A new ranking has revealed which popular US theme park is really the best to visit this Halloween – with Cedar Point in Ohio crowned top. The ranking, created by JeffBet, assigned each theme park a score out of 10 based on their amenities, attractions, availability of their Halloween event, crowding, price, seasonal popularity, spooky theming, and value for money.
Amenities looked at the number of on-site restaurants, food stalls, and gift stops. Attractions relate to the number available, wait times and ratings, while availability is based on the number of days the Halloween event is running and the park’s seasonal opening hours.
Crowding considers queue times and footfall, price refers to tickets and parking, seasonal popularity looks at the visitor reviews for each park, while theming refers to the number and variety of Halloween attractions available and how much demand increases in October.
Meanwhile, value for money scaled ticket price by the number of attractions and the hours each guest can spend in the park to see where their money will go the furthest. And when all factors are considered, it turns out Cedar Point is the theme park that’s actually worth visiting this fall, as it scored the best with 6.9 out of 10. The 364-acre amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, also scored the best for value for money, with the $46.99 entry fee and $25 parking well worth it when the whopping 72 attractions and time spent in the park (up to 13 hours each day over the spooky season) are accounted for.
The park also performed particularly well for theming, as there are a staggering 19 Halloween-specific ‘nighttime frights’ planned over their ‘Halloweekend’ events, including mazes, outdoor scare zones, and ‘sinister’ live shows.
Plenty of people will be there to share your enthusiasm with, data shows, as the park was one of the top scorers for popularity, with the second-highest annual search volume (second to Universal Studios Hollywood), and was rated an impressive 4.6 out of five by reviewers.
Following Cedar Point as the second-best pick this Halloween is – surprisingly for some – Knott’s Berry Farm, largely due to its manageable crowd levels. The park reports an average daily footfall of 10,085 and a crowd level score of 37% each October – yet manages to keep ride queues fairly reasonable at a maximum of 73 minutes.
Knott’s Berry Farm also manages impressive theming (working around the boysenberry) thanks to its 19 Halloween-specific attractions for ‘Knott’s Scary Farm’, including ten immersive mazes, five scare zones, and four live shows.
Rounding out the top three parks is Disneyland Park, which came out as the top-scorer for amenities with a huge 127 eateries and 76 gift shops across the whole Disneyland Resort. The beloved park also offers some of the best value for money, as the $114 online ticket price and $30 parking cost go far, with 58 attractions and up to 16 hours in the park.
Top 10 theme parks this Halloween
On the other end of the scale, the theme parks that came out as the least desirable picks this Halloween were Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, which scored 3 out of 10, and – shockingly, Universal Studios Florida, which scored 3.9 out of 10.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay was let down by its amenities, with just 11 gift shops and eateries, and also by the availability of its Halloween event – Howl-O-Scream – as it only runs for 27 days for up to 8 hours 0 compared to the 60 days and 16 hours in Disneyland.
Despite being renowned for having one of the best live-action scare shows around with their Halloween Horror Nights, Universal Studios Florida was scuppered by amenities and cost.
Right now, adult park admissions cost a sensational $324 for a 3-park ticket – according to their site – and visitors must shell out an additional $89.99 to attend the nighttime events. However, the park still scored well for theming, with 17 Halloween-specific events, including 10 haunted houses and 5 scare zones – including one based on Stranger Things 4.
Speaking on the findings, a JeffBet spokesperson said: “Halloween is one of the most in-demand events at US theme parks, as they take the opportunity to attract visitors with live-action scare shows, pumpkin carving competitions, and fancy dress parties.
“However, the big names like Universal Studios and Disneyland Resort tend to overshadow smaller providers like Knott’s Berry Farm and Cedar Point, making it easy for visitors to end up overpaying for an experience that may actually be better elsewhere.
“It’s surprising to see Kings Island above Universal Studios in the ranking – and it just goes to show that there’s something for everyone this fall in the smaller parks and the big!”
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