Europa Park vs Cedar Point; Battle of the Golden Ticket Award winners for "Best Theme Park"

[Matt N]

Hi guys. In recent memory, two (as far as I'm aware) theme parks have won the Golden Ticket Award for Best Theme Park in the World. They're two pretty different theme parks, but they share the award in common, and they are Europa Park in Germany and Cedar Point in the USA (or Ohio, to be more precise). So my question to you today is; which of these two GTA winners do you prefer?

I obviously can't pass judgement, having never visited Cedar Point. For what it's worth, though, I have visited Europa Park, and I have to say that I think the park is more than deserving of its high reputation; it's unbelievably versatile! You have awesome coasters (for me at least; Silver Star and Wodan are in my top 3, and while it's not quite on the same level, Blue Fire ranks pretty highly for me as well!), but you also have all the strengths of a themed park as well, with a wonderful selection of dark rides, impeccable theming & presentation and a lovely atmosphere throughout! I certainly don't see Cedar Point being versatile in quite the same way (although as I said, I haven't visited), but being a pretty big coaster enthusiast at heart, Cedar Point's coasters could be so awesome that it would be enough to tip the balance... I really wouldn't like to pass judgement, and that's exactly why I never like to vote conclusively on these polls unless I've visited both parks or ridden both attractions!

I was actually spurred to do this poll when I stumbled across this (now rather old) park battle by Coaster Studios on the matter:

CS' battle saw Cedar Point come out on top by a pretty long way, although Taylor himself admits that his battle method is quite heavily centred towards thrill rides.

But does Europa Park or Cedar Point come on top for you out of the GTA winners?

 

[Danny]

It's a two-sided coin. Europa Park has the best theming. Cedar Point has the best coasters. As the award says best "theme" park, however, then Europa deserves it.

 

[Skyscraper]

As the award says best "theme" park, however, then Europa deserves it.

I was thinking the same, CP is an amusement park!

 

[Danny]

The question is for how much longer. Cedar Fair has clearly proven in recent years that they are capable of delivering themed products (the new jungle area at KD has had rave reviews for the theming, and I thought CHS at Carowinds was a great overall package).

They certainly do theming better than other amusements parks ALA Pleasure Beach, for instance. Plus with Six Flags seemingly stepping up their storytelling and theming with Dr Diabolical, there's every possibility Cedar Point could morph into a greater themed environment over the coming years.

Obviously nowhere near the extent of EP, but the point still stands.

 

[John_P]

I voted for Europa Park

Europa Park is the best theme park, you could easily spend days there watching shows and taking it all in before thinking about going on a ride.

Cedar Point is the best amusement park. Whilst they aren't home to the most coasters anymore, the actual quality of the ride hardware and the depth chart that gives them is unrivalled.
Be interesting to see what they do next following the adventure island stuff and snake river expedition which are both actor heavy family experiences.

 

[venny]

I think if you want to measure purely based on rollercoasters then CP would win, however I’d argue not by as much as you’d expect. There are some distinctly average versions of coasters at CP, with a couple of standouts. Europa obviously has very few world class coasters, although there’s an argument that Wodan and Arthur are up there for their ride types.

That said, by pretty much every other metric outside coasters and thrill flat rides, Europa is superior. And by quite some distance. Themed environments, shows, food and beverage, hotels, dark rides, operations, family attractions, resort offerings, events… they are all streets ahead.

Despite the arbitrary allocation of points on a YouTube video, Europa is by far the best overall park.