Worst parks in the US
- Thread starter CedarGardens
- Start date
I hate negative threads like this.... There is something enjoyable at any park that I've ever been to. There are some I'd rather go to than others, yes, but that's more of a "less good" than a "bad" thing.
Hard to rate worst without ability to go to many but I’ll say this:
I don’t understand the love and appeal for Knobles.
I don’t understand the love and appeal for Knobles.
Can't comprehend. Knoebels is such a great park. Easily a favorite. Also, this is easily a most-hated thread. Let it die. Which... I guess I didn't do! Just couldn't let a diss of Knoebels go.
Dude joined the forum and immediately chose violence
Maybe the right answer here is anything currently operated by The Slingshot Group?
And for the record, I agree wholeheartedly with @CoasterTalkBob on this topic in general. I've never hated a park in my life. Even my worst experiences at parks tend to be full of redeeming aspects that I take joy in.
I think, in theory, it may be possible that a park could be bad enough to actually make me hate it, but after visiting more than 50 different parks, I have yet to find an example of that myself.
And for the record, I agree wholeheartedly with @CoasterTalkBob on this topic in general. I've never hated a park in my life. Even my worst experiences at parks tend to be full of redeeming aspects that I take joy in.
I think, in theory, it may be possible that a park could be bad enough to actually make me hate it, but after visiting more than 50 different parks, I have yet to find an example of that myself.
I agree that this thread is in bad taste and when discussing parks we should only offer constructive criticism.
Having said that I think the one park(s) I would never go back to is Disneyworld. Getting stuck on Splash Mountain for an hour was unnerving - listening to that music and watching the animatronics over and over still gives me nightmares. Parts of it didn't have any water and we were just rolling on the track and bumping into other boats. The attendants were very rude to us when they walked us off the ride and one of them got angry and started yelling when I started taking pictures of the backlot. Then they gave us just one fast pass ticket for our inconvenience. I tried to use it at Epcot Center later in the day (We had park hopper passes) and the attendant said it was only good for Magic Kingdom and got real nasty about it saying it's not his problem Magic Kingdom had a ride break down. Didn't make any sense to me since both parks are part of Disney hell (and the tickets cost a small fortune). Not to mention the parks were hot, crowded and some of the people were incredibly rude (it wasn't even summer yet!). The bus system to get around to the other parks was also terrible though I still love the monorail between MK and Epcot.
By the third day I was done with it and looking so forward to getting back to BGW.
Having said that I think the one park(s) I would never go back to is Disneyworld. Getting stuck on Splash Mountain for an hour was unnerving - listening to that music and watching the animatronics over and over still gives me nightmares. Parts of it didn't have any water and we were just rolling on the track and bumping into other boats. The attendants were very rude to us when they walked us off the ride and one of them got angry and started yelling when I started taking pictures of the backlot. Then they gave us just one fast pass ticket for our inconvenience. I tried to use it at Epcot Center later in the day (We had park hopper passes) and the attendant said it was only good for Magic Kingdom and got real nasty about it saying it's not his problem Magic Kingdom had a ride break down. Didn't make any sense to me since both parks are part of Disney hell (and the tickets cost a small fortune). Not to mention the parks were hot, crowded and some of the people were incredibly rude (it wasn't even summer yet!). The bus system to get around to the other parks was also terrible though I still love the monorail between MK and Epcot.
By the third day I was done with it and looking so forward to getting back to BGW.
You know, there aren’t many parks on my dislike list, but all 3 of my visits to Six Flags Over Georgia just weren’t great at all. I’ve had much better experiences at every other Six Flags park and somehow always leave Over Georgia disappointed with something.
I 100% defend Knoebels. What a charming little park. Awesome food, awesome rides, and awesome prices. Can’t beat it!
I 100% defend Knoebels. What a charming little park. Awesome food, awesome rides, and awesome prices. Can’t beat it!
I still had a good time, but Mt. Olympus is probably the only park I've visited that I'd say borders on being a "bad" park.
