Rank the Central Florida theme parks

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Of all the places in the world, Central Florida in the USA is arguably the theme park capital of the world. With Disney and Universal both operating their flagship multi-park resorts in the area, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens both having parks there, and other operators like Fun Spot and Merlin also maintaining a presence, theme park enthusiasts really are spoilt for choice in Central Florida! I've been to the region 5 times myself, with my first visit being in 2012 and my most recent being in 2023, and I absolutely love it out there! With this in mind, I'd be interested to know; how would you rank the various theme parks in Central Florida? Out of the smorgasbord of Florida theme parks, which one is your favourite?

I was inspired to make this thread by my uncle, aunt and cousins, who are coming to the end of their first ever trip to Florida. They've visited all 4 Disney parks and both Universal parks, and when my dad asked his brother whether they preferred Disney or Universal, he apparently said that "the rides are better at Universal, but you can't beat the overall experience of Disney"!

I'll get the ball rolling with my own personal ranking. Out of the area's theme parks, I've been to all 4 Disney parks, both Universal parks, SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa and Fun Spot Kissimmee, with the only notable ones I haven't been to being Legoland Florida (and by extension the adjoining Peppa Pig Theme Park) and Fun Spot Orlando. My most recent visit to the Universal parks, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens was in 2023, while my most recent visit to the Disney parks and Fun Spot Kissimmee was in 2019. With all of this in mind, my personal ranking is as follows:

1. Universal's Islands of Adventure - IOA just had to come out on top for me! I find that the park just ticks all of the boxes, combining an awesome ride lineup with wonderful theming and atmosphere! In terms of the rides, the park simply fires on all cylinders, with two top-class coasters in VelociCoaster and Hagrid's, two top-class dark rides in Spider-Man and Skull Island: Reign of Kong and a top-class water ride in Jurassic Park River Adventure, amongst numerous other headliners! The theming in the park is also nothing shy of wonderful; ornately crafted areas like Hogsmeade, Jurassic Park, the Lost Continent and Toon Lagoon are wonderfully immersive, packed with detail and make the park a lovely place to be in and exist in. On the whole, I just absolutely love Islands of Adventure, and I feel that the park ticks every box you could possibly ask for from a theme park; it definitely earns its top spot and its place as one of my favourite theme parks in the world!
2. Universal Studios Florida - Universal Studios Florida is often maligned, but I find it to be hitting at nearly the same high level as IOA, personally! The park has some brilliant headline attractions, with Revenge of the Mummy, Gringotts and Transformers all being excellent, in my view, and there's a wide range of other things to do at the park rides-wise, albeit many of them are simulators. The park also has some excellent theming, with Diagon Alley and Springfield, as well as the Hollywood and New York street areas, being excellently themed with lots of little details, and in general, I think Universal Studios Florida, dare I say more so than Islands of Adventure, is an incredibly relaxed park that's genuinely nice to just saunter along and exist in. The park has a wonderful atmosphere, with lots of things to look at and just a general relaxed feel! On the whole, then, I love Universal Studios Florida, and I think it and Islands of Adventure make for a phenomenal one-two punch of parks that Epic Universe will only enhance when it arrives!
3. Busch Gardens Tampa - I do love Busch Gardens! I'm a huge coaster fan, and I have to say that Busch Gardens Tampa has possibly the strongest thrill ride lineup of any park I've visited, in my view; there are so many great thrills on offer at this park! For starters, that coaster selection is nothing short of top-tier; Iron Gwazi and SheiKra are a sublime one-two punch of top-ranking coasters, Montu is fantastic, Kumba is awesome, Cheetah Hunt is also really decent, and there are a few others to round the selection out! There are also two very strong thrilling flat rides at this park; Serengeti Flyer is absolutely phenomenal, in my opinion, as is Falcon's Fury! While hardly Universal or Disney quality in this regard, the park also has some respectable theming and landscaping in places, and it is a generally pleasant park to be in. It's not perfect; I think the park could perhaps do with one or two more non-coasters (maybe another big flat ride or a dark ride wouldn't go amiss), and I think the operations are quite weak. Nonetheless, I do love Busch Gardens, and from the standpoint of a thrill park, I think it possibly offers one of the strongest thrill ride lineups around!
4. Disney's Animal Kingdom - Animal Kingdom is a gorgeous park. The aesthetics of every single area are just wonderful, and the theming and attention to detail throughout is unparalleled! The park also has some good attractions, with Flight of Passage being an excellent flying theatre, Kali River Rapids being a fun rapids, and Kilimanjaro Safaris being an undeniably stunning replica of an African safari! My one criticism, however, is that I think the park generally lacks rides. There is not much at this park in the way of rides, and I do think that's a real weakness of it for me. Nonetheless, I get that that's not really what the park is about, with that more being my own personal taste, and the theming is undeniably brilliant!
5. SeaWorld Orlando - SeaWorld, like Busch Gardens, has some great coasters! Mako and Ice Breaker are a sublime one-two punch of top-ranking coasters, Kraken is really decent, and while I don't massively rate Pipeline and Manta, they undeniably add variety to the lineup. Like Busch Gardens, it's also got a relaxed atmosphere and is generally quite a pleasant park to be in. However, SeaWorld ranks lower because I don't think the thrill ride lineup is quite as fleshed out and strong, I don't think the theming and landscaping are quite as strong, and I think the flaws are perhaps exacerbated. Similarly to Busch, the operations are quite weak (although the queues were shorter than at Busch), but unlike Busch, SeaWorld has pretty much zilch in the way of non-coaster attractions now. I don't necessarily mind that too much, as I am a big coaster fan, but a bit of variety would be nice and I think a flat ride or two and a new dark ride would not go amiss to round things out a bit. Nonetheless, SeaWorld is a fun park with a really excellent lineup of coasters!
6. Epcot - Epcot is an interesting one for me. Thematically, it's a park of two halves. On one hand, I thought World Showcase was absolutely stunning, I loved spending time there, and it was a truly wonderful area to spend time in, with top-drawer theming and landscaping, but on the other hand, I found Future World, while nicely landscaped in areas, quite bland and uninspired. In terms of attractions, I do think rides are a weak spot for Epcot; other than Test Track, which was great, and Frozen Ever After, which was surprisingly good, I'd struggle to think of any noteworthy rides there, and I think that similarly to Animal Kingdom, the park really lacks rides in general for my personal taste. While I did find World Showcase a stunning area to walk through and a lovely area to just spend time in, I do also kind of understand the criticism that some give of it mainly being a very well themed shopping mall or food festival, particularly seeing as I'm not much of a foodie. Nevertheless, Epcot is a nicely presented park, with World Showcase in particular being a highlight, and as with Animal Kingdom, the rides thing is probably more my personal taste.
7. Disney's Magic Kingdom - Magic Kingdom was a nice park, and I enjoyed my time there... but it just lacked something for me. The theming and landscaping were very nice in areas, but I thought that in other areas, it was weaker than at other parks in the region. There were fun rides at the park, and to its credit, the park has a greater quantity and variety of attractions than the other Disney parks, but for me, it lacked a real standout attraction. In general, my family, rightly or wrongly, also felt a little bit too old for it. The other thing I'd say about it is that I found the whole experience there quite... stressful due to the sheer crowd levels. I know that these Florida parks are busy, but I seem to remember the crowd levels being magnified beyond that of any of the other parks at Magic Kingdom; it certainly lives up to its billing as the world's busiest theme park. Don't get me wrong, however, I enjoyed my time at Magic Kingdom, and I acknowledge that I'm probably not the target demographic. Also, I must say that the castle fireworks show (Happily Ever After at the time of my visit) was excellent, and dare I say quite magical!
8. Disney's Hollywood Studios - To its credit, Hollywood Studios had some of the strongest rides at the Disney resort for me. Tower of Terror was absolutely sublime and my favourite Disney attraction by some margin, and Rock'n'Rollercoaster and Slinky Dog Dash were (perhaps controversially) the two strongest coasters at the resort for me. However... the rides and things to do at this park were so, so few and far between at this park when I went. Admittedly, half of it was a building site when I went, with only Toy Story Land being open of the newer additions, but we had a perception of there not really being much to do here at all, more so than with any of the other parks. And unlike some of the other parks, I didn't really think Hollywood Studios had the theming and visuals to make up for that; the park was more weakly themed than most of the other parks in Florida, and I felt like it didn't do the whole "studio" theming style nearly as well as Universal. However, I do acknowledge that I may have had an unfair perspective, as half of the park was under construction when I went.
9. Fun Spot Kissimmee - Fun Spot is what it is, really. I remember Mine Blower being pretty decent, but the park as a whole is never going to compete with the other parks in the area, as it is a more basic park on a generally lower level. That's no slight against it at all, though, as it's not even really trying to compete with the other parks in the area.

I admit that my perspective may change if I was to revisit some of the Disney parks, particularly Hollywood Studios, and I apologise if I've been overly harsh with some of my comments.

But I'd be interested to know; how would you rank the Central Florida theme parks, if you've been? And which one is your favourite?

 

[rob666]

Come on now Matt, haven't you heard, too much ranking sends you blind.
I think that is what they say.