The Best & Worst Park Surprises: Expectation vs Reality
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- These are the best and worst park surprises I've experienced! Focusing on parks that exceeded or fell short of expectations.
Darien Lake: My Experience - • Six Flags Darien Lake ...
Canada's Wonderland: My Experience - • Canada's Wonderland - ...
Six Flags New England: My Experience - • Six Flags New England ...
Is Six Flags America Really THAT Bad? - • Is Six Flags America R...
Music in this video, as found in the TH-cam audio library:
Pre-intro background music: Savage
Theme music: Black Vulture
Main background music: Fine
"the trains are bumping into each other"- the entire uk just collectively winced
@Boxopizza Inurfridge the collision wasn't very fast maybe 20 tops and it was a joke
Christian Moss *big dipper* oof
I wanna make a smiler joke from this but it's too dark and it wasn't even that coaster's fault
Dang the smiller ain’t smiling again after this joke
@@Ithinkicaughtayds the smile killer
“I don’t usually hate on parks, with a few exceptions...”
Groans in Six Flags America
Since my kids grew up and left, I almost miss hating that park. Almost...
Hayden Jones I love this park for what it's worth. It's not the best by any stretch of the imagination, but I could never hate on it.
Dies in Elitch Gardens
We know that Neglected and sold Six Flags parks were gonna get unnecessary hate
Elitch's was my home park growing up, so I have fond memories of just spending time with family and friends. Now my home park is Cedar Point, and let's just say I never knew growing up what I was missing out on...
Remember when visiting a park, you always got to have the right expectations. So if you expect La Ronde to be absolute trash, then you will not be disappointed.
Toxin of meeenes it’s the kind of park that makes you realize that Blame Canada from the South Park Movie should’ve won the Oscar for Best Original Song over You’ll Be in my Heart from Tarzan.
@@DoswarePictures But Canada's Wonderland states otherwise; therefore, that's why South Park's Blame Canada did not win Best Original Score.
My biggest surprise was was gemini, it was so fun
Yeah that ride surprised me as well. It's small on paper but it manages to look and feel pretty big in person
Fr! That ride is sooo much fun man!
I’m going right now to ceader point it’s closed right Gemini’s closed all weekend
Agreed. It’s not the most thrilling or forceful ride but it’s just plain fun
Why does everyone love Gemini, when I rode it in the back I got no airtime and it was boring
Best surprises:
Monster at adventure land
Classic coaster at Washington's state fair
Talon dorney park
Ragin Bull Great america
and Oscars wacky taxi at sesame place
Pac Evoez Also Hydrus at Casino Pier
Ayyyy some Monster love, the other coasters are kindof crap but the park hadnt gotten a new coaster in a very long time.
I hope they keep up with adding them.
Monster was awesome! Very underrated, and my personal favorite Gerstlauer! If Airtime Thrills loves hangtime, then he'll love Monster for sure
Talon, much like Dorney itself, is very underrated.
Boardwalk bullet too
I’m so glad you’re giving Worlds of Fun another chance. Because that’s the only park in the area I grew up going there, and I can’t tell you how amazing this park is to the people that go every year. Once Mamba is open, and the retracking is done on Timber Wolf (which deserves way more love than it gets from people), it’ll be a better experience. So much history at the park that no one talks about! I hope it’s more enjoyable this time around.
I also had a very surprisingly great day at SFNE this year. Used to feel like a few hr park to me but we ended up having fun the full day.
That's funny because last year was by far my worst day at SFNE (after I made this video)
@@AirtimeThrills for the first time I can recall I didn't get stapled down on Superman, Wicked Cyclone was running great, and unlike usual I basically always got the seat I requested. Smooth day.
Hey King, I’m not GP but also not a super enthusiast. I keep up with a couple coaster channels. Just wanted to say I appreciate how you not only put out consistent content, but you switch it up and have original ideas and content!
Great video!! I live one hour away from Six Flags America. That place is just awefull!! I do love Six Flags Jersey!!
Worst surprise for me: I went to Six Flags America on December 28, 2019 and it was so busy that they were using the overflow lot. I've never seen it used before and actually didn't even notice that it was there until this visit. The worst part though was that only about a 1/3 of the park was open, which I expected, but I just wasn't expecting it to be so packed.
Best surprise: Coincidentally, my best surprise was at the same place as my worst. I visited for the first time in June 2019, and to my surprise, every coaster was running 2 trains. There were no breakdowns. The park was clean, and there was almost no one there.
