Originally Posted By Darkbeer TripAdvisor Press Release TripAdvisor Announces Top 10 Amusement Parks Outside Orlando TripAdvisor Travelers Hail Hershey NEEDHAM, Mass., Aug. 3 -- TripAdvisor(R), the world's largest travel community, today announced the top 10 amusement parks in the U.S., according to traveler popularity and TripAdvisor editors. What sets these tremendous parks apart is that they offer something for every kind of visitor, from wonderful family rides and shows, to great food and games, to thrilling rides and coasters. 1. Chocolate Champion: Hershey Park, Hershey, Pennsylvania Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Hershey Park is about as sweet as it gets for amusement park connoisseurs. This gigantic park features more than 60 rides and attractions, live shows, games, a museum chronicling Hershey history and of course, gobs of chocolate. For roller-coaster fans, the "Storm Runner" (0-72 mph in 2 seconds flat), "Superdooperlooper" and "The Comet" are must rides. As one TripAdvisor member said, "What is so great about Hershey? There is something for everyone." 2. Busch League of its Own: Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida With an African continent themed park, Busch Gardens takes visitors into the jungle and on quite a ride. No garden variety amusement park, Busch offers a little bit of everything: rides, restaurants, live shows, games and an amazing 2,700-animal zoo. Thrill seekers will want to take a ride on "Gwazi," a gigantic wooden double roller coaster, the epic coaster "Kumba," or "SheiKra," the nation's first dive coaster. One TripAdvisor member said, "I have been going to Busch Gardens for 20 years. It is always a great time, a clean and exciting park." 3. Cedar Point Rules: Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Ohio The self-proclaimed "roller coaster capital of the world," Cedar Point boasts a remarkable 17 roller coasters, including the brand new "Maverick" and the exhilarating "Millennium Force." The fun doesn't end at the coasters, Cedar Point also features a number of other thrill rides, carousels, games, water rides and even tranquil rides. According to a TripAdvisor traveler, "Cedar Point is by far one of the country's best amusement parks for people who love roller coasters." 4. Pick Six: Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, Texas With great shows, including musical acts, concerts and street performers, Six Flags Fiesta is fun-filled even before you get to the rides. But the rides are nothing to sneeze at either -- between the blood chilling "Scream" ride and the "Poltergeist" coaster, the Lone Star state's version of Six Flags is an amazing entertainment trip. One TripAdvisor traveler said, "The park was clean, the staff was friendly and courteous, and the rides were awesome." 5. My Kingdom for a Horse (Ride): Family Kingdom Amusement Park, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina With an incredible oceanfront water park combined with its amusement park, Family Kingdom is well worth the trip. Visitors will want to take a ride on the "Swamp Fox" coaster or the thrilling "Slingshot Drop Zone" before cooling off on the lazy river, wild water flumes or speed slides. A TripAdvisor member commented, "What a blast this place is! We went up and down the water slides like we were 10-years-old!" 6. Action in Jackson: Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey With dozens of thrill rides, Six Flags Great Adventure is the Mecca for fans of pulse-pounding rides, including the outstanding superhero rides and the "Great American Scream Machine." Be sure to try out some of the parks excellent water rides, and Great Adventure also offers fun live entertainment with concerts, animal shows, parades and street performers. As One TripAdvisor traveler said, "We only rode roller coasters and we had a great time." 7. King's Ransom: Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Island, Ohio One of the best in the Midwest, King's Island features excellent shows for families, but also top-notch rides, such as the "Firehawk," the face-to-face inverted roller-coaster "Face/Off," and "The Beast," the world's longest wooden roller coaster. One TripAdvisor traveler said, "One of the nicest parks I have ever visited. The landscaping was great and it was very clean." 8. Smokey Mountain Magic: Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee An amazing scenic aerial tramway up to Ober Gatlinburg gets visitors started in style, Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park gives patrons everything but the kitchen sink: skiing, indoor skating, restaurants, an alpine slide, a pirate ship and fun house, go-karts, mini golf, a shooting range, water raft rides and a black bear habitat. One TripAdvisor traveler said, "I loved riding the new tram to Ober Gatlinburg. The view is fantastic." 9. Brooklyn's Best: Coney Island Park, Brooklyn, New York This legendary amusement park still has plenty of thrills to go around. Featuring more than 20 classic rides, thrill-seekers will want to try "The Cyclone" coaster and "The Scream Machine" freefall ride. Visitors can also enjoy a walk on the beach, catch a Cyclones minor league baseball game or cool off at the Sunlite Pool, the world's largest re-circulating swimming pool. One TripAdvisor traveler said, "The Wonder Wheel is a must and just a one-minute walk from the Cyclone. These are two classic rides, and I am comfortable in knowing they will be there for years to come." 10. Wind It Up: Paramount's Carowinds, Charlotte, North Carolina Highlighted by the outstanding water rides of Boomerang Bay, such as "The Great Barrier Reef" (25,000-square-foot wave pool), "Down Under Thunder" raft ride, and "Jackaroo Landing," a three-story water jungle gym, Carowinds also offers fantastic thrill rides, live shows and dining. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, "They have some first-rate coasters and every one of the standard theme park and carnival rides." "These amusement parks feature much more than cotton candy and carousels," said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. "Travelers like thrills but not spills -- TripAdvisor reviews were littered with comments about the importance of amusement park cleanliness." About TripAdvisor Media Network TripAdvisor(R) Media Network, operated by TripAdvisor, LLC, attracts more than 24 million monthly visitors (source: comScore Media Metrix, Digital Calculator Report, March 2007) across eight popular travel brands, TripAdvisor(R) sites, bookingbuddy.com (TM), cruisecritic.com(TM), independenttraveler.com(TM), seatguru.com(R), smartertravel.com(TM), travel- library.com(TM) and travelpod.com(TM). TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 20 million monthly visitors, six million registered members and 10 million reviews and opinions. Featuring real advice from real travelers, TripAdvisor-branded sites cover 260,000+ hotels and attractions and operate in the U.S. (<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com" target="_blank">http://www.tripadvisor.com</a>), the U.K. (<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk</a>), France (<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.fr" target="_blank">http://www.tripadvisor.fr</a>) and Germany (<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.de" target="_blank">http://www.tripadvisor.de</a>). TripAdvisor(R) Media Network provides travel suppliers with graphical advertising opportunities and a cost-per-click marketing platform. Collectively, the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Network have won hundreds of awards and accolades from press and industry, worldwide. TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Network are operating companies of Expedia, Inc. . TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor.com, bookingbuddy.com, cruisecritic.com, independenttraveler.com, seatguru.com, smartertravel.com, travel-library.com and travelpod.com are either trademarks or registered trademarks of TripAdvisor, LLC, in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Uh, obviously not written by someone who knows amusement parks. Ober Gatlinburg makes the list but Dollywood doesn't? Busch Tampa over Busch Williamsburg? Paramounts...anything? (Paramount is gone.) Not a great pitch for Trip Advisor? I'd advise they find another researcher.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss What an odd list. Is it a list of both theme and amusement parks? I can't quite tell. Shouldn't the headline be "top 10 parks that are not Disney or Uni?" Because the last time I checked, DL was not in Orlando. Unless that is discounbted because it's a theme park. But then they chose Busch Gardens Tampa, and said it's a theme park. I am so confused. I'm surprised Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Dollywood, and Kennywood are not on the list.
Originally Posted By u k fan I'm guessing that this has been calculated using an average of guest reviews. Therefore the parks visited least will come up highest. If 1 person visits Hershey Park and gives it 10 it will come out higher than Disneyland which may have had 10,000 visitors rate it as 10 and 1 who rated it as a 9!!!
Originally Posted By brotherdave There is no "Coney Island Park" in Brooklyn. Coney Island is a location, not a park. The largest park there is Astroland (which operates the Cyclone). Deno's Wonder Wheel Park operates the famous Wonder Wheel. The rest of Coney Island are private concessions. Just about everything there except the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel are in jeopardy of closing forever this year as most properties have been purchased by a huge developer, Thor Equities, which plans on turning the old Coney Island into an entertainment, retail, and residential district mixed with rides. As for some of the parks listed, yes, some are very good and probably deserve to be on the list (Cedar Point, Busch Gardens Africa/Tampa, Kings Island, Hersheypark, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas). But some of the others, (Family Kingdom, Carowinds, Ober-Gaitlinburg, Six Flags Great Adventure, "Coney Island") are 'ok', but there are certainly better out there. My other picks would be Dollywood, Kennywood, Silver Dollar City, Knott's Berry Farm, Knoebels, Busch Gardens Europe, Holiday World, and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, to name just a few that I would pick over some of the ones mentioned. I'm sure others will list some other favorite parks as well, too.
Originally Posted By figment1986 Busch Gardens Williamsburg gets more awards, and is an overall around nicer park. It is also quite photogenic while Busch Gardens Tampa is still getting there. I don't get it, unless this person did this before they opened Griffin, since it talks about SheiKra.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Lists like these tell you more about he site than about the parks in question...
Originally Posted By Darkbeer I just saw the end of National Lampoon's Vacation recently. The parking lot was actually the LA County Fair lot, along with the ticket booths. Then when Chevy Chase gets upset that the park is closed and goes to a "nearby" camping store to buy a gun (OK, BB gun) he was driving next to the Santa Monica Pier. Heck, it takes longer to watch the entire movie than to drive from Pomona to Santa Monica. But then when he returns with his family, the rest of the movie is basically filmed at Magic Mountain, as the location of Walley World. Gee, I need a SFMM fix, but it is WAY too hot to go this weekend!
Originally Posted By brotherdave >>>Makes me wonder how much the kickback was to get #1 spot.<<< Perhaps a lifetime supply of Hershey's chocolate???
