) and 3 of the best water rides in the world. Tbh I evn enjoy the seuss area. Only thing potentially lacking would probably be in the shows.
You're saying that great adventures coaster collection is better than Magic Mountain? And Hershey Park? With Hershey Park I know there's a quantity issue that great adventure would win with more coasters but the quality no way outside of kingda Ka Jersey devil and El Toro which is always broken and Jersey devils mediocre Fahrenheit is much better than Jersey devil so great adventures coaster lineup can't compete with Hershey Park Kings Island Cedar Point Magic Mountain I mean Silver Dollar City in Dollywood when you're going quality have a better collection than Great adventure if we're being honest
Great Adventure has a really overlooked coaster lineup in my eyes. Kingda Ka, El Toro, Jersey Devil, Nitro, and Medusa all together are among the best top 5 collections in America and then you have two supporting B&Ms and some indoor coasters.
Amusement parks and theme parks are interchangeable terms in my eyes, and I prefer the amusement side of them anyway. If it were primarily based on theming, I see SDC in the top with Islands of Adventure and one other.
Short lines can influence an experience, and the list is based on my experience, so I think short lines are a fair thing to analyze. They didn’t take priority over attraction quality though.
True, but for purposes of this list, the terms are interchangeable. I tend to prefer the amusement parts in case that wasn’t clear from the rankings. Also, Frontier Town at Cedar Point should not be sold short in terms of theming.
@@ThemeParkAvenue i agree, but a good front and thats a theme park. Amusement does have themes but there really limited. So its hard to call them that for me. In my opinion. Can't just make a section and the rest be roller coasters and excellent landscaping. Theme has to be throughout the park. It has to take you away in a certain way. Cedar point doesn't. I no im in Sandusky ohio.
Hey....we live in a country and a world where men can just wake up and decide that they're women and women can wake up, and just decide that they're men I saw on the news the other night a white woman who says that she identifies as a black woman💯🤣 So hey, if you want to say great adventure is better than Magic Mountain or Hershey Park I guess to each his own. it's absolutely ridiculous and I know if that you're simply confusing the fact that you had a better time at Great adventure this year than you had at Hershey Park with great adventure is a better parknthen Hershey.... I can have a great time at Chuck E. Cheese, but that doesn't make it a better Theme park than universal studios! but I like your hot takes, i feel like you do this stuff a lot on purpose and I like your channel so Ride on🎢🎢🎢
Whether or not one park is better than the other, I definitely enjoy most aspects of Great Adventure more than Hersheypark and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
I haven’t been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in over a decade, wise guy. Also, I can tell that you’re definitely not a fanboy of either of those Virginia parks.
IMO Islands Of Adventure should be #1 and I dont thk its even close. You have fantastic theming, Great Dark rides (Spiderman, Forbidden Journey, Kong), 3 elite coasters (Velocicoaster, Hulk, Hagrids) and 3 of the best water rides in the world. Tbh I evn enjoy the seuss area. Only thing potentially lacking would probably be in the shows.
Another major list for the end of the year. Subscribe for more!
Question...of ya go to a park...and one ride is down or breaks down..does that make it a bad day.
@@mitchel4361 one ride shouldn’t ruin a day at a park unless it’s far and away the main reason you went. Think about all of the stuff that’s as open and that helps.
@@ThemeParkAvenue A park that really soured my day because of ride closures was Legoland Florida for both Flying School and Coastersaurus were down plus the park though had good dark rides were no where near to the extent in quality to what the rest of the Florida Parks had even the funspot parks had more charm to them
@@joecandish3923 you should be happy that Flying School was closed, trust me. Also I find the park much more charming and fun than much of Orlando, especially with Lost Kingdom Adventure.
@@ThemeParkAvenue Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my day and thought it did have some charm and quite a lot of the lands were great especially Lost Kingdom Adventure, Lego Ninjago: the RIde and Lego Movie: Masters of Flight. I think I just went on an off day so I will go back parks have good days and bad days
After my recent Florida trip, I gotta say Islands of Adventure beats Cedar Point for me. I loved the theming, immersiveness, and ride lineup of IOA. Cedar Point is great, I've never had a bad visit (and yes I visited back in June), but I enjoyed IOA so much I have to rank it #1 overall now. Also thanks for the advice on Busch Gardens Tampa, me and my wife had a great day there!
So glad you enjoyed Busch Gardens Tampa!