I can relate to your visit in June. I went there during October of 2019 and there were no lines even though it was Fright Fest. I think that Six Flags America is very underrated. The end of December is always packed for Six Flags parks because it's the end of the season and they have bring a friend free for members.
The Coaster Roaster I was at Six Flags America just 4 days after you. LIT!
Your best surprise has been my experience at the SF America overall and I have been to that park dozens of times. It almost never has long lines. No one talks about Joker's Jinx which surprises me. It's Flight of Fear without the darkness which is pretty cool IMO.
I would definitely agree with the Fun Spot one, at least for Kissimmee, as I didn’t get to go to the Orlando one, even though we were going to. It is affordable, well kept, and has a nice collection of rides, especially now with Hurricane.
Good surprises:
HersheyPark
Universal Hollywood (after Harry Potter Opened)
Knott’s Berry Farm
Bad surprises:
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (I always seem to leave disappointed, only have visited in Spring though)
Coaster Hour my last 2 or 3 visits to DK have been disappointing don’t think I will return anytime soon operations there are so stupid
I had really high expectations for Carrowinds and they were certainly surpassed. The park was dead and I had fast lane plus, so almost everything was a walk on. I got like 10 rides on Fury, 12 on Intimidator, and 9 on Copperhead Strike. That trip was definitely my best park visit.
“It’s your funeral”
-GPS
It was really cool to see Darien Lake as one of the good surprises, I live less than an hour away, although Seabreeze technically counts as my home park, and I love going there.
My day at Silver Dollar city was wack. Powder Keg and Outlaw run were closed, but the day was saved by the food and time traveler.
Canada's Wonderland is my home park, and it can get insanely busy in the summer. I get a season's pass but only go in May and June. Once elementary/high school is out and July comes, it's no longer worth it.
agreed, even vortex has a long wait in July but August is a bit better
Agreed. I try going during a school day in may and there's normally very small to zero lines. Don't even need a fast pass lmaoo
I visited last year but due to the crowds and poor decisions we only got on Vortex, Wonder Mountains Guardian and the log flume. I'm so pissed, especially that I didn't get to go on Leviathan. And I'm in the UK so will probably never get the chance to again :(
I agree I went there once in July and it rivaled Disney World crowd maybe even more than that.
Luke Hicks Same here, I usually don't like going after June. This year's really going to suck since, I think, school's pretty much out the rest of the year, if CW even opens by then. Glad I already decided not to go back this year.
I REALLY wish that six flags would for a few years take a break from their bigger parks like Magic Mountain and Great Adventure and really focus on building up their smaller parks like my home park Six Flags America and another park like La Ronde. When people trash on my home park it really hurts :(
I’m so happy that both of my parks were listed here! Wonderland is my current home park and I worked at California’s Great America when it was PGA from 93-95! Great video!
Six flags great America is my home part and I'm so happy you injoyed it, I go with my mom every year, the new ride Maxx force is amazing
Silver wood got an RMC single rail coaster in 2021 called stunt pilot. I think it’s just a clone of railblazer but a good addition to the park
Even though I had high expectations going in due to what I had heard about the it, Holiday World was still all pleasant surprises for me. They’ve got coasters that rival or in most cases exceed the giant parks, but still manage to keep the feel of a small family run park. I mean, what kind of insane park owner offers guests free parking? They must get it back with the food prices once they trap you inside the park. What? Everything except soft drinks is very reasonably priced, and the only thing “unreasonable” about those is that they’re free too? They’re less than a day drive from Six Flags Great America, Kings Island, and Cedar Point, but they more than hold their own against any of them.
Great video once again. One Darien Lake note... They only have 1 train ops. Several years ago the 2nd trains for Predator, Mind Eraser, Viper and Ride of Steel were removed altogether, supposedly cannibalized for parts. It's AWFUL. I live about 45 minutes away and I pretty much never go.
Texas Tornado at Wonderland was my first true rollercoaster experience. Even though it does have that soul-crushing second loop, it will always have a special place in my heart.
Six flags Great America is my home park, and i’m honestly really happy to see you liked it! I’m not an enthusiast by any means, but I found this channel and have been obsessed with it! Thanks for making awesome videos my dude!
Six flags great America is my home park! Always happy when it gets the love it deserves :)
Six flags New England is a great park! Glad you enjoyed my home park. As soon as goalith is gone and get a good number three we rise more!
