The oldest amusement park on Earth opened while Shakespeare was alive. This list ranks the 25 oldest amusement parks still operating in 2026 by the year they opened, from ThrillZing’s venue database — every one of them still sells tickets today.
Bakken (Dyrehavsbakken), in the woods north of Copenhagen, has entertained visitors since 1583, when crowds began gathering around a natural spring. Vienna’s Wurstelprater followed in 1766, and Copenhagen claims a second legend in Tivoli Gardens (1843) — the park that later inspired Walt Disney.
The 25 Oldest Operating Parks
The full ranking is below. Parks with a ThrillZing profile are linked.
| # | Park | Location | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bakken (Dyrehavsbakken) | Klampenborg, Denmark | 1583 |
| 2 | Wurstelprater (Prater) | Vienna, Austria | 1766 |
| 3 | Tivoli Gardens | Copenhagen, Denmark | 1843 |
| 4 | Lake Compounce | Bristol, Connecticut | 1846 |
| 5 | Hanayashiki | Tokyo, Japan | 1853 |
| 6 | Cedar Point | Sandusky, Ohio | 1870 |
| 7 | Six Flags New England | Agawam, Massachusetts | 1870 |
| 8 | Idlewild and Soak Zone | Ligonier, Pennsylvania | 1878 |
| 9 | Seabreeze Amusement Park | Rochester, New York | 1879 |
| 10 | Gröna Lund | Stockholm, Sweden | 1883 |
| 11 | Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom | Allentown, Pennsylvania | 1884 |
| 12 | Arnolds Park Amusement Park | Arnolds Park, Iowa | 1889 |
| 13 | Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Blackpool, England | 1896 |
| 14 | Waldameer Park | Erie, Pennsylvania | 1896 |
| 15 | Kennywood | West Mifflin, Pennsylvania | 1898 |
| 16 | Camden Park | Huntington, West Virginia | 1903 |
| 17 | Oaks Amusement Park | Portland, Oregon | 1905 |
| 18 | Tibidabo Amusement Park | Barcelona, Catalonia | 1905 |
| 19 | Clementon Park and Splash World | Clementon, New Jersey | 1907 |
| 20 | DelGrosso’s Park | Tipton, Pennsylvania | 1907 |
| 21 | Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk | Santa Cruz, California | 1907 |
| 22 | Quassy Amusement Park | Middlebury, Connecticut | 1908 |
| 23 | Luna Park Melbourne | Melbourne, Victoria | 1912 |
| 24 | Liseberg | Gothenburg, Sweden | 1923 |
| 25 | Knoebels Amusement Resort | Elysburg, Pennsylvania | 1926 |
Europe’s Ancients, America’s Pioneers
Europe owns the deep end of this list — Bakken, the Wurstelprater, and Tivoli were all drawing crowds before the United States had a single amusement park. America’s answer began at Lake Compounce in Connecticut, open continuously since 1846, followed by Cedar Point, which started as a bathing beach in 1870 and grew into today’s coaster capital.
Pennsylvania is the sleeper star: six parks on this list — Idlewild (1878), Dorney Park (1884), Waldameer (1896), Kennywood (1898), DelGrosso’s (1907), and Knoebels (1926) — sit in one state, survivors of the trolley-park era that once numbered in the hundreds.
Survivors With Stories
Longevity hasn’t been smooth. Clementon Park closed abruptly in 2019 and came back under new owners in 2021; Playland in Rye nearly didn’t survive its operator’s bankruptcy; and Six Flags New England traces an unbroken lineage to a picnic grove from 1870, three names ago.
Tokyo’s Hanayashiki (1853) is Japan’s oldest park and one of the world’s most surprising — a compact wonderland in Asakusa with a 1953 coaster threading between buildings. And Luna Park Melbourne (1912) still runs the Scenic Railway, the world’s oldest continually operating roller coaster.
Explore more: the oldest operating roller coasters, the parks with the most coasters, all theme park guides.
Oldest Amusement Parks in the World FAQs
What is the oldest amusement park in the world?
Bakken (Dyrehavsbakken) near Copenhagen, Denmark is the world’s oldest operating amusement park — it dates to 1583 and still operates every summer, making it more than 250 years older than any park in America.
What is the oldest amusement park in the United States?
Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, open since 1846, is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the US. Cedar Point (1870) and Idlewild (1878) are next.
Is Disneyland one of the oldest theme parks?
No — Disneyland opened in 1955, making it younger than every park on this list. It essentially invented the modern themed park, but classic amusement parks predate it by up to four centuries.
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Photo: Erkan / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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