Top 10 Resort/Parks in the USA!

With nearly 300 amusment park in the USA its hard to come up with 10 parks that are better than others. I came up with mine, now it your turn! Tell me what you think of my list and give me yours.

From Josh Morgra
Posted August 10, 2012 at 4:47 PM
So think to yourself of all the amusment parks, theme parks or even water parks you have visted. Now their probley some you loved and well some that wern't so fun. Well out of all the parks in this great country I came up with the top 10 parks!
Before I sare my list I want to share how I came up with it. First off this is not my opinion (well a little is) I followed criteria to come up with list. Also this is determined by the overall feel of the park.That being siad I combined the thrill factor, kid frendly rides, guest services ect. The last part was their rides I took their best rides (2 to 4) or in some cases a whole park ;-) With no futer adew here is the my top 10!

10.Sea World Resort Orlando, Fl
- Sea World Orlando (Kraken, Manta and Atlantis)
- Aquatica Orlando (Dolphin Plunge,Omaka Roka)
9.Holiday World Santa Clause. IN
-The Voyage (24.3 sec. airtime 3 90-deg.turns)
-The Legend (2 min. long 65mph & 111ft. drop)
8.Six Flags Over Georgia Austell, GA
-Georgia Scorcher (101 ft.drop 1:23min. 4 g force)
-Goliath (175 ft. drop 70mph 2:45min.ride time)
7.Disneyland Resort Anaheim, California
-Disneyland (Space mountian,Haunted Mansion)
-California Adventure (Car's Land and Paridice Pier)
6.Universal Orlando Resort Orlando, Fl
-Universal Studios Flordia(Revenge of the Mummy)
-Island of Adventure(WWoHP & JPRA)
5.Busch Gardens: Africa Tampa bay, Fl
-SheiKra (90-deg 200ft. drop that hits 70mph!)
-Rhino Rall (a safari "gone wrong" ride)
4.King's Island Mason, OH
-Dimondback(215ft high 80mph 3:00 ride time)
-FireHawk (flying coaster 2:10 ride time 4.3 g's)
3Six Flag's Magic Mountian Valencia, CA
-X2 (215ft drop 76mph all in the 4th demention!)
-Superman:EFK (o to 104 in 7 sec,41 stories)
2. Cedar Point Sandusky, OH
-millenium Force (300ft 90mph 1.3 miles long)
-Top Thrill dragster(400ft. 120mph Pure Crazy!)
-Mavrick (95-deg 100ft. drop 70 mph)
1.Disney World Resort Buean Lake,FL
4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 25 hotel rooms this is obviously the best park not only in the usa but in the world!

Thanks for reading I hope to here all of your guy's feedback!

From Mike Gallagher
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:58 PM
In no particular, except for #1:

Cedar Point
SF Great Adventure
HersheyPark
Kings Dominion
Knoebels
Kennywood
Busch Tampa (only been once, though)
Holiday World (ditto above)
Dorney Park
Busch Williamsburg

There's probably something obvious I'm forgetting, but that's off the top of my head.

*EDIT* I knew it...I forgot Kennywood! Inserted to replace Kings Island.

From Joey Till
Posted August 10, 2012 at 12:32 PM
I love SFog! Beautiful park, great original coasters, apart from a few clones. Im suprised you ranked it better than Six Flags Great Adventure. Going to SFmm very soon and it looks promising from your list. :D Here's my list of parks that ive been to in order from my favorite. (there mostly six flags parks because of season passes to SFGam every year)

1. Cedar Point, Ohio
2. Islands of Adventure, Florida
3. Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey
4. Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Virgina
5. Six Flags Great America, Illinois
6. Six Flags Over Georgia
7. Six Flags Over Texas
8. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
9.Six Flags St. Louis
10. Six Flags New England

Didn't put any Disney in beacause ofcourse Disney will beat Six Flags in everything except thrills, which Disney dosn't focus on anyway. So there hard to compare. Also Im suprised you added Kings Island. I always thought that they only had two signature rides in the Beast and Diamondback and the others were nothing great.

From Dominick D
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:00 PM
Note these are all Florida parks. And no, I haven't been to Busch Gardens yet even though I'm not even 2 hours away.

