With over four-hundred amusement parks throughout the country, America has more rides and roller coasters than anywhere else in the world. Almost all venues offer some combination of thrill rides, kiddie play areas, and water attractions. Some, however, feature unique themes that add another layer of family-fun to a day of rides and relaxation. Here are seven of our country’s most uniquely themed amusement parks.
Disney World
With four distinct theme parks – The Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Disneyworld Orlando sets the standard for all other amusement parks. Modeled after the original Disneyland in California, the Magic Kingdom alone rivals most other parks in the world. Disney’s Epcot Center offers a unique experience with pavilions representing eleven countries, including the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. Rides like Toy Story Mania, Star Wars Launch Bay, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror make the movie-themed Hollywood Studios a hit with the kids. Part safari park, part theme park, and part zoo, Disney’s Animal Kingdom offers fun for all aged visitors. Disneyworld Orlando also features two world-class water parks – Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach – as well as hotels at every price level, and lots of places to eat and shop.
Dollywood
Several heart-stopping roller coasters, a wide variety of rides and attractions for the little ones, a world-class water park, and daily concerts and dinner shows make the country-themed Dollywood a family favorite. Along with typical thrill, and kiddie rides, Dollywood also has unique attractions like Dolly’s Home On Wheels, the tour bus Dolly used to travel the country through stretches of her career, and Tennessee Mountain Home, a recreation of the home where Dolly grew up. Also there’s the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame. Thanks to its location at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, visitors to Dollywood enjoy plenty of outdoor activities as well. Area cabins also help make Dollywood one of our country’s most desirable theme park destinations. For generations, many families have made a Smoky Mountain cabin stay an annual event. Gatlinburg cabins offer a unique combination of modern convenience and rustic charm. Most cabins feature fully-equipped gourmet kitchens, wood-burning fireplaces, hot-tubs, large porches with swings, several televisions, and WiFi Internet. All cabins come with lots of privacy and amazing views of the beautiful Smoky Mountains.
Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, has a unique mix of family entertainment, thrill rides, and year-round events. Attractions range from the world’s most daring wood coaster, Outlaw Run, to the kid-friendly Elephant March, which lets riders control their own speed. Daily shows at Silver Dollar City include comedy by award-winning comedian Eric Haines and stage productions like Sagebrush Sadie’s Wild West Adventure. Silver Dollar City hosts a spectacular Christmas festival, as well. White Water, Silver Dollar City’s water park, ranked fifth in a USA Today Readers’ Choice poll for the best water park in the country.
Busch Gardens Tampa
Similar to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Busch Gardens Tampa combines traditional amusement park fun with a safari theme. The Serengeti Safari Tour takes guests across 65-acres in an open-air touring vehicle and offers an up-close look at African wildlife. The 30-minute excursion features exotic animals like ostriches, giraffes, rhinos, zebras, and a variety of antelope species. The park also has plenty of opportunities for the kids to hand-feed different birds and animals including lorikeets, kangaroos and flamingos. Of course, no respectable amusement park would be complete without a world-class thrill ride. Along with seven of Florida’s scariest roller coasters, Busch Gardens Tampa also boasts Falcon’s Fury – where riders drop face-first from a 300-foot tower, at 60 miles per hour!
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Busch Gardens Williamsburg features an old-world European theme similar to Disney’s Epcot Center. Each themed area, known as a Hamlet, offers traditional food, music, and rides from a particular country. Hamlets include Italy, Ireland, England, Scotland, Japan, France, and Germany. Busch Gardens Williamsburg caters to all ages with attractions like Sesame Street Forest of Fun for the little ones, and Apollo’s Chariot Hyper Coaster for thrill-seekers. Busch Gardens Williamsburg also has one of the country’s most popular water parks, Water Country U.S.A. Nearby Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown Battlefield, and Virginia Beach provide relief when the lines get too long at the parks.
Hersheypark, Pennsylvania
Owned by the world-famous Hershey chocolate brand, the chocolate-themed Hersheypark first opened its doors in 1923. The park now spans over 110 acres and has more than seventy rides for kids and adults of all ages. Hersheypark actually consists of four parks in one – the main amusement area titled Hersheypark, the water park Splash Boardwalk, ZooAmerica and the recently opened ChocolateTown. At Christmastime, Hersheypark puts on a good show with over four-million lights decorating every area of the park. Santa and his reindeer also make an appearance during the seasonal event known as Christmas Candylane. Kids get to visit Santa then stop by the stables for an up-close look at his nine reindeer, including Rudolph.
Knott’s Berry Farm, California
Located in Anaheim, California, Knott’s Berry Farm pays homage to California’s frontier history. The parks four themed areas – Ghost Town, Fiesta Village, the Boardwalk, and Camp Snoopy – along with its over forty different rides, draw more than four million visitors a year. The adjacent fifteen-acre Knott’s Soak City Waterpark boasts twenty-three tube and body slides, a tidal wave pool, and a hands-on water playground for younger kids. Knott’s Berry Farm also hosts many family-themed events throughout the year. This winter, for example, characters, from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts, take over the park on weekends from January through March. Kids get to meet and pose for pictures with their favorite characters, including Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Pigpen, and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
