Your hottest and coldest theme park days

[Matt N]

Hi guys. As some of you might know, some extreme temperatures are forecast within the next few days here in the UK; there’s talk of 40°C (104°F) being hit for the first time ever in parts of the country. With that in mind, it got me thinking about some of the hottest and coldest days I’ve ever had at theme parks and what they were like. So my question to you today is; what have been some of the hottest and coldest theme park days you’ve ever had? How was it visiting a theme park in those extreme temperatures?

I’ll get the ball rolling with some of my answers…
Hottest

• Disney’s Hollywood Studios (12th April 2019) - My first ever day at Hollywood Studios was certainly a hot one! I remember highs of 33°C (91.4°F) being hit while we were on park, and walking around the park felt absolutely sweltering!
• Various theme park days in Orlando during August - By extension, I could cite a number of theme park days we’ve had in Orlando during the month of August as being some of the hottest I’ve ever had. I can’t remember any particular anecdotes off the top of my head, but I’ve certainly been to parks in Central Florida on days where the 100°F (37.8°C) threshold has been hit or exceeded, and it can get quite tough going in those temperatures! I certainly have memories of my family and I hopping between misters and rushing for the nearest air conditioned building on some of those hotter days!
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach (24th August 2019) - One of the hottest theme park days I’ve had on home soil has to be when I went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach for Late Night Riding 3 years ago! This day was truly sweltering, with temperatures nearing 30°C (86°F); standing in that open air Valhalla queue for 2 hours must surely be one of the hottest moments of my life, and it’s a wonder that I didn’t burn! The ride itself soon put paid to me being hot, as I walked off shivering and feeling like a block of ice, but that open queue was an absolute scorcher!
• Thorpe Park (6th May 2018) - I remember this May Bank Holiday visit to Thorpe Park being unusually hot for the time of year (over 25°C/77°F), and within the concrete and steel of Thorpe Park, it certainly felt it! This is one of the few theme park visits I remember burning on, and standing in some of those queues was boiling.
• Europa Park (28th April 2022) - All 3 of my days at Europa Park had pretty nice weather, for the most part, but this one was particularly hot. Temperatures exceeded 25°C (77°F), and standing in some of those queues and walking around some of the pathways was seriously hot; choosing to do all of the park’s water rides on this day was a good call, even if they all had rather long queues as a result of the weather!
• Oakwood Theme Park (18th July 2016) - My first ever trip to Oakwood was certainly a hot one! I was on a school trip, and I remember many of the queues being absolutely sweltering; I certainly rode Waterfall on this day, and shade was sought at various points!

Coldest
Now I have fewer memorably cold theme park anecdotes, as I seldom go to parks outside of the main season, but I do have a couple I can think of.

• Hyde Park Winter Wonderland (2nd January 2020) - This must easily be my coldest theme park day ever. With it being January, I certainly remember us all being fairly dressed up and being fairly cold, and I remember feeling particularly cold at the top of HangOver; the host held us up there for ages, and I was absolutely freezing.
• Oakwood Theme Park (26th May 2019) - My second visit to Oakwood was almost the polar opposite of my first; the weather was rather dreary, with drizzle occasionally arriving throughout the day, and it was really rather cold. We were certainly shivering somewhat in the early part of the day, and it certainly wasn’t the most pleasant day weather-wise.
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach (14th August 2018) - For an August day, my first ever visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach was surprisingly really cold! That coastal wind was really quite bracing, and there were points where we were all surprisingly chilly; it was arguably a blessing in disguise that Valhalla was closed on our first visit…

But what have been some of the hottest and coldest theme park days you’ve ever had?

 

[Heth]

Hottest is probably from a past Florida trip.

My coldest is hands down my 2018 trip to Efteling during a trip to Utrecht and Amsterdam. I did one day there and the only outdoor coaster to open was Baron 1897 as it had heaters under the station track. Lowest temperature that day was -3oC, but probably around 0 most if the day.

Despite the closures, I actually had a great day. It was quiet that the rides that were open were walk ons.

 

[cookie]

I've been to Tivoli Gardens a couple of times when it's December, and during the evening I recall it going below zero. Didn't stop any of the rides from continuing to operate, though. Guess it helps that their only water ride is indoors.

I know during summer last year there was a heatwave in the Paris and Benelux area right after the catastrophic floods hit, and it made traversing Bobbejaanland, Disney and Parc Asterix especially challenging at times. I remember Asterix was like an hour from closing and I had serious thoughts of leaving the park because the heat was getting to me and I was so exhausted, but I stuck around until closing time. It did influence my decision to cut down on Disney the following day and just stick to the studio park since it was closing earlier (I was at Disney for several days that week, so I had time to explore both parks).

 

[SimonProD]

Hottest: SFMM at about 36C - wasn't that bad - and they still had Log Jammer to cool down at the time
Coldest: Not a themepark but Berlin Christmas market at Alexa having the Teststrecke Double-Loop. It had snowed the night before and the crew were sweeping the snow of the track before I could ride at -3C.

 

[Ethan]

Both of mine were in Germany weirdly. Snowing and freezing temperatures at Phantasialand in April (odd) and 38-39C at Europa Park in June of the same year. And of course I only had a thin sweatshirt on my April visit because I'm stupid and I never pack properly.

 

[Sandman]

Hottest: Parque Warner Madrid was pushing 40 degrees when I went back in 2016. Absolutely stifling.

Coldest: Toverland / Phantasialand in Jan 08 or 09? I remember Toverland was even more dead than usual; I'm fairly sure we had the place entirely to ourselves for a few hours (only stayed about 2-3). The fantastic staff managed to get Troy open despite snowy conditions because they knew we'd come from the UK to ride.

 

[hersheyfan410]

Hottest: my last visit to Hershey on 6/21 was pushing into the mid 90s F. However, I doubt this is my hottest park visit because I just expect parks to be that hot in the summer so I can’t say for sure.
Coldest: Six Flags over Texas was easily the coldest. I was visiting family in the Dallas area around Christmas and the day we went I don’t think it got over maybe 40. Lots of closed rides but I got on my only RMC that day.

 

[FistedColossus]

By far the coldest was Energylandia in December. Way too cold to enjoy the 200ft+ coasters, park was completely dead and probably shouldn't have been open.

Hottest probably Cedar Point and Kings Island this year around 35 celcius but we done 25-30k steps with barely any shelter. Florida too but I seem to cope OK there, maybe because I know it's gonna be hard work for 2 weeks and just get on with it.

 

[Trax]

Hottest:
Walibi Holland, about 41° C in 2019. I get hot quite quick, so this was really challenging for me, but I really wanted to try Untamed with this heat (it’s crazy). Well, even though I drank lots of water and regulary poured a bunch of water over my head, I had for the first and only time in my life a heat stroke. Dizziness, nausea and a light headache brought me to the first aid station, were I had to lie down for half an hour before I decided to leave the park for my own wellbeing.

Europa Park, about 38° C this year. If you ever got of of Wodan and felt like it shouldn't be able to go that fast, well... hauling is no word for what it does at the end. You really feel like it could derail any second. And even though the heat was extreme, it felt suprisingly comfortable to be in the park, even though I took care to not stand in the sun more than necessary.

Coldest:

Phantasialand, ~ -10° C multiple times. Yes, Taron is able to ride at those temperatures, but trust me, you aren't. Not only does it start to crawl halfway through the layout (we got 0 trimms during our morning rides), but you really get freezing hands within seconds (yes, I wore gloves). I actually rode with my arms crossed in front of my chest, and squezed my hands under my armpits to keep them warm. For the head, I went with a tubescarf, which helped a ton.

Energylandia, -5°C, in peaks colder. If you ever saw Zadra, you would say there is no way this thing could stall, wouldn't you? Well, we nearly did. Seriously. The park was empty, we saw more members of staff on the pathways than guests, and Energylandia likes to wait up to 10 minutes before they dispatch a train half empty. On said Zadra ride, we were a total of 5 guests, 2 in the front and my friends and me in the back. When we hit the second inversion, the GP in the front were actually screaming, as they thought we'd roll back - and I don't blame them. We barely made it through, with maybe walking speed. Great hangtime, though
Btw, afterwards they send us through 3 times without any wait, to get the train warm, and one member of staff sat in the front if we rode in the back. Poor guy, but on the other hand, he got paid to ride Zadra.
I can only recommend a tube scarf, or the brainfreeze comes instantly, especially on Hyperion. I rode with the scarf completely over my face, and it worked fine.

Fun fact: It was so empty, that they shut down Abysuss and had to do a complete restart of the ride when we came into the station, including 3 empty test runs, which the empty train barely made.

 

[ScottLann]

Hottest - SeaWorld Orlando, September 2018 : First day at SeaWorld and it was the hottest day of the whole trip. Safe to say I was doing my round on JTA and getting a nice breeze on Mako! Unfortunately it was a week before Infinity Falls had opened which I'm sure would have helped on a day like that.

Coldest - Alton Towers, March 2022 : I've never been to a park any earlier than May so going in March with a few mates was totally new. Safe to say that we chose one heck of a time to go as it was covered in snow in the morning (didn't think we'd manage to get on anything) but thankfully the sun came out and everything was a delayed opening (about 11am). There wasn't much snow until the end of the day when we got on the last train of Wicker Man....as soon as the train dispatched, the heavens opened with what I'd say was the heaviest snow I'd seen in a long time! Because of this however, Wicker Man ran insanely fast, and it actually made me put it over the Smiler in my rankings....was one of the best ride experiences I've had on any coaster in the UK.

Do GCI's tend to run better in the cold or was it just me?

 

[TexasCoasterEnthusiast]

Hottest: Six Flags Fiesta Texas, July 2021: My first ever time at fiesta was quite literally temperature wise the most miserable and hot weather I have ever been in, nothing bad about the park, its just that you begin to lose sanity sitting in a shadeless queue in 102 degrees with 80% humidity. It honestly felt like I was melting out there.

Coldest: Six Flags Over Texas, December 2021: If you have never been to Dallas before, you wouldn't expect it to be all that cold, mainly because it's in the lone star state of Texas. The one and only park I have ever visited during a winter season was my one and only home park of Over Texas, and during said winter season, it drops to below freezing on an average, especially with the parks extended late hours during the holiday event. And while it was great to walk back from the park and not die from the heat on the black asphalt parking lot, I don't think absolutely freezing is a much better alternative.

Neither of these were particularly awful experiences... but also not the preferred conditions.

 

[SkyrushSimp]

last summer on the 5th of july, hersheypark. it was 104 F, absolutely unbearable, and waiting in the queue for anything was terrible