Alex Wilcoxon i think Goliath could be saved if they got better trains and weatherproofed it
I love Silver Dollar City! I havent been to all that many amusement parks, but silver dollar city would definitely be at the top of my list for good surprises too.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas / Great America were huge surprises for me! Didn´t expect such great and beautiful parks by SF. :)
Indiana Beach had a surprisingly nice atmosphere and with the 3 wooden coasters very good rides.
Worst surprises were SF St. Louis (I´m still missing the boomerang-credit after 2 visits), Marineland (Dragon Mountain is awesome, but the park itself is very bad), SF Darien Lake (Only Ride of Steel and Tantrum were good, but RoS is the weakest Intamin I know) or Ferrari World Abu Dhabi (3 out of 7 rollercoasters running, Flying Aces in maintenance)
Pro tip, sfgam is not a place to visit during fright fest. Another pro tip, the OG Batman at sfgam has no wait and if it has a line, the OPS send everyone through super fast.
I went during Fright Fest once. Three hours to get on Raging BUll. Never again.
11:21 it’ll never get old
Good Surprises: Six Flags New England, Kings Island, Universal Studios Florida (TNA Impact taping & Olivia Newton-John performed on my same visit)
Bad Surprises: Six Flags Over Texas (half the coasters weren’t running), Six Flags America (It’s my funeral).
You always expect to go on all the rides but then the big crowds ruin it for you
That Cedar Point line at the beginning was perfect! Great video !!!
My biggest suprise was Alton towers.
Worst suprise. Six flags america.
Jokers jinx closed. Batwing closed. Almost everything was closed.
You know Elitch is bad when their most popular coaster is an SLC! I'll consider myself lucky that all the coasters were open on the day that I went.
That 2012 trip to Disney’s Magic Kingdom also was a timing issue for you. That park was in major flux at that point with the Fantasyland expansion not open yet so it was under serious construction. Also I don’t think it’s fair to call it “Disneyland East”.
I had a similar experience to yours at Elitch Gardens, but a year later! Sidewinder was shut for the whole day and Half-Pipe opened up right before I had to leave. Not sure if I just hated Twister II that much, but Mind Eraser was a very fun ride with minimal head banging (not even being sarcastic). Love your TH-cam channel and thanks for following me on Instagram!
“I don’t want to visit Worlds of Fun” *going to worlds of fun twice this year*
He must really want to get on mamba
Kansas city happens to be a great city to start and end the trip sooo
Airtime Thrills I mean we have Patrick Mahomes here sooo
thats only if the virus is under control by then, and also technically your trip would be starting and ending at your house
@@AirtimeThrills The ribs at Q39 are absolutely amazing.
Hopefully Corona doesn’t disrupt your visit to Canada’s Wonderland
You should try la ronde 😂😂
Vortex Luigi Rosalina 55 Ontario is not doing too well currently but it might start to flatten like its doing in British Columbia
@@susgib296 glup
Vortex Luigi Rosalina 55 English?
Bigsus not good
Toverland was my best experience. Toverlands coaster lineups consist out of many family rides (they started as a indoor playground). They also have 2 great tier A coasters called Troy (a woody) and feñix (wingcoaster) which has crazy airtime. These are both starrides for the park and they clame a shared first place in my top 10 coasters. So if you ever come to the Netherlands, give Toverland a spin!
Airtime Thrills, fav coaster channel, keep it up man, Sophie was rlly cute in the pier review!!
Clearly better than Coaster Studios.
@@fawful7457 I dont mind CS but I haven't watched many of his videos in awhile. I've been binging watching Airtime Thrills lately and only found him less than a week or so ago.
My best surprise was King’s Island during the 2018 season. I’ve been there twice before, but both times as a gp and small child, but my 3rd visit blew me away. I was able to appreciate the history behind the park and their underrated collection of coasters. With Orion hopefully opening this season I can’t wait to go back in the future
Cant wait for your elitch gardens experience. It's my home park now, got season tickets last year for the family....never feel I need to go back again until it's been moved with the twister 2 RMCd. I'd rather marathon cyclone at lakeside amusement park all day on a Saturday
It's funny that one of your worst park days ever happened to be exactly one day after my best park day ever at Magic Kingdom. And it really had nothing to do with the rides. In fact, it screwed up my entire ride strategy for that day. On 6/8/2012, my family got pulled out of the turnstiles while waiting to be among the first to get in and were selected as Family of the Day. Disney Magic to the extreme, lots of cool VIP character encounters, exclusive pictures, and a private tour, and we got to be in the opening ceremony for the park. Screwed my entire ride plan for the day up, LOL.
