Top Ten "Thrill Parks"

[GrammieMame]

I was up late watching the travel channel last night and they did an hour on Top Ten Water Parks (Blizzard Beach was #2) and then Top Ten Thrill Parks. I couldn't believe my eyes when DW didn't even make the top ten, much less be #1. Lest you think it's because it's not a "thrill" park per se, they did have places that were on the list because of the old timey amusement park flavor rather than thrill rides. To add insult to injury, Universal Studios & IOA were #2. What were they thinking?

 

[Buzz2001]

WDW is #1 under Best park for children
http://travel.discovery.com/ideas/wbestlst/kidthmprk/kidthmprk1.html#1

All the categories
http://travel.discovery.com/ideas/themeparks/themeparks.html

 

[All Aboard]

Actually, USF/IOA was #1. Cedar Point was #2. I think Spiderman wowed the writers so much that USF/IOA got the nod.

Even though some of the parks are old, they all have major, outdoor, fully visible, sparsely themed roller coasters. WDW hasn't decided to go that route.

 

[toefungus]

I wasn't expecting wdw to make the list. Disney World is not a thrill park. It is a theme park. If they were to count down the top 10 theme parks in the world, I'm sure all the disney parks would be up there. Did typhoon lagoon make the top 10 water parks? It's my second favorite behind BB.

 

[GrammieMame]

Typhoon Lagoon wasn't on the list. The title of the show was rather misleading, since they had several parks on the list that couldn't possibly be categorized as thrill parks (ie. Tivioi Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark - Beautiful, but no thrills there). I guess the distinction should be between "theme" parks (which Disney should win, and "amusement" parks, which was the target of the show.

 

[F.C. Fan]

IoA would have still beaten Disney in a separate theme park category, because it is newer, themed much better, and learned from all the other companies park's mistakes and success. Don't get me wrong IoA isn't perfect, but while Disney keeps "sleeping at the wheel" the other companies are beating them at their own game. That's also why another company's water park beat BB.

Last year at this time I had Disney 4 park Annual Pass and a Sea World AP, not anymore I let it expire a couple of months ago.
I have now upgraded the Sea World AP to include Busch Gardens,
also got a new pass to Cypress Gardens and after this past weekend ,now have a Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
Annual Pass as well.

Disney is not in any danger of going out of business right away, but until they get their act together and start producing more quality over bean-counting attractions, they are gonna continue to loose paying customers (oops I mean guests) I forgot I'm not taking part in fairy-tale land anymore.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Interesting.....

If Disney is the money grubbing hustler, what is USF? Is that gift shops I see every 50 ft. or are my eyes deceiving me??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some times I think USF creates a bad movie just to hump there un-imaginative rides..............................

 

[F.C. Fan]

Unimaginative rides???????

I forgot that Dumbo clones are current high-tech rides to all the Disney fans.

BTW where do you think a good amount of the EX-Imagineers and Animators are going for work????

As for movies Disney sure is putting out plenty of crap that can't live up to even their own hype lately.

Gimme a break Disney has a gift shop every 5 feet in their parks,not to mention the over saturation in stores outside of their own property.

I never called Disney "money grubbing hustlers" (but hey the shoe fits so they can wear it) what I said was I'm tired of them putting out crappy attractions, cutting loose alot of live entertainment, cutting shows, and getting rid of alot of the little things that made the place a little more special to me and my family.

 

[Geubux]

Attention All:
Don't even waste your time typing to F.C. Fan. It's obvious he justs want to whine about WDW. I've been to both parks.....WDW is a theme park. IOA is a thrill park and lame at that. Sure, they have maybe two good rides, but in Ohio, both Cedar Point and kings Island are loaded with more thrill rides, and they're only open in the summer! IMHO, even Six Flags (formerly the miniscule Geauga Lake) even has more exciting rides. True, none of the three have Spiderman, but big deal. We were done with IOA in 6 hours and rode everything. Cedar Point itself has 60+ rides. So, hey FC, have fun cause I'm sure I won't be seeing ya!
BTW, we love WDW, it's just so relaxing.

