Large metros without a major amusement park with lots of rollercoasters

[Steely Dan]

most major american metro areas have at least one major amusement park* within their metro area.

here are some large metro areas (CSA/MSA >2M people) that don't seem to have a major amusement park within their CSA/MSA:

Boston - six flags new england is only 1.5 hours away, so still doable for a day trip

Miami

Houston

Detroit - cedar point is only 2 hours away, so still doable for a day trip

Seattle

Phoenix

Cleveland - cedar point is only 1 hour away, so still doable for a day trip

San Diego - various LA metro amusement parks are close enough for day a trip

Denver - elitch gardens may or may not be "major"

Portland

Sacramento - various bay area amusement parks are close enough for day a trip

Columbus - kings island is only 1.5 hours away, so still doable for a day trip

Indianapolis - kings island is only 2 hours away, so still doable for a day trip

Las Vegas - the strip is one big giant theme park, so.......

Milwaukee - six flags great america is only 1 hour away, so still doable for a day trip



So most of the cities that don't have a major amuesement park directly in their metro area have at least one park in an adjacent or nearby metro that covers their market area. i was using 2 hours one-way driving time as an upper limit on what is practical for most people to make a day trip.

this makes miami, houston, seattle, phoenix, denver, and portland the big exceptions.



(*) for definition purposes, i'm saying that a "major amusement park" is any six flags, disney, cedar fair, busch gardens theme park or other independent amusement park with at least 5 "real" roller coasters (like kennywood in pittsburgh).

[PHX31]

Does a water park count?

https://www.wetnwildphoenix.com/ride.../thrill-rides/

There are 8 major water slides/rides, is that equivalent to a roller coaster? ...plus several other smaller ones and attractions (wavepool, huge water playground, lazy river, etc.).

I know people come from Tucson and all over the state to go to Wet n' wild in Phoenix.

[SHiRO]

I would not have expected Houston to not have several major theme parks. Or any city in the Midwest for that matter...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by PHX31

Does a water park count?

not for the purposes of this exercise.

water parks are a different animal than a major theme/amusement park.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SHiRO

I would not have expected Houston to not have several major theme parks.

houston had a major six flags park for many decades (astroworld), but it was demolished about 10 years ago and hasn't been replaced by anything else (yet).

Originally Posted by SHiRO

Or any city in the Midwest for that matter...

as my list points out, all major midwest cities have easy day trip access to a major theme/amusement park. cedar point, kings island, and SF great america (the 3 big boys in the region) are all strategically located to catch people from several different metro areas.


the ten major midwest metros are covered:

cedar point - cleveland and detroit

kings island - cincinnati, columbus, and indy

SF great america - chicago and milwaukee

SF st. louis - st. louis

worlds of fun - kansas city

valleyfair - twin cities

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

most major american metro areas have at least one major amusement or theme park* within their metro area.

here are some large metro areas (CSA/MSA >2M people) that don't seem to have a major theme/amusement park within their CSA/MSA:


San Diego - not surprising considering the theme park nexus of LA is right next door

Don't Sea World and Legoland count? Sea World has some rides, and Legoland isn't far from San Diego proper; it's in Carlsbad.

[mr1138]

As a Denver resident, I would question whether or not Elitch Gardens should make the cut. I only count 4 roller coasters, and only 2 of these are full-scale flagship coasters (as opposed to carnival-style coasters on temporary foundations like the Boomerang and Sidewinder coasters, which can literally be packed up and moved). As a lifelong amusement park enthusiast, Elitch's just seems incredibly rinky-dink and lacking in any kind of opportunity to be more than it is in the future either.

[dave8721]

Disney World is less than 2 hours from the northern parts of Miami's metro but the northern part of Miami's metro is 2 hours from the southern part of the metro (Homestead to Jupiter is a nice 122 mile drive in one Metro). From Miami itself to Disney is about 3.5 hours, a little less if you make no stops and push 100 mph through the nothingness between Fort Peirce and Orlando.


Its impossible for any theme park to really thrive in the shadow of the Disney/Universal/Legoland/Busch Gardens...Central Florida monstrosity but a 20th Century Fox theme park is planned next door to Zoo Miami.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Don't Sea World and Legoland count? Sea World has some rides, and Legoland isn't far from San Diego proper; it's in Carlsbad.

i personally wouldn't put sea world in san diego or legoland in the "major" category.

legoland has a couple of smaller family coasters and wild mouse and sea world only has 2 roller coasters.

it's all ultimately a subjective judgement call. that's why i set the 5 roller coaster limit; i had to draw the line somewhere.

in san diego's case it doesn't much matter with LA being so close.

[BnaBreaker]

Nashville had a theme park within it's city limits for decades called Opryland. It was replaced with a mall in the late nineties. So now I imagine the closest would be Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville or Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN both of which are nearly three hours away.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Don't Sea World and Legoland count? Sea World has some rides, and Legoland isn't far from San Diego proper; it's in Carlsbad.

And SD is close enough to OC to access Disneyland and Knotts. It isn't like it would make any sense to have a large general amusement park in SD.

