Tripadvisor list crowns US king of amusement parks
Seven of the world's top 10 theme parks are in America - with a whopping six in Florida, writes Elizabeth Sleith
The travellers' textbook Tripadvisor has released another ranking of the world's best attractions according to the people who've actually been. This time, the World's Best Amusement Parks and Water Parks are in for a round of screaming applause.
Top honours in the amusement-park category go to Universal's Island of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, for the third year in a row.With eight individually themed islands, the park sells the fantasy of a journey, with visitors departing from a main port to explore the islands one by one. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is one of them.
On the separate list for water parks, it's Siam Park, a Thai-themed aquatic paradise on Tenerife Island, Canary Islands, Spain, that makes the biggest splash - for the fourth year in a row.
The 18ha park has a beach, and slides with intimidating names like The Giant, Mekong Rapids, Jungle Snake and the Tower of Power.
Orlando takes the title of the world's amusement-park capital in a landslide - six of the top 10 parks are there. There are seven in the US (the other one is Universal Studios in Los Angeles).Europe gets two nods (Europa-Park in Germany and Le Puy du Fou in France) and South America one, Beto Carrero World in Brazil.
The water-parks list is much more eclectic, with winners in Abu Dhabi, Bali, Dubai, three in Brazil and yes, of course, two in Orlando.
The winners were decided using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for the parks worldwide, gathered over a 12-month period.
The winners would be wise not to get too comfy at the top, however. There's a host of new parks across the world set to open by 2020.
Upcoming attractions include Warner Bros, Abu Dhabi; Twentieth Century Fox World in Malaysia (and another in Dubai); and The Kingdom of Poseidon in Harbin, China...
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