Theme Park Tier List - 2017

[Sandman]

Simple idea inspired by various tier lists I have seen across Facebook. Thought it'd be good to try it with theme parks although I imagine something similar has already been done. Could be fun to do this annually to see how parks shift up and down people's lists depending on investments and other changes. I'm not going to rate every single park I've been to, just the parks that I think fit well into each category. Feel free to copy and paste the format.

GOD TIER
Phantasialand

TOP TIER
Alton Towers
Parc Asterix
PortAventura

DECENT TIER
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Parque Warner Madrid
Plopsaland De Panne
Thorpe Park
Tivoli Gardens
Toverland

MID TIER
Chessington World of Adventures
Drayton Manor
Flamingoland
Walibi Belgium

MEH TIER
Bakken
Fantasy Island

LOW TIER
Lightwater Valley
Pleasureland Southport

VILE TIER
Barry Island Pleasure Park
M&D's Scotland
​

 

[ThomVD]

Tivoli in the same tier as Thorpe and BPB? Ewwww Tivoli is clearly top tier imo.

 

[Sandman]

^ Both those parks have their qualities. Aside from Rutschebanen I think Thorpe knocks Tivoli out the water with coaster selection. Tivoli is a beautiful park which isn't entirely focussed on rides, instead it proudly promotes it's heritage and delves more towards other sources of pleasure (live shows, nice restaurants etc) BPB is somewhat at a cross section between Tivoli and Thorpe, it's history should definitely not be overlooked, nor should it's unique selection of coasters.

 

[ThomVD]

I agree Tivoli lacks in the coaster department (I like both Daemonen and Rutschebanen though), but I don't think Thorpe has a particularly great selection either. Tivoli has a much better flat collection though. Vertigo is far better than any ride in Thorpe.

And then there's the park itself. I find Tivoli one of the most atmospheric and most beautiful parks in Europe. It's a joy to just walk around the place. Thorpe is as bland as parks get. BPB has a cool location and decent atmosphere but is far from great as well. To me Tivoli is miles above those two parks in most ways.

 

[Sandman]

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Tivoli but if I want a day of coasters, I'd still pick Thorpe over it. I'd still say Thorpe has the better flats although Tivoli has the best flat of the 2. Tivoli isn't really a park for a day of heavy riding, personally I find it more of a casual evening park. Nip in late afternoon and see it through to close, get a nice meal, have a couple of rides and enjoy the atmosphere. Of course it's atmosphere is far superior to Thorpe's, but Thorpe is still somewhere I'd go if I want to just slog it out on rides.

BPB doesn't have amazing coasters either, but it's coasters aren't all total garbage to me. It just needs the resurgence of some good modern rides and more creative visual elements to bring the park back to it's best. Visit during the Blackpool Illuminations. The history is something that has always been important to me, it's so rich and packed with culturally significant moments that I'm surprised more people don't research it. I have several books on British architecture, music and entertainment and nearly all of them reference Blackpool Pleasure Beach in one way or another. I just think people focus too much on how the coasters ride. Anyway, I anticipate your list now

 

[ThomVD]

I think you're making fair arguments, but I just have to disagree with the flat collection. On paper Thorpe's is great yeah, but in reality... Slammer is always closed and gone now. Rush has half the cycle length of other (already very short) screaming swings. The afterburner is the worst one I've done and I've done a fair few. The enterprise made it to a 45° degree angle and then already started going down again. What's left? A drop tower that is good for its size but hardly remarkable and a pretty standard top scan. I think Tivoli has a lot more quality. Vertigo is immense and I loved the inverted flying carpet, star flyer (view over Copenhagen) and air race.

Anyway, I'll fill in the list with some parks.

GOD TIER
Phantasialand
Efteling
Liseberg
Gröna Lund

TOP TIER
Alton Towers
Europa Park
Tivoli Gardens
PortAventura
Tripsdrill

DECENT TIER
Chessington: WoA
Plopsaland De Panne
Toverland
Djurs Sommerland
Power Park

MID TIER
Walibi Holland
Linnanmäki
Thorpe Park
Familypark (Neusiedlersee)
Tibidabo


MEH TIER
Movie Park Germany
Drayton Manor
Skara Sommerland
Hellendoorn

LOW TIER
Slagharen
Tivoli Friheden
Walygator Parc


VILE TIER
Bobbejaanland​

 

[Sandman]

^ I'm curious as to why you put Grona in God Tier. Never visited myself, but for you, what puts it up there amongst the likes of Phantasialand & Liseberg?

 

[TMCoasters]

God Tier: Cedar Point, Hersheypark, Lake Compounce
Top Tier: Six Flags New England, Knoebels
Decent Tier: Six Flags Great Adventure
Meh Tier: Canobie Lake Park
Low Tier: Sea World San Antonio

 

[Edward M]

Let's get some Disney park love here.

