Do you value theming or ride hardware more in a park?

Hi guys. We all like different things in a theme park, but I’ve noticed that enthusiasts mostly seem to err on the side of one of two things that they particularly like in a theme park in general; theming or ride hardware. So my question to you today is; do you value theming or ride hardware more in a theme park? Or do you value a good blend of both?

Personally, I value a nice mix of both, and I think my top parks should reflect that. My current favourite theme park is Islands of Adventure, and I’d say that that’s because the theming is impeccable, but the ride lineup is also very good as well (I think I’ll like the lineup even more when I hopefully eventually revisit, as my last visit was before the additions of Hagrid’s and Velocicoaster!). It offers something for everyone, in my opinion; you’re covered whether you like theming or rides.

However, I admit that if I was forced to pick one, I’d probably pick hardware; I’m far more excited to visit a park like Cedar Point or Six Flags Magic Mountain than I am to visit a park like Tokyo DisneySea, for example. But I do really value a mix of both great theming and great hardware in my parks on the whole, and there are some themed parks that I really like; Epcot doesn’t have particularly smashing ride hardware, but the relaxed atmosphere and brilliant World Showcase put it at my #5 park!

But which one do you value more? Or do you value a nice blend of both, like me?

Both important to me but hardware probably edges it purely because we have successful amusement parks around the world which have little to no themeing.

Amazing themeing but boring cheap ride hardware wouldn't make for a successful park.

Depends on the park and particularly the price of admission.

If Disney or Universal didn't have the theming they do it would not be worth going, particularly Disney where you would then spend a lot of the day sat on a boat with nothing to look at.
Also of course at Disney fireworks, parades and shows make up a big part of the experience.

Benjsh said:

Amazing themeing but boring cheap ride hardware wouldn't make for a successful park.

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This follows my point above, the Magic Kingdom has a lot of really simple hardware, but it is the most visited park in the world due to the excellent theming. You can make a simple cheap boat ride fantastic through the right theming.

Matt N said:

Personally, I value a nice mix of both, and I think my top parks should reflect that. My current favourite theme park is Islands of Adventure, and I’d say that that’s because the theming is impeccable, but the ride lineup is also very good as well (I think I’ll like the lineup even more when I hopefully eventually revisit, as my last visit was before the additions of Hagrid’s and Velocicoaster!). It offers something for everyone, in my opinion; you’re covered whether you like theming or rides.

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I agree that IoA has a great balance of theming and hardware, potentially one of the best in the world for this, although I also think there are too many water rides.

Too many water rides in Florida? Hahahahaha. Is there such a thing?

Benjsh said:

Too many water rides in Florida? Hahahahaha. Is there such a thing?

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The humidity is often very high so its not always easy to dry yourself out. I've ridden Bluto's Barges and spent most of the afternoon with damp underwear. Now I stick to Jurassic Park and avoid Bluto's.

jon81uk said:

The humidity is often very high so its not always easy to dry yourself out. I've ridden Bluto's Barges and spent most of the afternoon with damp underwear. Now I stick to Jurassic Park and avoid Bluto's.

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That's all part of the fun. The water rides there are awesome.

Efteling for example have several meh but pretty rides.

Personally, I prefer hardware over themeing, and am not too fussed visit Disney either. Indeed, SFMM and Cedar Point are my top to visit in Americalandshire

Personally, I think IOA has a phenomenal water ride selection; easily my favourite of any park I've been to! I must confess to having never ridden Dudley Do-Right, but Jurassic Park strikes that sweet spot in terms of wetness for me and is just such a fantastic, feel-good water ride, and Popeye is just an absolute riot! They're easily my two favourite water rides!

