Just back from a bad trip!

[Tinkrbell]

We went on a day trip to Six Flags, Ohio, just south of Cleveland, and it was a terrible experience.

I know I am spoiled from all of our wonderful Disney vacations, but I was just wondering, is there ANY theme park in the country that can come close to comparing with Disney??

Probably nothing can beat the overall experience, but maybe a few things? Anything? Just a theme park that can somewhat come close? Please Share.

[scanmom]

In June we went to San Antonio and had a great trip. We stopped in Dallas on the way home and spent a day ay Six Flags Over Texas.....never again! We had free tix for all 6 of us and I was sure glad we didn't pay the $300.00 dollars it would have cost without the free tix! We were very dissapointed!

[jeank74]

Tinkrbell,

I do agree with you and think that WDW is one of the kind. It has been rated as "unique" by many marketing researchers. I guess that's why Walt Disney is doing pretty well today, especially after what happened last year!

[tink2dw]

In Portland Oregon there is an Amusement Park called Oaks Park. It is 100 yrs old. It's a small place. But they are always improving,and changing rides. Teenagers love the place!! It is a couple of cuts above roadside carnival.

1.It has a great location near the river,south of the city. On July $th they have fireworks.
2.They offer deals every week day. You get a 5hr. ride bracelet. reg. cost is $11.50. Roller Rink is extra!
3. A Varity of rides from Go Carts and Looping Coaster to Merrymixer,Tilt a Whirl,and the Merry go Round to a new Spinning Hammer are all favorates.
4.While it's great fun for Teens,I wouldn't ride anything there,I like the smoothness of Disney Rides, so I will save up for Disney and ride the Cadillac of rides!!

[Carole]

Last night we saw a show on Cedar Point. Is it really as good as the show portrayed? A lot of things on the show reminded me of Disney. I also said many times - Disney does that better!

[worm761]

carole,
Cedar Point is absoulutely awesome. but is completely different from Disney. dont go expexting the attention to detail or the CM's and you too will think it is great. it is a coaster park and has some of the best ones around. i havent been in years. i used to live by sandusky, oh but moved to new york.

[BonnieA]

My second favorite park,after disney, is Busch Gardens Williamsburg VA. It is a beautiful theme park woven within hills and trees. It has been voted the country's most beautiful theme park for a number of years. The shows are professional quality and worth the price of admission alone. There are top notch thrill rides for those that prefer that type of entertainment. The food is well made and varied throughout the park. Attention is paid to themeing and detail throughout the park areas.

[Spinning]

Nothing can really compare to Disney but we just love Knoebel's it has the wonderful family feeling, great rides lots of stuff for the kids and it is a "free" park you pay as you go or during the week you can buy a wrist band. we go every year. the food is good, not fancy but resonably priced.

[SeaSpray]

NOTHING compares to Disney World!

But, I went to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was in significantly better shape than it had been on my last trip, about 8 or 9 years ago. The flower beds were perfectly manicured, many floral displays, the grounds were very clean. I did see some gum stuck into the ground though! You could tell that Six Flags, in this particular park anyway, was trying hard to be "Disney-like".

When I stopped trying to compare this park to Disney World, I ended up having a surprisingly good time, and just took it for what is was, a theme park with rides that my DSs enjoy :D

[jldriscoll]

How come not Cedar Point? Much closer to us and MUCH better than Six Flags!! Done both, not going back to SF unless some miracle happens over there!

Carole, we have season passes to Cedar Point and have been there 3 times in the last month and a half. We love it! CP is a must if you are a rollercoaster fan, we AREN'T and still have a blast!!! My girls are 4 and 8 and we have to drag them home. The addition of Camp Snoopy was inspired! We see the Peanuts characters all the time! You can even go to the resort hotel and have a character breakfast with Snoopy and the gang!

CP is pretty clean like WDW and I have never had an unpleasant experience with an employee there. Who ever is running the park has figured out people like change, new, interesting, fun, so they are forever adding stuff to the park!

[shortbun]

We've done Kings Island, Cedar Point and Six Flags in Ohio.
None of them measure up to WDW! We were especially
disappointed in Kings Island. These parks are seasonal and
the corporations just can't put the money into them that
Disney does. Now-if you like roller coasters-Cedar Point and
Kings Island are great! Lines can be horrible though. DH says
now that we've done them all near us-he'll never go back
to anywhere but WDW or Universal. He says "why bother?",
let's just save that money and get back to WDW that much
sooner. I'm for that!
mimi

[browneyes]

For me, Opryland in Nashville came close, but some idiots closed it down and made it into a mall.:mad:

I've heard even DL doesn't hold a candle to WDW though.

[jldriscoll]

Oh, I forgot to say.... you really do have to go to ANY of these parks with a different frame of mind. We go to Cedar Point for a little diversion in the summer, maybe a couple of days of fun. We never think of it as a "vacation" like we do WDW!!!

If you go hoping for more than a local carnival and less than WDW you'll have fun!

[ChiTownZee]

Sorry your trip wasn't better! But as it's been said before......only Disney has the magic. :D :D :D

[tnkrbell]

I agree NOTHING is like Disney!! ANd I compare everything to disney!!!
(Nice name by the way!! ;) :)

[Lars624]

We do Cedar Point about once a year and we all have a great time but we go there knowing that it's not gonna compare to Disney. For us Disney isn't just about the rides but Cedar Point is, we go for the rides and are never disappointed. The convenience of Cedar Point's location makes it easy to do a day trip without the added expense of a hotel stay and my kids look forward to it every year. The older 2 enjoy the thrill rides and my youngest DS loves Camp Snoopy. We haven't tried 6 Flags yet but have been considering it for next month.

