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Most Overrated Park you've been to?

disney or universal.. pick your poison there. i say disney b/c yea it's disney. if it wasn't for tron and guardians coming i refuse to see why people need to go there year after year. heck i got tired of going to universal so much that after i make 1 more trip for new jurassic park coaster i'd be fine never going again. wasting all that time could have been spent going to other parks.
 
Movieland Park

People rave about it (especially on here) in a kinda ironic way, but its just a pile of poo. And sketchy as anything.
 
gengarhaunts87 said:
disney or universal.. pick your poison there. i say disney b/c yea it's disney. if it wasn't for tron and guardians coming i refuse to see why people need to go there year after year. heck i got tired of going to universal so much that after i make 1 more trip for new jurassic park coaster i'd be fine never going again. wasting all that time could have been spent going to other parks.
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Interesting to see universal, I thought that park was universally (pun not intended) loved
 
I'd probably say Port Aventura - Furius Baco is painful, dragon Khan is ok, Shambhala is quite fun, Hurakan condor has uncomfortable, tight restraints, Stampida is painful, Tutuki splash isn't as good as the "modern flume" rides at Parque warner in madrid, The sliver river log flume is great though!

Personally, I love the laid back, "pastel"esque feeling of liseberg, and balder has really grown on me!
 
Efteling bashing makes me sad. 😥
I love that place. My own Efteling journey began in 2003: we'd trekked halfway across the Netherlands on the train to Walibi Holland, only to find it closed. Yep, we did a full-on Griswold. Got as far as arriving in a taxi to a completely deserted car park. The only thing missing was the moose.
Anyways, the following day we went to Efteling to make up for it, and had a really fab time. Ok so it didn't have many coasters back then - Python being the star attraction - but the sheer size of the park, the natural setting, the charm, the vibe, all won me over. I mean, they had acrobats twirling about on ribbons high above the turnstiles in that wonderful entrance building as you went in. Where else would you get that?
Fast forward to 2017 and I visit again with @Sandman and had an even better day. More creds than before, zero crowds and everything walk-on. Good times!

Was also surprised to see Liseberg get mentioned a couple of times. What's not to love about Liseberg? Probably the classiest, most elegant theme park I've ever been to, and some kick-ass rides to boot.

Somebody mentioned Universal. All I can say to that is... wtf?? 😮

Right then, here's a hot take for y'all: Phantasialand. Some say it's the best park in the world. Others say it's the best in Europe. Me? I don't even think it's the best park in Germany. Europa park pees all over Phantasialand from a great height (239.5ft to be precise).
For a supposedly world-class theme park, it's actually pretty small and feels quite cramped. Some would call that immersive, I call it... 'artificial'. There's no natural landscapes anywhere, it's all man made. Sure, Taron is amazing (at night, less so in the daylight) but literally everything else in the park ranges from 'decent' (Mamba, River Quest, Mystery Castle, Colorado) to 'outdated old tosh' (Night Hawk, Hollywood Tour, that Chinese thing).
Also, the main entrance looks like Slough in the 70's.
I've only been once (pre FLY), but I can't imagine the place shooting up the personal rankings much on the strength of it.
Not a bad park by any stretch, I don't hate it, but overrated? For sure.
 
Disney's Animal Kingdom. I know many people don't rate it at the top among the Disney parks, but it tends to get good reviews.

But to me, the park is ... okay? Granted, Everest is really good and there's amusement to be had on Flight of Passage and the Dinosaur ride too. But those feel like half the rides in the park. It has a nice zoo ride too, but so do other zoos at a fraction of the gate price. Dinoland USA was an expensive attempt of re-creating something cheap, which just made it feel cheap. And then there's ... uhh, I recall a nice set of river rapids, an elaborate dance show, and a 3D theatre, plus the other Avatar attraction we didn't visit. If I'm not entirely mistaken, we're through the entire ride list already. It's a bleeping huge park, but it has almost no rides. And the themeing is so-so too. The Tree of Life is nice, Everest is a master class, and the Avatar valley is impressive. But otherwise, Disney has gone to great length to recreate simple, rough-worn buildings, which makes the park feel like it's filled with simple, rough-worn buildings.

Don't get me wrong. It's a nice park. But there's just so little substance to it. Few attractions, simple themeing (a few highlights notwithstanding), but lots and lots of walking among trees. There are touches of Disney magic, but otherwise it's basically an expensive forest full of restaurants. I'm glad I got in on a guest pass from my cousin who worked in Epcot, because the asked gate price would have felt like a massive waste of money.
 
Howie said:
Germany. Europa park pees all over Phantasialand from a great height (239.5ft to be precise).
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If my forum signature wasn't already a complete cluster-****, that would be going in it :p

Phantasia is greater than the sum of its parts - but imo remains a park packed with rides that look better than they actually are - probably even including Mamba.

Efteling was a weird one for me - both my first visits were creds runs and spoiled a bit for me by people I was with being pains in the arse. It wasn't until a relaxing trip on my own (with a bit of a hangover) that I *got* it.

I often find the Europa nay-sayers have only done the place as a one day cred run - and that isn't fun.
 
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Efteling definitely comes to mind immediately. It was a really pretty park, but felt oddly spaced out and at times confusing. Every time I've raved about Europa or Phantasialand over the years, people have said, "just wait until you go to Efteling!" It set expectations sooo high and it just couldn't deliver. It really wasn't helped by the fact that their approach for handling Covid protocols was poor at best. Having all the queues lined with wooden frames holding plexiglass dividers was extremely bizarre and poorly thought out. Again, a beautiful park, but certainly not the top 5 park it was made out to be.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas is another that comes to mind. It's always been said to be one of the best Six Flags parks, but every visit I've had has left a lot to be desired. Rides are frequently closed, vehicles are often in poor shape (I've had to put seat pads back into place because they are no longer attached), and numerous shops or stalls closed. It certainly has great potential and I know the staff does their best with what they have, but it falls short of the hype.
 
RobCoasters said:
Have to disappointingly say Alton Towers.

Both of my visits in summer 2018 have been a chaotic marathon of the park, arriving for 12 due to its extremely inconvenient location. I fast-tracked everything in the park and still barely managed to finish right before close with just a few minutes' spare time at the end. It's a stressful experience trying to get on what you want to ride, and it doesn't help when the skyride is shut because it's too hot. The opening times are far too short, and the park just generally feels "pay to win" because there's so much stuff so far away and so many queues. I wasn't able to soak in the immersion of any of the rides because my only thought was "get this done so I can do the next one" which may be an issue on my end but you get what I mean, right?

I haven't done any non-coasters in the park simply because there is absolutely no time if you want to complete the park, and since the good rides are on opposite ends of the park it's not like you can just spend the day in one half of the park.

I've had consistently better visits at Adventure Island Southend, than I have at Alton Towers. The place just wasn't fun for me, and was a relentless cred run with no time to sit down and soak up the atmosphere and no time to do their apparent world-class non coasters. And no time to do it even with fast track.
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Because of it’s location and layout, Alton tends to be an a 2-day visit for me. I agree that a rush around is no fun, even with fast passes. Best to take it slow and not feel the need to get on everything each day (even if visiting for just one day).
 
^
That and rose-tinted sentimentality are why it probably makes Top 5 for me.
As I often say, as a season pass holder who lives in Stoke, I can enjoy a chilled afternoon there while riding next to nothing :)
 
Indy said:
Six Flags Fiesta Texas is another that comes to mind. It's always been said to be one of the best Six Flags parks, but every visit I've had has left a lot to be desired. Rides are frequently closed, vehicles are often in poor shape
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The reason why rides are often closed and vehicles are damaged is due to the quarry wall and it's winds, it shuts down a lot of the park, especially wonder woman and superman
 
Efteling isn't a park for rollercoaster enthusiasts. It's a park for theme park enthusiasts, fairytale enthusiasts, music enthusiasts, dark ride enthusiasts, pancake enthusiasts. It's for people who love otherworldly stories and beautiful restricted colour palettes. If you cred run it, you won't enjoy it. If you want mega G force thrills, you won't enjoy it. That's not what Efteling is about - it's a subtle, romantic place, not an assault on the senses like most parks.

As for me, I also found Cedar Point a bit over rated (note: Steel Vengeance wasn't open when I visited.) I genuinely had a better time at Kings Island and enjoyed the atmosphere at KI much more. But I guess it's personal preference, and KI felt more expansive and theme parky, which I regard as more important than how many mediocre B+Ms are available to ride.

UK wise, I'd say Legoland Windsor. And as for Europe, I'm going to go with Tivoli Gardens.
 