Ok, Addendum for King's Dominion now! Twisted Timbers was EVERYTHING I wanted it to be. It was SUPER hot but they were running like their butts were on fire! Things ran FAST! They even let me on Dominator less than 5 minutes before close. XD
Awesome video and the best one you have made by far, the best park surprise for me would have to be Six Flags Magic Mountain, I went there on a Wednesday in September and the crowds were light but I got to ride every coaster I wanted except for Full Throttle. As for the worst park surprise I would have to say Dollywood I went there in 2016 and 2017 hoping to ride Lightning Rod only to have it closed both times that I went, however I managed to ride the other coasters at Dollywood that I wanted. One good takeaway from your video is sometimes even with all of the planning in the world things just don't go as planned especially when a ride you want to ride is closed or there's inclement weather, keep up the good work can't wait to see more videos!!!
9:12 They always run one train on everything.
ONE TRAIN OPS
do they even own more than one train on anything? 😂
TheRandom Tantrum
@@_lucas_1k_ The On Thing That They Have Multiple Vehicles Of In Their Log Flume
Best surprise for me by far was Carowinds for the first time. I didn't know Fury 325 existed but it's now one of my favorite coasters. And I have intimidator 305 at my home park lol.
What surprised me the most other than the rides and atmosphere was how good the food was at Silver Dollar City. I'm used to Sixflags level food so this was a great surprise for me. And shout to my homepark Six Flags Great America
Wohoo finally someone mentioning Funspot! They're a good, cheap alternative for florida based theme parks, and a year pass lets you go to all of their parks and gokarts are included!
Nice to hear you enjoyed California's Great America. It was my home park and I spent a good number of summers going there with my sister when my dad had to work. He lived just down the road and I never have had a bad experience there.
Silver Dollar City blew me away. I was excited about time traveler and outlaw run, but I wasn't really expecting much from the other rides. I found the mine ride a little rough, but everything else was awesome. It is behind only cedar point as my #2 park, which I wasn't expecting given how the coaster lineup stacks up to parks like kings island, magic mountain, great America, or the top 4 at carowinds and top 3 at kings dominion. Atmosphere was just amazing. A very small thing, but starting out the day saying the pledge of allegiance just set the tone for a whole different world than what I've experienced at most other parks. The included cave tour was also a neat surprise. He had a hard time with outlaw run, but I don't think I've seen my dad enjoy a park that much in several years.
I used to live in Denver, so Elitch Gardens was my home park throughout my teens. And simply put, it was never a good park. Even in its best days, operations were glacial paced, food tasted like cardboard while priced like gourmet, nothing would ever get updated, and so on. Back when it was a Six Flags park it was OK at best, but after they sold the park Elitch Gardens still kept the Six Flags pricing in every category. And really they got away with it because they are the largest park in Colorado, and you've have to drive several hours to find anything better (there is Lakeside Amusement Park down I-70, but that's an aging little fairground that needs its own help). Last few years there's been serious talk of the park getting demolished to make room for more housing, and while I'd be sad to see my childhood park close, it might be for the best. If only CO had any real park beyond Elitch Gardens.
Lobster Helmet sounds like Colorado deserves better
Lakeside is WAY better than Elitch Gardens imo. The classic feel and cheap admission are amazing. It may not have as many exciting rides, but you definitely get your moneys worth. It's never crowded and only open at night, so idk how much longer it will be around. I really wish we had a better large amusement park, but at least we have Water World lol
glenwood caverns has entered the chat
My 1st trip to cedar point was horrible. It was crowded on a Monday. Fast lanes lines like1 or 2 hours. Rainy and cloudy. Rides kept breaking down. And too thrill dragster was closed. I hope my next trip back is a hundred times better.!
My wife has lived in Northern Illinois all her life so she has always assumed all amusement parks were like SFGAm. In 2021 I took her to Cedar Point for the first time for 3 nights at the breakers. By the time we arrived at the hotel, her expectations had been extremely surpassed. Now she wants to book a longer stay. She said she had no idea that CP would be as nice as it was.
I was sitting here expecting my home park to be number one bad experience but I was surprised when it wasn’t even on the list (Michigan’s adventure).
