In case you haven’t bothered budgeting out a Walt Disney World vacation in the last couple of years, let us catch you up: it’s expensive. Seriously, it costs a lot to visit a Disney or Universal park, and the trend of rising ticket prices doesn’t appear to be anywhere near plateauing. Then there’s flights, hotels, ground transportation, and a host of cancelled perks and new upcharges, not the least of which being “optional-but-necessary” paid-for line-skipping, and nickel-and-diming left and right…
But here’s the good news. Disney and Universal? They’re filet mignon. They’re the five-dollar-signs-on-Yelp restaurant. Despite what tradition may tell you, most people on Earth never enter a Disney or Universal theme park, and of the relatively few who do, most reserve such pricey trips for special occassions. And just as the “finest” hotels also give you the fewest perks for free, you’d be right to start sniffing out some alternatives that give you more bang for your buck.
Though the parks we’ve collected today aren’t necessarily on the level of Disney and Universal’s immersion, budgets, IP, or theming, these aren’t your local, coaster-straddled Six Flags; they’re genuine destinations in their own right. These are one-of-a-kind, delightful, must-see destinations for any theme park fan… So start adding to your bucket list, and you just may be surprised what wonders await outside the Disney bubble. Have you been to any of these parks? Are they worth a swap from Disney?
1. Dollywood
Location: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Just about everyone on the planet loves Dolly Parton, and it appears to be mutual. The wise-cracking, self-parodying, love-spreading “Queen of Country Music” has had a career spanning six decades and nearly 50 solo studio albums. The songwriter of such timeless hits as “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” and “I Will Always Love You,” Parton traces her roots to the small town of Sevierville in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. And that’s where you’ll find Dollywood – a rustic tribue to the people, songs, and stories of the region.
Actually, Dollywood got its start without Dolly’s involvement, and the park is jointly owned and operated by Herscend Family Entertainment (owners of Silver Dollar City and Kentucky Kingdom). But since Parton got involved in the mid-’80s, the park has become a sort of Mecca for her fans from all walks of life while also transforming nearby Pigeon Forge into a tourist metropolis employing tens of thousands of locals.
Quite literally tucked into the misty, forested valleys of the Smokies, you can’t really see much trace of Dollywood, even when you’re parking in its parking lot (which is itself a winding, narrow lot set down in a meandering valley). Through the years, more and more land has been added to the park as new paths have been forged through wild terrain. The climbs can be tedious, but for most, the park’s beautiful, barely-touched environment is worth it.
It’s hard to describe Dollywood. On one hand, the park is packed with live entertainment – from country to gospel to pop music of the ’60s – with Parton’s own cousins and nieces and nephews performing daily. It’s also home to the “Chasing Rainbows” museum that chronicles the singer’s career, a walkthrough of her tour bus, and a to-scale recreation of the real “Tennessee Mountain Home” two-room cabin in which she and her 11 siblings were raised. The park’s Craftsmen Valley area is dedicated to the real people and real trades of the region, with blacksmiths, glassblowers, candlemakers, woodworkers, and more, all practicing their crafts with guests. That’s also where you’ll find the park’s incredible, iconic Cinnamon Bread, made fresh at the old Grist Mill and served with made-in-park apple butter.
On the other hand, Dollywood has become a coaster enthusiast’s must-visit, too. The park offers 9 custom coasters, including the unique dark ride / Gerstlauer Eurofighter hybrid Mystery Mine; the mountaintop B&M wing coaster Wild Eagle (above); the launched, highly-themed family favorite Firechaser Express, and the “bucket list” coaster that enthusiasts around the globe aspire to ride…
…the stunning Lightning Rod – the world’s first true hybrid coaster, mixing wood and steel track as it launches uphill and bounds through the Tennessee terrain. The intense and unforgettable ride is certainly among the world’s best. And really, who but Dolly could bring together both fans of RMC’s deluxe thrill coasters and gospel music in one place?
