• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Which major theme park have you gone the longest without visiting?

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Over the years, I’m sure that most of us have visited quite a few different theme parks; each year, I personally visit a mixture of old favourites alongside trying to mix the odd new park or two in there as well to enhance my repertoire and increase my coaster and park counts. Trying to visit new parks can sometimes mean that there isn’t enough time to revisit some previously visited parks, however, and as the years rattle on, a park can sometimes get pushed down and down the list until you realise that you haven’t visited in a number of years. With this in mind, my question for you today is; which major theme park have you gone the longest without visiting? Which major park have you not visited in a ridiculously long time?

For clarity, I say “major” because I’m aware that the hardier credit counters among us will likely have a number of “one-and-done” type parks where the main draw is the +1 from a Wacky Worm, Go-Gator or similar that they visited years ago and will probably never revisit.

I’ll get the ball rolling with my answer.

Personally, the major place I have gone the longest without visiting is Disneyland Paris. I have not been back to Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park since 27th March 2011. I’m not actually sure why we never went back after our first visit (although I imagine our discovery of Florida in 2012 could have something to do with it), but for whatever reason, I have not been back to DLP since 2011.

Other than the two DLP parks, there is only 1 other park where my last visit was more than 5 years ago, and perhaps surprisingly given my general level of enmeshment with the UK Merlin parks, that is Chessington World of Adventures; my last visit to Chessington was on 26th July 2014. It was actually one of my first ever parks as a young child when I first visited in 2009, with Vampire and Runaway Train (as it was then known) being my 4th and 5th coasters respectively, but I’ve only ever been back twice more, in 2013 and 2014, and I have not visited for close to a decade now. My parents never had much desire to return once my sister and I passed a certain age (I was talking to my dad about parks the other day, just before our visit to Flamingo Land, and he described Chessington as one of only two UK parks he’s ever considered “a bit lame”, with the other being Drayton Manor), and to be honest, the park hasn’t tempted me as much as some others. The addition of Mandrill Mayhem did make it more tempting, however, and I’m revisiting for the first time in close to 10 years next month!

After those two, the park I’ve gone the longest without visiting jumps all the way up to 2019, which I’d still consider relatively recent…

But which major park have you gone the longest without visiting? Which major park have you not visited in a really long time? I’d be really interested to know!
 
Last edited:
Oh dear Matt...you mentioned Chessington.
1964 or 65 summer.
Then I wanted to do it with the kids at work when Vampire opened, but I was outvoted in the holiday stakes!
Never been back yet, but we might get Merlin passes next year for the new coasters, so that will be getting on for a sixty year break between visits.
Do I win a prize?
 
In terms of major, probably Efteling. 8 years since my last visit. If we count Toverland, the same but add a couple of days.
 
Hmm. My first thoughts about this topic are... difficult to put into words.

Someone's ability to visit any park in the first place is subject to many factors, but perhaps most importantly is their financial position to do so. There is a privilege in being able to visit any place, or park, at all. There is an even bigger privilege in being able to re-visit.

Then there's the desire to visit. I last visited Oakwood in 2010 and am fortunate to have the financial power to be able to but I have no desire to go again.

Conversely, I last visited Phantasialand in 2016 and have the financial power to be able to and a huge desire to go again, but I have chosen to visit other parks ahead of arranging a trip back there. Multiple factors, I think you will agree.

To cut my very long thought process very short, and with all due respect... this is a stupid topic.
 
Last edited:
Hmm. My first thoughts about this topic are... difficult to put into words.

Someone's ability to visit any park in the first place is subject to many factors, but perhaps most importantly is their financial position to do so. There is a privilege in being able to visit any place, or park, at all. There is an even bigger privilege in being able to re-visit.

Then there's the desire to visit. I last visited Oakwood in 2010 and am fortunate to have the financial power to be able to but I have no desire to go again.

