Most relaxed and most stressful theme parks

[Matt N]

Hi guys. I was reading a Merlin-bashing thread over on CoasterForce earlier, and I noticed a really interesting series of posts that a poster made in that particular thread talking about their recent trip to Alton Towers, in which they made numerous comments inferring that Alton Towers is not an especially relaxed park visit for them:

Like many of us on this site I'm quite anal and militant when visiting parks and I've never felt relaxed and not stressed when at Towers. Even this week when it was dead and I knew I had 2 days I was still in such a rush. I'm not like that at other parks, it's just a Towers thing.

My disappointment stems from the fact that Towers is never a chilled day.

The full series of posts I'm referring to begins here: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/wtf-merlin.38748/post-1132260

Their post really inspired me, and it got me thinking about some of the more relaxed and more stressful theme parks I've ever been to. So with that in mind, my question to you today is; what are the most relaxed and most stressful theme parks you've visited? What parks feel like a nice Sunday stroll, where you're as chilled as you can be? What parks feel really stressful to be in (for any reason)?

I'll get the ball rolling with my choices...

For most relaxed, I'm going with Paultons Park. We visited this park during the summer holidays, yet we surprisingly got on 14 rides within a park day of a little over 6 hours. And that was with at least 2 hours of that, possibly getting on for 2.5-3 hours, spent not riding anything; I can't remember exactly, but my photo history from the day suggests that we spent a good hour just aimlessly strolling about taking in the surroundings, we spent a good hour eating a sit-down meal in the Tornado Springs restaurant, and we probably spent another solid 30 minutes in downtime when you add on the good few minutes we spent having drinks and cakes outside Cobra while we watched the ride go round, as well as the stroll we had through the gardens later in the day. We got in a pretty incredible ride count (my second highest ever!), yet it never once felt like we were rushing; the whole park just felt so relaxed and stress-free to be in the whole time we were there!

For most stressful, I'm perhaps controversially going to go with Disney's Magic Kingdom. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely park, but I wouldn't say I felt overly relaxed in there at all. I can't pinpoint one particular thing that made me feel this way, but there were a number that could have contributed. The sheer crowd levels in the park made me feel pretty anxious; it feels like you're packed in there pretty tightly, and I felt like I had to remain hyper-aware of where I was stepping for the entire time I was there. Queues were sometimes pretty long (often approaching, or even at times exceeding, 2 hours), and I felt like I was slightly rushed trying to get on everything, although FastPass+ was admittedly a big help here. And something about the whole atmosphere made me feel a bit stressed, and I can't quite place my finger on what. For some reason, I'd also say that MK felt more stressful than even the other 3 Disney parks; I'm not even sure why, it just did for some reason.

But what are the most relaxed and most stressful theme parks you've visited?

 

[rob666]

Never had a stressful day at the Towers in thirty years.
Maybe on the M6 once in a while, but never at the Towers.
Your original poster is doing it all wrong, it is a place of fun and relaxation, not a ride count challenge.
Go off peak, avoid school holidays, avoid all "goals", have a fun day out.

 

[Benzin]

Go off peak, avoid school holidays...

Not everyone can do this though. Even then going off-peak often means far shorter opening hours, worse operations (not necessarily at Towers mind, they usually at least try to have 2 trains) or a limited number of places open (I.e. food).

Granted my trips these days are fairly streamlined as I end up in the RAP queues so the long queues dont affect me in the same manner as most on here (saying that, getting out of X-Sector with a wheelchairis incredibly stressful). But even then with the constant onslaught of upselling and overselling of Fastrack and the over abundance of RAP doesn't help. These problems are also not easily solved by going "off-peak".


In terms of an actual answer, Efteling, Europa and Dollywood all are relaxing. I think the general sizes and number of non-ride things to do always helps a park. Spreading out people and provides plenty of alternative activities if you don't fancy ride after ride after ride. Something lacking in the UK side of things.

 

[rob666]

"I'm quite anal and militant when visiting parks"..."never felt relaxed or not stressed at Towers"
Nothing like setting yourself targets and then getting angry when you miss them.
I just try and keep it as a fun hobby.
And on the days that I do the Towers, fasttrack and rap simply aren't an issue, it is that quiet.

 

[Ils]

I would tend to agree with Matt's picks. Paulton's was a breeze to get around and I think the laid back atmosphere is something that just helps create the parks flourishing reputation.

