What's your favourite type of theme park?

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

I'm curious to know what are your favourite types of amusement parks.

Example: A park built on a hillside, traditional amusement park, heavily themed park, etc.

Mine has got to be parks like Knoebels. It just has such a great atmosphere.

[mba2012]

I really like how Alton Towers is built into the forest and has a big variation in terrain and landscapes, it makes the place really interesting to explore.

[Zanstabar]

I would have to say heavily themed. I love a theme park where I feel like I'm no longer in the real world, but on some sort of adventure or journey

[Cooper Olsen]

I love a park with a interesting landscaping to deal with or with an old charm to it.

[DisneyDoll]

Heavily themed, Tokyo Disney Sea's is my all time favourite dream park however.... I can still appreciate a great amusement park too. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk offers amazing water views & some classic & new rides including their Giant Dipper wooden coaster.

[iwerks]

I think a park that is well-themed and has a bit of history behind it. I love Disneyland California as it was the original and has so many rides and attractions crammed into such a small space. It helps that they have a great selection of food outlets and have staff who actually want to be there. It has fantastic gardens and grounds too.

Edited April 3, 2015 by iwerks

[joz]

As much as I like well themed escape type parks, I do have a bit of a soft spot for the old school type of park where everything has grown organically and everything is built pretty much over the top of everything else in a fairly small space (Blackpool Pleasure Beach is a good example).

[BigKev]

I've never been to a park outside Australia except water parks but I like Sea World out of the parks here because it is part educational, part entertaining, part carnival and part zoo.

Great to have such a mix of genres in one park.

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

I've never been to a park outside Australia except water parks but I like Sea World out of the parks here because it is part educational, part entertaining, part carnival and part zoo.

Great to have such a mix of genres in one park.

Fasanolandia (Italy) has a great mix of animal exhibits and rides.

[pazzap]

For me it's the "in the middle" parks regarding theming. My favourite park so far is Busch Williamsburg. What I mean is there is still enough theming IMO where it matters, but there are also some wonderful thrilling rides.. it's a balance... Great setting too, nice and lush but due to nature itself

[downunder]

I enjoy all kinds of parks for different reasons, but I'd keep going back to a parking lot if it had tons of killer coasters. As a park experience (& one super killer coaster), Knoebels for me. I also love Cedar Point for it's wonderful location surrounded by water.

[pushbutton]

Heavily themed is my favourite type of theme park.

My favourite individual park anywhere in the world (that I've been to) is definitely Alton Towers in England.

I've been to Disneyland too and it's great, but in my opinion Alton Towers has a few things going for it that no other park does. It is built in a spectacularly beautiful location, and the grounds (including a castle in the grounds) has a lot of history which adds depth and character to the park.

In Australia, whilst none of the parks come close to Alton Towers or Disneyland, I just LOVE the Gold Coast, because I don't know of anywhere else in the world where you can just pay a couple of very low prices once a year and have unlimited access to 3 major theme parks and 2 major waterparks, all within a short drive of each other.

That's just one of the reasons I have finally moved here, and one of the reasons (actually the main one) I believe the Gold Coast is the best place on earth!

If I had to choose one of the 5 major parks in the Gold Coast as my favourite, it wouldn't be easy but I'd choose Movie World, because it has 2 themed dark rides and pretty good entertainment throughout the day. The evening events such as Carnivale are the icing on the cake!

[pazzap]

I enjoy all kinds of parks for different reasons, but I'd keep going back to a parking lot if it had tons of killer coasters. As a park experience (& one super killer coaster), Knoebels for me. I also love Cedar Point for it's wonderful location surrounded by water.

Hmm which is the super killer knoebels coaster? I honestly think I must be the only enthusiast in the world who is completely clueless to that one. The reason is because I *presume* you are talking about phoenix as it's so raved about everywhere in the coaster world bar me LOL. Honestly maybe it was just a *really* bad running day (may 2001), but both me and my friend found it bumpy and boring. When we rode it in 2001, (the now atrocious) ghost rider was in it's prime as was boulderdash (both were sublime), and I wouldn't have even rated phoenix to be anywhere in the same scale let alone planet as those two. Twister was just high speed but nothing special (not a fan of non airtime twister woodies, hence not a fan of 90% of gci's either). Sorry to go OT but I just have to know what I was missing. I am going back on my mega trip next year (if i decide USA.. still unsure whether USA or EU for this 3 month trip) and will give it another go then and hope to get some of the magic that i read so much about so often. Anyway, just curious what made it for you.

Edited April 7, 2015 by pazzap

[downunder]

^Actually their new one looks pretty good too, so it might be two killer coasters. I was sceptical about Phoenix, but then I rode it, and it was ridiculous - like the last drop on Cyclops at Mt Olympus the whole ride. My experience of Phoenix (which was in 2008) was amazing and I rode it something like 30-40 times (there was night ERT). Sorry, you didn't have a great time on it, maybe it has off days, or maybe they fixed it between 2001 and 2008. It's a shame Knoebels is so out of the way, I'd love to go back there again.

I've had similar experiences with coasters like Ghostrider, and Hades was amazing in 2007 and then when I rode it in 2012, it was the most heinous coaster I had ever experienced.

Edited April 7, 2015 by downunder

[MacPark]

I really liked universals IOA set up with every island having a different theme and feel. Taking me to another world is more my thing

Edited April 8, 2015 by MacPark

[downunder]

^I really like IOA, it is so immersive, especially if you ride Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges, that is like taking a shower with your clothes on. IOA has good balance of thrills and theming IMO.