1- Magic Kingdom, Florida
2- Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida
3- Epcot
4- Universal Studios Florida
5- Animal Kingdom
6- Islands of Adventure
7- Seaworld
8- Typhoon Lagoon
9- Aquatica

BIG JUMP

10. Legoland Florida (oh how I hate you LLF)

From Bryce McGibeny
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:10 PM
Wow, I've only been to 10 theme parks....? Maybe it feels like more cause I frequent these a lot...

*(not including water parks)

1. Islands of Adventure
2. Dollywood
3. Disney's Hollywood Studios
4. Universal Studios
5. Disney's Animal Kingdom
6. Epcot
7. SeaWorld
8. Busch Gardens Tampa (horrible location.. Great theming!)
9. Six Flags over Georgia (not too bad! Really pretty too)
10. Wild Adventures (permanent carnival?)

This is in order, but it changes a lot for me. And I just did theme parks, not resorts as a whole.

From AJ Hummel
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:37 PM
Since the original poster asked for feedback on their list, here's what I think of it: It isn't bad, but I'm not a huge fan of lists that are compiled in this manner. I much prefer lists that are done by your personal thoughts of a park, not by a series of criteria and what their best rides are. Also, I really, really do not like ranking resorts together, and the individual parks should each be given unique placement (unless you are only comparing full resorts).

As for my list, here it is. Note that unless the park is in California, I've only visited it one time.

1. Holiday World
2. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
3. Dollywood
4. Disneyland
5. Disney California Adventure Park
6. Six Flags Magic Mountain
7. Cedar Point
8. Waldameer
9. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
10. Kings Dominion

Notes (mainly on preferences):

-I generally prefer parks with a mix of thrill rides and well themed rides, but would rather visit a park with more thrills and less theming than the other way around. However, I would rather have less thrills and decent theming than excellent thrills and no theming.
-For a thrill park. I like a good coaster collection over a good non-coaster collection.
-Size of a park does not matter to me, and I've found that I sometimes have a better time at smaller parks than I do at larger ones.
-Universal Studios Hollywood would likely be on this list if it had the same number of attractions as its Florida counterpart (it's got 1/3 to 1/2 the number) or if the admission price was about 1/2 what it currently is.
-If including international parks, Disneyland Paris-Disneyland Park and Canada's Wonderland would both be on this list.
-I have been to almost 50 amusement/theme parks in pretty much every region of the US (except Florida, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest), ranging from major parks to tiny parks that are practically unheard of outside of about a 50 mile radius.
-I rank waterparks separately and do not compare them to ride parks.

From Karly Tenney
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:33 PM
1. Universal and IOA
2. BGT (Busch Gardens Tampa) and Seaworld Orlando both tie for number two.
3. Magic Kingdom
4. Adventure Island (water park in Tampa).
5. Typhoon Lagoon
6. Wet N Wild
7. Sunplash
8. Fun spot in Kissimmee
This list will probably change since I will be headed to Tennesee to go to Dollywood :)))) and I will go to Hollywood studios next year. But for right now this is my top eight.

From Rob Pastor
Posted August 10, 2012 at 3:40 PM
My order probably changes from year to year. There was a time Busch Gardens Williamsburg was number one but it's slipped in my ratings since the Budweiser Brewery sold the park. The last two owners have cut entertainment. Ratings as of now. This is a personal favorite list, not necessarily a best park list.
#1 Islands of Adventure
#2 Hollywood Studios
#3 Magic Kingdom
#4 Universal Studios
#5 Busch Gardens Williamsburg
#6 Epcot
#7 Kings Island
#8 Cedar Point
#9 Kennywood Park
#10 Tie.. Animal Kingdom/Hershey Park

From Josh Morgra
Posted August 10, 2012 at 4:47 PM
Thanks everyone for responding I really appricate it. I would like to say that I ranked this on 5 major catagory. First is how family friendly a park is, a good assorment of rides so to speak. Second was themeing, then thrill, price and then my personal opinion. I did use some other aspects to help me along. So that being siad I would like to a question or comment I read, about why kings Island was so high? Well that was simple they had 6/10 in family'8/10 in themeing, 9/10 in thrill, 6/10 in price I personal think this park is great so that did have a big reason why I ranked it so high. If you guys do have anymore question please ask I would love to anserw them.