I'm glad my home park is number 1 this year in your opinion. It's nice seeing coaster enthusiasts putting Kings Island highly ranked. For their fiftieth birthday celebration, they really went all out. They might not have the most stand out coaster (yet). And, they didn't add a major attraction this year. They still did an amazing job. I'm so lucky to be near a park and a community that loves this park. The people who work there make it what it is.
Kings Island is fantastic. I would definitely say Mystic Timbers is a standout for me.
I agree completely! I live 40 mins away from Cedar Point and 3hrs from KI but I still made it to Kings Island 12 or 13 times this season if I look at my season pass I could get the exact number for Kings Island was the better Park this year and this is the first year I've really really spent quality time at Kings Island so life is good when you have Cedar Point and Kings Island as your home parks and you can get them at any time any day....
the busch gardens parks are seriously elite
Absolutely. I would love to go back to BGW.
For real. BGT was genuinely one of the most gorgeous places I've ever seen.
@@Zatoka. yeah, it really wouldn't surprise me if people started putting BGT over Cedar Point more, and BGW is also great
The only people who disagree are the die hard bgw fans who whine about the shade of paint being used. 😅 love to see my home park being talked about positively !
My Top 10 parks:
1. Cedar Point: Elite Coasters- 5 in my Top 35 if you count TTD. Great location. This offsets the spotty operations which can be hit or miss.
2. Dollywood- Very run park. Good coasters. I like the setting a lot. Lightning Rod is a top 3 coaster for me.
3. Silver Dollar City- Elite setting. Great top 2 coasters that are both in my Top 25. Very good operations.
4. Six Flags Magic Mountain- Very deep coaster line-up- 4 in my Top 50. I really enjoy the top 8. Deepest line-up other than Cedar Point. Operations can be hit or miss but it was my home park for a while so I went on days when I knew it would be better. Setting is great as well.
5. Busch Gardens Williamsburg- Pantheon gives it the elite coaster it needed. Great Setting. Good operations as well.
6. Busch Gardens Tampa- Iron Gwazi gives it the number one it needed. Good setting. Needs more shade.
7. Hershey Park- Can't include the RMC, which could knock it up a spot or two. The layout is a little odd. Coaster line-up is really good.
8. Holiday World- Great top 4 that I really enjoy marathoning. Good setting. Good operations.
9. Six Flags Fiesta Texas- Best run Six Flags park and it isn't close. Operations and setting are elite. Coaster collection is maybe top 5 for Six Flags so it could improve a little.
10. Carowinds- I've been in the park numerous times and Fury's crew is quite good. Great top 4. Good layout. Good operations. Afterburn and Nighthawk seem to take more time.
Just missed:
Knott's Berry Farm: Operations are hit or miss. Great theming and great food. Roller Coaster line-up could improve after GhostRider and Xcelerator
Six Flags Great America: Tend to agree with you about this park. Needs a number one coaster for me. Other drawback is the crowds. Always crowded. But a deep coaster line-up and generally good operations. And good point about its skyline.
Islands of Adventure: I disagree with you about this park over Silver Dollar City. For me Velocicoaster is better than anything at Silver Dollar City, but the Top 2 at SDC blows away the top 2 at IOA. Hulk is barely Top 100 for me. Hagrid's is one of the most overrated coasters. IOA just doesn't have enough coasters for me. Spiderman is good not great. I do think Forbidden Journey is an elite dark ride. I will say the operations at this park are just top notch, and the food is quite good and I did consider it for the #10 spot. The setting is underrated. Great sightline for the photographers. I always get excited walking into this place.
Parks I honestly need to spend more time at:
Knoebels: I didn't spend enough time in this park. Ride line-up is a little softer than the others listed, but this park appears to be charming. Great setting.
Six Flags Great Adventure: Ka was closed for my visit. Jersey Devil wasn't open yet. I went on a rainy day in the 40's. Park was a ghost town. One positive was lapping El Toro when it finally opened.
Other Park Comments:
Kings Island- Overrated setting- I think it is fine but not elite. Park is over hyped. King Island Fan boys are a real thing. Ride line-up lacks an elite #1 coaster that a lot of the other parks have, This park does have elite operations and the staff are quite good. The operations and staff are easily top 3-5. Too crowded of a park. I would probably have this park around 15 or so in my rankings. If it gets what I consider to be a true #1, and improves the coaster line-up I would consider it for the Top 10.