If you’re looking to turn Dollywood into a vacation, it’s easy to do. Pigeon Forge includes countless hotels, restaurants, and resorts. Like Orlando’s International Drive, it’s also packed with wax museums, exhibits, entertainment centers, alpine coasters, and dinner theaters (including three from Dolly herself – Pirates Dinner Adventure, Dolly’s Stampede, and Hatfields & McCoys Dinner Feud). And for those with the budget, Dolly’s own DreamMore Resort and the new HeartSong Lodge offer premium rooms and in-park perks.
Point is, if you’re looking to pivot your Disney trip to a less-pricy, but still-memorable experience, put Dollywood on your list. And that’s not all!
2. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
Due to its proximity to Walt Disney World, most coaster fans are at least aware of Busch Gardens Tampa – the clear “thrill park” of Florida’s lineup. (And if you haven’t been to the park but frequent Florida, Busch Gardens is definitely worth a daytrip’s drive. Stylized as a tribute to Africa, the park includes not only an exotic animal collection to rival Animal Kingdom, but a host of world-class coasters like Kumba, Tigris, Montu, Gwazi, and SheiKra, all set beautifully among well-decorated lands.)
But we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight its absolutely incredible sister park – Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia. Set in the dense forests of the Tidewater region, this park (which, like Tampa’s, is also attached to an Anheuser-Busch brewery) celebrates the “Old Countries” of Europe with “hamlets” recreating stylized town squares in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Colonial Canada, Germany, and Italy. Busch Gardens Williamsburg really is a garden, having been named the “World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park” by the National Amusement Park Historical Association for 28 years running. Traversing the park includes steep climbs and bridges, with the park’s coasters convening along the Rhine River Valley.
Speaking of which, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is perhaps the textbook example of a “quality over quantity” coaster collection. The park houses 8 “adult” coasters, but each is among the best of its model thanks in part to the park’s terrain, and in part to being integrated into the environment.
For example, the B&M dive coaster Griffon in France is neither the tallest nor fastest of its type anymore, but it’s arguably still the best as it dives and twists through the vineyards of a French town with its 10-across trains splashing down in a pond; Alpengeist is a B&M invert with custom “ski lift” supports, charging through snowy canyons and chalets. Invadr is a GCI woodie set in the hills of New France. And Verbolten is a custom launched family coaster that sends guests hurtling through the secrets of Germany’s Black Forest.
The park’s newest addition, Pantheon, is an Intamin creation that sends guests accelerating forward and backwards through tilted airtime hills, inverted stalls, and a 178 foot plunge to the Rhine River. We even used it as the perfect jumping off point for discussing what we call the New Coaster Wars – an era not of bigger, taller, and faster, but of personalized, personality-filled, custom coasters that are spreading across the industry.
As you’d probably expect from a park themed to Europe, food and entertainment also top the bill. The incredible “Celtic Fyre” in the old Abbey Stone Theater in Ireland is routinely ranked among the best theme park shows on Earth. In Germany, guests can enjoy authentic bratwurst and sauerkraut while enjoying Oktoberfest dancing in the communal Festhaus, or dine on fresh-baked pretzels and beer while watching sheep “mow” the grass beneath Verbolten’s river dive.
Then there’s Howl-o-Scream, Christmas Town, the Food & Wine Festival… Every season, something new to discover. Basically, Busch Gardens is just a perfect example of that kind of “in-between” park – one that serves as a perfect step between regional, seasonal amusement parks and the year-round destinations like Disney and Universal. For park fans, there’s something wonderful to be seen and learned in Williamsburg…
3. Hersheypark
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
When Milton S. Hershey built his chocolate factory in 1905, the facility included cutting edge mass-production technologies, which turned the iconic Hershey Bar (and in 1907, the machine-dolloped Hershey Kiss) into the first mass-marketed confectioner’s product of all time. As workers flooded to the facility smack dab in Pennsylvania’s dairy farmland, the company town of Hershey was born as homes, churches, stores, and transportation infrastructure grew around the plant. One convenience afforded to Hershey’s workers was Hersheypark – founded in 1906 as a respite for workers’ families to enjoy a carousel and miniature railroad.
