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My Top 5 Best Parks

Six Flags Magic Mountain: Here are my picks for the top 5 best parks in the country.

From Brieson Rowlan
Posted January 8, 2007 at 8:10 PM
I have been across the US to find the greatest Amusment park. This is what I found

1. Six Flags Magic Mountain
2. Cedar Point
3. Busch Gardens
4. Disney Land
5. Knott's Berry Farm

If you want to plan a fun filled vacation I suggest Magic Mountain Which is funny because the discussion below is about how bad it is. I personaly thing MM is the best Your Teens will have a blast yet there are gentle rides for your younger kids. So if you look at this message and agree please tell me what else you LIKE and DISLIKE about these parks or if you have been to all of them tell me what order YOU would put them in.


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Miguel Delgado
Posted January 8, 2007 at 8:59 PM
all are great except disneyland

From Chris Walton
Posted January 8, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Well...
from what I've been to (mostly Florida)...
1.Universal Studios FLA
2.Epcot
3.IOA
4.Animal Kingdom
5.Magic Kindom

Runners up...
6.MGM
7.Busch Gardens Williamsburg
8.Sea World Orlando
9.Busch Gardens Tampa

From Anthony Murphy
Posted January 9, 2007 at 8:32 AM
1. EPCOT
2. Magic Kingdom
3. Animal Kingdom
4. MGM
5. IOA

Are you suprised? :)

Runner Up's

6.Seaworld
7.Disneyland
8.DCA
9. USF
10. Six Flags Great America

From Dustin Kern
Posted January 9, 2007 at 9:25 AM
I have been to a couple of Six Flags parks and I have to say that Cedar Point is the best all around park. It has your extreme thrills for the older crowd, medium rides for those people who are too afraid of the coasters, and then an excellent kiddie park. Now I haven't been the Six Flags Magic Mountian but my guess would be that Cedar Point would be a better number 1 pick.

I think the best way to make this fair is to keep east coast and west coast seperate. Chances are is that there are only a couple of people have been all over, and I can guarentee that no one has been to every park in the U.S..

From DV M
Posted January 13, 2007 at 8:28 AM
This is a fun thread:
1. Cedar Point - it is great fun for all ages and it is like stepping back in time. Plus there is so much to do.
2. EPCOT - very unique and special.
3. Busch Gardens Europe - beautiful
4. Islands of Adventure - it's the theme-ing.
5. Hersheypark - lots to do, great collection of rides - underrated in my opinon.

From april strunk
Posted January 13, 2007 at 7:25 PM
My best parks would be:
1. Disneyland Resort (It's a nostalgic thing)
2.Magic Kingdom (I admit I love Disney the best)
3.Busch Garden Europe (Best coasters and Theming in one)
4. MGM and Animal Kingdom (There's so much to look at)
5. Seaworld Orlando (Love that Kraken!!)

I haven't been everywhere, I'm working on it!. My kids are finally getting to a good age and we've done a good deal so far. Theming, cleanliness, and service mean the most to me. Many parks think a great coaster can over shadow poor management, bad food, and filthy parks. I need alot more for my money than crazy obnoxious teenagers and a beer garden and these parks all provide the best experiences money can buy!

From Brieson Rowlan
Posted March 9, 2007 at 3:30 PM
No one has picked six flags Magic Mountain! Oh FYI: Six Flags Magic Mountain is the new Roller Coaster Capital of the World!!!! With Tatsu the 17th Coaster! for along time Ceader Point and Six Flags MM have been tied, But now six flags is ahead by 1!!!! Oh and Dustin You HAVE to go to MM I think it is Waaaaaaaaaaay better than Cedar Point, not saying Cedar Point isnt fun but MM is better! GO!!!

From Kevin Sowinski
Posted March 10, 2007 at 9:30 AM
I've mainly been to parks in the northeast. However, here is my top 5 list so far based mainly on the quality/quantity of thrill rides and my overall experience.

1. Cedar Point (Good quantity and quality of coasters-MF,TTD,Raptor,Magnum,etc./Nice setting/Could use some better flats though)
2. Universal Florida (counting USF and IOA as 1 park) (Some of my favorite rides of their respective types are here-MIB,Spiderman,Popeye,Dudley/Could use more rides of all types and less simulators)
3. 6 Flags Great Adventure (Great coaster line up when they are all running-Kingda Ka,El Toro,Medusa,Nitro,etc./Lots of flats/Nearly unbearably huge crowds are the only thing keeping this park from being #1 or 2 on my list)
4. Hersheypark (Good quality and variety of coasters-Lightning Racer,Stormrunner,Great Bear,etc. and flats/Free chocolate/A zoo
5. Kennywood (Great flats/Reasonable prices/Nice location/A great vibe/Phantom's Revenge/Could use some added steel coasters.