Alex457 Dog he hasn’t even been there, but once he does this year, he’s gonna find it to be underrated.
I wont go in with any expectations
I went in with very low expectations, and it was so much better than everyone says! I really enjoyed my day there.
I went to King's Island back in 2012, it was truly a great park. As for Elitch Gardens, that park is going to be demolished.
As of riding Ravine Flyer II again in 2020, it's dropped a lot on my list. It's quite a bit more rough than I remember, and my leg got hammered with the restraints that take up a lot of leg and knee room.
I had the best experience at Disney World! Give it another try, when you can and do two days with two night events. You can do everything. We’re planning a return there next year. I’m also just 25 miles away from Disneyland! Love it!
I had only been to Disney World before visiting Busch Gardens when I was 8 with my family and some family friends, and it is where I rode my first coaster, The Loch Ness Monster. I came back with my cousin when I was fourteen and riding the roller coasters and enjoying the familiar atmosphere was amazing. It was even better than I remember.
New to coaster stuff but had a bit of a bad experience at Carowinds last summer. A storm shut everything down for hours with no information on when anything would open. And then we got an announcement that the park would close at I think 7:30. At 7:00. I had a better visit towards the end of the operating season and was going to go next month, but that wasn’t a great first visit.
Yup, Canada's Wonderland is my home park and although most coasters have very high up-time; it does have its days where it is overcrowded and you can only get in a few of the major coasters. It essentially forces you to get the fast pass + or schedule your visit for a weekday in May. It has come a very long way since Cedar Fair took over though.
Nice to see Darien Lake get some love! I live fairly close to it, like about an hour away. Haven't been there in a long time, though.
The last thing I expected to see was my home park Silverwood on here. The park is small compared to most because the population in our area is much smaller. But us locals love it. You should come back when it’s scarywood!
10:54 They changed it to Superman: The Ride
I meant "now known as Bizarro" as in that was the name when I went since it changed from Superman Ride of Steel
It’s funny how Six Flags moved both inverted boomerangs across the country. When they could of moved just a few hours north, granted Idaho to So Cal is much further than Jersey to Massachusetts.
Yeah... my home park had been SFoG for my whole life until I moved to college in Denver. Elitch is about 15 minutes away from campus so obviously I bought a season pass! But oh man that park is a mess. Twister II isn’t that bad but they really don’t have anything I would call “good”. The most I really got out of going was I realized how lucky I was to have such a good home park growing up!
As a fellow Georgian, I must agree that while it might not be the best, we definitely were blessed with a solid home park. Luckily, it might get better now that Fun Spot Atlanta is stepping up the competition.
But Goliath will forever be my favorite Hyper, and Acrophobia my favorite drop tower!
I was transitioning into an enthusiast when I first rode Steel Vengeance and I was expecting Millennium Force to be the Killer but then I rode Steel Vengeance and became a full enthusiast. I realized that I wasn't the only one that loved it to death. So that shocked me the first time i rode it
Our 2019 Ohio trip to cedar point and King's island. KI really blew us away. We had fun at CP, but had a very dissatisfied experience service wise. We were expecting the same thing at KI so we made sure we were there at park open. The park was beautiful, staff was amazing, and every ride firing on all cylinders capacity wise. That was our 1st visit and we definitely will be going back.
I love how you put your best surprise and worst surprises that has wonderland
I'm so so glad you used lagoon as the great day clip at the beginning! I love lagoon
Well silverwood will get a new coaster you would want to check out, a RMC raptor will come in 2021
Great video! Excluding Knotts and Six Flags Magic Mountain since those are my home parks and I have seen the good and bad here are my list:
Good:
Cornball Express & Indiana Beach- I was able to marathon Cornball on a late Sunday afternoon in 2019. Great ride!
Holiday World (May 2018)- I went to this park for about 5 hours and easily got 25 total rides on the big 4 coasters, with at least 10 of those on the Voyage. Everything was top notch at this park.
Cedar Point (May 2018)- I went a few weeks after opening weekend and was able to ride everything a lot over 3 days. Most of the big coasters I rode well into double digits.
California Great America; (2018 & 2019)- On Sunday morning in 2018 I was able to ride GoldStriker over a dozen times, then in 2019 I got to ride RailBlazer on a Sunday morning without leaving the train. Got over 10 rides.
Bad:
Six Flags Over Texas (Spring break 2019)- They were running one train during the start of the Spring Break promotion. Created long waits on their coaster. Also had too many rules about sitting on the back seats.
