(Potentially) Best Parks for Families in the US

Many amusement parks are dedicated to thrills. Some, however, are dedicated to providing fun experiences for the entire family. Today, I wanted to look at some potential contenders for the best family parks.

Now, something that I should make clear is that these parks are allowed to have thrilling rides. Not all of the rides have to be designed for families, but the park must be family friendly and must have plenty of family rides.

Part 1: Parks

I haven't been to many parks, so I want to look at the opinions of other people. I sent out a survey. I asked for their top 3 family-friendly amusement parks and how they would rate them. Here are the answers I have received:

-SeaWorld Orlando

-Busch Gardens Tampa

-Disney's Animal Kingdom

-Bay Beach

-Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America

-Quassy

-Kennywood

-Frontier City

-Disneyland

Now, let's look at what makes all of them so good for families.

Part 2: What Makes Them So Good?

The first park is SeaWorld Orlando. This seems pretty simple. They have 2 family coasters with Journey to Atlantis and Super Grover's Box Car Derby. The park also has Ice Breaker coming soon, which may be some people's first experience of Ejector Airtime. Some people are calling it a family coaster, which is wrong, but it will be pretty family friendly. There are also animals that will attract kids.

Next is Busch Gardens Tampa. There are 4 family coasters (including Cheetah Hunt). There are also coasters that are good starters for extreme thrill rides. Finally, there are animals. These seem to make it a great park for kids.

The third park is Disney's Animal Kingdom. This one is pretty simple to explain: Animals plus Disney. Families tend to love them both. There is also a little something called Expedition Everest that people love.

Next, there's Bay Beach. This park is almost completely made up of family rides. They may only have one coaster, and that coaster is known for ejector airtime, but I know of people whose first coaster was Zippin Pippin.

Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America also makes sense to be considered one of the best parks for families. It is themed to Nickelodeon and has both family and thrill rides. The whole family could probably enjoy this place. Furthermore, since it's year-round and in the largest mall in the US, people can enjoy it all the time.

Quassy is the next park here. This park is almost completely made up of family rides. It makes sense that this park will be great for families.

Next on the list is Kennywood. I can 100% see why this was put on someone's top 3 best parks for families. There are 2 kids areas, several family rides, and a 101 year old wooden coasters that a 4 or 5 year old can probably ride. I go to this park frequently, and I can say that this park is great. I've actually been visiting Kennywood since I was an infant, and I had fun almost every time.

The second to last park on the list is Frontier City. Almost every ride there is a family or kiddie ride. They have literally 7 thrill rides. The rest of the rides there are family or kids rides. The park also has a theme that many kids will probably like with the old western theme.

The final park is Disneyland. This can be explained in one word: Disney. The park looks beautiful and has Disney characters. They need to make it a great park for families if they want parents to take kids here and for kids to want to come.

Part 3: Which of these is Best Rounded for Families

For a good family park, I would say that you need to mix in rides that anyone can like with more thrilling rides. There should also, if possible, be some sort of IP or theme that will draw in families. Finally, these parks should be good value for the experience. For the IP reason, I am going to eliminate Bay Beach and Quassy. They appear to be fun, but not finalists.

For cost reasons, I am going to eliminate Disney's Animal Kingdom. The park appears to be really fun, but it is VERY expensive. There are some good draws, but for a family of 5, that is $535 plus tax. That also doesn't include Parking, Food, Max Pass, On-Ride Photos, or Souvenirs. That will all combine to something probably around $1000.

Disneyland will also now be eliminated. It is also very expensive, just now with much higher sales taxes. Not to say that sales taxes are bad, but when you have to pay an additional $100 thanks to the sales taxes and naturally higher prices due to it being near LA and being a tourist destination, it is just going to cost too much.

I am also going to eliminate Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. This park is just okay value. The prices online seem kind of deceiving. You may see "Unlimited Ride Wristband for $25", but not read that it is only for 2 hours. To get there for the whole day, you will need to pay $100 on a weekday.

At this point, we are left with the following parks:

-SeaWorld Orlando

-Busch Gardens Tampa

-Kennywood

-Frontier City

Now, I am going to, at least for now, keep SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa on the list. These parks are kind of expensive, but also keep in mind that much of that money is going to protecting Sea Life and for animal care. When you go to these parks, you aren't just going for the rides, you're going for the experience.

The park I am going to eliminate next is Frontier City. The park has cheap admission, but the rides seem unreliable and Six Flags hasn't done much for the park yet. If they can make the rides more reliable and add in some more rides, then I am willing to bring this park back into the competition.

Now, we have the choice of the 2 SeaWorld Parks and Kennywood.

In my opinion, this is a pretty tough choice. Kennywood has rides for basically every audience.

For the next elimination, I am going to choose the SeaWorld park with less value. This is a less tough choice: Busch Gardens Tampa. The park has more exhibits, more family rides, and more rides for more audiences. Not including Kiddie Coasters, SeaWorld Orlando has only 1 family coaster while Busch Gardens Tampa has either 2 or 3 (depending on if you count Cheetah Hunt).

Now, we have the 2 last parks: Kennywood and Busch Gardens Tampa. While I have bias towards Kennywood (which is probably why I had it in the race longer than SeaWorld Orlando and 2 Disney Parks), this is where I have to say that it can't win this. While Kennywood has a good ride collection and 2 good kids areas, that just can't compete with a mix between an Amusement Park, Theme Park, and Zoo with a Sesame Street area plus 3 B&M coasters, an RMC Hyper Hybrid, 3 family coasters, and a classic looper.

In the end, of the 9 parks listed here, Busch Gardens Tampa wins. The park has good value, a great ride lineup, and even has an IP and theming throughout the park. I have heard so much good about this park and hope to get here in the next few years. I hope you enjoyed this.