Every theme park in North America offers something special. Some parks have unforgettable dark rides that thrill you with their hypnotic theming. Others have roller coasters that will take your breath away as you soar into the sky, only to return to the ground at breakneck speed.
When you’re debating where to go on your next vacation, the best ride at a park is its strongest selling point. Theme park tourists can and do travel thousands of miles to ride the buzzworthy attractions that garner so much acclaim. In this article, let’s take a look at the eight most popular theme parks in North America, discussing the best ride at each one.
8. Cedar Point
Image: Cedar FairAs much as I love Disney theme parks and as close as I live to the impeccably run Dollywood, the place that’s nearest and dearest to my heart is Cedar Point, the pride of Sandusky, Ohio. My wife and I used to vacation here long before we married, back when the park’s newest ride was blowing people’s minds.
That ride is Millennium Force. If you have ever read any of my mentions of Cedar Point, I’ve breathlessly praised this roller coaster as the pinnacle of thrill ride design. I’m a shameless evangelist for it. No other ride on the planet makes better use of its backdrop.
Set just above Lake Erie, the ascension of the coaster coincides with an improving perspective of gorgeous water below. Oh, and Millennium Force also goes 93 miles per hour while dropping you 300 feet at an 80-degree angle. It’s the one true roller coaster at the roller coaster capital of the world. 3.6 million theme park tourists make a sojourn to the mecca of coaster design each year. All of them are smiling.
7. Canada’s Wonderland
Image: Cedar FairCanada’s Wonderland has almost as many roller coasters, 16, as Cedar Point. Don’t view that as a coincidence. Cedar Fair owns both parks, and they prioritize thrill rides over everything else. Their devotion to coasters explains why the park manages 3.7 million guests each year despite being seasonal. Due to the cold winters, it’s impractical to operate such metal-intensive rides during several months. Relative to time open, Canada’s Wonderland should place higher on this list…but that’s not the way we do it, unfortunately.
What are the best attractions at Canada’s Wonderland? Well, my Tim Horton-loving friends – and I’m blessed to have dozens of Canadians in my Ohana – swear by Behemoth, Leviathan, Psyclone, Vortex, Windseeker, and Wild Beast. That’s…a lot of great rides. Theme park tourists have a favorite, and that’s Behemoth. I’m going to politely disagree with you and take Leviathan. I’m a sucker for gigacoasters, and it’s almost as good as Millennium Force. It soars 306 feet in the air and reaches a top speed of 92 miles per hour. You’re gonna wanna ride Leviathan at some point if you haven’t already.
6. Knott’s Berry Farm
Image: Cedar FairBy this point, I suspect that my affinity for Knott’s Berry Farm is well-established. This place has even more history than Disneyland, and it was family-owned and operated for generations. One of the restrictions in the transfer of ownership was that it not be sold to The Walt Disney Company. I love that sort of fighting spirit that carries on past the grave.
Knott’s Berry Farm is an extremely impressive theme park that receives about four million guests annually. You’ll find plenty of great rides if you visit…and you should! The consensus is that the best ones are GhostRider, Montezooma’s Revenge, Silver Bullet, the Timber Mountain Log Ride, and Xcelerator. While of them are great, Xcelerator goes from zero to 82 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds. It’s an adrenaline junkie’s dream roller coaster.
5. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Image: SeaWorld EntertainmentThe crowded theme park market in Florida leads to an odd statistic. You’ll notice that four out of the five most trafficked theme parks in the world are in Orlando and Tampa Bay. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay received slightly less than 4.2 million guests last year, which is still only good enough for fifth place on the list. So, they’re top five in North American but only fourth in their own backyard. Florida truly is the theme park capital of North America (and the world, for that matter.)
Most theme park tourists would settle on four attractions as their best options. Those are Cheetah Hunt, Montu, and SheiKra plus their newest roller coaster, Cobra’s Curse. You, the readers, are huge fans of all of these attractions, as three of them finish in the top 26 of our Top 100. I’m going to defer for your choice as the best of the group, though.
