Top Five (non-Disney) Parks - #1 - Cedar Point

After my brother graduated from college in 2000, I wanted to take both of my brothers on a road trip to celebrate.

We wanted to do something epic. We wanted to do something special. We wanted to do something we'd remember for the rest of our lives.

We made a road trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.

When you stop to think about it, it's strange that three brothers would travel 450 miles to visit a regional park. But we knew we couldn't truly call ourselves theme park fans if we hadn't been to the epicenter of amusement parks.

We needed to see The Roller Coast for ourselves.

The listeners of CoasterRadio.com have voted Cedar Point as the #1 (non-Disney) park in the country.

It's hard to argue with that because any visit to The Point isn't just a day in the park, it's more of an event.

Let's start with the fact that they have managed to fit 17 world-class roller coasters onto a picturesque peninsula on Lake Erie. The memory of Cedar Point that has been burned into my mind is that no matter where I stood and no matter what direction I looked, I saw a roller coaster.

Much like the other parks on our Top Five list, Cedar Point's roller coasters are iconic. Many of them are outright legends. What theme park enthusiast hasn't heard of Magnum XL-200, Millennium Force or Top Thrill Dragster?

When you add the dozens of other thrilling and mild attractions, you have one of the most well rounded ride collections anywhere.

Cedar Point was one of the few parks I have visited where there was a certain "electricity" in the air. People were genuinely excited to be there. It was as if everyone realized how special the park was.

I often wonder if the people who consider Cedar Point their home park realize how lucky they are. The rest of us have to plan trips across the country for the privilege of visiting the park. But I'd guess if you'd ask someone who's made the trip, they'd tell you it's totally worth it.

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Top Five (non-Disney) Parks - #2 - Holiday World and Splashin' Safari

We're down to the final two in our listener-voted Top Five (non-Disney) parks.

Coming in at #2 is Holiday World and Splashin' Safari.

This is a park that we like a lot here at CoasterRadio.com. We liked it so much that we made a huge roadtrip there from Washington, DC back in 2006.

We heard that this was a park that offered free parking, free sunscreen and unlimited soft drinks throughout the day.

We heard about the world class roller coasters, the inexpensive and tasty food and how the park's staff treated guests like they were family.

We wanted to see for ourselves if all of the hype surrounding Holiday World was for real.

It was.

There was something special about Holiday World.

It's easy to point to The Voyage, The Legend and The Raven, because they are three of the best wooden roller coasters anywhere. It's easy to point towards Splashin' Safari, because it's a waterpark that is continually expanding with new rides and thrills. This includes the longest water coaster in the world, Wildebeest, that is coming this summer.

But what makes this a truly great park is that you feel like you're taken care of from the moment you arrive. When we were there, we didn't feel like the Koch Family was out to drain our wallets. The staff was one of the friendliest anywhere and it felt like the #1 priority was to make sure we were safe and had a good time.

I said on the show that one of the coolest things about the Holiday World visit was seeing the owners walking around and interacting with the guests. In these days of corporate ownership, you never really get to see the people who run the park. Even if you do, they hardly ever stop to shake hands and thank you for visiting.

There's a reason that Holiday World is the only non-corporate park on our Top Five list and there's a reason that they're ranked as high as they are.

It's an excellent park to visit and worth a drive to Santa Claus, Indiana no matter where you live.

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Top Five (non-Disney) Parks - #3 - Islands of Adventure

The park that came in at #3 on our listener-voted Top Five (non-Disney) parks is Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando.

Back in 1999, Universal took the world by storm when it opened this state-of-the-art theme park.

The theming rivaled anything that Disney had to offer and experience was completely immersive.

The star on opening day (and ever since) was The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. This incredible dark ride blurred the lines between what was real and what was virtual. The attraction is over 10-years old and is still considered by many to the the best theme park attraction anywhere.

The fun thing about this park is the variety of islands (or lands) that you can experience. You can meet comic book icons on Marvel Superhero Island, you can dodge dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, you can meet the Cat In The Hat in Seuss Landing.

Of course, everyone knows about the next chapter in Island Of Adventure's story. This spring, we will be treated to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The early word is that the top-secret attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, will once again set the standard for theme park attractions.

This new "island" comes along at just the perfect time too. One of my long standing complaints about Islands of Adventure is that nothing much has been added since the park's opening in 1999. But this new land should more than make up for the drought.

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Top Five (non-Disney) Parks - #4 - Six Flags Magic Mountain

Coming in at #4 on our listener-voted Top Five (non-Disney) parks is Six Flags Magic Mountain.

On the podcast, I said that of all the parks I haven't visited, this is the one I want to experience most.

I suppose that it's because Magic Mountain is the park Clark Grizwald and his family visited in the movie "Vacation." The park looked pretty cool back in 1983 and it's gotten even better since.

I mentioned in my post about Busch Gardens Williamsburg that the park is probably in the Top Five because of the iconic rides. I think the same thing can be said for Six Flags Magic Mountain.

There's no other West Coast park that can compete when it comes to the number of roller coasters and thrill rides.

With one admission to Six Flags Magic Mountain, you can experience iconic rides like Riddler's Revenge, Superman: The Escape, Revolution, Goliath, Tatsu, Batman, X2 and many others.

While this park does have it's critics, I think the new Six Flags management has been making some positive changes over the past few years that have made the park experience better for everyone.

When you read trip reports that have been posted online, almost all of them mention how the park seems to be cleaner and run better than before.

I also like how they always seem to have something new and exciting. Last year's Terminator wooden coaster seems to be a big hit and they're looking to follow that with a Mr. Six Dance Coaster this year.

It might be time for me to finally get out to California to visit Magic Mountain. They're our #4 park after all!

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Top Five (non-Disney) Parks - #5 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

On this week's show, we unveiled the Top Five (non-Disney) Theme Parks as voted on by the listeners of CoasterRadio.com.

We invited our listeners to submit their favorite five parks. We tallied the votes, assigned a point system and came out with an interesting list.

Coming in at #5 is Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

In our opinion, it's one of the closest parks you'll find to Disney's cleanliness and theming.

The thrill rides are top notch and iconic. You've got legendary coasters like The Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot all in one park.

You also have newer attractions like Griffon and Curse of DarKastle that keep people coming through the gates.

Busch Gardens is also known for their excellent food, which goes above and beyond the normal park fare. They also continually receive awards for their landscaping, which blows away most parks that we have visited.

One comment I made during the podcast is that it's one of the few parks where I don't mind watching shows. The stage shows in Oktoberfest, Ireland and Italy are particularly good.

It's no secret that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one of my favorite parks and I would have liked to have seen it voted a little higher than #5.

So I wonder what parks will make up the Top Four? They must be good!

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