[Pembo]

6 Flags Ohio used to be Geauga Lake and the park was always a DUMP, imho. They bought out Sea World last year and my friend who used to work for SW said that 6 Flags just doesn't keep it up like SW used to. It's kind of sad for those of us in the area.

Cedar Point is no WDW but it is clean and the lake just makes it for us! I'd say it is as awesome as the Travel Channel shows make it sound. But again if you want the magic, go to WDW, nothing compares!

:)

[Jasmine13]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a great park. Now, it isn't Disney...what is?... but the rides are great, it is beautiful, well maintained, the CM's are friendly, and the shows are very good.

On the other hand, Kings Dominion, just north of Richmond, Va, is dirty, the lines for rides are very long, unnecessiarily... they just don't run more than one or two cars on their coasters, the CM's are very unfriendly. Yes, the rides are good, if you can ever get on more than 5 or 6 a day.

[Blondie]

is there ANY theme park in the country that can come close to comparing with Disney??

Yes! Busch Gardens Williamsburg! It's everything that has already been mentioned, and more! Give it a try, you shouldn't be disappointed!

It's hard going to other theme parks and not comparing them to WDW. Face it, nothing will be like WDW, and never will. But BG-Williamsburg comes darned close!

I also agree with:

On the other hand, Kings Dominion, just north of Richmond, Va, is dirty, the lines for rides are very long, unnecessiarily... they just don't run more than one or two cars on their coasters, the CM's are very unfriendly. Yes, the rides are good, if you can ever get on more than 5 or 6 a day.

That is why we stopped becoming season passholders two years ago! Some of the clientele leaves much to be desired. I remember when they installed the metal detectors, it was because of a gang related stabbing. Not quite the family environment I'm looking for.

Kings Dominion does have some great roller coasters, if you don't mind waiting 45 mins to an hour to ride one!

If you can visit KD in the off season, it's a nice park, less crowded, fewer bus loads of line cutters, etc.

Something was lost when Paramount took over...and they never managed to get it back.

[JerseyJanice]

Here's another positive vote for Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It's an excellent theme park. We liked Universal in Orlando a lot, too.

But there's really nowhere like Disney. It is the most magical.

[Chattyaholic]

We haven't been to Cedar Point in a few years, but we have always enjoyed each of our visits there and thought it was a very nice, fun, clean park to spend a day or two. We stayed once at the Hotel Breakers and that was nice, and we've camped once at their campground and enjoyed that too. The last time we were there was on Labor Day a few years ago. We thought it might be crowded but I guess everyone went elsewhere for their "last summer fling" and the park wasn't crowded at all. We didn't wait more than 5-10 minutes to ride anything. We've been talking about going again, probably not this year with our upcoming cruises in January, but maybe next summer...

[Rajah]

IMHO, Islands of Adventure in Orlando is the only other park I've been to that comes very, very close to equaling the magic of Disney.

Other than that, Disney parks are unique and while other places can be good (like Busch Gardens: Williamsburg -- though I haven't been there in 12 years), none will equal the magic of Disney.

[Poohbear123]

Only a DISNEY park for me!;) I am soooo SPOILED!;) :p

[Kitty 34]

Disney is the ONLY way to go....IMHO!!!:) :bounce:

[SuiteDisney]

I agree with Rajah that Islands of Adventure comes close. We were there last October and I was very impressed with the theming and cleanliness. I would go back. I wasn't that thrilled with the Universal part, just IOA.

[Towncrier]

If you were there yesterday, it probably didn't help that Saturn was holding their owners' picnic at Six Flags. That could not have made the experience there any better. We live less than 20 minutes away from Six Flags and yet we haven't been there since they rebranded the park a few years back. We would much rather drive the 90 minutes to Cedar Point than to spend any time at our local Six Flags park. Sorry you had a bad time. But I'm not the least bit surprised.

[Tinkrbell]

We were at Six Flags on Sat. and Everything was bad. First of all, we had to wait in line 1 1/2 hours JUST TO ENTER the park!! I couldn't even believe it. The line was spilling into the parking lot and others were just cutting in front, all because they didn't tie a ROPE to guide people. Turns out that they were searching bags and sending us through metal detectors. (Does Disney do this since 9/11?)

There is no structure or organization to the entire park. Maps are poorly illustrated, there isn't one sign to indicate where to go. No crowd control whatsoever. ( Yes there is a reason for a 3:00 and an evening parade on Main Street.)


jldriscoll-Hi neighbor! We went to Cedar Point last year with the kids, and thought we would try something else. I had heard that the Looney Tunes area was pretty good. The kids areas are comparable, but overall I wouldn't go back to either one.

[nativetxn]

I agree that Islands of Adventure comes the closest to Disney for a fun and nice park, I really like it.

Disney searches your bags before you enter the park but there are no metal detectors yet.

Sorry you had such a bad time on your trip :(

[yensiD tlaW]

I live 20 min. from Six Flags NJ and would go there 2-3 times a year UNTILL my first trip to WDW in 98.

Care to figure out how many time I've been back.






If you said zero you are correct


Funny thing with six flags NJ is that they try so hard to be like Disney and fail. They now have a water park. Hurricane Harbor
Not only the name is an attempt to copy Typhoon Lagon but this water park is layed out simular with a big wave pool in the center.

What next a Mickey Rat as a masscot for the park.


Once you see the magic of disney every thing else becomes second rate.