15 Theme Park Questions

[Spike]

I appear to be doing these topics a lot recently but I like the whole question style topics, gives boredom something to do I guess. So, away from the obvious Top 5 style questions, I thought I'd dig into the more uncommon style of themepark questions.

Don't worry if you can't answer them all, just answer what you can

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?

5.) Park with the worst staff?

6.) Park with the best staff?

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?

12.) Park with the worst operations?

13.) Park with the best operations?

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

 

[MakoMania]

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
I'm guessing you don't mean a roller coaster so I would have to say either Forbidden Journey or Journey to Atlantis (Orlando version)

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?
Dine with Shamu in Orlando.

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?
Hmmmm, SeaWorld maybe, not sure on this one, I'm really not a fussy eater

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?
Alton Towers Hotel as it is the only one I have stayed in!

5.) Park with the worst staff?
Flamingo Land

6.) Park with the best staff?
Disney Animal Kingdom maybe, SeaWorld not too far off.

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?
Blackpool Pleasure Beach

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?
Orlando Disney parks by far

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?
Shamu's Celebration: Light up the Night

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?
None really, I don't think I've ever hated a park that I've been to.

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?
SeaWorld Orlando

12.) Park with the worst operations?
Thorpe Park

13.) Park with the best operations?
Universal Orlando parks

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
Thorpe Park Fright Nights 2013, shortest queue was 90 mins I think.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
All of the behind the scenes/staff area experiences at SeaWorld Orlando, especially the Shark cage dive and getting to feed a resdued Manatee who had been hit by a boat. Looking forward to the same at SeaWorld San Antonio starting in 2 days

 

[Spike]

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
I'm guessing you don't mean a roller coaster so I would have to say either Forbidden Journey or Journey to Atlantis (Orlando version)

You can choose a coaster if you'd like

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
I find it tough to choose between Taron, but that's more the area that's stunning and Chiapas. I could just choose Phantasialand tbh lol

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?
Porterhouse steak at The Captains Finest Restaurant, Bell Rock Hotel Europa, stunning. Alton's Emperor Grill steak not far behind.

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?
Europa Park, hands down.

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?
Santa Isabel - Europa, again lol Simply amazing hotel.

5.) Park with the worst staff?
Drayton Manor

6.) Park with the best staff?
Surprise, surprise - Europa Park Wonderful staff and excellent customer service

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?
I would have to say Mandy Land™ (PBB) £22 on a peak weekend, food and drink are well priced as well.

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?
Alton Towers, shocking on the gate price, doughnuts and hotdog over £6 give over.

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?
I'm going to say Hot Ice Blackpool, Mandy may get a rough ride for things but her Hot Ice is usually always brilliant.

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?
Lightwater Valley

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?
Europa Park

12.) Park with the worst operations?
3 way tie for me - Drayton, Thorpe & Portaventura

13.) Park with the best operations?
Europa

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
Drayton Manor some years back, awful rude staff, serious health and safety breach.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
I'm going to sound like a broken record here but my Hopping Pass experience to Europa, BEST WEEK EVA!

 

[Rob]

I do love a good thread with questions like this!

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?

Hmmm, this is tough. I'm trying to think of the most complete thematic experience from entering the queue line to exiting the attraction. I'm tempted to go for Voletarium in terms of the off ride themed experience, but the fact that it is just a flying theatre means that I can't. I think I am going to go for Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It is a perfect and complete attraction.

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?

Oooh another tough one as I've enjoyed plenty of tasty theme park food. Things that stand out to me are the food at Mythos (Islands of Adventure), Smokehouse (Busch Gardens Williamsburg) and Schloss Balthasar (Europa-Park).

However I am going to go for my favourite theme park meal - the Rangers Best/Westernpfanne at Silver Lake Saloon, Europa-Park.

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?

Well this is easy, Europa-Park hands down with no questions asked. The choice from three course meals through to quick snacks is not beaten anywhere and the quality is top notch.

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?

Hotel Gold River at PortAventura is nice but let down by restuarants/bars. So I am going for Hotel El Andaluz at Europa-Park. Controversial possibly, I have also stayed in Hotel Colosseo, however the newly refurbished rooms (in 2014) of El Andaluz are just as good as those in Colosseo, Don Quichotte is a wonderful restuarant and Bar El Circo is such a nice place to relax.

5.) Park with the worst staff?

Walygator Parc, purely for coming up to our car on an April morning and telling us that the park was closed because it was too cold to run their rides (i.e. they just couldn't be bothered opening in the rain and had not completed winter maintenance). Pathetic! Special mention also goes to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

6.) Park with the best staff?

In terms of mixing good operations with a friendly attidude I think I'll have to go the the Walt Disney World theme parks.

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?