Mk is carnage end off. I have been there many times over the years but that last visit in 2019, I vowed never to step foot back into the park. The whole Orlando Disney experience is not relaxing from the previous fastpass selection process, reservation selection and now the decision whether you should fork out for Genie Plus, decide what day and when for each park...for this reason, I'm out!

I will add however, my own choices to each of the categories. We have always had a great and chilled time at DLP. We have visited the park in the middle of June on all three occasions and most of our days were in the week. Each time it was relaxing and allowed us to take in the Disney magic and feel like what I felt back in the early 90's in Orlando.

Then there is Flamingo Land. I have said it before on here but the day we spent at this park was just a shambles. Everything from Ride reliability, Fastpass purchases becoming a must because if you didn't you weren't getting on many rides and then the operations of those rides....any chance?

 

[D4n]

Alton Towers is most relaxing for me, probably just because I've visited so many times now. Not bothered at all what rides I get on just there for a nice chill day, food and a few drinks. There are always a few rides with short queues even on busy days. Europa Park also very chilled for the most part.

Agree with Magic Kingdom as one of the most stressful although Ferrari Land takes the biscuit ... if you can even call it a theme park. Busy busy busy and every activity with a huuuuuge queue plus short opening hours.

 

[Plastic Person]

Alton Towers is fairly chill for me too, but only by virtue of having already ridden pretty much everything as much as I'd have liked to. I think it could be fairly stressful if I was making a one-off visit at a busy time, although, the recent lengthening of opening hours has eased that. Thorpe Park used to be a nice place to visit in the 00s, but I have found my more recent visits to be fairly laborious. But then, I am getting old.

As mentioned above, the whole WDW experience now requires so much advanced planning that it's not appealing and Magic Kingdom in particular is never less than a zoo (ditto the always scorching Animal Kingdom, a literal zoo). The Californian resort is an easier ride in that regard, by far. Universal Hollywood is pretty stressful, too. Always busy, limited rides and full of tour groups with very little space to take a breath.

Europa Park is a breeze, especially for three days or therabouts on-site. And despite it's sometimes poor operations, I have enjoyed some lovely, lazy evenings at Portaventura.

 

[JAperson]

The way I see it, theme parks are not a place to get stressed, it's a time for relaxation and enjoyment. If you are getting continuedly stressed at theme parks you are doing it all wrong. I think @rob666 summed it up best.

 

[Benjsh]

Something I have noticed a lot when watching some of Shawn's TPWW vlogs. He seems to talk about time and how many rides he's got in during a certain amount of time like it's a military operation.

I don't get people like that. I like to go to a park and just unwind and enjoy myself. Going around stressing about time and coaster count seems very unusual to me. I don't think I will ever get that.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Something I have noticed a lot when watching some of Shawn's TPWW vlogs. He seems to talk about time and how many rides he's got in during a certain amount of time like it's a military operation.

I don't get people like that. I like to go to a park and just unwind and enjoy myself. Going around stressing about time and coaster count seems very unusual to me. I don't think I will ever get that.

I think Shawn just talks about time so you can get an idea of operations and what you might expect if you were to visit. He’s a theme park vlogger that isn’t afraid to cast a critical eye if need be so obviously he’s going to talk about queue times, operations, ride availability, value for money in terms of entry price and F&B, etc, because it helps the viewer make an informed decision on what parks to visit and what to expect there. Personally I appreciate that much more than a vlogger that doesn’t cover those things, and not like he’s a just a cred chaser, he’ll often take time out to watch and comment on things like shows and park transportation and transit, etc.

 

[Benjsh]

I think Shawn just talks about time so you can get an idea of operations and what you might expect if you were to visit. He’s a theme park vlogger that isn’t afraid to cast a critical eye if need be so obviously he’s going to talk about queue times, operations, ride availability, value for money in terms of entry price and F&B, etc, because it helps the viewer make an informed decision on what parks to visit and what to expect there. Personally I appreciate that much more than a vlogger that doesn’t cover those things, and not like he’s a just a cred chaser, he’ll often take time out to watch and comment on things like shows and park transportation and transit, etc.

Disagree. If you watch his American road trip he's constantly referring to making good time as they go from coaster to coaster. It's like he's got a schedule to keep. I just don't like like that. I'm more laid back.

Like I said it's only a minor thing and everyone is different.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Disagree. If you watch his American road trip he's constantly referring to making good time as they go from coaster to coaster. It's like he's got a schedule to keep. I just don't like like that. I'm more laid back.