Conversely, I last visited Phantasialand in 2016 and have the financial power to be able to and a huge desire to go again, but I have chosen to visit other parks ahead of arranging a trip back there. Multiple factors, I think you will agree.

To cut my very long thought process very short, and with all due respect... this is a stupid topic.
My sincerest apologies; I did not mean to cause any offence or touch any nerves. I was purely interested to know which major parks people had gone the longest without visiting, whatever the reason.
 
Oh dear Matt...you mentioned Chessington.
1964 or 65 summer.
Then I wanted to do it with the kids at work when Vampire opened, but I was outvoted in the holiday stakes!
Never been back yet, but we might get Merlin passes next year for the new coasters, so that will be getting on for a sixty year break between visits.
Do I win a prize?

Theoretical enthusiast question, should 1931-1986 era Chessington Zoo be counted as a separate park visiting cred to post 1987 theme park era CWOA?
 
Theoretical enthusiast question, should 1931-1986 era Chessington Zoo be counted as a separate park visiting cred to post 1987 theme park era CWOA?
That's a good question!

According to RCDB, no it shouldn't (https://rcdb.com/4798.htm). However, I can see why someone might consider them separate parks; the experience from 1987 onwards was wholeheartedly different from that of the pre-1987 park.
 
I think this thread would be more interesting if we changed the question slightly to what parks we have revisited after a long time. In that case, I would go for Drayton Manor in 2008 and 2019. The main differences between those times were how much Thomas Land had expanded and how much the main park had been cut back.
 
My sincerest apologies; I did not mean to cause any offence or touch any nerves. I was purely interested to know which major parks people had gone the longest without visiting, whatever the reason.
No apology needed! I think a wider understanding of people and society will help you in time. You didn’t touch any nerves, I simply have a much different perspective on this particular topic.

I think this thread would be more interesting if we changed the question slightly to what parks we have revisited after a long time. In that case, I would go for Drayton Manor in 2008 and 2019. The main differences between those times were how much Thomas Land had expanded and how much the main park had been cut back.
This I think would be a much better opportunity for reflections on how much change has been seen!
 
If we're wanting to change the question to what parks have been revisited since 2019; my longest revisit gap was probably 10 years between my first and second visits to Drayton Manor, with my first visit being in April 2008 and my second being in August 2018. I was very young when I first went and spent most of my time in Thomas Land, so I'd struggle to pinpoint too many specific differences, but since my last visit, Accelerator had been put in, and I got to see a lot more of the rest of the park on the second visit by virtue of being older! (I rode the Buffalo on my first visit, but other than that, we pretty much spent all day in Thomas Land)

A close second would be that I recently managed to revisit Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa for the first time in almost 7 years. The main changes at Universal were the additions of VelociCoaster and Hagrid's in IOA and the likes of Fallon and Fast & Furious in USF, as well as the opening of Volcano Bay, which was under construction last time I had been down that end of the I-4! Busch Gardens Tampa felt relatively similar with the exception of Iron Gwazi's addition, but SeaWorld Orlando had changed quite drastically. I'd say that on my visit in 2023, the park felt more like a coaster park with some animals on the side, whereas on my previous visits in 2012 and 2016, the park felt more like a marine life park with some coasters on the side. The recent spate of additions has changed the feel of the park quite dramatically, in my view.
 
If we are changing the question, the answer will soon be Legoland Windsor. I am going in October, but before that, I haven't been since 2017.
 
Longest gap would be 2006 to 2021 for Flamingo Land. Corkscrew left to go and live in France, Wild Mouse moved to Pleasurewood Hills, with Mumbo Jumbo, Zoom, Twistosaurus and Hero being installed and Runaway Mine Train being relocated inside the park. The "Resort" side expanded, flat rides changed and the park looks less loved in general.
 
Busch Gardens, First visited as a 5 year old in 1988. Next Visited with my 9 and 5 years olds in 2019. 31 years it is.

Although we went Florida 4 times in between those visits we never went back to Busch Garden until I was put in charge of the itinerary.
 
Top