Favorite Park that isn't Kings Island?

[bengalsguy23 130]

I wanted to start a thread for people to discuss their favorite amusement or theme park that isn't Kings Island.

This was a tough call for me as I was deciding between Busch Gardens Tampa and Holiday World.

Ultimately I chose Holiday World. That park has so much charm. The 4 rollercoasters are some of my favorites of all time and you can't beat all the free stuff. Great family park. Great Staff. Great Water park.

Whats yours?

[silver2005 23943]

This is an easy one for me- Dollywood.  A perfect blend of a lot of elements that mesh together very well.  Good ride selection and variety, great food and shows, excellent service, original and well designed theming with a little southern charm that is due to said theming, and a beautiful location.  

[bengalsguy23 130]

^Dollywood is defiantly up there for me. Absolutely beautiful, especially the mountainside. Have you been to Silver Dollar City? After visiting Dollywood I was blown away by its sister park. Both are great but wow SDC is special.

[VekomaRulz 413]

Hersheypark, they have one of my favorite coaster collections and adding a B&M Hyper will only make it better. They also have a great non coaster ride lineup as well with all different thrill levels.

[MDMC01 7962]

Great question! Other than KI, I like Cedar Point and Hersheypark. Hershey was great as it reminded me of would Geagua Lake would have been like (I never went there) with a diverse lineup of coasters, a waterpark and a zoo. Cedar Point is also cool as it has some fantastic coasters and Forbidden Frontier.

[ThrillKingsFitzy 444]

I am a coaster addict, so of course mine is going to be Cedar Point. I don’t know the problem with Millie being forceless, I thought it was very intense. Banshee is more intense though.

[silver2005 23943]

6 hours ago, VekomaRulz said:

Hersheypark, they have one of my favorite coaster collections and adding a B&M Hyper will only make it better. They also have a great non coaster ride lineup as well with all different thrill levels.

That's my 2nd favorite park right behind Dollywood. 

[Ben43065 1691]

Hershey is just a great well rounded park, great rides, great atmosphere and especially great food. The new Hershey Chocolate Town will only elevate the guess experience. Can’t wait to visit next year!

[silver2005 23943]

Knoebels also deserves mentioning here IMO.  Its super affordable and they have a ton of old school charm with a lot of classic rides.  They also take care of their coasters, specifically their wood coasters, very, very well.  Fantastic food on top of it.  Also, Elysburg, PA is beautiful. 

[westcoaster 1901]

Knotts Berry Farm

[beastfan11 1722]

Disneyland for sure. That park is magnificent and unexplainable. Coney Island Cincy was up there too, but...

[BoddaH1994 14248]

Dollywood is an obvious one.

Most of us have an affectionate spot for KK.

Kennywood is amazing.

Since I consider the FL parks to be apples to oranges with seasonal parks, I’ll give SeaWorld an honorable mention.

[CoastersRZ 5509]

Dollywood.  It is the only park besides Kings Island that I have ever had a pass to.  While it is five hours away, I still consider it like a second home park.  The shows, events, and rides are all pretty well rounded.  I can`t wait to take my kids there.

Have to give another shout out to that little park in Southern Indiana, Holiday World.  Made a lot of pilgrimmages there as well.

[ThrillKingsFitzy 444]

Wow, I am surprised that you all take these parks over Cedar Point. If I were to take Cedar Point out, I would choose Adventuredome. They have two really good coasters, one that is arguably the best arrow looper, besides Tennessee Tornado. It has cool trains and is one of the most intense coaster experiences you will ever have. You will black out or grey out on the double loop, and then there is the airtime hill, and then the super intense helix at the end. It is in my top five. Adventuredome is my third favorite park and I recommend it.

[TombRaiderFTW 9691]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Disneyland, and Animal Kingdom, for sure. All of those offer immersive experiences just being in the park that no other park quite does for me. Visiting each of those for the first time changed how I thought about the amusement industry. They're incredible (although I think I'll always be a little salty that BGW doesn't have Curse of DarKastle anymore.)

[silver2005 23943]

3 hours ago, FitzGorrelCoasters said:

Wow, I am surprised that you all take these parks over Cedar Point. If I were to take Cedar Point out, I would choose Adventuredome. They have two really good coasters, one that is arguably the best arrow looper, besides Tennessee Tornado. It has cool trains and is one of the most intense coaster experiences you will ever have. You will black out or grey out on the double loop, and then there is the airtime hill, and then the super intense helix at the end. It is in my top five. Adventuredome is my third favorite park and I recommend it.

A lot of us like parks for things other than coasters.  I take it you like parks for their coasters and that's fine.   I look at everything else as well.  CP is certainly up there for me though, just not quite my favorite.  

[TheFloppyDisc 283]

I hear very often from coaster enthusiasts that King's Island is one of the best parks in the U.S. because it is such a well rounded park in terms of atmosphere, staff, coasters, etc.  I would definitely agree with people here that when I went to HersheyPark it felt very similar to KI with its overall nice atmosphere, great lineup of coasters, and good staff.  I will say if roller coasters are the main focus (which they usually are for me ) then it is definitely hard to beat Cedar Point because there lineup is like none other.

Also, I'm sure not many people have been there, but if you ever get a chance to go to Japan and you like roller coasters you HAVE to go to Fuji Q Highland.  The four main coasters they have there are all amazing.

[BeeastFarmer 4445]

KIngs Dominion is my favorite park although I like Kings Island better.

[purdude86 1899]

Disney and Universal parks are kind of on another tier to your standard regional park so not counting them I'd probably say Dollywood as well. The atmosphere and theming in the mountain location is amazing. Plus the rides, shows and food are all top notch. 

I'm hoping to get to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Hersheypark this summer so we'll see if either one takes the spot.

For just general rides it is hard to beat Cedar Point, but outside of the Frontier Trail I don't really feel like there is any theming or atmosphere to the park so some others get pushed above for giving an overall better expereince even if they don't match up on overall ride lineup.