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balrog

Mega Poster
From the Blue Fire hate thread, I discovered that many share my criticism toward Europa Park, which I would consider one of the blandest, least interesting park experience I can think of. I just cannot see the point of an uninspired Europe themed park placed at the freaking French-German border, 30 miles away from the European parliament.

I believe a good theme park should have an exotic feeling, whether by time, space travel or reality alteration/dystopia. And/or, it should be a real park, with luxurious vegetation, gorgeous landscaping and a predominance of vegetation over buildings.

I went to Europa park with really low expectations, and it ended up being slightly better than expected -mainly because Blue Fire and SilverStar where nowhere as useless as I thought - but I still think it is a really bland park, and I was really pissed of by the queue lines of both SiSta and Blue Fire. It ended up being one of my least favourite parks, while many consider it one of the best.

Which parks do you believe are usually overrated or do not deserve the attention it gets within the community ? What, in your opinion, makes a park good ?
 
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In a world of Six Flags and Cedar Fair you are being way too picky. Europa is at least a continuous theme, unlike thousands of "Theme Parks".
I expect you to be very disappointed in the years to come with other parks you visit.
 
DelPiero said:
In a world of Six Flags and Cedar Fair you are being way too picky. Europa is at least a continuous theme, unlike thousands of "Theme Parks".
I expect you to be very disappointed in the years to come with other parks you visit.
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Yeah, this. If you think Europa is lifeless then brace yourself. ;)
 
Where do you think the European Parliament is btw? Maybe your terrible geography is the reason you have such anger towards Europa Park...

Also, the areas of Europa are not themed to be like the actual real life places, but are based on myths, legends or stories from that place - unless Poseidon actually still minces round Greece next to a flying horse, Russia is still set in space or the Nordic countries are still watched over by Odin... you say it should have space travel and time travel but the park HAS rides themed to space travel and it has rides set in loads of different eras from Jurassic onwards!

Europa Park is also literally full of trees and plants, any more vegetation and you'd need to be Bear Grylls to get through the place!

I'd love to know what parks actually meet your insane criteria because it just seems like you're a very angry person.
 
Ben said:
Where do you think the European Parliament is btw? Maybe your terrible geography is the reason you have such anger towards Europa Park...
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In Strasbourg. And I'm not angry. I actually spent a real good day at Europa park. Still, there is not one element of theming that caught my attention (maybe Wodan's area and queue). Yes, there are plenty of historic theming. Maybe my post was a bit to quick about it. And yeah, there is vegetation, but you never feel surrounded / overwhelmed by it like in Bellewaerde or Port Aventura for example.

Also, why are you attacking me personally ? YOu don't agree with me ? Good, it means we can have an enriching conversation.
 
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Cedar Point is an obvious pick. Even tho I've been going for the better half of my entire life, most of us know it's not as good as some members of the hobby make it up to be. Also the coasters themselves really don't shine as bright, especially compare to others out there.
 
Keep on visiting a few more places so you can knock a ride for which you created a 'hate thread' out of your top ten.
Then tell us if Europa is still the least interesting park you can think of. It really isn't.

If you want dystopia in your parks, try something Merlin.
 
Wait ... I'm just saying I think it is overrated, like not the best park ever as many people say, not that it is the worst place in the world. And that thread is not supposed to focus about Europa Park, it is just one example I gave. It's not even in the thread's name !
Although you are right, I'm going to slightly edit some of the sentences of my first post as it is not the blandest, least interesting, but one of the blandest, least interesting parks I've been to.

Then again, I don't dislike that park - outside of the giant advert queue lines - I just don't really like it either.
 
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I know "Europa-Park is too mainsteam" is part of my channel signature, although it's more of a tongue-in-cheek comment at how many French GP see it as the most thrilling park ever. But even I feel you're being too harsh on EP! Try Walgator and Six Flags America for comparison...

Back on the general topic of overrated parks, I actually don't have one in mind. Nor do I really have an underrated one either. Most parks match my expectations based on what I've read around the forums. Energylandia exceeded my hopes, but very few people went there so far!
 
Sometimes, I think to myself, "KI is better than CP," and while that may be true in theming, I'd also say (Sorry Home Park), that CP is slightly overrated. I mean, yea, they have Millennium Force (once again, slightly overrated) and Maverick (Not overrated at all.), but I feel there's too many Kiddy areas (With too little Kiddy Coasters) and a handful of "Meh" coasters like Iron Dragon or Gemini (still both good), where at Kings Island, Most, if not All, coasters are great (-Vortex. It's meh). That, and the Theming on Mystic Timbers (Amazing theming) and Banshee (OK theming) compared to Gatekeeper (Keyholes are only theme) and Valravn (meh theming). It just gets a bit old with everyone saying, "oh CP is better than KI". And while on some days I might agree with that, other days I very much disagree.