GOD TIER
Tokyo Disneysea
Disneyland

TOP TIER
Animal Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Tokyo Disneyland
Islands of Adventure
Epcot
Disney California Adventure
Silver Dollar City
Cedar Point

DECENT TIER
Universal Studios Hollywood
Six Flags Great Adventure
Knott's
Port Aventura
Dollywood
Universal Studios Florida
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Alabama Adventure
DHS
Busch Gardens Tampa
Six Flags Over Texas
Seaworld Orlando
Tobu Zoo Park

MID TIER
Kings Island
Six Flags St. Louis
Six Flags Over Georgia
Kings Dominion
Thorpe Park
Six Flags Magic Mountain

MEH TIER
Worlds of Fun
Lake Compounce
Six Flags New England

LOW TIER
Carowinds

VILE TIER
Luna Park, Coney Island
Magic Springs​

 

[ThomVD]

^ I'm curious as to why you put Grona in God Tier. Never visited myself, but for you, what puts it up there amongst the likes of Phantasialand & Liseberg?

Maybe "objectively" the park isn't as good as those two, but I feel that it's the most special park I've been to. Sure, it's small and lacks a world class coaster, but every coaster there is loads of fun and re-ridable. The flat ride collection is amazing and their funhouse and ghost train are great. I've spent about 5 full days there over the past four years and never gotten bored at all.

Then there's the atmosphere, which is unlike any other park. It's so lively, chaotic in the best way and vibrant. Especially at night with everything gorgeously lit up, a concert going on, all the rides passing by, it's just magical. The location is AMAZING. I love how you can get to the park by ferry and all the rides have a great view over Stockholm. The staff is by far the friendliest of any park I've been to. They truly seem to enjoy working at the park and go out of their way to give the guests a great time. Operations are excellent and there are hardly any queues so you can just hop on every ride quickly.

I just have the fondest memories of the park. Beautiful sunny summer afternoons/evenings with some of my best friends and pure joy. I don't expect people to understand, but for me it's my fave park. I guess it's a bit like Tivoli but with better rides, a more special location and even better atmosphere.

 

[TilenB]

I think you're making fair arguments, but I just have to disagree with the flat collection. On paper Thorpe's is great yeah, but in reality... Slammer is always closed and gone now. Rush has half the cycle length of other (already very short) screaming swings. The afterburner is the worst one I've done and I've done a fair few. The enterprise made it to a 45° degree angle and then already started going down again. What's left? A drop tower that is good for its size but hardly remarkable and a pretty standard top scan. I think Tivoli has a lot more quality. Vertigo is immense and I loved the inverted flying carpet, star flyer (view over Copenhagen) and air race.

Anyway, I'll fill in the list with some parks.

GOD TIER
Phantasialand
Efteling
Liseberg
Gröna Lund

TOP TIER
Alton Towers
Europa Park
Tivoli Gardens
PortAventura
Tripsdrill

DECENT TIER
Chessington: WoA
Plopsaland De Panne
Toverland
Djurs Sommerland
Power Park

MID TIER
Walibi Holland
Linnanmäki
Thorpe Park
Familypark (Neusiedlersee)
Tibidabo


MEH TIER
Movie Park Germany
Drayton Manor
Skara Sommerland
Hellendoorn

LOW TIER
Slagharen
Tivoli Friheden
Walygator Parc


VILE TIER
Bobbejaanland​

Breh, you forgot Faarup...

GOD TIER
Europa Park
Phantasialand

TOP TIER
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Tripsdrill
Mirabilandia
Efteling
Toverland

DECENT TIER
Ferrari World
Familypark Neusiedlersee
Tibidabo
Walibi Holland
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

MID TIER
Dreamworld
Sea World
Walibi Belgium
Plopsa Coo
Holiday Park Germany
Gardaland
Alton Towers
Thorpe Park
Busch Gardens Tampa

MEH TIER
Luna Park Sydney
Wiener Prater
Plopsaland De Panne
Disneyland Paris (both parks)
Movie Park Germany
Hellendoorn
Drievliet
Universal Studios Hollywood

LOW TIER
Warner Bros. Movie World
Bobbejaanland
Tivoli Friheden
Slagharen
Duinrell
PortAventura

VILE TIER

 

[seamaur]

GOD TIER
Dollywood

TOP TIER
Hersheypark
Cedar Point
Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great America

DECENT TIER
Six Flags St. Louis
Kennywood
Kings Island
Holiday World

MID TIER
Beech Bend
Valleyfair
Indiana Beach
Kentucky Kingdom

MEH TIER
Nickelodeon Universe
Coney Island (Ohio)

LOW TIER
Little Amerricka
Bay Beach
Mount Olympus

VILE TIER
Six Flags America
Timber Falls