According to you, Cheetah Hunt is one of the top 15 rides in the entire world. It’s a roller coaster based on the behavior and athleticism of cheetahs. Plus, it sits right beside a cheetah exhibit!
4. SeaWorld Orlando
Image: SeaWorld EntertainmentDespite all of the negative headlines that the SeaWorld franchise has earned in recent years, people still flock to SeaWorld. After peak attendance of 5.9 million in 2008, it has fallen back quite a bit in light of those headlines, though. In response, park officials have emphasized the creation of new attractions that deliver a second good reason to visit.
At SeaWorld Orlando, they’ve constructed four roller coasters during the 2000s, one of which they also improved through emerging technologies. The best three rides here are unquestionably Mako, Manta, and Kraken. Manta has a genius coaster cart design that causes a distinctive out-of-body sensation, while Mako is a pure demonstration of power. It currently stands as the best hypercoaster in the greater Orlando area. While both are good, SeaWorld’s decision to add a virtual reality themed component to Kraken has elevated its status. Now called Kraken Unleashed, it’s the best thing at any SeaWorld park.
3. Universal Orlando Resort
Image: UniversalOkay, we have just reached the point in the conversation where everyone gets edgy and combative. Picking the best ride at the previous parks wasn’t easy, but narrowing the offerings down to a shortlist was. From this point forward, even settling on the top group is likely to cause flame wars if not outright fistfights.
Keeping that in mind, I’m going to stick my neck out here and suggest that the best rides at Universal Studios are the ones with Harry Potter in the name, the ones with The Simpsons in the name, and the Men in Black and Spider-Man themed attractions. I would put the tightly themed attractions for The Mummy, Minion Mayhem, and The Incredible Hulk plus Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit in the next group. Your mileage can and almost assuredly does vary.
Image: UniversalFor me, the top three attractions are The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Simpsons Ride, and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. I should add that I’m a Simpsons superfan, and I have first editions of most Harry Potter books. I was early on that bandwagon, which makes a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter something of a dream come true for me. As for Spider-Man, it set a new standard in dark ride style. I respect greatness in all forms, and Spider-Man is undeniably one of the greatest rides ever.
Still, I understand that almost everyone would include Escape from Gringotts on their short list of best Universal rides. So, while my heart says The Simpsons Ride, my head says that the best thing at Universal Orlando Resort is Escape from Gringotts. They legitimately have about 10 A+ attractions, though, so picking the best one is a form of nitpicking. The problem only gets worse from here, because we’re not up to…
2. Disneyland
Image: DisneyAs with Universal Studios, I have the entirety of both parks to debate in deciding the best ride at the Happiest Place on Earth. While classics like Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain are all worth of the title, I’ve settled on something much newer.
When I think of Disney attractions, the ones with the strongest theming stand out. At Disney California Adventure, a clone of Test Track somehow stands out from its sibling. The explanation is the theming, as Disney tied it to the Cars universe. By putting eyes on the same ride carts, the same ride experience transforms into Radiator Springs Racers, a genteel drive through a small town that illuminates the night with its serenity.
To me, Radiator Springs Racers is the most soothing ride at either Disneyland theme park; it’s also the one most likely to put a smile on my face. So, I think of it as the best one. I understand that people are extremely passionate about Disney attractions, however, so I fully understand if you disagree.
1. Walt Disney World
Image: DisneyAn almost incomprehensible 140 million people travel to Disney theme parks each year. More than 52 million of them visit Walt Disney World, the Most Magical Place on Earth. This place is the mecca of theme park tourism, and it didn’t get that way by accident. Picking the best ride among four parks is an impossible exercise, one that I’m now inspired to take on in a future article.
For today, let’s use the Theme Park Tourist Top 100 as a starting point. You, the voters, believe that the five best attractions onsite are Avatar Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This grouping wouldn’t be my top five, but it does include the attraction that I view as the best one.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is the ultimate Disney attraction. It’s the perfect blend of exciting attraction and inspired theming. It also ably demonstrates the Disney ethos that a basic ride premise like a drop tower can lead to something much more dramatic. All it needs is the loving guidance of passionate Imagineers.