Like so many parks that developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hersheypark soon became home to bumper cars and wooden roller coasters and funhouses and sunlite pools, growing into a regional attraction far beyond just the workers of Hershey. Though the park experienced ups and downs through the 1900s, there’s no doubt that today, Hersheypark is a major player in the “mid-sized” park circuit, and a great compliment to the other parks on our list…
Of course, we have to forewarn you: Hersheypark probably has less to do with chocolate than you might think. Sure, there are meet-and-greet characters and height requirement designations based on the confectioner’s most iconic products (think: Hershey Bar, Reese’s Cup, Jolly Rancher, Twizzler, and Kisses) and the occasional candy-themed ride (like the Reese’s Cupfusion dark ride)… But in general, Hersheypark looks and feels like a lot of century-old parks… a sort of classic amusement park with plenty of modern thrill rides like the notable Skyrush Intamin mega-lite that co-exists with the 80-year old wooden Comet.
In recent years, the company has certainly decided to lean into its chocolatey allure. In 2020, the park’s entrance was restyled as Chocolate Town (complete with its own candy store and table service restaurant) anchored by the Candymonium B&M hypercoaster with milk-chocolate color track that winds around a Kisses-shaped fountain. In 2022, the park rehabbed its classic Vekoma Boomerang into the Jolly Rancher Remix (above), which now shuttles riders through a light-and-scent show as if blasting them with flavor. And with rumors that the park’s Wildcat woodie may get the RMC treatment, it’s likely that the candy lean will continue.
For those who need their chocolate fix, there’s good news. Located right next to Hersheypark is the Hershey’s Chocolate World visitor center – really, an attraction in its own right. It’s free to enter and includes a free, 10-minute dark ride called Hershey’s Chocolate Tour, an actually-incredible, musical, and very entertaining taste of how Hershey’s products are made. (And yes, guests get a sample as they exit.) For an additional fee, you can also experience a 4D film, a live stage show, and various “design-your-own candy bar” workshops. There’s even a guided trolley tour through the town of Hershey to visit historical sites from Milton’s day.
Hersheypark fits for the bill for our regional destination parks because it’s a true historic treasure. From the family friendly Hersheypark Lodge with its Water Works waterpark to the historic, elegant, and luxurious Hotel Hershey and even a campground, Hershey really is a destination in its own right, and a wonderful place to plan a family vacation.
4. Cedar Point
Location: Sandusky, Ohio
Cliche as it may be, there’s no way to compile a list of “destination” parks without including Cedar Point. “America’s Roller Coast” has been around for more than a century, and like so many classic picnic parks that grew from dance halls and sunlite pools to gigacoasters, its story could probably populate a PhD thesis. In short, the park is known for two things: its location (on a peninsula jutting out toward Canada in Lake Erie – one of the Great Lakes) and, of course, its coasters.
Especially during the height of the “Coaster Wars” that defined the ’90s and 2000s, Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountain battled back and forth for the title of “Roller Coaster Capitol of the World.” Today, that’s not a battle worth fighting. Cedar Point has a solid 15-coaster collection, while Magic Mountain has runaway with 20. But of course, Cedar Point’s legendary lineup includes the first roller coasters to shatter the 100, 200, 300, and 400 foot height barriers (though the latter is currently standing-but-not-operating, and signs suggest that Top Thrill Dragster may never operate again).
More to the point, you can’t really compete with a coaster lineup that includes Magnum XL-200, Millennium Force, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, and Steel Vengeance. Throw in classics like Raptor, Iron Dragon, Gemini, Gatekeeper, Valravn, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and the Blue Streak and you’ve got yourself an enviable collection.
