27 replies to this topic

[Chubs33]

Mainly just list which ones you have been to and explain which is your favorite. I am genuinely curious to see what the answer to this is. Obviously we will have a ton of people saying Cedar Point, but that's mainly for roller coasters. What about overall atmosphere and enjoyment?

I have been to all of them except Worlds of Fun and Michigan's Adventure. I would say my favorite is Knott's Berry Farm. Very clean park with a really nice line-up of coasters. Xcelerator's launch is fantastic and Silver Bullet has got to be my favorite invert.

Any other opinions?

EDIT: And for those who don't live in the USA, pick a park that you can see being the most enjoyable to visit (again, so it's not just CP haha, unless it really is).

[Jogumpie]

When looking at parks that are located far away from me, I try to make an efficient roadtrip past many of those parks. So in this case I would choose for Cedar Point / King's Island (poll vote goes to CP). The states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and other close-by states appear to be the most efficient for that matter. For my first trip to the US, I would probably choose to go to Florida, first, though.

[A.S.C.]

I've been to 3 of them-
Carowinds
Kings Island
Cedar Point

Carowinds (last visit on October/7/10)- Great coasters, Planet Snoopy had a lot of attractions for kids/families. Also a great atmosphere, but I feel the park was lacking in flat rides. This has changed very little since my trip, but I still stand by what I've said.

Kings Island (last visit on October/29/11)- Being 3 minutes away from my house I'm probably a little bit biased on my opinion here. Coasters there are great, with a perfect mix of big rides and smaller family rides and a great atmosphere. Best Kids Area on Earth award for quite a while now, plenty of rides for new comers to amusement parks and a great flat ride lineup.

Cedar Point (last visit on July/4/11)- Beautiful skyline and nice atmosphere, voted Best Amusement Park on Earth for a while now aswell. Lots of little rides for families and simply amazing coasters/flat rides. Food is pretty good, on site resorts (I think there are 3) are very convenient when coming to the park from far away and going for opening/leaving at closing and just walking up to your room.

Judging the other parks from videos/pictures I think Knott's Berry Farm would be my runner up to these 3, but I think Cedar Point just dominates them all.

[Jumpge]

Dorney Park has actually been my favorite of all of them, because it has such a nice environment.

[~stεεlspectrum~]

I chose Cedar Point because I think it has the best combination of rides and atmosphere. But I think Knott's has the best atmosphere. The theming around the park (especially Ghost Town) is done superbly and adds to the fun of riding their coasters.

[Maverix]

There's a reason Cedar Point has won the title of best amusement park in the world for the past ten or so years...

[pkiknex25]

There's a reason why Canada's Wonderland, Kings Island, and Cedar Point are the three highest attended seasonal parks in the last few years (yes, more than the Six Flags parks based near Chicago and New York; SF Great America and SF Great Adventure)

[The Stig]

I didn't know Cedar Fair owned all these. I've only been to 3 of them.
I went with Cedar Point. And I'd like to pretend there was more reason behind it other than having so many freaking great coasters.

It's pretty cool to know that there's this big, secluded island full of awesome rides. I remember walking around the park after the sun went down and they had lights all over in the trees and strung around all the buildings and shops. That was a very nice touch. I remember seeing a magic show at Cedar Point. Nothing spectacular, but the magician threw in a good bit of humor and it made the show that much more enjoyable. Even the queues something of an experience.

[Chubs33]

^^ Yeah because of their coasters. All of them are "nice" parks as well, but compared to a park like Dollywood? They don't even compare. That's what my main interest was, to see which park is overall better. Not which park has the most coasters.

Thats just food for thought, Cedar Point can have the best atmosphere as well, but I feel like it is biased because of their insane amount of coasters.

[rollercoasterfanatic919]

I've been to Cedar Point and Dorney, and Cedar Point definitely takes the cake. Dorney is a very nice park with a nice selection of rides, but Cedar Point's atmosphere has yet to be beat, for me at least. All other parks I've been to are landlocked (other than some boardwalk parks), and being on Lake Erie makes it a much more pleasant experience.

[TheRandomGuy]

I've only been to Canada's Wonderland, but I gotta say, its a pretty good park and one of my favorites! Hopefully, the park will add coasters just as awesome as Leviathan...

[Josh Monster]

I have been to:

Michigan's Adventure (it is 45 min. from where I live)
Cedar Point
Kings Island
Kings Dominion

I have a close choice between CP and KI, I like both parks coasters, and the ride operators at CP are the best I have seen. I have to say CP because KI's fast pass system really ticked me off, I went for an entire day and rode 4 roller coasters. I hope CP isn't considering fast passes because I think it is a bad idea.

[pkiknex25]

^ I have no idea how you spent all day at KI and only got on 4 coasters. The Fast Lane system has a limited number of tickets, and even then not many people buy them. Did you go on a Saturday or Sunday?

[CowmanBearPig]

Not only is Carowinds my home park, it is also my favorite out of them. I love how its not as popular as parks like Cedar point ( a great park though), because I don't have to wait in lines for hours. The longest I've every waited in Carowinds was 45 minutes for nighthawk. The main attractions, windseeker and the intimidator have line times of about ten minutes. Thoes rides provide me with plenty of thrill aswell.

A close second is Dorney park which had many thrilling rides, my personal favorite Talon.
The park had tons of shops and plenty of space to walk around there also were not a whole lot of people (granted the last time I went it rained up until we arrived). There is also a variety of ride types. I was also entertained by the claw machines for hours (I won an ipod touch and a ps3)!

Last but not least Cedar point! What a display of rides! That is pretty much my push over point, the sheer size and amount of them. I strongly disliked the time it took to get to the rides though, I waisted a half a day in line for TTD, and the other half in line for Maverick and Raptor! Thats why it rests in third for me.

GO CAROWINDS!

[SwimZONE]

I've only been to two of them, and since valley fair is my home park, all of the coasters have been ridden to a point where its like "yah...wild thing..." while Cedar Point for me was an advanced Valley fair with a lot more styles of coasters. In addition, they have Millie, TTD, and Maverick, I think three of my top five coasters of all time, so there's really not too much competition.

[IOAgeek]

I've been to two of the Cedar Fair parks and I think Kings Island was the best, epically diamondback! But, I'm going to Cedar Point in the summer for my first time so it will probably be my favorite theme park overall shortly!

[coasterdude1216]

I very much enjoy Cedar Point and King's Island! Michigan's Adventure was pretty poor quality, but had a decent water park. I'm probably going to Canada's Wonderland this summer -- SUPER excited to ride Behemoth and Leviathan!!

[Old_Hag]

Very excited to see how CW stacks up against CP, KI, and Dorney.

Right now, Cedar Point is obviously at the top, the only negative thing about it being the crowds.

[CCreator12]

^ try going around now in the middle of the week, we went last year (and going again later this month) and only had a max of 45 min for the dragster which rolled back 3 times while i was in line. And EVERYBODY knows that it takes forever to reset.

[Geartooth]

Cedar Point because it's the only one I've been to.