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Overrated parks

Chris Brown said:
One of my favourite parks in all honesty, cracking ride line up, great atmosphere, good opening times, great scenery and pleasant gardens (albeit no substantial themeing), amazing ride interaction, use of existing traditional architecture and an awesome location on a hill. Granted i was there on a gorgeous summers day until 11pm but that visit was enough to grant it at least top 10 in my European parks!
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My first visit was also during those wonderful 11pm summer closes (though I had rain for half of it!). And I want to like the park, and be able to enjoy it as much as others do, but it just didn't work for me. And I guess the most annoying thing about it is, I still don't really know why...
 
Not wrong in opinion, we're all entitled to those, just wrong in calling it out on here.
If you're gonna have a go at a good park, have a good reason to back it up.
 
Thing is, when nearly everyone in the community constantly goes on about how certain parks (a la Liseberg, Phantasia) are the best parks ever, you are probably naturally going to be a bit disappointed. Expectations will always go beyond the realistic when it's shoved down your throat constantly. We all have pretty wild imaginations, hence why we love these places, so sometimes when you constantly hear and read "best park ever" it's difficult to calibrate your own expectations realistically.

For example, before I rode Shambhala, I expected it to be some sort of outer-body, thrillgasm, way beyond the realms of any other coaster I'd experienced. I would be born again. So to be fair, I was a bit disappointed on my first few rides, same with Taron I guess. Once my pretty unrealistic, sky high expectations were popped, I was able to appreciate it's awesomeness for what it is.

It's sort of like having a massive obsession with some overly-photoshopped celebrity, only to realise they aren't absolute perfection in reality... but they still very attractive. Okay, I'm done talking ****.
 
Sandman said:
Okay, I'm done talking :emoji_poop:.
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I doubt it somehow ;)

But seriously, re Phantasialand. Even without the endless CF love for the last 18 months, I still don't think I'd have been blown away by the place. I kinda already knew that it just wouldn't be 'my kind of park', even before going.
I suppose if I'd been that keen to go there, I'd have gone sooner, but the fact is I just found other European parks more appealing.
Now that I have been there, I think my expectations were about right. Really good park (with one balls-to-the-wall thrill coaster, granted) but still not quite seeing what all the fuss is about.
 
To be honest, I think Efteling overshadowed Phantasialand during our trip and Phantasia is my favourite park. Although Taron ERT was the undoubted highlight, I think a lot of parks can feel completely different depending on when you go. It makes sense to me that some people view see Phantasialand as highly as others, but I guess as you say, it's mainly down to preference!
 
PortAventura is very over-rated. Yes the theming and entertainment is good, but the park lacks the major attractions to make it become a fantastic park. Shambhala is good, but you need to be in the back row with a loose restraint to get airtime. Furius Baco is under-rated and probably is my favourite launched coaster. However, the other coasters are simply alright, with Dragon Khan being very rough. Also, the staff are not the best, so PA just wasn't the great park I was expecting it to be.
 
Howie said:
I doubt it somehow ;)

But seriously, re Phantasialand. Even without the endless CF love for the last 18 months, I still don't think I'd have been blown away by the place. I kinda already knew that it just wouldn't be 'my kind of park', even before going.
I suppose if I'd been that keen to go there, I'd have gone sooner, but the fact is I just found other European parks more appealing.
Now that I have been there, I think my expectations were about right. Really good park (with one balls-to-the-wall thrill coaster, granted) but still not quite seeing what all the fuss is about.
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I don't see it either. And I was ON that C.F. trip where everyone was super hyped for Phantasialand. Genuinely spent the whole day feeling like there was something wrong with me for not being half as into it as the others!

Like, I totally get that 'on paper' Phantasialand is amazing. Everything is extensively themed, the ride hardware is all top notch. But it just doesn't have the magic for me. I've never really found the place to feel that immersive.

But given that I love sprawing, foresty parks with muted colour pallettes, it's pretty much a given that brash ol' Phantasialand is just not my kind of park.
 
Sandman said:
Thing is, when nearly everyone in the community constantly goes on about how certain parks (a la Liseberg, Phantasia) are the best parks ever, you are probably naturally going to be a bit disappointed. Expectations will always go beyond the realistic when it's shoved down your throat constantly. We all have pretty wild imaginations, hence why we love these places, so sometimes when you constantly hear and read "best park ever" it's difficult to calibrate your own expectations realistically.

For example, before I rode Shambhala, I expected it to be some sort of outer-body, thrillgasm, way beyond the realms of any other coaster I'd experienced. I would be born again. So to be fair, I was a bit disappointed on my first few rides, same with Taron I guess. Once my pretty unrealistic, sky high expectations were popped, I was able to appreciate it's awesomeness for what it is.

It's sort of like having a massive obsession with some overly-photoshopped celebrity, only to realise they aren't absolute perfection in reality... but they still very attractive. Okay, I'm done talking :emoji_poop:.
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Think this is a great point, as others have mentioned overrated doesn't mean bad. My favourite park is also the one that is the most overrated. I went to Cedar Point expecting to be blown away for it to be so much better than any other park I had been to that it wouldn't be close. It still edges out Kings Island as my favourite but to me it is like when a good boxer fights someone they should beat and they are taken the distance, it almost doesnt seem to matter that they won, it seems more important that they should have knocked them out in the earlier rounds

Rationally it will be my favourite for a long time but being honest I will always be that little bit disapointed with it
 
zazobo said:
it's funny you say that, I went to Phantasialand expecting to be disappointed because of all the hype- thinking 'how GOOD can this place really be?!'. As a result I was super impressed.

MIND GAMES.
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I had the same thought process with Kings Island as I went after Cedar Point and thought if Cedar Point isnt as good as I expected KI won't be, but it was better than expected
 
DelPiero said:
I'm really expecting to hate KI, would be nice if it surprised me.
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It's a really good park, has a bit of everything really especially with the big 4 which are well known, a great invert in Banshee a classic woodie and a modern woodie in the beast and MT and a great Hyper in Diamonback

Some of the other rides are good to add to the collection to such as the admittedly a bit rough indoor Launch ( flight of fear) and the flying dutchman ( Firehawk) with the really loud chain lift. Even some of the more maligned coasters I found all to be fun. Vortex has some charm, Invertigo was really fun and the bat was the best suspended I have ridden.
 
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