Don’t get us wrong – despite Cedar Point’s unique status as a seasonal park that draws international attention and crowds, it’s not a perfect park. For years, it won Amusement Today’s “Golden Ticket” award for being the Best Theme or Amusement Park on Earth – a wild claim from the get-go, but made all the more questionable when you consider that the park doesn’t have a single, solitary dark ride. Not even an indoor coaster! And while the park has certainly made huge efforts to diversify and add entertainment and refocus on seasonal events, Cedar Point is still primarily a “coaster park” defined by amusement park midways and big, bare, steel roller coasters… for better or worse.
But listen – Cedar Point is a living legend. And if it’s on your radar for a family getaway to replace a Disney trip, you’ll be happy to know that as part of its post-Coaster-Wars re-balancing, Cedar Fair has spent big bucks to re-emphasize the park as being a full resort. For example, major effort has restored the park’s beach as a focus of marketing and programming, where you can sail, jet-ski, swim, and relax. It’s also got the separately-ticketed Cedar Point Shores waterpark, not to mention the newly-redesigned Castaway Bay indoor waterpark resort.
Speaking of which, the park has also wrapped up a complete, multi-year refurbishment of every one of its Cedar Point Resorts properties, including the value Cedar Point Express Hotel, the golf resort-stylized Sawmill Creek, and the elegant, Victorian, lakeside Hotel Breakers (dating to 1905) which was recently given a floor-to-ceiling facelift.
As park of the Lake Erie Shores & Islands region, Sandusky also offers ferry rides to Kelleys Island (a 4-square mile island and State Park located 4 miles off the coast; home to bike rentals, a town of restaurants and attractions, and Glacial Grooves State Memorial – living geological evidence of the Ice Age) or Put-in-Bay (a popular destination for wine tasting and breweries; also home to Perry’s International Peace Memorial – a 350-foot tall Doric column lighthouse near the US-Canadian border). Basically, Cedar Point should definitely be on your short list of vacations… You’ll find a lot more thrills than a Disney trip, and for a lot less money.
5. Knott’s Berry Farm
Location: Buena Park, California
Knott’s Berry Farm is owned by Cedar Fair – the same company that owns Cedar Point – but its path to being part of the amusement park operator’s family is different. When Walter and Cordelia Knott started selling chicken dinners at their berry farm in the height of the Great Depression, they were a hit. By 1940, Walter has constructed a “Ghost Town” depicting an old Californian Gold Rush town for visitors to explore while they waited for their tables. Especially when Disneyland opened in 1955 (just a neighborhood away), Knott’s Berry Farm took off. In 1960, the iconic Calico Mine Ride opened; in 1969, the Timber Mountain Log Ride; in 1975, the beloved, classic Lost Legend: Knott’s Bear-y Tales.
Knott’s Berry Farm grew into a modern theme park based around California’s rich history until 1997, when Cedar Fair bought the park from the Knott family. In the 25 years since, coasters have unsurprisingly become the name of the game, with bare steel supports bursting up from the historic park’s beautiful little areas. Rides like GhostRider, Silver Bullet, Xcelerator, and the newest, Hangtime, are all part of that M.O.
But especially in the last decade, Cedar Fair has tempered its thrill pursuit (perhaps a little too much for some fans, who would prefer for Knott’s Berry Farm’s skyline to gain a gigacoaster), and classic dark rides like the Calico Mine Ride, Timber Mountain Log Ride, and – in a roundabout way – Bear-y Tales have all been granted elaborate refreshes.
Unlike the other parks on this list, Knott’s isn’t really a self-contained resort or a destination that’s worth flying to for its own sake. But as an alternative to a high-priced Disney Park, it’s already being re-discovered. After all, like Disney World, Disneyland is using a Park Pass Reservation system that even the highest-tier, highest-price annual passes can’t escape from. It’s especially a bummer at Disneyland, whose parks were often used by AP-equipped locals as an after-work hangout no different from going out to dinner elsewhere. Luckily, the highest-priced, all-inclusive pass at Knott’s is $250 a year (it includes access to every Cedar Fair park, including Knott’s’ waterpark) – less than a two-day ticket to Disneyland.