Serena said:
Efteling isn't a park for rollercoaster enthusiasts. It's a park for theme park enthusiasts, fairytale enthusiasts, music enthusiasts, dark ride enthusiasts, pancake enthusiasts. It's for people who love otherworldly stories and beautiful restricted colour palettes. If you cred run it, you won't enjoy it. If you want mega G force thrills, you won't enjoy it. That's not what Efteling is about - it's a subtle, romantic place, not an assault on the senses like most parks.
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Sorry to go on a slight detour @Serena, but out of interest, would you say that Europa is like this as well?

I only ask because in spite of Europa's large quantity of coasters, including some rather thrilling ones that I'm pretty excited for, many have downplayed the park's rollercoaster selection to me and told me that the park's strength is more in its understated charm than its rollercoaster selection.

Sorry, only asking because I'm hopefully headed to Europa this year and trying to manage my expectations slightly...
 
Serena said:
And as for Europe, I'm going to go with Tivoli Gardens.
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I knew I liked you for a reason :p

Back to Europa - I'll admit that neither Blue Fire, Wodan nor Silver Star are anything world-beating, but to someone who's ridden less than 100 coasters, I'm prepared to bet they'll still be pretty special. (Hell, I've done over 500 and still have a lot of love for the first two). I said earlier than Phantasia is greater than the sum of its parts - the same is true of Europa. It may not necessarily have the best rides, but it's sure got the best overall experience.

But as we've all said a million times, stop worrying that your expectations might be too high, Europa is AMAZING :p
 
Matt N said:
Sorry to go on a slight detour @Serena, but out of interest, would you say that Europa is like this as well?

I only ask because in spite of Europa's large quantity of coasters, including some rather thrilling ones that I'm pretty excited for, many have downplayed the park's rollercoaster selection to me and told me that the park's strength is more in its understated charm than its rollercoaster selection.

Sorry, only asking because I'm headed to Europa in 2022 and trying to manage my expectations slightly...
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See, I actually do find Europa Park thrilling! Wodan is an absolute beast, you're going to love it! And Silver Star is still pretty massive with fantastic air time throughout. One of the best hypers, especially in the back row. Blue Fire has that breathtaking final inversion too. I don't understand why some people talk about Europa as if it's on the same thrill level as Paultons! 😅

I guess when compared to something like a Walibi park, Europa doesn't have things like drop towers, big flat rides, mad RMCs / Intamins etc. But when it comes to thrills, Europa is quality over quantity. The big 3 coasters will be hugely enjoyable :)

As a park, Europa doesn't have the same charm as Efteling for me.

Europa is quirky, fun, kinda wacky and varied. The areas in Europa Park vary from football themes, to Mercedes-Benz F1, to Russia, to Norse mythology, to the IP of Arthur...it's a really wide variety!

Efteling is like walking into a storybook. It's a really consistent park, the whole place has one particular enchanting feel, theme, colour palette and style of music throughout. All the areas and style of Efteling blend together well. It's a world full of characters. Everything, even the litter bins, is a character at Efteling (the bins speak when you put rubbish in them!)

The most Efteling-esque thing at Europa is Pirates in Batavia. But I would say that Europa overall is very different from Efteling as Europa is kinda like a patchwork of loads of different themes, brands and IPs. It's much more 'in-your-face' than Efteling!
 
So from what i've seen, the general consensus for being overrated is (not my opinion, just stating what's been said the most):
Efteling
Six Flags Parks
Dollywood
Thorpe Park
Walibi Parks
Europa Park
Alton Towers
Cedar Point
 
SkyrushSimp said:
So from what i've seen, the general consensus for being overrated is (not my opinion, just stating what's been said the most):
Efteling
Six Flags Parks
Dollywood
Thorpe Park
Walibi Parks
Europa Park
Alton Towers
Cedar Point
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To that end, there's a little of a pattern - one or two large crown-jewel coasters, yet disappointment in the rest of the park lineup. Arguably, that can be said for... well, nearly every park out there 😅, but interesting to see some of this consensus.

For myself? Unsure. I've been to plenty of underwhelming parks, but overrated would mean I went in with higher expectation. Maybe Dorney? First visited the park early in my "coaster career", and really went at the park with an attitude of grinding through all coasters. The downside was I was done with the park in a matter of hours, and realized I had only enjoyed two roller coasters along the way.
 
I guess the reason for most of those being overrated to some people is because a large number of people DO love then, and speak about them highly.
 
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