Cedar Point (Opening Weekend 2019)- Fly into Cleveland on Friday night from the west coast. Got to the park earlier on Saturday for earlier entry. Waited for Steel Vengeance for 3 hours for it to never open. Ended up opening at 5, and I only got one night ride on it. Sunday was worse. Very windy. Never got on Top Thrill Dragster either day, but did record plenty of rollbacks. Got to the Steel Vengeance station on Sunday only for the ride to close. Wasn't a good weekend.
I was SHOOKED to see California’s great America (AKA my home park!) be in the good side of the list! Thank you!
14:07
Coming from an enthusiast. That can't be safe
It's fine
I have to write an addendum for Silver Dollar City. I went back on April 5th of this year and they were running on all cylinders! They were extremely accommodating and all the rides were top notch! Outlaw Run was smoother than last time, time traveler is still elite, and even Fire in the Hole was surprisingly fun! Cinnamon bread yes plz! They really recovered from last time, the patrons being less drunk!
Biggest surprise was that little spinning coaster in Silverwood. I actually had a blast with one of my friends on it and we got tons of re-rides because aftershock and tremors were closed
I have never had anything but an amazing experience at Waldameer. It’s a great little park who is growing every year. So I can’t wait to see where they’ll go.
I’ve gone to silver dollar city for years, and it used to be awesome! Although ever since they opened Time Traveler, it’s gotten super busy! When my family used to go, Outlaw Run was a walk on, same with Powder Keg, and Thunderation. Also this last time I went they were running one train on Time Traveler… and the park was at capacity. I love this place, that’s where I had all my roller coaster firsts, they just need to learn how to deal with crowds lol
I've had a lot of good and bad surprises over the years, but for me the standout ones were
Bad surprise: I was gonna say overestimating my physical limits at Hershey and going on the storm runner and sidewinder back to back, but then I remembered the time I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion at Universal Orlando, thus bringing an otherwise amazing trip to an unpleasant and uncomfortable end.
Good surprise: getting over my fears and hangups about going on coasters at Busch Gardens with Verbolten and The Loch Ness Monster, thus turning me into maybe not a hardcore enthusiast (I pretty much just ride what I like rather than trying to get every single credit) but still a big fan
I was at Cedar Point Opening Day 2018 and, let me tell you, it WAS something else.
Ran the bulls to Frontiertown only for Steel Vengeance to be down, Raptor getting evac'd, and Cedar Creek Mine Ride gettinc stuck on a lift hill. Truly insane.
Best surprise: Airtime Thrills dropped a new video.
Worst surprise: I failed my recipe.
Either way, we appreciate your content during these trying times!
I always tell people this: Disney World is FAR better than Disneyland/CA Adventure, but Disneyland is better than Magic Kingdom.
While fair, WDW is a whole is better than the DLR.
JonahTV nahh DCA can stand up to Hollywood studios and Epcot is a joke. animal kingdom slaps tho I won’t lie.
Based on experience and speculation:
6. Hollywood Studios
5. EPCOT
4. Magic Kingdom
3. Disneyland
2. Disney's California Adventure
1. Disney's Animal Kingdom
(#2 and #1 can be swapped)
@@Valhalla05 coming from a big DCA fan, love to see it that high. I’ve been to all six at least twice:
1) Disneyland
2) Animal Kingdom
3) DCA - probably bounce up once Avengers Campus opens.
4) Hollywood Studios
5) Magic Kingdom - they don’t maintain their classic dark rides... it’s pretty depressing. Nothing on the level of Pandora or GE. Tron is almost certainly going to be the best ride in the park.
6) Epcot
I had a good surprise at six flags over georgia, litteraly everything was open and had short lines and the people and staff wjere noce and all and all, it had good vibes.
My worst surprise...Cedar Point. Yes...Cedar Point. Went on a Monday in late May, to try to avoid the worst crowds. Upon arrival the following rides were closed: Steel Vengeance, Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Gate Keeper, Valravn and Raptor. This basically turned a relatively small attendance into a monster attendance for the few rides that were actually open. I went with the intention of buying a fast-pass to get on the big rides, but, it seemed not worth it in the least as everything was closed. Valravn opened at around 1:00 and had a 2 hour line. Millennium Force opened at about 1:00 in the afternoon and instantly had a 1.5 hour line. Steel Vengeance opened around 3:00 and instantly had a 4 hour line. Top Thrill Dragster opened around 6:00 and instantly had a 2 hour line. So, I only got on Maverick Blue Streak, Gemini, Magnum, Rougarou, Wicked Twister and Iron Dragon. Now I have to go again...
