Cedar Point Named One of the Most Popular Amusement Parks
With summer just around the corner, it will soon be time to visit some of our favorite amusement parks. One of the top parks in North America is only a few hours drive away from West Michigan.
Family vacation experts at Family Destinations Guide have come up with a list of the most popular amusement parks in North America. They calculated the percentage of "excellent" reviews on TripAdvisor to find the most popular park.
How the Parks Ranked
Universal's Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort is the most popular amusement park in North America. Some of their attractions include The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Seuss Landing and Marvel Super Hero Island.
The second most popular amusement park is the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. The Magic Kingdom is one of the four parks at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Disney California Adventure Park is next on the list. This park opened in 2001 and has attractions with themes dedicated to movies like Cars, Toy Story, and the Marvel superhero franchise.
Coming in at #4 on the list is Sandusky, Ohio's Cedar Point. It is the only amusement park on the list that is not located in Florida or California. Cedar Point is one of the biggest amusement parks in the world with 70 attractions -- 17 of those being roller coasters!
Rounding out the top 10 amusement parks on the list are:
#5 Disneyland Park in California
#6 Universal Studios Florida at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida
#7 Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
#8 Universal Studios Hollywood in California
#9 Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
#10 SeaWorld Orlando in Florida
Cedar Point's History
Cedar Point opened as a public bathing beach in 1870. Visitors has to ride the steamer "Young Reindeer" to get to the park. In 1892, the park installed its first roller coaster -- the Switchback Railway. It was 25 feet tall and reached a top speed of an amazing 10 miles per hour!
In 1899 the first hotel opened at Cedar Point -- The Bay Shore Hotel. A few years later, in 1901, a 55 room hotel -- the White House -- opened its doors. The historic Hotel Breakers opened in 1905.
In 1911, Cedar Point announced that a roadway would be built to connect the resort to the main roadway in Sandusky.
You can read more about the history of Cedar Point here. More recent history, from 2002-2021, can be found here.
Cedar Point opens on Saturday, May 6th to kick off their 2023 season. For more information on the park, visit their website at cedarpoint.com.
