Theme Park experiences

#1
KoachKrab127

KoachKrab127

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#1
Share your experiences at theme parks here! Where did you go? Who did you go with? What was great or disappointing?

Earlier this week, I took my teenage daughter and one of her friends to Universal. I let them do their own thing, and I just got to wander around the park by myself. It was actually quite enjoyable. I ate a ton of food. The Three Broomstics in the Harry Potter area of the park has amazing breakfast. I didn’t go on a single ride (I’ve already ridden all of them several times, we have season passes). I visited lots of shops I had never been able to visit in the past. The kids had a great time on their own, and so did I.
 
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#3
#3
Legoland is fun if you have young ones. We've had season passes the last several years and use the water park a couple times each month. Also a good way to kill a slow Saturday to go ride some rides.
 
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#4
#4
utvolpj said:
Legoland is fun if you have young ones. We've had season passes the last several years and use the water park a couple times each month. Also a good way to kill a slow Saturday to go ride some rides.
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We went to Legoland about 10 years ago. Had lots of fun.
 
#5
#5
I miss going to kings island. Wild adventures is pretty awesome for a small park, even has a water park, it's in south Georgia. I'll not go back to six flags in Atlanta, past two times nothing but yahoos jumping lines and starting fights.
 
#9
#9
In direct opposition to the post above this one, Disney World is one of the best places in the country.

The first time we ever went was during February a few years back, it was perfection.
 
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#10
#10
Although I will say, while Universal obviously doesn’t stack up against Disney, Harry Potter World in Universal absolutely does. It’s Disney World’s equal in terms of quality.
 
#11
#11
Silver Dollar City may be America's best park. I visit about 10-15+ parks a year.

Also great parks: Hersheypark, Holiday World, Six Flags Fiesta TX, Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags Great Adventure, Knoebels, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Busch Gardens (both), and SeaWorld Orlando.

I enjoy Universal in Orlando as well. Expensive but can fun if you get a premire hotel for cheap (<$250/night).
 
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#12
#12
DrRosenRosen said:
Silver Dollar City may be America's best park. I visit about 10-15+ parks a year.

Also great parks: Hersheypark, Holiday World, Six Flags Fiesta TX, Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags Great Adventure, Knoebels, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Busch Gardens (both), and SeaWorld Orlando.

I enjoy Universal in Orlando as well. Expensive but can fun if you get a premire hotel for cheap (<$250/night).
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The old silver dollar city that's Dollywood now?
 
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#15
#15
joevol33 said:
Oh, okay. I didn't know there was one there. Grew up going to the one where Dollywood is now
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I was underwhelmed with Dollywood last time I went (2021). Appeared they were really struggling with staffing..

I've been to SDC and Six Flags in same timeframe and neither had same staffing issues as DW..
 
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#16
#16
Branson.

Dollywood is not really a favorite of mine. Good collection of rides and a nice park but SDC in Branson blows it away. Branson is like the old Silver Dollar City here but amped up even more. Still have the Flooded Mine, too. Fire in The Hole is better than Blazing Fury.
 
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#18
#18
We live close enough that the Tampa Busch Gardens seasons pass is worth it. Our two teenagers each go 3-4 times a year with friends. It has good rides and is well kept. The only negative I can think of is that you never want to stay at a hotel near Tampa Busch Gardens because the surrounding neighborhood is not safe.
 
#19
#19
OldandStillaVol said:
We live close enough that the Tampa Busch Gardens seasons pass is worth it. Our two teenagers each go 3-4 times a year with friends. It has good rides and is well kept. The only negative I can think of is that you never want to stay at a hotel near Tampa Busch Gardens because the surrounding neighborhood is not safe.
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Gotta get the wrist band for all day dining. You can eat every 2 hours and do some damage at Zambia smokehouse as well as the Icee wall by the bumper cars.

Cedar Point in Sandusky is my favorite.
 
#20
#20
We have annual passes to Disneyland, so its obviously our favorite. We split it up between that and California Adventure, which also has beer!
 
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#21
#21
I used to go to King's Island and Six Flags as a kid and had a blast. We had passes to Opryland and I loved going there during the summers. My parents would drop us off with friends and we'd spend all day there
 
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#22
#22
We personally aren’t fans of Disney world. We went to universal for the first time in 2014 and never looked back. Far more easy going, express pass system is far superior to Disney’s genie or whatever they call it these days, and honestly universal has been knocking it out of the park recently for the most part. The new Hagrid motorbike coaster is fantastic, the new Jurassic world coaster is world class, the volcano bay water park is better than the Disney water parks. We love the proximity of the resorts to the parks as well. We usually stay at the hard rock universal , and we can literally walk about 5 minutes and be at the gates to the parks. Which btw, universals value resorts are far better than disneys value resorts as well. Also enjoy doing universals Halloween horror nights, an absolute blast. Look into the new park being built by universal called “epic universe”. It is looking top notch and likely to be the best park in Orlando.
 
#23
#23
DrRosenRosen said:
Silver Dollar City may be America's best park. I visit about 10-15+ parks a year.

Also great parks: Hersheypark, Holiday World, Six Flags Fiesta TX, Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags Great Adventure, Knoebels, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Busch Gardens (both), and SeaWorld Orlando.

I enjoy Universal in Orlando as well. Expensive but can fun if you get a premire hotel for cheap (<$250/night).
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I was pleasantly surprised by holiday world, we really enjoyed it.
 
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#25
#25
I want to rant about Busch Gardens real quick. What has happened to that place? It is so awful now. Back in October, we went to Busch in Williamsburg for their “Hallowscream” event. Ten years ago, I remember it being amazing. The detail of the scenery, atmosphere, makeup, and staff were like none other. In October of 2022 though, there were less haunted houses, and they were all obviously just plywood sets with terrible actors. They also rush you through the rooms with people pushing. They used to have multiple outdoor haunted areas too, but not this time. And the worst part - they had a grand total of TWO restaurants opened. We waited 2 hours in line to get cafeteria style pork. Remember how great the Smokehouse used to be? Now’s it’s dry, cold, slow, twice as expensive, and they give you a piece of white bread to go with it. We also stopped at an ice cream parlor, waited an hour in line to get it, and the soft serve ice cream was out of sugar. It tasted like sour cream. In the Festhaus, there was ONE restaurant area opened…ONE. We went out for dinner after we left instead, because that line was just too long, and no one wanted elementary school pizza.

So yeah, back in October in Williamsburg, it was a huge disappointment. Well, last week, we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa, and it was just as bad. About five of the rides were closed, and one ride said the wait was 40 minutes, but we actually waited for 1 hour and 50 minutes. I’m not exaggerating. We timed it. The food was better than in Williamsburg, though. The very short line at the restaurant, however, took a long time because they didn’t have enough workers, with only one cashier. Ridiculous. The park was supposed to close at 7pm, but restaurants and food stands were closing before 6pm. Seriously, do they NOT want to make money? What’s the deal? What has happened to the amusement park that used to be the best? I’ve been to Universal, King’s Island, Disney World, Dollywood, and a few others that I’m forgetting, and Busch was always my favorite. Now though, it’s just pathetic. Can’t blame Covid or inflation. That didn’t slow down Universal or Disney World. They are still just as good as they always were. Seriously, Busch needs to get their act together. We are not renewing our season passes this year.
 
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