Number one expectation going into any park is their coasters are actually running! Biggest disappointments have always been when rides are shut down and that then drives your actual reality quite quickly. Kings island was a good surprise for you but it was a huge disappointment for me during Xmas holiday at the park cause I couldn’t believe they only had one coaster running despite being unseasonably warm. My fault not knowing going into it but by far my biggest disappointment to date.
SFGAm is always a blast and it’s near impossible to get bored. The variety is great (not just in coasters, but flats as well), and the park is always so busy that you won’t have time for downtime.
Also, LOL at being disappointed by Disney World because you didn’t know it was more than the Magic Kingdom. Bruh.
From an Australian POV:
Good surprises: Six Flags Over Texas. I went to America for 2 weeks & this park was actually pretty amazing. Very few lines, very good rides & it was just overall a really good experience.
Bad surprises: Warner Bros Movie World post-2014. Ive been there several times since 2014, and the ride times have gotten ridiculous, especially in peak season. The rides are also very underwhelming compared to American theme parks- theyre fun, but theyre nothing compared to American ones. Unfortunetly it's basically the only major theme park in Australia, which sucks.
Kings Dominion in Verginia always suprises me. Even though I have been going periodically since the 90's (old rides out/new rides in) still my #1 park to go too.
Elitch Gardens is so bad that despite being my home park, I haven't been there in 5 years and that was only because a visiting relative wanted to go.
It’s not that bad. Everything in Denver is expensive and Elitchs was completely dumped
American theme park enthousiasts in a nutshell;
"Needs an RMC"
At Dollywood, I went on a rainy day, with hardly any people. All of the rides are up. Sorry you had a rough day there because that park truly is awesome!
Most recent surprise was Dutch Wonderland. It's a nice little park with a decent family woodie and suspended coaster. Worst surprise... sorry to say but SFMM, it was hot, bad operations, honestly I felt like I was playing Russian roulette with every different attraction I rode...i really need to visit again to wash that bad trip outta my mind.
I feel like most people walk into holiday world expecting a tiny amusement park that’s maybe not in the best shape and isn’t very popular because it’s family run and in the middle of nowhere but it’s really really nice
Holiday World is one of the best parks in the US and the BEST park for wood coasters.
As kings island is my home park I went 22 times with no shut downs except weather and the beast along with the bat. But my 3 times at cedar point had gatekeeper closed all day and many other rides closing to add more trains when the lines were packed
SeaWorld Orlando was a bad surprise for me. They were running one train on most coasters, except Mako and Manta at the start of the day, on a Friday in mid-June. They did add a second train on Pipeline and Kraken later on, but common sense was lacking. Universal Studios Florida was a good surprise for me. I came in not knowing what to expect and was blown away by everything. The employees were very efficient and very helpful. I was trying to take a selfie with a Minion, and when I had trouble, an employee offered to take my phone and take the photo for me.
Bad surprise: Lake Compounce tops my list. Six Flags over Georgia also: great lineup, but very poor operations, constant breakdowns, & line jumping was ridiculous on all my visits.
Good surprises: Six Flags New England or Mt Olympus would top my list. Dollywood is up there too, even though I had very high expectations for it. Also Six Flags Great Adventure, Kings Dominion, Darien Lake, Michigan's Adventure, & Indiana Beach.
My biggest surprise is probably when I went to Cedar Point in October 2019, which was notoriously packed for Halloweekends. I came from Oregon, and it was my second visit with the first being in October 2015, and it wasn’t that crowded then, but the lines were insane on my recent visit. We also went to Dollywood and Kings Island, so I got to ride Lightning Rod and Steel Vengeance both for the first time. We drove up to Sandusky from Mason on Saturday morning and when we arrived, the causeway was backed up and it took us an hour to get to the hotel and I checked the Cedar Point app, and it said everything had at least an hour long wait. Luckily, I did have 2 days there so I was able to ride most of the coasters and I have every credit there because of my past visit, except for Wilderness Run. Steel Vengeance is my new number 1 and Lightning Rod is number 3, so overall, the trip was successful and I will definitely return to Cedar Point on a weekday in August or something haha.
Elitch gardens is being moved this year hopefully they put in some new rides to go along with it.