Honorable mentions:

Busch Gardens Europe (Beautiful location/Good quality of coasters and rides-Apollo's Chariot,Alpengeist, Curse of Darkastle,but lack of quantity/Good shows)

Knoebels (Cheap/Good flat rides/The Phoenix/Haunted Mansion/Needs more coasters)

From Mark Walker
Posted March 10, 2007 at 11:41 AM
This article reminds of 'The Top Ten Attractions'.


Anyway, here's my list:

1). Islands Of Adventure
2). Busch Gardens Africa
3). Alton Towers
4). Thorpe Park
5). Universal Studios Florida


Honerable mentions: Drayton Manor, Chessington World Of Adventures and other Orlando Parks.

From Anthony Murphy
Posted March 10, 2007 at 1:32 PM
No Disney? That makes me sad Mr. Walker! :(

Here are mine:

1.EPCOT
2. MGM
3.Magic Kingdom
4. Animal Kingdom
5. Seaworld

Yeah, no suprise there, number 6 would have been IOA!

From David Kirby
Posted March 10, 2007 at 9:43 PM
This is a tough one, but I think I'll go with

1. Busch Gardens Europe (I love just about everyone about this park)
2. Magic Kingdom
3. Epcot
4. Animal Kingdom (amazing theming, with the exception of Dinoland, of course)
5. MGM (by far has the weakest theming of all the Disney Parks, but I still love it)

From Mark Walker
Posted March 11, 2007 at 6:32 AM
Magic Kingdom would have got 6th place respectivly (without it, there would have been no Universal).


Hey wait a sec! Your first post had IOA as 5th place, what made you change your mind?!

From Anthony Murphy
Posted March 11, 2007 at 8:38 AM
Looking back, you are rignt! I grappled with which one to put at that 5th spot, but some things have changed about me. I am a full blown Bio major so I have a bias towards living things (hello AK and Seaworld). Also, the Kracken has got to be one of my favorite roller coasters outside of Disney. There is just something about it! I have been blessed to live by Six Flags Great America, which is one of the better Six Flags parks. Their claim to fame is roller coasters. They are the first to have an inverted roller coaster (no Batman, no Dueling Dragons). So for that reason it knocked it down a bit. I prefer Seaworld's resturants and roller coasters more than IOA, but that doesn't mean I do not like IOA. Its a perfectly fine park, I just had a change in mind based on it being a Bio park and having a great roller coaster. I have yet to be to Mythos, but I really want to go


But yeah, I am a dork for voting again and changing my vote! I totally forgot that I already voiced my opinion on this!

From Erik Yates
Posted March 11, 2007 at 8:45 AM
I think he does it just to spite...we all know he's a closet Universal freak ;)

1.Islands of Adventure-duh...EVERYTHING
2.Universal Studios-Smaller lines, more rides and good atmosphere than its disney counterpart.
3.Busch Gardens Tampa-Great animals, and coasters
4.Sea World Orlando-I like fish....what can I say?
5.EPCOT-My original favorite park from when I was a kid, up until I saw the light (lighthouse) at Universal. The rest of the disney parks are too crowded, too pricey, and they have waaaaaaay too much pixar :)

From Anthony Murphy
Posted March 11, 2007 at 11:12 AM
So you liked EPCOT until IOA came around?


You are definatly a closet Disney fan too since I think IOA is taken out of a Disney playbook (take everything Disney is good at, put it in one park, and make it better)- thats the motto I always thought of IOA as.

And I love EPCOT too, its me and my family's favorite. No, we are not that crazy to be jumping around and skipping with the characters, we are not that psychotic. We enjoy what EPCOT, AK and MGM has to offer. We like MK because of the old time classic rides that Disney has to offer! I guess we are kinda nerdy because we like the parks that you learn something!

From Brieson Rowlan
Posted March 16, 2007 at 7:49 PM
I like IOA WAAAAAAAAAAAAY Better than EPCOT

From Jaivion Williams
Posted March 16, 2007 at 10:09 PM
uh eric whats wrong with pixar?

From Iris Hernandez
Posted March 17, 2007 at 9:47 AM
THis topic really made me think hard...I like all the florida theme parks pretty much the same. Each park has something special about it, whether it be a show that made my jaw drop, or a killer rollercoaster(or 2), or the childrens area that my older girl actually enjoys, etc... Its really hard for me to number them...what to do, what to do? I guess i'll give it a try...

