Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride

In 2006, according to freshcut.com, 335 million people visited more than 600 amusement parks in the United States. That, the site says, amounts to estimated revenues of $11.5 billion, a $4 billion increase over 1996.

Amusement Today magazine reported that there was an overall increase in amusement park attendance during the summer of 2008.

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, shown at the top of this post, ranked #1 in attendance with 17,063 visitors. Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, was second with attendance of 14,721,000.

I thought it would be interesting to see what the best amusement parks in the United States look like on Google Earth.

Having reviewed numerous articles addressing the issue of exactly which parks are best I concluded the list would have to include...

Kennywood Park, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)


Disneyland, Anaheim, California


Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio


Knot's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California


Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Virginia


Kings Island, Mason, Ohio (Cincinnati)


Hershey Park, Hershey, Pennsylvania


Legoland, Carlsbad, California


Epcot Center, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida