Having actively been travelling the world visiting theme parks for around fifteen years now, it's fair to say I've got quite a few theme parks ticked off of my bucket list. As I've visited more and more parks my theme park to-do list has ended up consisting more of parks that contain weird and wonderful unique attractions that I want to get out there and visit as opposed to the 'best theme parks in the world' anymore because I've largely ticked most of the big name parks off now. But there is something of a blessing and a curse with this hobby that means we end up suffering with a kind of Sisyphus Complex. For you see, much like poor Sisyphus whom we know was doomed to push a rock up a hill for all eternity only to have it roll down the other side one he reach the summit, collecting creds is an infinite and nigh on impossible task because those pesky park insist on continuing to build bigger and better rides year after year, meaning even once we've been to a park, after a few years pass with enough investment we soon find ourselves completely unfamiliar with the place and making plans to go back!
Because furlough has left me with a lot of time on my hands I've been thinking about what parks I'd like to revisit in the not-so-distant future and thought I'd share that with you guys today! Here's ten theme parks I would love to revisit!
I know I give Europa Park a bit of a hard time, but like I always mention I've never hated my time at this park. It's been five years now since I last visited the place and it seems like there's been a bunch of investment since then - you have huge new additions like Rulantica, the park's new water park which opened last year, as well as new lands like Ireland (complete with new cred, yay!), rethemes like the CanCan Coaster and new-to-me attractions like Voletarium.
Plus, I'm yet to experience a seasonal event at the park outside of Halloween so I'm pretty keen to get myself over there to experience what the park do for Christmas as it looks absolutely magical! There's so much new stuff that I can see the park feeling really fresh and exciting to me despite having visited a couple of times before so it's definitely one that's prime for a revisit for me!
The main reason I want to get back to this wonderful chocolatey park of dreams is of course to reride SkyRush to see how it holds up eight years and 600 new coasters later. When I first rode SkyRush it was like nothing else out there but I've since ridden similar coasters since so I'm very intrigued to see how it holds up against the likes of Maverick, Taron, Lightning Run....and pretty much every RMC going!
As well though, the park has two new coaster credits for me with Cocoa Cruiser (shameful kiddie cred) and Laff Track (slightly less shameful indoor family coaster). Alongside this the park are right this second nearing completion of a brand new entrance plaza plus what I'm sure will quickly become the park's flagship coaster Candymonium - a B&M hyper coaster! I feel like a lot of the park's classic amusement park charm with largely feel the same but the entrance and Candymonium are enough to make it feel like an entirely new experience and honestly after eight years before I was vlogging or really taking that many photos etc my memory of the place is a little fuzzy!
Visiting Dollywood for the first time in 2014 we made the mistake of only giving ourselves one day in the park before moving on with our trip, and it's definitely a place I knew as soon as I stepped foot into that I would have preferred to take at a slower pace. Alongside the coasters, there's so many shows and gorgeous areas to just wander around, delicious food to enjoy and so much more. Plus I'd love to spend more time around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg checking out those quirky attractions too.
Since visiting in 2014 the park have opened no less than three new coaster credits: two kiddie coasters in Whistle Punk Chaser and Dragonflier as well as the iconic RMC coaster Lightning Rod. Much like Hersheypark, my memories of Dollywood are an absolute blur. I vaguely remember bits here and there but because the whole day was a complete whirlwind of us realising there was too much here for one day and trying to cram in as much fun as possible I never really got the chance to take a step back and soak it all in.
I know I only went to Kennywood last year but hear me out. Firstly, due to some pretty major setbacks in their construction schedule Steel Curtain wasn't quite ready for us to ride when we visited the park (I think it actually opened like a week later or something, typical!) Sky Rocket was also SBNO for our visit which believe it or not it actually a kind of bucket list coaster of mine (I don't know why, I've just always been a bit obsessed with it!) Our day at the park was pretty cursed to be honest with you - the weather was atrocious leading to getting completely drenched TWICE on the coasters as we were caught in downpours, Chris was a tit and lost his phone on Phantom's Revenge meaning we had to spend part of our day faffing sorting that out and to top it all off the park ended up closing about six hours earlier than advertised due to the storms in the area.
What little we did get to enjoy of Kennywood I absolutely adored but it feels like a park I only got to experience a small sample of. The history of the place is amazing and the entire park is filled with gorgeous, classic rides. Despite getting all of the operating coasters ticked off we weren't able to re-ride anything and I'd have loved another go on Phantom's Revenge or Jack Rabbit in a non-soggy scenario. Plus we were spited out of Garfield's Nightmare and I NEED to experience it because it looks absolutely insane.
OK I'm cheating here since this is technically two parks but my god I absolutely loved my time at Tokyo Disney Resort. It will always hold a special place in my heart as it's where Conor proposed, but I do feel like when you visit somewhere as overwhelmingly amazing as TDR you need to make sure you have time to really take it all in and because of the size of the group we visited with first time round I feel like we maybe didn't have time to properly do that. I remember literally running through both parks at rope drop to try and make sure we got the Fast Passes we wanted and as much as that helped us it's obviously not the ideal way to enjoy a Disney park. I think going for the second time around won't have the same 'pressure' to enjoy everything that the first visit did.
Plus, there's so much new stuff happening! Beauty and the Beast dark ride, Baymax/Big Hero 6 ride, I didn't get to go on the Haunted Mansion as it was closed for its seasonal makeover. I also feel like there was a lot of Disney snack and food items we weren't aware of last time that we didn't get to experience. It's all little things like that that really make a Disney park trip for me so I'd love to go back and make sure we've got a ton of time to take things as a really leisurely pace and soak it all in!
We visited both Silver Dollar City and Dollywood on the same US road trip back in 2014 and I'd be lying if I said I could distinguish one from the other in my memory. Obviously the coasters I know which is which but anything in between my brain has meshed into one thing because they are extremely similar parks. I actually think I enjoy Silver Dollar City a little more than Dollywood but couldn't tell you that for sure!
Obviously since my last visit the park have introduced the spectacular looking Time Traveler, a Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster, which I'm dying to ride as it looks absolutely excellent! Plus, much like my thoughts on Dollywood, SDC is the type of park I'd love to just lazily wander round, taking in a coaster here and there whilst stopping occasionally and stuffing my face with delicious food. When we visited we had a looming threat of bad weather over us the whole day so we were constantly in a panic trying to tick off all of the creds and I think our general enjoyment of the park suffered a little because of that. I'd like to go back under much more relaxed circumstances for sure.
It's crazy for me to think that it's been over ten years since I last visited Djurs Sommerland and even crazier that the park have built five new coasters in that time! I adored this Danish family park when I visited with CoasterForce back in 2009 but I can imagine I would hardly recognise the place if I went back now! I would very much love to get back on Piraten to see how it has held up over the years and also I absolutely adored the very relaxed vibe of the park, being largely made up of sprawling grassy areas with trampolines, bounce cushions and bonfires when I last visited although I assume much of that has had to make way for the new coasters.
My reasons for revisiting Djurs Sommerland are purely out of intrigue as to how the place has changed to be honest! I had such strong, fond memories of the place I would love to see in person how it has gone from strength to strength. There's not any major thrill coasters that have been built that I'm dying to tick off of my bucket list but I am very keen to try the likes of Juvelen and DrageKongen as they just look like super fun thrilling but still family friendly coasters!
For all my not-so-great planning decisions of my trips of the past, Magic Mountain was one park I was certain would warrant two days and I'm so glad we made that decision as it meant a lot of time for us to take the park at a leisurely pace and reride where we wanted to. I remember absolutely loving Magic Mountain and feeling like it was actually a pretty pleasant park despite it getting a lot of stick online for being gross so I'd love to go back and see if I still adore it as much as I did back in 2012.
And of course in the eight years since I last visited there's been a buttload of new coasters including the RMC conversion of Colossus into Twisted Colossus, Premier SkyRocket coaster Full Throttle and the recently opened West Coast Racers. PLUS when we went in 2012 we suffered a pretty huge spite as Superman was closed, so I'm very interested to finally get on those legendary coasters to see how they ride for myself.
The main reason I'm keen to get back to Gardaland is to ride Oblivion: The Black Hole as it's the final European B&M coaster I need to tick off the list! Alongside that I remember having a great time in the park and it being one of Europe's biggest it's kind of a tragedy that I've only visited the one time. I absolutely adored Raptor when we visited in 2011 and I'd love to see the theming updated to Shaman and Sequoia Magic Loop in person as when we visited the park had only recently been acquired by Merlin so aside from the addition of Raptor the smaller changes hadn't really manifested just yet.
Gardaland is also another park that I don't have particularly vivid memories of. Again, I remember the specific coasters and how they rode but in terms of the park layout and general vibe of the place it's all a bit of a blur for me! I vaguely remember the pirate boat ride and the shooting dark ride but I've watched a few vlogs from the park recently and there's so much of the park that looks completely alien to me that I feel like it will be akin to visiting for the very first time again which is exciting!
Aside from Djurs Sommerland, Carowinds is the park on this list I feel has changed the most since I last visited. With the addition of just two coasters the park has gone from 'meh' regional Cedar Fair park to topping many an international coaster enthusiast's must-visit list. When I visited at the end of our 2014 US road trip it was a stupidly hot day and anybody who's visited a concrete-floored amusement park in sweltering heat knows that it's not the most comfortable of experiences. Plus we were exhausted from the rest of our amazing trip that despite the park not being the worst in the world, I feel like we weren't really in the best mood for it. Intimidator was a pretty good B&M hyper coaster but other than that there's nothing there I was dying to get back to reride.
But now with the likes of Fury325 and Copperhead Strike it's back up there as a park I'd love to get back to. It's interesting because both of those aforementioned coasters are types I don't particularly love. I thought Leviathan was pants and of the Mack launch coasters I've ridden only Helix is the exception to the rule of them being pretty bland coaster experiences in my opinion. BUT, the reputations of both of these coasters are through the roof so I'm not going to write them off just yet!
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An enthusiast's work is never done it seems! We're so lucky to be part of a hobby that's continually delivering new and exciting coasters for us to add to our must-ride lists and although I jest and roll my eyes about having to go back to these parks like it's some kind of chore I genuinely do relish the fact that the addition of a new coaster or major changes in park line-ups gives me the perfect excuse to go back somewhere I've been before.
What do you think of my list? What theme parks are you most keen to revisit that you've been to before? Let me know in the comments as I love chatting with you guys!
Talk later xoxo,
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