From Nick Markham
Posted August 10, 2012 at 6:15 PM
I'm Sticking with parks I've been to so, here's my list:

10.Busch Gardens Africa
9. Disney's Animal Kingdom
8. Six Flags Magic Mountain
7. Knott's Berry Farm
6. Disney's Hollywood Studios
5. Universal Studios Florida
4. WDW's Magic Kingdom
3. Disney's California Adventure
2. Islands of Adventure
1. Disneyland

From N B
Posted August 11, 2012 at 11:07 AM
1) Islands Of Adventure (needs no explanation)
2) Universal Studios Orlando (until HP expansion and possibly Transformers, then it may go to the #1 spot)
3) Busch Gardens Tampa (relaxing and lots of coasters)
4) Sea World Orlando (also relaxing and fun for my animal loving daughters)
5) Six Flags Gurnee (lots of coasters and close to home)
6) Disney Hollywood Studios (movie themed and ToT)
7) Epcot (laid back and educational)
8) Animal Kingdom (relaxing and more animals)
9) Any local carnival (bad funnel cakes and interesting carneys)
10) Magic Kingdom (go-karts, spinners, 40 year old technology.... and always packed)

From Bryce McGibeny
Posted August 11, 2012 at 11:15 AM
I would like BGT a little bit more if I didn't see an Arby's sign and hear loud traffic when I was walking around the bird area of the park.

But hey, it's still a lot of fun. I just don't like ghetto location.

From Dominick D
Posted August 11, 2012 at 12:30 PM
40 year old technology? Much older and better then that.

From N B
Posted August 11, 2012 at 1:22 PM
I agree Bryce, the location and parking are the only things I don't like about BGT. But, it's on the way to Frenchy's Rockaway grill in Clearwater Beach. Nothing like eating barefoot with beach food, reggae music and rum based cocktails at sunset.

From N B
Posted August 11, 2012 at 1:23 PM
Dom, I knew you would chime in sooner or later..... I thought I would at least get a comment about putting the MK after local carnivals in my list.

From Sean Huckel
Posted August 11, 2012 at 1:33 PM
1) Disneyland - There's nothing better than the original. Great rides, a ton of them, and it's the grandaddy of them all.

2) Islands of Adventure - The 21st Century's Disneyland. Great theming, great rides. Just needs more to really compete with DL.

3) Disney California Adventure/Epcot (tie) - Both offer different things, but both are fantastic.

4) Universal Studios Florida - Has the ability to jump to second or third once Transformers and Potter open, but has already become a significantly better park in the past year.

5) Magic Kingdom - A mass-marketed, sterilized version of Disneyland. Fails to garner much of the charm of its older brother, and its maintenance issues keep it down.

6) Disney Hollywood Studios/Disney Animal Kingdom (tie) - Both are great parks with little to do.

7) Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Great, and beautiful park.

8) Knott's Berry Farm

9) SeaWorld Orlando

10) Cedar Point

From Matt Babiak
Posted August 11, 2012 at 2:19 PM
RESORT RANK
1)WDW
2)Hersheypark
3)Universal Orlando
4)Six Flags
PARK RANK
1)Magic Kingdom
2)DHS
3)Islands of adventure
4)Epcot
5)Hersheypark
6)AK
7)Universal Studios Orlando
Bottom of Barrel-Six Flags

From Manny Barron
Posted August 11, 2012 at 2:22 PM
1. Disneyland
2. Universal Studios Hollywood
3. Universal Studios Florida
4. Disney California Adventure
5. Islands of Adventure
6. Epcot
7. Animal Kingdom
8. Disney's Hollywood Studios
9. Magic Kingdom
10. Sea World San Diego/Orlando/San Antonio

From James Rao
Posted August 11, 2012 at 6:09 PM
I went with some groupings as appropriate.

01. Walt Disney World Resort - simply my favorite vacation destination.
02. Disneyland Resort - love the parks, not crazy about SoCal (sorry, Robert).
03. Universal Orlando Resort - I hate that it is no longer a hidden treasure or a great value, but I can't deny the drawing power of the Amazing Spider-Man and Revenge of the Mummy.
04. Busch Gardens Williamsburg - a near perfect balance between theme and thrills. And so darn beautiful.
05. Busch Gardens Tampa - similar to, but not as good as BGW.
06. Silver Dollar City - the best theme park west of Orlando and East of SoCal.
07. Dollywood - another Herschend winner.
08. Cedar Point - the best of the iron ride parks.
09. Hersheypark - I love chocolate.
10. Knotts Berry Farm - I love what it was more than what it is.

This discussion has been archived, and is not accepting additional responses.

Park tickets

Weekly newsletter

New attraction reviews

News archive