And Yes, I went there.

Edit: I'm not saying CP is a bad park (Still my favorite), I just think people say that it's their number one just because it's Cedar Point. It's my favorite cause it's my home park and Maverick is what got me into roller coasters.
 
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Europa absolutely is overrated.

I don't understand their thematic choices at all.... "Hey let's theme this theme park in Europe to really normal European architecture!"

It doesn't matter how good it looks if it just looks like actual, real buildings down the road.

And, granted I went before Blue Fire, but whilst they have a LOT of rides... They're all a bit meh.

I appreciate that it is an exceptionally run park with outstanding infrastructure and operations and what not and I really want to go back and make sure I'm not being ridiculous, but it's just a bit dull imo.


And yeah, Cedar Point is my other choice. There's again a lot of mediocrity and blandness, no real umph or life. It too has outstanding operations (assuming it doesn't rain or even look like it might, when it becomes one of the worst operated parks in the western world), but the crowds and collection of just ok rides aren't anything to shout about. Visiting Magic Mountain really drives home how good Cedar Point could be if they just stepped outside their comfort zone more often. If Cedar Point had more Mavericks, it would be awesome.
 
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Only took me three scrolls to get to Cedar Point!

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Joey said:
And yeah, Cedar Point is my other choice. There's again a lot of mediocrity and blandness, no real umph or life. It too has outstanding operations (assuming it doesn't rain or even look like it might, when it becomes one of the worst operated parks in the western world), but the crowds and collection of just ok rides aren't anything to shout about. Visiting Magic Mountain really drives home how good Cedar Point could be if they just stepped outside their comfort zone more often. If Cedar Point had more Mavericks, it would be awesome.
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I sooo agree with that. Sometimes I'm jealous of some Six Flags parks.
 
Universal Studios Florida seems to be regarded as equal to if not better than Islands of Adventure which I highly disagree with. Other than Diagon Alley, there isn't much of note there. Transformers is Spiderman but worse. Gringotts is Forbidden Journey but boring. The theming can be good, but it is mostly dull other than a few key areas. Diagon Alley really does give it a ton (one of the best lands ever), but I think people ignore the huge flaws of the park overall.

Busch Gardens Tampa also was a lot more meh than I was expecting. Many people praise it, but it felt pretty average in most areas. I enjoyed the jungle themed areas (especially Kumba's area <3), but a lot of it felt bland. I felt this especially with Montu's area, which I really disliked.

Lastly, Tokyo Disneyland and California Adventure. Tokyo Disneyland is very nice and has incredible rides and maintenance. However, half of the park is incredibly bland, and it doesn't deserve the insane praise it gets in the Disney fan community (some people rate it 2nd best park behind Disneysea which is, just, wrong). California Adventure is turning into a great little park, but it's still lost in many areas. Hollywood Land really hurts the park since it is just a wreck of a land (GotG looks great, but it took away the only thematically proper attraction in the land). Paradise Pier is also looking pretty dated these days, and I don't think Pixar Pier will help any of this. If anything, it'll make the park worse. CA Adventure is praised so heavily, and I think people forget that CA Adv 1.0 is still right there in plain sight.
 
I don't understand their thematic choices at all.... "Hey let's theme this theme park in Europe to really normal European architecture!"

I guess non-European visitors are the minority, but normal European architecture is interesting to people such as myself.

In terms of overrated parks...Knoebels!
I'm sure everyone has been to a royal show/state fair/exhibition type thing. Thats how the park felt to me. Gravel walkways, flat rides plonked about, dated facilities (The swimming area looked like it was from 1950)

The coasters were "okay". Not bad by any means, but I don't think they stood out.

The haunted house which supposedly gets a lot of accolades felt no different to your usual amusement park ghost train.

The food was another thing people rave about...Yeah maybe...If you've never set foot outside PA / live off fastfood / never been to a good sit down restaurant.

But im not allowed to say any of this because it's an independent park. And there are parks that do the whole historical revival thing better anyway...Think Blackpool and Grona Lund for example.

The place is inexpensive though.
 
I'd agree that Europa is overrated - every ride there is just...meh? Maybe with the exception of blue fire. I enjoy it because it's huge and got tons to do and I enjoy the experience of just being in a theme park, but I'm definitely not in the 'best parks in the world' camp when it comes to Europa.