Phantasialand when visting with a Europa-Park annual pass!

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?

Well if you were paying full entry with current offerings then Alton Towers is up there. But from personal experience I'll probably go for single day entry to any Walt Disney World theme park.

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?

Horror on Ice at Europa-Park in 2014 - mental!

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?

Hmm, if I had to pick on then probably Pleasurewood Hills, it is pretty woeful!

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?

That I have already visited - Europa-Park.
That I am yet to visit - Disneyland, where it all began! Closely followed by Disney Sea and Cedar Point.

12.) Park with the worst operations?

Oooh so many strong contenders here! I'll go for Chessingon World of Adventures for their abysmal showing earlier this year. Special mentions to Thorpe Park, PortAventura, Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando.

13.) Park with the best operations?

Easy again - Europa-Park. Disney and Universal parks not too far behind though.

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

That Walygator Parc experience described above is not far off. There have also been some outstanding efforts from both Thorpe Park and Chessington to provide truly awful days out at a theme park. And it is Chessington World of Adventures that I am going for. It was at the TowersStreet South Meet in 2015, the park was so bad with broken rides and horrendous queues that we left the park to go to Legoland, but not before we stopped for lunch at the motorway services! Yes it was that bad.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

The stand outs here for me are the behind the scenes tours that I have experienced. Alton Towers provided a good one back in 2010 and both Europa-Park and Tripsdrill have given TowersStreet incredible tours!

However the winner for me is Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Myself and Russell visited back in 2011, a tour was not scheduled for the day of our visit however I emailed them a couple of months in advance and they very kindly put on an extra date for us. So we turned up at the park bright and early in the morning for our tour, and it turned out that it was just us two on it! We were outnumbered by our three guides and got to see behind the scenes on each coaster, including spending a good while atop Griffon's lift, and got a front and back row ride on each coaster with no queue (we were only meant to get ERT on two coasters). Nothing will ever top that!

 

[Ted]

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?

- It's either Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain (all Paris), Nemesis or Vampire.

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?

It was a meat buffet at Grona Lund if that counts

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?

Grona Lund again but I don't really eat that much when going to a park.

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?

I've only ever stayed in Splash Landings and hotel Santa Fe at DLP, the former was definitely better

5.) Park with the worst staff?

Drayton. Not that they're terrible, but a lot of them just look disinterested when I've been there.

6.) Park with the best staff?

Towers, Grona Lund or Liseberg.

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?

Probably Liseberg again since you can an unlimited wristband for about £40 and the park is open for about 11 hours

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?

Legoland Windsor.

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?

Don't really see a lot of shows tbh, did like the stunt show at Walt Disney Studios in Paris though.

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?

Tusenfryd. It's not terrible, but unless they get a new, interesting coaster, then there's no desire for me to go back to Norway just for it.

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?

Of the ones I've visited, Liseberg. Any theme park I'll pick King's Island (I like their ride line up and variety!)

12.) Park with the worst operations?

Tusenfryd

13.) Park with the best operations?

Of the ones I've visited it's gotta be Liseberg again.

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

Went I went to Thorpe in 2013 with my college, I didn't really wanna be there as I hated college at the time and just felt depressed. Had a panic attack on the day as well.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?

By far it has to be spending 11 hours at Grona Lund last year which included ERT on Jetline and Twister. Although my first visit to Towers in 2008 and a trip to Thorpe in 2005 were pretty good as well!

 

[Spike]

5.) Park with the worst staff?

Drayton. Not that they're terrible, but a lot of them just look disinterested when I've been there.

It's where Drayton "I hate my life" Manor comes from. I've witnessed staff standing underneath Apocalypse cars looking up at them as they drop and failing to move until the last second. A member of the Shockwave team actually crossed the track as the train entered the station barely missing the train and standing on the track to cross lol

 

[Towerslover]

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
Ratatouille - Walt disney studios Paris

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?
Rollercoaster restaurant (very nice burger!)

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?
Disney Land Parc Paris

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?
New York Hotel - Disneyland Paris

5.) Park with the worst staff?
Drayton Manor

6.) Park with the best staff?
Alton Towers

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?
Alton towers but only at scarefest !

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?
Drayton Manor

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?
Mickey and the Magician

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?
Gullibers Kingdom - Matlock

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?
Alton Towers

12.) Park with the worst operations?
Drayton Manor

13.) Park with the best operations?
Disneyland Paris (both parks)

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
A nasty fall near Galactica when I was very young

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
There isn't a stand out moment for me, just riding the rides really!

 

[ImagineerLM]

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
Tower of Terror / BTMRR / Pirates / Mystic Manor how can you chooose?!

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?
Normally just a quick service guy - so probably Walt's at DLP. The steak was delicious. Honourable mention to Food Loop for the funs.