I find sometimes simple theming works really well, and creates a great experience. I've always admired how with just a few simple effects, Cedar Point manages to make every launch of Top Thrill Dragster seem like an event.

[pazzap]

^Actually their new one looks pretty good too, so it might be two killer coasters. I was sceptical about Phoenix, but then I rode it, and it was ridiculous - like the last drop on Cyclops at Mt Olympus the whole ride. My experience of Phoenix (which was in 2008) was amazing and I rode it something like 30-40 times (there was night ERT). Sorry, you didn't have a great time on it, maybe it has off days, or maybe they fixed it between 2001 and 2008. It's a shame Knoebels is so out of the way, I'd love to go back there again.

I've had similar experiences with coasters like Ghostrider, and Hades was amazing in 2007 and then when I rode it in 2012, it was the most heinous coaster I had ever experienced.

Did you do phoenix in back or front? New coaster will be nice imo but not "killer", but certainly a great addition for a park that currently doesn't have any inversion coasters. Sure, it will definitely make knoebels an overall more complete and fun day though. It's funny cause the most fun we had there was this kiddie coaster (now defunct) called the "high speed thrill coaster". It was hilarious and the OP was just so cheerful and friendly and was high fiving everyone on each station pass through and said he hadn't met aussies there in years. Was a cool day even though we were disappointed with the woodies.

I think the mistake i may have made on phoenix was waiting for the very back seat thinking it would be the right spot (was a very busy day) and after we thought it was so poor we didn't even bother waiting over an hour again to ride the front. The TPR video i recently saw was a front seat ride. (I can't stand Robb Alvey, to me he is the biggest douche of the entire enthusiast community but for some reason I un-muted the phoenix video instead of my usual muting him, and they kept on saying "airtime alley". I certainly got no airtime on phoenix in the back).

If i go to Pennsylvania have a plan to do dorney/waldameer/knoebels/Hershey/Kennywood. It's actually not too bad if you hire a car then dump at say cleveland airport if you have CP as your last stop with it. (just as an example). Cars are dirt cheap as you know in USA and if you go to alamo sometimes even the one way fees are negligible.

BTW back on topic, i think Europa Park if i ever manage to get there would be my favourite "kind" of park. Every time I watch videos I actually get excited as it looks so wonderful as does Phantasialand. For example Phantasialand has decent themeing, only a few coasters sure but everything seems to be pinnacle quality. 2 amazing water rides also. And their huss top spin even has wonderful theming. Europa park has a unique spinner layout, a great hyper and a mack launched looper and a killer bobsled and woodie to boot, all with great theming! That combo of theming AND thrills would be so wonderful. Disney Paris is the only disney park with proper thrills to cater to the European crowd but unfortunately it fails cause it's two major coasters are vekoma headbangers and the intamin looper was just an average, zyklon loop type coaster. Disney Paris is a massive fail IMO. I can't believe I missed Europa park when I was in the EU.. i really think it has the potential to be my favourite park in the world. So torn next year whether to do USA or EU, but that's a whole other topic!

[downunder]

^I rode Phoenix pretty much all over - front, back, everywhere. Like we've both observed, the ride experience can vary greatly over a period of time (generally worse, sometime better). I can only base my thoughts on my own experience. It's also worth considering that I was in a large enthusiast group, so they might have made sure it was cranking the day we were there. Impulse looks cool, it will be fun at the very least, hopefully I'll get to ride it someday and make a judgement about it.

I've been to Europa Park a couple of times, lots of fun, lots to explore, and they also have tons of shows, though I didn't go to any. None of the coasters are top ten for me, but a few are very good like Blue Fire, Wodan, one of the Euro ones. Definitely a park with a lot of depth theming wise.

Phantasialand has amazing theming, I've stayed at a couple of their hotels and they are amazing too. It had no rides which blew my mind, but the place was pretty.

Edited April 9, 2015 by downunder

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

^I rode Phoenix pretty much all over - front, back, everywhere. Like we've both observed, the ride experience can vary greatly over a period of time (generally worse, sometime better). I can only base my thoughts on my own experience. It's also worth considering that I was in a large enthusiast group, so they might have made sure it was cranking the day we were there. Impulse looks cool, it will be fun at the very least, hopefully I'll get to ride it someday and make a judgement about it.

I've been to Europa Park a couple of times, lots of fun, lots to explore, and they also have tons of shows, though I didn't go to any. None of the coasters are top ten for me, but a few are very good like Blue Fire, Wodan, one of the Euro ones. Definitely a park with a lot of depth theming wise.

Phantasialand has amazing theming, I've stayed at a couple of their hotels and they are amazing too. It had no rides which blew my mind, but the place was pretty.

But the Black Mamba..........

[downunder]

^Black Mamba is pretty good, the interaction with the theming is extremely impressive, but purely as a coaster I wouldn't put it in the class of Nemesis, Montu or Katun.

[AUSTHEMEPARKS]

I find Osiris to be one of the most dissapointing B&M inverts.

[downunder]

^I agree, great queue theming, and I really thought Osiris might be a throwback to the old school B & M inverts that had a lot of force, also the unique layout looked cool - sadly it was forceless. The most horrific thing at Parc Asterix was the three hour line in sweltering heat for Goudurix, I thought poor people, and then I realised they are the French LOL. Luckily I had a VIP thing that bypassed the line for my first and only ride on the notorious Goudurix torture machine.