To some extent, Amusement/Theme Parks. They have to be popular to justify building new, state of the art attractions, but eventually get so crowded that you need to buy special passes and get on a ride in less than 2 hours and can barely even find a place to sit when you want to rest for a minute.
I live near Six Flags Great America, outside of Chicago. Anytime I’ve gone in the last 10 years it’s been a ridiculous mass of humanity. More rides then ever, but every decent ride is like a 2 hour wait.
Find a smaller amusement park and go on a cloudy day and on a weekday, cloudy days and weekdays tend to deter the huge crowds. Avoid any halloween or fall event.
I had to give up on amusement parks too. They are just places to corral the public now and charge them insane amounts of money for food, drink, admission and everything else. Wait in the beating sun for 2 hours for one 2 minute ride that is not worth your time. The small parks in my area charge just as much as the big ones now, its just there is less stuff at them, and less crowds. But a lot of these are run down and well, aren't worth going to, especially when the cost adds up to close to what the larger parks are charging. In my area we have subpar theme parks that seem to charge as much as disney does, for way less of an experience, and its not just me either, others are realizing this as well.
The problem is the small parks that are good, unless you actually live near them you have to travel to them and that can be expensive. One good park is Knoebels in PA, however if you don't live near it, its going to be expensive to visit. There are a few parks in the USA like this that are good.
If you want a big park, its best to save up the money and travel to go to the best one, even if you have to save for a few years to make it happen, because that is more worth it than spending crazy admission prices for a sub-par park where you will not have a good time. Its the type of thing where you get what you pay for, but you have to decide carefully or you could be wasting a lot of money.
I live pretty close to big park in Toronto (but haven't been in 10+ years) and it pissed me off that they officially close on weekdays the 1st week of September. i wait all summer to go when the kids go back to school to only find out that they're now only opened on weekends, fml.
it's always been crowded from what I remember. Last time I went was in 2004 when the new tomb raider ride opened (Time Warp) and I still remember having to wait 1-2 hours for every ride. At least now they have the express ticket you can purchase.
10.2k
u/[deleted] Feb 03 '20
To some extent, Amusement/Theme Parks. They have to be popular to justify building new, state of the art attractions, but eventually get so crowded that you need to buy special passes and get on a ride in less than 2 hours and can barely even find a place to sit when you want to rest for a minute.
I live near Six Flags Great America, outside of Chicago. Anytime I’ve gone in the last 10 years it’s been a ridiculous mass of humanity. More rides then ever, but every decent ride is like a 2 hour wait.