1. Sea World-I LOVE killer whales & Kraken
2. IOA-Best coasters and water rides for me.
3. Magic Kingdom-my girls always have a blast!
4. MGM-FANTASMIC!! TOT & Rock-n-Rollercoaster
5. EPCOT-Love the whole concept of the park

Runner-up's

6. Universal Studios(F)-R.I.P Back to the Future
7. Animal Kingdom-Expedition Everest,Dinosaur
8. Busch Gardens Africa-Probably would be #1 if i didnt have to drive so far to get to it.

From Erik Yates
Posted March 17, 2007 at 2:47 PM
Javion....nothing wrong with Pixar, but this is an argument I dont think you want to open up....so I will!
Disney started off as taking their movies and turning them into rides. Then they were truly innovative and came up with completely new concepts like Mission to Mars (later Alien Encounter which was outstanding...then Stitch, which was not) Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and even Pirates of the Carribean. EPCOT was all pretty much original ideas, nothing based on a movie...in fact you could learn something from EPCOT if you werent careful. Nowadays, its all about name recognition, and the imagineers dont even try. For every Everest, you get 4 rides based off of Pixar (which is an exact estimate). I'd rather see the days of the original ideas come back to disney than to see them turn all of their parks into movie parks. Just my thought on it Javion.

From Eric Malone
Posted March 18, 2007 at 3:58 AM
I'm with you on that one, Erik. I hate to see Disney get Pixar-ified. Didn't really like most of the Pixar movies, anyway. :/

From Ally Pascua
Posted March 18, 2007 at 9:49 PM
1. Six Flags Magic Mountain- mostly 'cause it's my 2nd home, but also because of its AMAZING coaster collection
2. Cedar Point- again because of its amazing coaster collection
3. Disneyland- who doesn't love the happiest place on earth?
4. Knotts Berry Farm- nice thrilling rides, not very expensive, and both old & new california charm
5. Sea World San Diego- absolutely LOVE marine mammals

Hopefully, I can go to as many (maybe more) different theme parks as I did in 2006 (9). However, I know for sure I'll be making a visit to Six Flags Great America during summer vacation, so can't wait to finally ride Kingda Ka! Also hope to return to Cedar Point for the opening of Maverick.

From David Kirby
Posted March 19, 2007 at 9:15 AM
Ally, Kingda Ka is an Six Flags Great Adventure, so I hope you're going there and not Great America or you'll be a bit disappointed.

From Ally Pascua
Posted March 19, 2007 at 7:45 PM
oops! darn typos! hahaha, guess my nogin doesn't wanna cooperate with me

From Mark Walker
Posted March 21, 2007 at 12:30 AM
Ha ha ha! Brilliant comment for your 5th ranked park Eric!

From Anthony Murphy
Posted March 21, 2007 at 5:13 AM
EPCOT still isn't Pixarfied except The Living Seas which I see as an improvement.


Its all about staying current. Universal's website claims that they have "yesterday's" favorites so they are trying to stay current. However, they can't make classics if they keep replacing attractions.

Also, Alien Encounter was slammed on this site when it was open. It appeared nobody liked it. Personally, I thought it was a fine ride!

But Erik, you are right, there can be too much of a good Pixar thing. Buzz? OK, Monsters Inc? we are streching Tomorrowland. Personally, I think meet the Robinsons would be a better fit. Sure, the movie might be a flop, but it might make a decient attraction!

From Dan Babbitt
Posted March 21, 2007 at 9:34 PM
With me its kind of hard with taking which Disney park to put in what order! But here it is...
1)Disney MGM Studios-People really complain about the themeing I kind-of like it needs a little fixing but it can work! Cant forget about Tower and Coaster!
2)Magic Kingdom-Love Spectromagic, Jungle Cruise and The Mountain Ranges.
3)Spelt EPCOT- Mision:Space and Journy Into Imagination With Figment are my two favorites there!
4)Disney Animal Kingdom-Everest pushed this one ahead of IOA, But I also like the Safari and also the resteraunt Tuskers House in Africa.
5)And Then Island Of Adventure-SpiderMan and Dueling Dragons are great!

There it is and I know MGM being my number is a little far fetched but I love the place the the Streetmosphere actors and Fatasmic makes the place great for me. Also the prospect of new rides that are being built its going to get better and better!

From David Kirby
Posted March 22, 2007 at 4:11 AM
Technically, the name was officially changed to Epcot. The name is no longer in all caps.

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