Some of the main issues with the park:
Don't get me wrong, I still had a lot of fun. Hades 360 definitely deserves more attention than it gets, and although they were rough, the other wooden coasters were all solid. And the outdoor waterpark is fantastic, with a huge collection of enormous slides, the biggest water play fort I've ever seen, and one of those insane wave pools with 10-foot waves. I just wish the park had owners who cared more about taking care of the park and boosting the park experience, because the park's coasters and the theme that its name inspires have so much more potential than it's currently living up to.
Some of the main issues with the park:
- Terrible operations. Every coaster operated with only one train, and ops wouldn't let the train go until the entire train was full. A walk-on ride for Hades 360 easily took 15 minutes or so. Plus, none of the major coasters were operating when the park first opened for the day.
- Non-existent atmosphere. The "Mt. Olympus" theming starts and ends with the attractions' names, plus a cheap facade in front of the park's larger central gift shop building that looked like part a strip mall. Otherwise, the entire park consisted of confusing narrow walkways through a maze of chain link fences and large expanses of bare concrete. Such a missed opportunity to do something with that theme.
- Poor maintenance. All of the wooden coasters except for Hades 360 were super rough, and not in a fun way like Grizzly, but just in a way that the trains felt misaligned and the track riddled with potholes. The park itself was also pretty dirty and looked somewhat neglected.
- Ridiculous mis-marketing. The park labels itself as four parks in one, but only the outdoor amusement park and water park should really be considered parks. The "indoor amusement park" is literally an arcade in a small, dingy warehouse with a few tiny kiddie rides, and the "indoor waterpark" was literally a hotel pool with a water slide.
- Weak supporting lineup. Outside of the three main wooden coasters, the dry park is basically an FEC. The go-karts were good, but that's about it. (That said, the water park has a fantastic collection.)
Don't get me wrong, I still had a lot of fun. Hades 360 definitely deserves more attention than it gets, and although they were rough, the other wooden coasters were all solid. And the outdoor waterpark is fantastic, with a huge collection of enormous slides, the biggest water play fort I've ever seen, and one of those insane wave pools with 10-foot waves. I just wish the park had owners who cared more about taking care of the park and boosting the park experience, because the park's coasters and the theme that its name inspires have so much more potential than it's currently living up to.
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Based on other threads I half expected to open this thread and see a bunch of BGW responses since there are times that I think many members can't find one thing they like about the park.
On a serious note I also agree with @CoasterTalkBob and @Zachary. I have only in my adult life visited 5 big ones including one that is not highly regarded by many but despite a bad visit here or there I have not been to one that I haven't enjoyed enough to want to revisit.
On a serious note I also agree with @CoasterTalkBob and @Zachary. I have only in my adult life visited 5 big ones including one that is not highly regarded by many but despite a bad visit here or there I have not been to one that I haven't enjoyed enough to want to revisit.
I think they’re very good and I’m looking forward to going back… but being a local who got to go a ton, they because very overrated to me when everyone started going. I enjoyed my Dorney, SFGAdv, and Kennywood visits much more at that point.
Hershey’s “problem” is it’s a much nicer experience than its regional competitors, so it draws just about anyone within driving distance, even though other parks are nearer. If, for example, Six Flags ran a good operation, I think you’d see more manageable crowds at Hershey.
Don't stress about it. There's definitely negativity disguised as sarcasm here, but it's not like a topic about your worst experiences is an inherently bad thing. I do appreciate you're making the flipside topics though. I like those more. 😀
There is a difference between negativity expressed in the course of conversation and a thread specifically predicated on sneering at at things. To be clear, I agree that there are more unpleasant posts throughout the Forum than I would prefer, and certain easily identified repeat offenders. But dedicating an entire thread to arguing over which is the worst example of X is the kind of content that gives PFN a bad reputation. It also seems like the action of someone who needs to put down others to feel good about his or herself.
I have yet to have a bad experience at SFGAdv, assuming that's what you're talking about. I have enjoyed it a lot every time and one time was probably my best experience at any park (being able to marathon El Toro without getting off and in beautiful weather definitely helps)! Maybe I pick the right days to go. I certainly try to. That day was a bonus day at the end of the regular season pre-covid, with unexpected beautiful weather and a small crowd. Kingda Ka also ran all day and had a very short line, as did everything. It was amazing!
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