Sensing an opportunity, Knott’s has moved quickly to build its local audience and its regional one, banking big on nostalgic ride refurbishments, seasonal festivals (like the Boysenberry Festival), and entertainment offerings… paired with major events like Knott’s Scary Farm and Knott’s Merry Farm, it’s interesting to see the California-park-that-could return to being a destination… and wow is it a park with visiting and appreciating.
6. Kings Island
Location: Mason, Ohio
In that “middle tier” of parks across the country – the ones that aren’t-quite-Disney, but more-than-an-amusement-park – Kings Island is certainly a star. The third Cedar Fair park on our list and the second in Ohio, Kings Island is the textbook example of a park built A.D. – that is, After Disney.
Unlike the century-old picnic parks or roadside parks that grew naturally over decades, Kings Island has a firm opening date – 1972 – and all the benefits of the Disney formula: a “Main Street” (here, the fountain-lined International Street) leading to a park icon (a 315-foot tall Eiffel Tower) and pathways that branch off of a central hub to themed lands (today, Action Zone, Oktoberfest, Coney Mall, Rivertown, and Planet Snoopy).
Kings Island is also unique is that it’s passed through a number of different, prominent owners, each with very definitive – and sometimes opposed – plans for what it should be. Its first twenty years, it was the embodiment of the ’70s Technicolor whimsy of the Taft Broadcasting Company and Hanna-Barbera. It was an era when the Racer and The Beast (above) ruled the midways.
In 1993, Kings Island (and its four sister parks) were purchased by Paramount Pictures, who’d been convinced to jump into the rapidly-consolidating “studio park” business thanks to the success of Disney and Universal’s entries, plus Warner Bros.’ Six Flags. Paramount’s era brought simple-but-impressively-decorated experiences like TOP GUN: The Jet Coaster, Nickelodeon Universe, and Drop Zone: Stunt Tower. Under Paramount, Kings Island also welcomed a few jaw-dropping, legitimately-Disney-level additions like The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear, the Italian Job: Stunt Track, and the Lost Legend – TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, not to mention the cinematic sequel Lost Legend: SON OF BEAST.
Cedar Fair acquired all five Paramount Parks in 2007, and though the “de-theming” of the parks was somewhat… clumsy (The Top Gun coaster was renamed “Flight Deck.” Need we say more?)… it’s probably been worth it. Yes, Cedar Fair quickly set about adding (you guessed it) roller coasters to up the thrill levels, and that’s given Kings Island the B&M hyper Diamondback, the B&M invert Banshee, the GCI woodie Mystic Timbers, and the B&M giga Orion. But it’s also restored a lot of quality back into the park… It wasn’t wonderful to see TOMB RAIDER toppled or SON OF BEAST closed, but it’s not really clear what state the park would be in at all if Paramount were still at the helm…
So with 14 coasters (just one less than its sister, Cedar Point), Kings Island is inarguably a world class thrill park all its own. But more to the point, it’s something more thanks to its modern origin and its cinematic era. Maybe it’s a weird mutt, mixing the best and worst of Taft and Paramount and Cedar Fair… but it all adds up to something great. Don’t get us wrong the other three parks that have gone through the same pattern – Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada’s Wonderland – are great in their own ways, and have some of the same DNA. But Kings Island was Taft’s first park – its “Disneyland” – and Paramount’s flagship, and it shows.
The Point
Our point here is simple. It doesn’t have to be Disney. If you feel like you’ve been “priced out” of Disney World, Disneyland, and Universal Orlando, why not look a little closer to home, or even plan a roadtrip to check out one of these destinations? Sure, you won’t find a massive, multi-park complex like Walt Disney World anywhere in the country… but that doesn’t mean you won’t find something else you love, too.
These parks aren’t your run-of-the-mill, local amusements. They’re destinations in their own rights. And believe us when we say – they’re worth a visit.