Six Flags Over Texas- At least Kings Island has a few coasters in the lower half of my Top 50 (And to be fair Mystic is in my 30's.) and has elite operations. SFOT is only better than SFDK in terms of the 9 SF parks I've been to. Poor operations when I went. Single train operations on a lot of rides when they were promoting spring break and the park was slammed. Tough to find things in this park. No rides in my overall Top 50. I don't think this park would be in my Top 30 parks.
Interesting comments. I don’t really know many Kings Island fanboys, and none are as obsessive as Cedar Point or Magic Mountain fanboys.
@@ThemeParkAvenue I think the park is overhyped in terms of the coaster collection and setting. I don't have Beast in my Top 100. Banshee was slightly better in 2022 and is #99. Diamondback's rattle seems to be getting worse and I admit it gives great air time, but I have it at #43. Orion is #40. Mystic is #37 but every time I ride it I like it more and more. You compare that to SFMM- X2 #15, Twisted Colossus #18, Wonder Women #38, Tatsu #47, Apocalypse #72, Full Throttle #80, and West Coast Racers #95. It is just a deeper line-up at SFMM and some better coasters at the top. Cedar Point is even better. Steel Vengeance #1, Maverick #11, Magnum #20, TTD #32, Mily #33, Gatekeeper #70, Raptor #79, and Gemini #100. Again more top heavy and just a deeper line-up. I would take the setting at SFMM or Cedar Point over KI. The only thing KI has going for it is operations. But they staff really well in that area. You talked about Banshee, that ride will always have a ton of operators compared to Raptor or especially Batman at SFMM. It is how they choose to operate.
another great video!!
Thanks!
Keep up the great work Eric!👏I’m excited to do KI and CP next year, the things you said about KI gets me more pumped, and my #1 park is BGW the aesthetics, atmosphere, the collection is everything I look for so Pantheon is one of my favorite Intamin if not probably my favorite and Alpengeist my fav Invert, Verbolten was amazing, the collection is so balanced.
I’m glad that you put cedar point on here I feel like it’s underatted even tho it doesn’t have many themeing but the ride collection is WORLD CLASS I kinda like it over KI but that’s imo I don’t really know how KI beat cedar point but it’s ok!!
Nice to see you pick based solely on your experiences, not reputations.
Absolutely. If I may be honest, Magic Mountain simply does not deserve a reputation as the best of the Six Flags chain or a park better than Cedar Point.
@@ThemeParkAvenue Whereas for me it’s easily the best Six Flags park. Experiences differ. Even coasters can seem completely different on a different day.
@@StamfordBridge so true
1. Universal’s Islands of Adventure
2. Carowinds
3. Six Flags Magic Mountain
4. Kings Island
5. Busch Gardens Tampa
6. Cedar Point
7. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
8. Dollywood
9. Knott’s Berry Farm
10. Six Flags Great America
Nice list
If you ever can could you do a vlog at cedar point next year. It would be cool.
My list:
1)phantasia land
2)cedar point
3)europa park
4)Alton towers
5)park astrix
6)Islands of adventure
7)silver dollar city
8)Kings island
9)Port Aventura
10)Thorpe park
I have only been to a few of these and I am ranking them off of other peoples opinions.
Thanks so much for the shoutout again! I really loved the one Winterfest day I had at KI and Mystic is awesome, they were doing a really great job there but I have to go back an actually ride all the B&Ms they are closed after Oct. lol. Interestingly enough I love all the thought you put behind this list but I would only have to disagree with Six Flags Great Adventure, as the one day I was able to go this year was terrible. El Toro had had it’s matinence accident so it was shut down, but Kingda Ka and several other smaller rides were also shut down for staffing, anything that was open was on one train with the exception of Jersey Devil. Gotta go in the summer. I’m actually at CGA right now so if your ever there say hi!
I plan to go to CGA next summer, so I’ll be sure to say hi if I see you! Great Adventure is a park so many seem to hate, but perhaps I’ve gotten very lucky or the park speaks to me in a different way. Certainly respectable if somebody else doesn’t love the park, but it’s one I very much enjoy.
I honestly prefer Hersheypark to Six Flags Great Adventure. While I do feel like their coaster lineups are neck and neck (Although Hersheypark’s will be better once Wildcat’s Revenge opens), I thought that Hersheypark beats Great Adventure in most park aspects, such as atmosphere, locker policy, and food. I do like Great Adventure quite a bit, and I thought the operations were better there. But Hersheypark is just better overall to me, especially with Wildcat’s Revenge coming up.
Hersheypark definitely wins on locker policy, but I significantly prefer the coasters and somewhat prefer the operations at Great Adventure.
Here's my Top 15 Theme Parks:
1. Phantasialand
2. Busch Gardens Tampa
3. Europa Park
4. Energylandia
5. Universal Studios Island's of Adventure
6. Alton Towers
7. Parc Asterix
8. Walibi Holland
9. Animal Kingdom
10. Wiener Prater
11. Efteling
12. Hollywood Studios
13. Walibi Belgium
14. Blackpool Pleasure Beach
15. Magic Kingdom
I’d love to get to those European ones.
I'm going to all Diseny parks in Florida this weekend a want to animal kingdom already, today I'm going to magic kingdom.
Have fun!
I Will
The cave was so awesome
For sure
For me, Islands of Adventure is my favorite park of all time, it's just amazing. I hope to revisit BGT because I didn't get the full experience, it was in the triple digits and there's some stuff we missed
My top ten is:
1. Hersheypark
2. Kings Island
3. Cedar Point
4. Busch Gardens Tampa
5. Silver Dollar City
6. Carowinds
7. Universals Islands of Adventure
8. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
9. Universal Studios Hollywood
10. Six Flags Great America
That’s a good list
My favorite amusement park is Busch Gardens Tampa, followed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SeaWorld Orlando, Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Universal's Islands of Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, SeaWorld San Diego, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags New England, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Kennywood, EPCOT, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld San Antonio, Six Flags America, Lake Compounce, Mt. Olympus, Valleyfair, Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America, Adventureland Iowa, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Circus Circus Adventuredome, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Legoland California, Arnold's Park, and Wild Waves.
The superman ride at six flags over Georgia almost murdered my back during 2021-2022😅
Yeah Busch Gardens Tampa Is SOOOOO Underrated
Going to Six Flags Magic Mountain is on my bucket list but I'm well aware that I am going to have to bring comfortable shoes especially when going to Superman Escape From Krypton like you had said.
Definitely
KI #1!
i take carowinds over every six flags park. Its so good.
It’s good when it’s running more than one train on Fury.
@@ThemeParkAvenue thats true. if its running more than 1 on fury where would it rank for u
Hershey at 9? Ouch...guess you're not much of a fan of Skyrush or Storm Runner.
I like Storm Runner a lot, and Skyrush is almost great but hard to enjoy.
Ayyyy my home park is number five. I'll take it. We definitely need a clear number one at some point but I also die on the hill that we have no duds and that brings our average up on par with just about any park
Great America is an awesome park for sure. Your worst coaster is the best of any worst Six Flags coaster if that makes sense.
Weird because when I went to Carowinds in the 2021 summer and Fury had amazing operations. They only kept the gates open for 3 seconds no matter what and made lines move really quick.
I’m sure I just went at a bad time.
What about BGW and Dollywood?
I haven’t been to BGW in a decade and I’ve never been to Dollywood.
Oh fair enough
I personally prefer true theme parks over traditional amusement parks so I rank Disney, Universal, SeaWorld/Busch Gardens and top two Herschend parks above any Cedar Fair or Six Flags park. But I prefer a well rounded experience with great theming, food, entertainment, shopping, atmosphere and possibly dark rides over just a great coaster collection. That's just my personal preference. But because of that the only traditional amusement parks that make my top 10 are Cedar Point and Hersheypark which are number 9 and 10 respectively.
I personally find it hard to rank a strict amusement park against an immersive theme park. Picking between something like Cedar Point and Islands of Adventure really comes down to what you care about because either one is phenomenal depending on what you want. A strict coaster enthusiasts might complain that Islands of Adventure needs more depth to its coaster collection but a theme park enthusiast (like myself) will complain that Cedar Point has boring queue lines and not enough variety when it comes to the non-ride offerings. Who's right? Well, both and neither. It's just a matter of opinion.
That’s totally fair. I definitely prefer amusement to theming in general, which is why most things ranked how they did.
This I agree with because i've always preferred theme parks over amusement parks as well.
I personally hated Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I visited in July of 2019, and the experience was about as bad as it can get. Iron Rattler was closed, there was one train ops on several coasters, the operations were very slow, and the crowds were absolutely massive. Despite having 3 trains, Wonder Woman’s line was through all the switchbacks and outside the ride entrance. And they also had the worst S&S free spin I had ridden, and free spins are my least favorite coaster model. If I go back to Texas and I know Iron Rattler will be closed, I will be skipping the park. My least favorite Six Flags park by far
Besides your take on Batman, that’s not far off from my experience. However, the good seriously outweighs the bad for me.
@@ThemeParkAvenue the more I flip on free spins, the more I dislike them. Batman I flipped 6 times, and each flip was extremely uncomfortable. It was also the jerkiest free spin, and I slammed my head against the headrest because it suddenly jerked in the opposite direction, and I was in a lot of pain afterwards. Given how this happened along with the other negatives this park had when I went, there wasn’t really anything I liked about it
KI operations are the best outside of Disney or Universal. Their collection of coasters is solid. Lots of shade, lots of bathrooms, lots of drinking fountains.
Amazing park for sure.
I know people don’t really like Disney, but I think Disneyland park is easily a top 10 park and is easily the best Disney park in America the atmosphere is some of the best and amazing dark rides some that rival the Amazing Spiderman especially Indiana Jones and Rise witch I haven’t experienced Rise yet unfortunately. in my experience I’ve always thought the two primer theme parks in America are Disneyland and island of adventure easily. All though I think Disneylands only downside is the Tommorowland witch is definitely a well known issue..
I am definitely not qualified to review Disney parks, but I’m sure I’ll go back someday.
@@ThemeParkAvenue I totally understand that, maybe some day!
I personally agree with this and Disneyland is my overall number one park. That said, it can be hard to compare it to other non-Disney/Universal parks. Most people who follow channels like this focus on coasters and Disneyland (specifically the Disneyland Park) doesn't have thrill coasters. But if you love dark rides Disneyland is unbeatable. It also has a really great collection of water rides, though most are slow moving like It's a Small World, Storybook Land Canal and Jungle Cruise. But if you enjoy a true "theme" park I think it is only rivaled by Islands of Adventure, though I think Disneyland still wins because of the vast variety of attractions and thematic cohesion.
But if you are focused on coasters and thrills then you'd be less inclined to rank Disneyland highly. It really is more a matter of personal preference even considering that any of these lists are inherently subjective.
I don’t agree with this list. For the simple reason that the European parks should be dominant particularly the Germany ones but I like the American parks chosen 👍
I’m sure if I went to more European parks some of them would make the list.
Nice video and I enjoy the content but I must say, the criteria you're using in ranking these top 10 parks seem highly circumstantial and inconsistent.
They are. It’s hard to rank parks that vary in so many different ways based on justifiable criteria. This is basically my top 10 park experiences with some coaster opinions mixed in. Similarly, having one day at most parks definitely influences my opinion.
bgt is ranked a little to high the lineup is good. the ops are horrible. worst ive ever seen 300 seconds for iron gwazi. montu on one train. cheetah hunt down every other cycle and kumba is overated for me. still better than bgw though
The ops are definitely better than Cedar Point right now.
have not been in 6 months so maybe thats true
Kings island is my home park and don’t get me wrong, i love it. I’m probably just spoiled but it’s really missing that strong number one. Orion is cool but really not different enough to diamondback. Tons of fantastic rides but no top 5 worthy coaster that other parks seem to fill.
For me, Mystic Timbers is a top tier ride.
prepare for a boring winter :(
Not when you live in Florida, SoCal, or Texas (though I’m done with parks for the year)
@@ThemeParkAvenue the next park im going to is cedar point for spring brake. i live in the north btw
17:02 the only problem I have with that park when I went to it… is how the path ways work. Your going to a ride but ended up on the wrong side of it!!! 😂The cheetah wasn’t very cheetah-a-re, it was more like cheetah zoom and drop not hunt… 😂it’s good but the B&M’s kinda defended the purpose of the cheetah being thrilling. It’s like the people that made the park were like… “where are we gonna put this strange park themed ride at…”
“OH I know in the middle of the park so people would know that’s it’s not boring and it’s there to look good… So they’ll have to ride it and get lost again from where they’re at” 🤣
Personally I like great America over cedar point, Goliath and raging bull are top tier. American eagle is my favorite wood coaster and is was raining and humid so everyling was running fast and 2 trains
I’m glad you enjoy the parks so much.
Where is Magic Kingdom, Epcot, DCA, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Disneyland???? :(
Haven’t been to all of those, but Disney parks are really not my thing.
IMO Islands Of Adventure should be #1 and I dont thk its even close. You have fantastic theming, Great Dark rides (Spiderman, Forbidden Journey, Kong), 3 elite coasters (Velocicoaster, Hulk, Hagrids) and 3 of the best water rides in the world. Tbh I evn enjoy the seuss area. Only thing potentially lacking would probably be in the shows.
If you prioritize theming, I can see it being #1.
Would you still say RIP to top thrill dragster?
Yes, I miss it, and Top Thrill Dragster is ultimately gone no matter how good Top Thrill 2 turns out.
You're saying that great adventures coaster collection is better than Magic Mountain? And Hershey Park? With Hershey Park I know there's a quantity issue that great adventure would win with more coasters but the quality no way outside of kingda Ka Jersey devil and El Toro which is always broken and Jersey devils mediocre Fahrenheit is much better than Jersey devil so great adventures coaster lineup can't compete with Hershey Park Kings Island Cedar Point Magic Mountain I mean Silver Dollar City in Dollywood when you're going quality have a better collection than Great adventure if we're being honest
Great Adventure has a really overlooked coaster lineup in my eyes. Kingda Ka, El Toro, Jersey Devil, Nitro, and Medusa all together are among the best top 5 collections in America and then you have two supporting B&Ms and some indoor coasters.
What no Dollywood?
I haven't been there, but I assume it would make the list if I had gone there.
anyone ever heard of lagoon?
Never been there.
List
90% is Sixflags
10% Is actual theme parks
Silver Dollar City was to low on your list. If your listing theme parks. Your confusing them with amusement parks
Amusement parks and theme parks are interchangeable terms in my eyes, and I prefer the amusement side of them anyway. If it were primarily based on theming, I see SDC in the top with Islands of Adventure and one other.
Ehh let's pump it on BGT it's not that high lol
It is for me
Ngl kings island is just a slightly better Canadas wonderland
I think it’s much better in nearly every way.
You shouldnt rate a park based on the daily weather or short lines due to weather.
Short lines can influence an experience, and the list is based on my experience, so I think short lines are a fair thing to analyze. They didn’t take priority over attraction quality though.
Stopped watching when you said “Batman” is your favorite ride in SF magic mountain
I never said that, I said it’s my fourth favorite at the park.
This list has more amusement then theme parks. Cedar point has zero theme to it
True, but for purposes of this list, the terms are interchangeable. I tend to prefer the amusement parts in case that wasn’t clear from the rankings. Also, Frontier Town at Cedar Point should not be sold short in terms of theming.
@@ThemeParkAvenue you no frontier town is a front to sell food😂 merry Christmas to you and your family.
@@tomcollierblognation136 Merry Christmas. Also, the entirety of Disney World is a front to sell food and toys.
@@ThemeParkAvenue i agree, but a good front and thats a theme park. Amusement does have themes but there really limited. So its hard to call them that for me. In my opinion. Can't just make a section and the rest be roller coasters and excellent landscaping. Theme has to be throughout the park. It has to take you away in a certain way. Cedar point doesn't. I no im in Sandusky ohio.
Hey....we live in a country and a world where men can just wake up and decide that they're women and women can wake up, and just decide that they're men I saw on the news the other night a white woman who says that she identifies as a black woman💯🤣 So hey, if you want to say great adventure is better than Magic Mountain or Hershey Park I guess to each his own. it's absolutely ridiculous and I know if that you're simply confusing the fact that you had a better time at Great adventure this year than you had at Hershey Park with great adventure is a better parknthen Hershey.... I can have a great time at Chuck E. Cheese, but that doesn't make it a better Theme park than universal studios! but I like your hot takes, i feel like you do this stuff a lot on purpose and I like your channel so Ride on🎢🎢🎢
Whether or not one park is better than the other, I definitely enjoy most aspects of Great Adventure more than Hersheypark and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Lets be real half of the parks on the list is not a theme park
For purposes of this list, amusement parks and theme parks are interchangeable. Theme Parks just rolls off the tongue better.
Everyone knows i dislike ki so I won’t go it i why for the 50th time. But I will say mystic Timbers is garbage.
Sorry, any list without Busch Gardens is just garbage. And Kings Island should not eve have made the list. KD, yes but not KI. Done with ya.
I haven’t been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in over a decade, wise guy. Also, I can tell that you’re definitely not a fanboy of either of those Virginia parks.
IMO Islands Of Adventure should be #1 and I dont thk its even close. You have fantastic theming, Great Dark rides (Spiderman, Forbidden Journey, Kong), 3 elite coasters (Velocicoaster, Hulk, Hagrids) and 3 of the best water rides in the world. Tbh I evn enjoy the seuss area. Only thing potentially lacking would probably be in the shows.