Al's Place (www.pobox.com/~alsplace)

August 22nd, 2001 - I've decided to give these old pages a new home. The content is old, but perhaps it is still useful.

I travel. Alot. My travels have taken me to many great places and allowed me to see many great things including theme parks all over America. This file describes my impressions of some of the parks I have visited.

For simplicity in referring to the parks, a set of abbreviations will be used, as follows:

ADV - Adventureland (Altoona, IA - near Des Moines)
DL - Disneyland (Anaheim, CA)
DMGM - Disney/MGM Studios (Walt Disney World, FL)
EC - Epcot Center (Walt Disney World, FL)
KNY - Kennywood (West Mifflin, PA - near Pittsburgh)
PGA - Paramount's Great America (San Jose, CA)
SFA - Six Flags Astroworld (Houston, TX)
SFFT - Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio, TX)
SFGA - Six Flags over Georgia (Atlanta, GA)
SFMM - Six Flags Magic Mountain (CA)
SFTX - Six Flags over Texas (Arlington, TX - near Dallas)
TMK - The Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World, FL)
USF - Universal Studios Florida (near Orlando)
USH - Universal Studios Hollywood (CA)

Obviously, complete reviews of this many parks would make for a book. This website will instead offer a comparitive overview of the parks, hopefully giving a point of reference for those who have seen some, but not all. This list will grow as I visit more parks and get more time to spend on this.

Style Conventions

I consider there to be three basic types of theme parks and attractions:

Disney-style - A theme park full of amazing attention to detail, "dark rides", and usually lacking in the carnival style thrill rides. (Basically, Disney and Universal Studios.)
Carnival-style - Similar to those State Fair carnivals that setup and move on, mostly with typical thrill rides and usually little or no theming. (An "amusement" park, not "theme" park.)
Six Flags-style - Six Flags is the leader of the general purpose park. Higher in quality than a Carni-style park with larger rides and themed areas, but not near the level of Disney-style wonderlands. (The "theme park" most are familiar with.)

I hope at least someone out there agrees with my opinions. If not, feel free to write your own counter reviews and I'll put links to them from my page.