Your guide to the best theme parks and amusement parks. ThrillZing covers the standout rides, must-do attractions, tips, and history for the parks worth planning a trip around — whether you’re chasing thrills or a full day out with the family.
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/ July 12, 2026
Chessington World of Adventures Resort sits about 12 miles southwest of central London on land that has hosted a zoo since 1931. The Tussauds Group built a theme park around the existing animal collection, opening it to the public on 7 July 1987 and creating
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
For nearly four decades, Astroworld was the beating heart of summer in Houston — a 110-acre amusement park south of the Astrodome where generations of Texans rode the Texas Cyclone, splashed through Thunder River, and spent long, sweaty afternoons under the shadow of NRG Park.
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/ July 11, 2026
Lost Island Theme Park opened in Waterloo, Iowa on June 18, 2022, capping off an estimated $100 million construction project that began in August 2019. Owned by the Bertch family, who have run the adjacent Lost Island Waterpark since 2001, the 90-acre park sits beside
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/ July 11, 2026
Nickelodeon Universe is the indoor theme park built into the center of Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Spread across roughly 7 acres of climate-controlled space, it packs in more than two dozen rides and attractions, meaning it runs at full capacity regardless of the
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/ July 11, 2026
Castles N’ Coasters is a family amusement park on North Metro Parkway East in Phoenix, Arizona, built around a Middle-Eastern-themed castle motif with several other design eras woven into its four miniature golf courses. The park traces back to 1976, when it opened as a
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Playland Park, often called Rye Playland, opened on May 26, 1928 along the Long Island Sound in Rye, New York. Built by Westchester County government, it was the first amusement park in the United States to be planned and built as a unified, permanent public
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/ July 11, 2026
Morey’s Piers has been a fixture on the Wildwood boardwalk since 1969, when brothers Bill and Will Morey Sr. purchased two boardwalk lots in North Wildwood and opened a single attraction: a 40-foot fiberglass slide called the Wipe Out, where riders paid a quarter to
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Story Land is a fairy tale-themed amusement park in Glen, New Hampshire, built around storybook characters and aimed squarely at young children and their families. It opened in 1954 as “Story Town” after founders Bob and Ruth Morrell bought a collection of German storybook dolls
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/ July 11, 2026
Canobie Lake Park is a 59-acre amusement park in Salem, New Hampshire, that has welcomed visitors since it opened as a trolley park on August 23, 1902. It’s one of only a handful of trolley parks still operating in the United States, having survived a
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/ July 11, 2026
Darien Lake is a large amusement park and resort in Darien Center, New York, roughly midway between Buffalo and Rochester and about 45 minutes from Niagara Falls. The park opened in May 1981 as Darien Lake Fun Country on a sprawling property that today covers
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Fun Spot America is a family-owned amusement park chain built on go-karts, wooden coasters, and no-nonsense fun near Orlando’s tourist corridor. The flagship Orlando location opened on December 24, 1997, founded by John Arie Sr., whose roots in the amusement business trace back to the
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/ July 11, 2026
Frontier City is a Wild West-themed amusement park on the north side of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, operated by Six Flags and owned by EPR Properties. The park traces its roots to Boomtown, a replica pioneer town built for Oklahoma’s 1957 semicentennial celebration, which former Hollywood
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/ July 11, 2026
Elitch Gardens is Denver’s 65-acre theme and water park, and one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in the United States, with roots stretching back to 1890. It’s also a park whose future has been in the news almost as much as its rides,
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Lagoon Amusement Park sits in Farmington, Utah, about 18 miles north of Salt Lake City, and traces its roots back to a lakeside resort called Lake Park that opened in 1886. When the Great Salt Lake receded and stranded the original site, Simon Bamberger moved
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Adventureland’s gates open at 10 a.m. on every day the park runs, but closing time is the part that trips people up: it shifts week to week depending on the season, the day, and whether Adventure Bay is open too. That’s why “Adventureland hours” is
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Waldameer Park & Water World sits at the base of Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, where it has drawn lakeside crowds since 1896 — making 2026 its 130th season. Originally a picnic ground called Hoffman’s Grove, the site was leased and renamed by
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/ July 11, 2026
Idlewild Park, officially known as Idlewild and SoakZone, is a family amusement park tucked into the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1878 as a campground along the Ligonier Valley Railroad by banking magnate Thomas Mellon, it is
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Lake Compounce is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States, tracing its roots to a lakeside picnic ground that opened to the public in 1846 on the Bristol-Southington line in Connecticut. Today it’s a 332-acre amusement and water park that pairs a
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Knoebels Amusement Resort has welcomed guests to Elysburg, Pennsylvania, since it first opened on July 4, 1926, and the Knoebel family still owns and operates the park a century later. Spread across roughly 150 acres of wooded grounds, Knoebels combines an old-fashioned picnic grove, a
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tz
/ July 11, 2026
Kennywood opened on May 30, 1898, in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh, growing from a trolley-line picnic ground into one of the country’s most celebrated regional amusement parks. In 1987 it became one of only two amusement parks in the United States designated
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