Also, I would probably pick hardware if I had to pick between the two, come to think of it. An example I'll use of my experiences at a theme park that isn't really about really good ride hardware is the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Don't get me wrong, I had a really nice time at the Magic Kingdom, and it's a perfectly nice park, but I do think I was nowhere near as enamoured with it as I am with some other parks I've visited that have more exciting ride hardware to me as well as the theming & atmosphere. For that reason, I definitely prefer both of Universal's Florida theme parks to any of Disney's Florida theme parks, because they have the really cool, exciting rides as well as the great theming, and I actually think that I like some areas of Universal more than anything at Disney in terms of theme (Diagon Alley did more for me than any themed area of Disney, for example).

However, the reason I did not vote for hardware in the poll is because of one or two notable exceptions in my park rankings. The first exception is Epcot; on the face of it, it probably has the weakest ride lineup of any WDW park (that being said, Test Track was one of my favourite rides at WDW, and I did really like Frozen Ever After, as well), however I absolutely fell in love with it due to how lovely the theme & atmosphere were, especially in World Showcase, which I absolutely loved! Also, Busch Gardens Tampa has a fantastic ride lineup, but I wasn't as enamoured with it as I'd perhaps hoped I would be, and I can't quite put my finger on why.

Voted hardware as in the end of the day that's what I'm going to the parks for.

However more recently I'm enjoying theming more and more and loved Efteling and Toverland for how well they are both presented.

Cedar Point well I definitely went there for the hardware but I absolutely love the atmosphere of the frontier trail and town area. Just a great area to spend some time in.

I voted Hardware, the more thrilling the ride, the better. I prefer scary rides that makes my stomach go, but I also enjoy some of the tamer fun rides too.

However great themeing can also enhance a park, I do love Chessington, Disney and Efterling for their thememing, but the rides are a bit meh.

For me the hardware always wins over themeing, but I've yet to visit a themepark that have both great hardware and equally great thememing through out the park. Usually I tend to find the parks either have great hardware but meh themeing or amazing themeing but meh hardware.

They're not seperable when it comes to a real theme park. It's all part of a great ride experience, no riders seperate theming from the ride in their mind (unless it's really disjointed I guess)

You can get away with a cheap ride system behind the scenes if the overall experience is great. You can also get away with more expensive ride system and slightly cheaper effects (Arthur at Europa Park for example), it all depends on what the overall experience is like and how they work together

But if theme isn't the appeal of the park, and the theme is just there as a bit of identity and make the ride easier on the eye, then hardware is more important.

Two completely different appeals I think, although somewhere like Phantasialand really combines the two regularly —great thrilling rides with great theme

I’ve changed my answer and gone with ride hardware, after a bit of thought. Personally, I am far more excited to visit a park like Cedar Point or Six Flags Magic Mountain than Tokyo DisneySea; despite the theming of the latter looking breathtaking, it doesn’t really look to have any rides that really grab my attention besides potentially Journey to the Centre of the Earth; I’ve heard very good things about it, and it uses the same ride technology as Test Track, which I absolutely loved!

As much as I adore my very favourite park, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, because it blends the two phenomenally, in my opinion (I’d imagine even more so now due to additions made since my last visit in 2016!), I think if you look at the parks I really enjoy, then I think that on the whole, they do tend to have a really great ride selection. I admit, there are anomalies in my list (for example, Epcot is one of my top parks, and while it did have two standout attractions that I really loved in Test Track & Frozen Ever After, the park as a whole is not particularly ride-orientated. Busch Gardens Tampa has one of my favourite ride selections of any theme park I’ve been to, but does not rank that highly; I admit I’m not entirely sure why. I think that one definitely needs a revisit from me in the future! I admit I should perhaps rethink my park rankings a little, however...), but on the whole, I definitely think there is a correlation between ride selection and how much I like a park, whereas I don’t think the correlation is necessarily anywhere near as strong for me for theming. For me to rate a park really highly, I think a great ride selection that I really enjoy is almost essential, whereas I don’t think theming is essential for me to like a park.

I would go for ride hardware, but theming can most certainly make a pretty rubbish ride good if utilised properly.