Like I said it's only a minor thing and everyone is different.

Well to be fair he probably has got a schedule to keep! He packed a hell of a lot of stuff in to that trip, visiting a park each day and then doing small vlogs from other experiences and attractions in the evenings, and then there’d be the travelling between them. Of course he’d be trying to fit as much in as he could and commenting on things like queue times and how many rides he got in. It’s not like he’s there to just chill out in a park for a few days, it’s what he does trying to maximise each trip, he’s been zipping around the country recently.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skyscraper]

Have to admit that when I go to parks I am constantly checking both the time and ride queue times, because I like to get as much done as I can. That will be especially true at Thorpe in a few weeks, as I missed all of the big rides on my previous (and first) visit in 2013. At least being a smaller park should help, plus the closing time is 6pm.

 

[Austin Towers]

Most stressful- WDW- especially MK and HS.

Most relaxed- Busch Gardens Tampa.
Edit: My local, Tayto Park (soon to be renamed) is pretty easy going. There's not a lot to do for the thrill seeker though.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Chessington, especially on peak days can be quite stressful as the rides just don't have the throughput required for a park with that guest volume so you can easily find yourself waiting two hours for something 30+ years old while being bombarded with adverts (have they seriously not got anything better to show on those screens?)

 

[jon81uk]

I find frustrating things more stressful, so a queue moving slowly for no visible reason, or a packed food outlet with not enough tills open, or huge fast/track/pass queues causing the standby line to grind to a standstill.
I've had both stressful and relaxed days at the same park.
But I rarely go in with a plan of riding X number of rides. I might want to get on certain things, particularly at a park I've never been to and might not go to again.

I did Alton Towers plenty of times so never stressed about it as ridden most things many times and will do again. But someone coming from the USA for whats likely to be their one-and-only trip to AT might find it very stressful if queues are long.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

Paulton’s last year was probably my least stressful visit to a theme park. We had 2 days and got on everything we wanted to multiple times. I don’t think queues even reached an hour let alone went over, even in Tornado Springs. I remember times peaking at around 45 minutes. I felt truly spoilt especially as it was at a peak time. It was like going to a merlin park during off-peak. I guess that’s what happens when you have plenty of rides and things to do to manage the crowds.

My visit to Drayton last year (might have been year before I’m not sure now) was quite stressful. What didn’t help was that the park closed at 4pm, it was busy and queueing for food also took up a good chunk of time as the service was so slow. Hopefully the service will have improved if we decide to get food there on our next visit. I’d say I get more stressed on theme park visits due to things happening in the park like slow moving queues, slow food service, early closing times when it’s busy which compels you to feel rushed, rather than because I want to ‘do everything’.

 

[Pebbles]

I would tend to agree with Matt's picks. Paulton's was a breeze to get around and I think the laid back atmosphere is something that just helps create the parks flourishing reputation.

Mk is carnage end off. I have been there many times over the years but that last visit in 2019, I vowed never to step foot back into the park. The whole Orlando Disney experience is not relaxing from the previous fastpass selection process, reservation selection and now the decision whether you should fork out for Genie Plus, decide what day and when for each park...for this reason, I'm out!

I will add however, my own choices to each of the categories. We have always had a great and chilled time at DLP. We have visited the park in the middle of June on all three occasions and most of our days were in the week. Each time it was relaxing and allowed us to take in the Disney magic and feel like what I felt back in the early 90's in Orlando.

Then there is Flamingo Land. I have said it before on here but the day we spent at this park was just a shambles. Everything from Ride reliability, Fastpass purchases becoming a must because if you didn't you weren't getting on many rides and then the operations of those rides....any chance?

I agree with DLP, we normally visit in may/June avoiding French bank holidays, main park is open till 11pm and early evening the rides are quiet and it’s just chilled

 

[John_P]

I think visiting any theme park for the first time can be a bit stressful. Especially if in a foreign country.

Unsure of park layout
Anxiety of getting on everything you want
Worry the rides you want to get on go down that day, and tomorrow you'll be 100s of miles away.

 

[Skyscraper]

I think visiting any theme park for the first time can be a bit stressful. Especially if in a foreign country.

Unsure of park layout
Anxiety of getting on everything you want
Worry the rides you want to get on go down that day, and tomorrow you'll be 100s of miles away.

And the language barrier at foreign parks!