 

[sanfran22]

i think the name of the previous poster is supposed to be GO BUCKS!!! but if you're not an intelligent ohioan, i wouldnt expect you to know that.....Go Tressel!!

 

[F.C. Fan]

sanfran22

You're right, you Ohioans are smart. Don't blame you guys a bit for wanting to getaway from that state for our beautiful state of FLORIDA(even if it is only for a week or two).

 

[DanG]

I love Disney and go every two years. Even bought into DVC. But as far as the best theme park goes, IOA blows away the Magic Kingdom, hands down.

You can't argue the fact that Disney hasn't installed a major new attraction in the Magic Kingdom in more than 20 years while IOA is brand new. Nothing in all of WDW comes close to Spiderman. Compare Cat in the Hat to the new Winnie the Pooh ride (1960s technology) for your kids. The CaroSeussal has tremendous theming.

You can like Disney better for lots of reasons, but you can't objectively say they have been doing anything but milking the revenue out of their parks without making the investments in updates that we all deserve.

IMHO.

DanG

 

[WDWHound]

IOA deserved the title of best thrill park and may deserve the title of best amusment park. It has better theming and more state of the art attractions than anything else out there. IOA opened with Spidey, Hulk, JP River Expedition, Dualing Dragons, Posiden's Fury, Dudly Doright, Bilgerat barges (perhaps the greatest raft ride ever built), Cat in the Hat and numerous other smaller rides and attractions. Name me any other park that opened with this many quality attractions available. I can't think of any. Certainly California Adventure, MGM or Animal Kingdom didn't even come close. And IOA has only been open 2 years, with any luck it will just keep getting better and better as they add attractions.

USF is getting better too. MIB and Terminator are both outstanding attractions that are fairly new there. We now now allocate 2 days of our trip to universal. These are days that used to be allocated to Disney. If Disney is not careful, they may find themselves losing a lot of business to Universal.

 

[Sarangel]

You know, I can't help but remember the fuss made when IOA opened & people were up in arms about the amount of money Universal had spent on it. Sounds a little like the complaints against Walt when he built Disneyland.

Also worth noting, Universal's been sold at least once (& possibly twice?) since then.

Sarangel

 

[F.C. Fan]

Also worth noting, is that Universal's owners have very DEEP pockets.

 

[johare]

Attention All:

Don't even waste your time typing to Geubux. It's obvious he justs wants to blindly praise WDW and badmouth IOA.

WDW is a theme park. IOA is a thrill park and lame at that

Let's see...WDW is a theme park?!? Last time I checked WDW was a complete resort destination. IOA is most definately a theme park and an excellent one at that. The theming at IOA equals or exceeds anything that can be found in a Disney park.

 

[Geubux]

Oh johare, don't you even recognize and Army-Navy prank when you see it? Someone got your goat?
And yes, we Ohioans do appreciate Florida when it gets cold here, and it sure gets cold here!

 

[johare]

I was just doing a parody on your original post. I just think it's funny how defensive people get about WDW if someone suggests that IOA is better. It's as if IOA being better has some direct effect on making a Disney park worse?!?

btw: I moved here from Chicago 10 years ago...I know what cold is and I appreciated Orlando enough to move down here!

 

[Geubux]

I know what you're saying. My kids are still young, 11and 7, so they appreciate WDW more than IOA. For rides, we enjoy Cedar Point, but they did have some very nice rides at IOA. I think both of the parks need to add another land, though. IOA had what seems like more simulators and man, do they make me nauseus! Go figure, I can ride coasters all day and be fine. I especially like speed coasters more than twisting ones so that's probably why IOA didn't appeal directly to me. But look at their success! You can't argue with that! Also, I just like to tweak people a little now and then. It's good that people care about things enough to defend their beliefs.