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?
Europa Park

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?
Haven't really stayed in enough - but I'll say Pop Century because of the benefits it provides.

5.) Park with the worst staff?
Gardaland - just the operations are so slow. Soooooo slow.

6.) Park with the best staff?
Walt Disney World, no question.

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?
Europa Park or Liseberg.

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?
Thorpe Park / Alton Towers / Chessington

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?
I have a soft spot for Fantastic....although can we include parades? If so Spectromagic.

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?
Gardaland.

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?
As much as I love Europa Park it'll have to be the Magic Kingdom.

12.) Park with the worst operations?
Gardaland (see above...), with Thorpe a close 2nd.

13.) Park with the best operations?
Europa Park.

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
Thorpe Park during Halloween. Queues, downtime, poor operations, park looked messy.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
Probably my 3 months working at Disney World...followed by my 2 days in Europa Park just because it was incredible.

 

[Burbs]

Please bare in mind that I am not very well travelled at all, having only visited 4 theme parks outside of the UK at present.

1.) Best themed ride/attraction you have ridden?
Voletarium - The theming is simply delightful and really makes the ride!

2.) Best meal you've had at a theme park?
Restaurant Castillo, Europa-Park Hotel Castillo Alcazar

3.) Park you've visited with the best overall food?
Europa-Park - I mean... there are more eateries than rides so...

4.) The best theme park/amusement park hotel you've stayed in?
Having only stayed in Splash Landings at Alton Towers I can only say that one. Though I am inclined to say the stay at the Europa-Park Camp Resort was somewhat more pleasant. I certainly slept better with Silverstar a mere stone's throw away (with a very weak arm).

5.) Park with the worst staff?
Blackpool Pleasure Beach instantly springs to mind, though I can't really remember much about the staff from the likes of Drayton Manor.

6.) Park with the best staff?
Alton Towers staff have always really impressed me! Very friendly and never come across anyone rude or unprofessional. Whilst staff are typically better abroad (EP/Liseberg) with pushing throughputs, they can, in some circumstances, come across as rude because they are trying to move the queue along!

7.) Which park have you visited do you think offers the best value for money?
Either Blackpool Pleasure Beach when they do the £15 offer in February, or whatever it is now, or Fantasy Island when they have the £5 wristband weekends.

8.) Which offers the worst value for money?
Any of the UK Merlin parks if paying the advertised entrance price of £50+. The 241 offers are not too bad really and bring the price down to what you would expect to pay for a theme park. If I had to choose one, then I'd rather not give £50 to Thorpe or Chessington (can't decide between them) than not give £50 to Towers.

9.) What's the best park show you have seen?
I really enjoyed Sonata Delle Carte in the Italian theatre at Europa-Park. Interesting variety show and hilarious comedian who you can still find funny regardless of which language you speak! The venue is a delight as well, lovely little theatre.

10.) Which park would you happily never visit again?
Haha! Chessington probably. Been the once, grabbed the credits and the other rides that mildly interested me. Had a very funny day, but with an ever-ongoing severe lack of any investment that appeals to me, I'd happily give it the finger if I ever drove past it.

11.) If you could only visit one theme park in the world which would it be?
Europa-Park. Whilst I love a good rollercoaster (and EP has at least... 4), I would usually rather spend a few days at a park that offers absolutely everything (rides, entertainment, theming, atmosphere, food, efficiency) than a day doing nothing but riding roller coasters. I love how at EP you really could spend a day there without doing any rides and still have an amazing time. Europa just offers so much that you really could live there (if you were wealthy enough).

12.) Park with the worst operations?
Blackpool Pleasure Beach once again comes to mind, especially in February. Chessington was pretty dire too.

13.) Park with the best operations?
Europa-Park, but I must mention Liseberg too! Especially how fast the queue for Helix can move when on a 3 train service, and also the queue for Lisebergbanan.

14.) Worst experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
My first day at Disneyland Paris. Having performed with my brass band on the main castle stage (which was a fantastic experience), we then had to go back to the main entrance to regain entry to the park. This took us about an hour due to extremely heavy traffic and faff with our discounted tickets. It was an extremely hot day, every man, and indeed his dog, were there, and with the constant breaking down of rides (and rides under refurbishment) we only ended up getting on about 7 rides in a 13 hour day. Fortunately they gave us free VIP fastpasses for the second day on-park so we got on lots more then.

15.) The best experience you've had at a theme park/amusement park?
As wonderful as 3-days of free park entrance, fast passes and BTS tours at Liseberg were, getting a preview of Voletarium before it was open was absolutely incredible. Then the cherry on the cake was having royalty (Michael Mack) check our restraints, and sharing the ride with his son Paul Mack.