[SHiRO]

My city -although of no particular importance (city 213,000/metro 450,000)- has Europe's 3rd (or 4th depending) most attended, after Disneyland Paris and Europapark in Germany and 23th in the world. It's practically tied with Tivoli in Copenhagen and Walt Disney Studios in (again) Paris, but is set to beat them both this year. It's quite remarkable with a lot of unique rides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efteling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ankings#Europe

There's also a zoological (safari)park/minor amusement park in my city's metro area. And it hosts the Benelux's largest fun fair (starting this Friday) with over 1.5 million visitors over 10 days.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by mr1138

As a Denver resident, I would question whether or not Elitch Gardens should make the cut. I only count 4 roller coasters, and only 2 of these are full-scale flagship coasters (as opposed to carnival-style coasters on temporary foundations like the Boomerang and Sidewinder coasters, which can literally be packed up and moved). As a lifelong amusement park enthusiast, Elitch's just seems incredibly rinky-dink and lacking in any kind of opportunity to be more than it is in the future either.

agreed. denver's elitch gardens' claim to "major" status is perhaps the most tenuous of any major city's theme park. the RCDB does list it as having 6 roller coasters, but some of them are of smaller stature.

again, a tough call, but it met the 5 rollercoaster threshold, so......

but yeah, eltich gardens isn't remotely on the same level as a cedar point or magic mountain or kings island type of park.

[muertecaza]

It's hard for me to imagine a true major amusement park of the kind discussed in this thread in Phoenix because it's just too damn hot in summer.

There was a proposal a few years ago to actually build an indoor amusement park in South Phoenix.

http://archive.azcentral.com/communi...eme-parks.html

Arizona has bent over backward trying to encourage a theme park, passing legislation that allows municipal bonding and a special tax district to subsidize someone building a theme park. But nothing has stuck yet. Here is a list of failed proposals:

http://archive.azcentral.com/communi...eme-parks.html

For another interesting read, you can read about Legend City, a theme park that operated in Phoenix from the 60s to 80s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_City

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

agreed. denver's elitch gardens' claim to "major" status is perhaps the most tenuous of any major city's theme park. the RCDB does list it as having 6 roller coasters, but some of them are of smaller stature.

again, a tough call, but it met the 5 rollercoaster threshold, so......

but yeah, Elitch Gardens isn't remotely on the same level as a cedar point or magic mountain or kings island type of park.

Oh, I forgot about RCDB. I suppose that is probably the best source for this sort of thing, though taking a look at their list, I'm surprised they don't distinguish between "permanent" coasters like Mind Eraser vs. the carnival style coasters. It's hard to know where to draw the line without some sort of official sorting mechanism. But yeah, calling the Boomerang and Sidewinder "roller coasters" is tenuous enough, much less considering the Half Pipe as a "coaster" and not just a carnival gimmick. Perhaps anything with a track length shorter than 1,000' shouldn't count?

[memph]

I think Toronto and Montreal are the only Canadian cities that would qualify as having a major amusement park by those standards.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i personally wouldn't put sea world in san diego or legoland in the "major" category.

legoland has a couple of smaller family coasters and wild mouse and sea world only has 2 roller coasters.

it's all ultimately a subjective judgement call. that's why i set the 5 roller coaster limit; i had to draw the line somewhere.

in san diego's case it doesn't much matter with LA being so close.

I think the Magic Kingdom (you know the most visited amusement park in the world by a large margin) would fall short of the 5 roller coaster limit. Off the top of my head I think it has 4 (space moutain, thunder mountain, mine train, that goofy plain ride thing) plus a log "drop ride" Splash Mountain which might take it to 5.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by dave8721

I think the Magic Kingdom (you know the most visited amusement park in the world by a large margin) would fall short of the 5 roller coaster limit. Off the top of my head I think it has 4 (space moutain, thunder mountain, mine train, that goofy plain ride thing) plus a log "drop ride" Splash Mountain which might take it to 5.

While you're absolutely correct, Disney has never exactly been about "roller coasters." It might make sense to count "E Ticket Attractions" in their case... hard to say it's not a "major park" with rides like Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Splash Mountain that are arguably better than any roller coaster.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by dave8721

I think the Magic Kingdom (you know the most visited amusement park in the world by a large margin) would fall short of the 5 roller coaster limit. Off the top of my head I think it has 4 (space moutain, thunder mountain, mine train, that goofy plain ride thing) plus a log "drop ride" Splash Mountain which might take it to 5.

while no individual park in the walt disney world theme park mega-complex in orlando has more than 5 roller coasters, cumulatively the various parks have a total of 8 roller coasters.

regardless of how disney operates them as separately gated facilities, i don't think it's a controversial statement to say that walt disney world as a whole is a major theme park complex.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by memph

I think Toronto and Montreal are the only Canadian cities that would qualify as having a major amusement park by those standards.

correct. canada's wonderland in toronto and la ronde in montreal are the only two amusement parks in canada that i would consider to be "major".