Theme parks that require a lot of walking

[English Coaster Guy]

I think the thing that bugs me about Alton is that it makes it difficult to get a lot done in a single visit - especially if you want to zig zag. It's not so bad with Europa because there's always something in between.

Efteling to a slightly lesser extent than Alton, although we went during winter so a lot of the usual dead space was full with the winter attractions, ice rink and slides etc...

Port Aventura can be a bit of a slog too.

+1 for Port Aventura.

Let's say you come off Red Force down in Ferrari Land, and decide you fancy a bit of Shambhala, it's just short of a mile to get there, and probably 1.5 miles if you venture there through China. It's absolutely massive.

 

[Hixee]

Energylandia is particularly spiteful (in their current arrangement*) with the only decent coasters there being miles apart. It's almost laughable how far you have to walk in between Hyperion and Zadra. The walk to Abyssus might eventually be cut down if they can connect that section back round behind Sweet Valley, but that trek between the two monster coasters is huge. That said, I do like the view you get walking through the park with those two coasters towering over either end!

*Or rather, the three days I was there in August.

Shout out to Alton too.

Europa is huge, but it never feels too bad as there are so many routes round and so many things to see and do in between.

 

[Indy]

Kolmarden.

You're all excited because you are in the parking lot to a park that is home to such a monster of a coaster, but the joke is on you. After you finish going up the massive hill to the front of the park, you then have about another 30 minutes of wandering through winding, hilly paths trying to find this thing.

Also, I feel like Zadra deserves it's own separate mention from Energylandia.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Kolmarden.

You're all excited because you are in the parking lot to a park that is home to such a monster of a coaster, but the joke is on you. After you finish going up the massive hill to the front of the park, you then have about another 30 minutes of wandering through winding, hilly paths trying to find this thing.

Also, I feel like Zadra deserves it's own separate mention from Energylandia.

Ohh if we're doing queues, I've been meaning to moan about this....F.L.Y's queue is really bad, I mean it's great, because it's themed, and has great views of the coaster, but when it's walk on it's probably the longest, most tedious, tiring queue I've done... So long and so many stairs.

 

[Heth]

Obviously all parks that are big require walking, however obviously special mention needs to be given for Alton Towers and Efteling for gigantic expanses containing very little and big gaps between major rides (even though they are both lovely walks).

 

[SimonProD]

EP is quite a sprawl but if you know the park its easy to minimize the walking by using the Monorails.

I wonder how they will make it as they plan to expand their Monorail system first to the waterpark and second to the train station. As far as I have read on German forums there is also some deal with village of Rust that school children might use this line free of charge and that the line might look like this: (Rust village center) - EP - Waterpark - (Ringsheim train station). Hopefully they will add a second loop. At least EP is planing on expanding its Monrail system - YES: Looking at you, Disney-World

 

[cookie]

Any park centered around a large lake can be a hassle if what you want to get to is right across but you have to circle around just to get to it. Epcot’s World Showcase and Heide-Park come to mind.

And I think Kolmården was designed to be an endurance test for anyone wanting to ride Wildfire.

 

[oriolat2]

Count me in for Kolmarden being the worst offender at this. It is such a hilly treck just to get to the side of the park where the coaster is. And if the overflow queue is open, it stretches far back towards the coaster's main drop...

Honorable mention goes to Europa Park. Being such a massive park with many dead ends and interwoven paths, you end up backtracking a lot. Quite the work-out!

 

[Trax]

Large parks are naturally prone to long walking distances, so I am going to focus on parks where you have to walk long distances between their major rides. Eftelings major rides are not that far apart, but it can of course result in a lot of walking if you want to experience more attractions or dare to enter their fairytale forest.

Energylandia This is in my opinion the worst walking I had to do in any park to date. No only are 2 major rides in the far back of the park, the whole Aqualantis area is currently one big oneway with Abyssus towards the back. The Abyssus queue is quite a bit of walking, but nothing too bad. And then there is Zadra. Allthough it has been shortened by a decent bit, it is still a lot of walking. At least they open up the gate next to their lockers, so you don't have to go through the whole walk for every single ride on an empty day. But wait, theres more: Even the distance from the stations exit to the shop is a long one.
And if you want to ride Hyperion, prepare for a long walk through the whole park again. And Hyperion can also have a incredible long queue, but is usuallly shortend by a fair amount.
If you've never been there, and just to put things into a perspektive: From the park entrance (where Hyperion is pretty much next to) to Zadras station is close to a 20 minute walk, and Abyssus adds currently another 5+ minutes on top of that.

Gardaland Not only are most of its major rides a decent distance apart, but the park is located on a hilly terrain, meaning that you constantly go up and down and through weird pathes to get to your target. And then there is I Corsari. The whole ride is on the very end of a really long oneway. It's queue isn't short either, but one ride on this will easily sets you back 30 minutes until you can ride something else again.

Europa-Park Well, the park is really big and spread out. Most queues still involve some decent amount of walking, as they can't be shortened to a large extend, but this is just the icing on top.

Alton Towers Another really big park, but this really spreads out its major rides. Oblivion and Smiler, Rita and TH13TEEN (pronounced: "T-H-1-3-TEEN", and Galacitca + Nemesis are on what feels like complete opposites of the park. Once you leave one area, prepare for a lot of walking. And prepare for long queues to walk through, my highlight being Oblivion. Wicker Man is the only large scale attractions in a "central" location. Well, in other parks it would be a horror to walk to, but for Alton, it is really in the center.

 

[Y. Kim]

Bloody Everland in South Korea.

Outdoor escalators were removed That park requires too much walk besides bad location. Need to walk 800+m to go to T Express. Lotte World looks much pleasant for walking.

 

[davidm]

^ Lotte World you are always having to go up and down staircases though (for the indoor part anyway)

My vote is for Everland too ; such a sprawling, hilly layout.

Honourable mention for Marineland in Canada - so much empty space between "neighbouring" attractions.

 

[MackMan]

Bit late to this but:

Alton Towers:
Honestly The Gardens and The Towers themselves divide most of the major rides by a stupid amount, foribidden valley feels like the other side of the UK from The Smiler. I always find the skyride that links Dark Forest with FV always seems to break down or be closed when i go, which means you have to trek all the way through Katanga Canyon.

Obviously though this is a product of its location on a national heritage site, so it is a natural downside of the location. But honestly the park's layout is awkward and huge.

Cedar Point
This one is minor, i think the problem mostly lies in the backhalf of this park. A lot of rides are crammed in the front, which means the B&Ms, Blue Streak, Millenium, Iron Dragon are all on top of each other. But the back half is a little less crammed, with the walk from Millenium to Maverick for example being a bit of a trek. Maverick and Steel Vengeance are both like the best coasters in the park so you're gonna wanna go right to the back of the park often!

Europa Park:
This park is probably the most step-inducing park i believe, but its not obnoxious. The park has plenty of back-paths and cuts, sometimes leading to cutesy stuff (world of diamonds is awesome!) The park certainly has rides very close to each other at points, though with so many damn things to see and do, getting from the entrance to Wodan is a good 20-minuteish trek? I also believe this is a park where you kind of idly walk on purpose, cos there is always a level of just walking around and finding a cute cafe, or a cute dark ride you forgot existed (piccollo mondo anyone?), or you find something that feels a little hidden away (the little streams in the backpaths round Switzerland).

 

[Christian]

Kolmården all the way. All those other parks at least have something to look at on the way. At Kolmården there are maybe 10 animals on a 30 minute walk, most of the walk is just through the forest.