Europa Park vs Cedar Point; Battle of the Golden Ticket Award winners for "Best Theme Park"

[Matt N]

Hi guys. In recent memory, two (as far as I'm aware) theme parks have won the Golden Ticket Award for Best Theme Park in the World. They're two pretty different theme parks, but they share the award in common, and they are Europa Park in Germany and Cedar Point in the USA (or Ohio, to be more precise). So my question to you today is; which of these two GTA winners do you prefer?

I obviously can't pass judgement, having never visited Cedar Point. For what it's worth, though, I have visited Europa Park, and I have to say that I think the park is more than deserving of its high reputation; it's unbelievably versatile! You have awesome coasters (for me at least; Silver Star and Wodan are in my top 3, and while it's not quite on the same level, Blue Fire ranks pretty highly for me as well!), but you also have all the strengths of a themed park as well, with a wonderful selection of dark rides, impeccable theming & presentation and a lovely atmosphere throughout! I certainly don't see Cedar Point being versatile in quite the same way (although as I said, I haven't visited), but being a pretty big coaster enthusiast at heart, Cedar Point's coasters could be so awesome that it would be enough to tip the balance... I really wouldn't like to pass judgement, and that's exactly why I never like to vote conclusively on these polls unless I've visited both parks or ridden both attractions!

I was actually spurred to do this poll when I stumbled across this (now rather old) park battle by Coaster Studios on the matter:

CS' battle saw Cedar Point come out on top by a pretty long way, although Taylor himself admits that his battle method is quite heavily centred towards thrill rides.

But does Europa Park or Cedar Point come on top for you out of the GTA winners?

 

[FistedColossus]

Cedar Point is nowhere near the best theme park in the world IMO.

Their Fast Lane system is a complete scam. It costs $120 and you can still end up waiting an over an hour for Steel Vengeance. This of course then has a knock on effect on the standby queues which move at a snails pace.

Europa on the other hand is geared towards maximum customer satisfaction in almost every way possible.

Having said all that - I'd pick a visit to Cedar Point over Europa most of the time because the coasters are so good. It's the perfect middle ground of amusement/theme park.

 

[Indy]

There's no denying that Cedar Point has the superior coaster collection even with all of the ride removals in the past several years. And in all fairness, Cedar Point is pretty nice park all around. If you're just looking to have a fun day riding coasties in the US, it won't let you down.

However, Europa beats it in every department outside of the coaster collection, though Europa's coaster collection is still really enjoyable and abundant despite it's general mediocrity. What really sets Europa apart is the overall experience. It is such a nice park that is so well taken care of. Furthermore, it is well themed throughout. Simply walking through the themed areas is an enjoyable experience. Even the queues are a relatively enjoyable experience when compared to CP's typical slab of switchbacks.

I do appreciate Cedar Point a lot. Once upon a time I was an employee there. However, the overall experience at Europa is on a completely different level, so my vote goes to Europa. That being said, when I want a mixture of the two, I'll just go to Energylandia.


Theme park or quaint European town?

 

[MackMan]

I think its hard to compare. Cedar Point has no theming and kind of a 'rides, and rides only' atmosphere in most places and is really all about the coasters. The park also hosts a great flat ride collection (to which Europa lacks). Cedar Point really in many ways reminds me of a upscaled Thorpe Park, but take out any bit of theming Thorpe Park currently has. Cedar Point does have an OUTSTANDING coaster collection though so that is not a dig when i say its all about the coasters.

Europa Park is really dynamic. It has the better atmosphere, the better operations, the better food, the better theming and a extensive collection of Dark Rides to which Cedar Point has no response at all.

I have done both parks, and Cedar Point certainly is my number 2, it has great operations, a few shows but overall it impresses in a completely different way to Europa and honestly i much prefer the nuanced, nearly magical euphoric vibe that Europa delivers every single visit.

 

[Hixee]

Firstly, Golden Tickets are trash. Their results should never been seen as any more than a waste of yellow/orange pixels.

To play along for the thread though - the answer is Cedar Point.

Cedar. Point.

It's as simple as that.

Europa is, without a doubt, one of the best theme parks in the world. It's beautiful, charming, has decent coasters, nice dark rides, better food, and is overall a lovely place to be.

Cedar Point is just... Mecca, though. SteVe, Dragster & Maverick alone knock the living daylights out of anything at Europa, and you've then got MF, Magnum, Gatekeeper, Valravn and Gemini as second tier coasters. The coaster selection is absurd. Cedar Point itself might not be as pretty as Europa, I'll give you that, but it's also got a far nicer location stuck out in the lake.

But yes, they're both truly top tier global parks. I just happen to think that Cedar Point's coaster selection is so much better than Europa's that is overrides all the other stuff that Europa does wonderfully better than Cedar Point - which is basically everything else.

 

[Crazycoaster]

Europa Park is the better Theme Park, Cedar Point is the better Amusement Park. Therefor the answer to the question is Europa.

 

[Howie]

I'd basically like to repeat what Hixee said. Europa Park really is amazing... but Cedar Point is Mecca. There's nowhere quite like it. It's the ultimate 'pinch me' park - "OMG - I'm actually here!"
To be fair, my first visit to Europa Park was also quite a pinch-me moment too and I was very happy to be making that step, but even at the time I knew it wasn't the ultimate pinch-me moment, and that greater things were still yet to come.

 

[coasteraddict10]

Is it really fair comparing them when they're trying to do different things? Cedar Point is coaster/amusement park mecca, Europa park is arguably not even the best THEME park in Germany so I guess CP wins if you look at who succeeds more at what they're trying to do vs their competition.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Not done CP, but I can say without almost a shadow of a doubt that I will enjoy it more than EP.

That being said, it doesn't make it the best Theme Park. EP is clearly the winner there. I wouldn't even consider CP the best 'Theme Park' in America when the likes of Disney, Universal, Dollywood and Silver Dollar exist...