Tokyo Disneyland is my next pick. It's ****ing awful. It's ugly, it's crowded as hell, the rides are all either clones of stuff you've done before or weird versions of classics (Country Bears Vacation Jamboree, wtf?) Really didn't like this park.
 
Alton Towers is vastly overrated by many enthusiasts I reckon. I think the last few seasons has simmered down, but it used to always feature on people's 'must visit' parks for some reason. I do like Towers, but many people make it out to be the creme de la creme of parks, which it obviously isn't.
 
Please note I like all of these parks, but I feel they get a lot more hype than they deserve at times.

-Cedar Point
-Kings Island
-Canada's Wonderland
-SF Magic Mountain
-SF Great Adventure
-SF Great America
-Disneyland
-Magic Kingdom
-Busch Gardens Williamsburg
-Sea World Orlando
-Dollywood
-Holiday World
 
Gazza said:
In terms of overrated parks...Knoebels!
I'm sure everyone has been to a royal show/state fair/exhibition type thing. Thats how the park felt to me. Gravel walkways, flat rides plonked about, dated facilities (The swimming area looked like it was from 1950)

The coasters were "okay". Not bad by any means, but I don't think they stood out.

The haunted house which supposedly gets a lot of accolades felt no different to your usual amusement park ghost train.

The food was another thing people rave about...Yeah maybe...If you've never set foot outside PA / live off fastfood / never been to a good sit down restaurant.

But im not allowed to say any of this because it's an independent park. And there are parks that do the whole historical revival thing better anyway...Think Blackpool and Grona Lund for example.

The place is inexpensive though.
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Pretty much agree with all of this EXCEPT that none of the coasters are anything above OK, I think Phoenix isn't just good, but great.

Knoebles is great if you treat it for what it is, but it gets elevated beyond reason and that's the problem with stuff being overrated. That, I would say, is the very definition of being overrated - when it inhibits others enjoyment through misrepresentation of quality. Knoebles is the best park of it's kind and it is enjoyable in a very unique and special way, but objectively it's not even the best park in the state.

The problem is that the food and the rides and the atmosphere are great, but they're great in the context of what they are. I've never had better amusement park style food. I've never seen a better collection of old school amusement rides.

Their toilet facilities might well be the worst in the industry but I'll let them off because they are also in context. :p The doors on the stalls are about as concealing as a ribbon.


There are very few parks that live up to their high praise, but a tonne of underrated parks. And that's simply because it's easier to be good if there's no promise of quality. But I'd say that Alton Towers and Phantasialand are two parks who's hype meet expectation. Alton's been mentioned in here, but just because a park gets talked about a lot doesn't automatically make it overrated. Alton is on of the best parks in the world, that's why it gets talked about so much. It doesn't matter which way you slice Alton, it's great. Other parks get talked about a lot because they are under-visited or over-visited, others because they have an outstanding feature. Alton's not got a lot wrong with it, it's legendary because of that.
 
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Joey said:
Alton's been mentioned in here, but just because a park gets talked about a lot doesn't automatically make it overrated. Alton is on of the best parks in the world, that's why it gets talked about so much. It doesn't matter which way you slice Alton, it's great. Other parks get talked about a lot because they are under-visited or over-visited, others because they have an outstanding feature. Alton's not got a lot wrong with it, it's legendary because of that.
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Well, talk leads to hype which inevitably leads to disappointment for many people, although there are obviously many that love Towers too. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good but not great - definitely not in the same realm as Phantasialand. For a park to reach that kind of level, it needs to be constantly attentive and inventive (bonus points for rhyming?). Credit where credit is due, Towers at Scarefest certainly holds it's own. But that's because Scarefest is a chance for Merlin to pull out the polish and highlight the best bits of the park. Nemesis on a Scarefest night is almost another ride altogether. Towers of recent feels faded, with a ride line-up that keeps thinning out rather than bulking up. Compare that to what Phantasialand have done even since like Black Mamba. Taron, Raik (Klugheim in general), Chiapas, Talocan, Maus au Chocolat and we're already looking at F.L.Y coming for next season. This isn't just an ordinary list of rides either, these are all incredibly well thought out, world class experiences for guests, no expense spared in any way, shape or form. I'd love to give Towers the same credit, but unfortunately they rely on gimmicks and an admittedly beautiful setting which has been there since day 1. I would go into detail about catering and other elements of the park but I think it comparing Pizza Pasta Buffet to some of Phantasialand's authentic restaurants isn't necessary ;)
 
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