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30. Changzhou Dinosaur Park

Location: Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
2013 attendance: 3.6 million
2014 attendance: 3.7 million (up 2.8%)

Changzhou Dinosaur Park

Image: Sam Ose, Wikipedia

Dubbed the "Eastern Jurassic Park", Changzhou Dinosaur Park is home to a number of large dinosaur fossils. As well as a 20,000 square meter museum, it also home to a range of traditional theme park rides and a popular parade.

Don't miss: Dinoconda, an S&S 4th Dimension roller coaster, opened in 2012 and includes 3 inversions.

29. OCT East

Location: Shenzhen, China
2013 attendance: 3.95 million
2014 attendance: 3.78 million (down 4.3%)

OCT East

Image: Clestur

Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) East is one of China's oldest theme park resorts, having opened in 1985. It actually consists of two sub-parks, Knight Valley and Tea Valley. The former hosts actual rides, while the latter is essentially a botanical garden.

In Knight Valley, guests board a funicular railway which carries them up a hillside that hosts the park's major rides. These include a thinly-disguised clone of Tokyo DisneySea's Journey to the Center of the Earth (here dubbed "4,000 Miles to Earth Center"), a log flume and a wooden roller coaster.

Don't miss: Mountain Flyer, an impressive wooden coaster manufactured by US firm Great Coasters International.

28. SeaWorld San Diego

Location: San Diego, California, USA
2013 attendance: 4.31 million
2014 attendance: 3.79 million (down 12.0%)

Manta

SeaWorld San Diego offers the chain's standard selection of live shows, interactive animal exhibits and large-scale theme park attractions. Located on Mission Bay, it is best known for its killer whale shows, and also offers performances starring sea lions, dolphins and even cats and dogs. While its selection of rides are on a slightly smaller scale than those at sister park SeaWorld Orlando, it is home to a rapids ride (Shipwreck Rapids), a water coaster (Journey to Atlantis) and a launch coaster (Manta).

The impact of the Blackfish documentary and surrounding controversies had a huge effect on attendance at the park in 2014.

Dont miss: Opened at SeaWorld San Diego in May 2012, Manta combines a traditional roller coaster with with elements of a water ride. While it features a similar theme to the Manta coaster at sister park SeaWorld Orlando, it offers an entirely different ride experience. Whereas the Florida park's original uses a "flying" coaster system to simulate the gliding action of manta rays, the SeaWorld San Diego version utilises a launch system and incorporates giant screens showing images of rays other marine creatures.

27. Universal Studios Singapore

Location: Sentosa Island, Singapore
2013 attendance: 3.65 million
2014 attendance: 3.84 million (up 5.2%)

Battlestar Galactica

Image: Rojypala, Wikipedia

Universal Studios Singapore threw open its gates for the first time in March 2010. It suffered a difficult first year in operations, with Battlestar Galactica forced to close for much of it and Madagascar: A Crate Adventure failing to open at all (the boat ride eventually debuted in May 2011, some 14 months late). It hit its stride in 2011, though, with the debut of Transformers The Ride, and a number of significant new additions are planned for the next few years.

Don't miss: Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle reuses the same dark ride system employed by The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure, combining real-world sets and effects with 3-D movie footage.

26. Busch Gardens Tampa

Location: Tampa, Florida, USA
2013 attendance: 4.09 million
2014 attendance: 4.13 million (up 1.0%)

SheiKra

Located around an hour's drive from the theme park hotspot of Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa sprawls across a massive 335-acre site. The park specialises in two things: roller coasters and animal exhibits. It has an impressive line-up of the former, with vertical drop coaster SheiKra and the multi-launch Cheetah Hunt being particularly popular.

Don't miss: Leaping over the serengeti, slaloming among waterfall caverns, and launching alongside real cheetahs, Cheetah Hunt makes excellent use of terrain to create a roller coaster that's thrilling, but accessible to a wide age range.

25. Walt Disney Studios

Location: Marne la Vallée, France
2013 attendance: 4.47 million
2014 attendance: 4.26 million (down 4.7%)

Walt Disney Studios

A second, studio-themed park was originally planned to open at the Disneyland Paris Resort in 1996. However, the resort's financial problems ended that plan and it was only revived in a scaled-down form in time for Walt Disney Studios to open in 2002. Since then, Disney has continued to expand the park - adding the Toon Studio area in summer 2007, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror later the same year and Toy Story Playland in 2010.

Don't miss: Opened in 2014, Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy sees guests "shrunk" down to the size of a rat. The ride begins in Gusteau's restaurant, before taking riders on a wild chase through key scenes from the Pixar movie.

24. Efteling

Location: Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands
2013 attendance: 4.15 million
2014 attendance: 4.4 million (up 6.0%)

Efteling

Image: Stefan Scheer, Wikipedia

The largest theme park in Holland, Efteling boasts a large array of classic attractions along with a sprinkling of modern thrill rides. The heart of the park remains Sprookjesbos (the Fairytale Forest), and it features a number of enchanting, story-driven dark rides that will appeal to young children. Adults won't feel left out, though, with the Flying Dutchman water coaster and Joris en de Draak wooden coaster offering pulse-racing excitement.

Don't miss: Sprookjesbos (Fairytale Forest) is the oldest attraction at Efteling, and was originally designed by Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck. It features a variety of walkthrough scenes from famous fairytales, which are recreated in intricate detail.

23. Tivoli Gardens

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
2013 attendance: 4.20 million
2014 attendance: 4.48 million (up 6.6%)

Tivoli Gardens

Having first opened in 1843, Tivoli Gardens is the second-oldest amusement park in the world. Originally named Tivoli & Vauxhall in a reference to gardens in Paris and London, it was located on land granted to Georg Carstensen by King Christmas VIII. Rides were a part of its offering from the very beginning, along with live entertainment and eating establishments. While many of its buildings were destroyed by Nazi sympathisers in 1943, the park still retains a number of historic structures and attractions. In recent years, it has invested in modern thrill rides, including floorless roller coaster Daemonen (The Demon).

Don't miss: Daemonen (The Demon), an impressive Bolliger & Mabillard floorless roller coaster that packs three inversions into its relatively compact circuit.

22. SeaWorld Orlando

Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
2013 attendance: 5.09 million
2014 attendance: 4.68 million (down 8%)

SeaWorld Orlando

Combining marine life exhibits and shows with a selection of major theme park rides, SeaWorld Orlando is located in Florida's theme park hotspot. To compete effectively with giants Disney and Universal, it has installed multi-million dollar roller coasters Kraken and Manta, as well as the Journey to Atlantis water coaster.

The third park in the SeaWorld chain (after SeaWorld San Diego and the now-defunct SeaWorld Ohio), SeaWorld Orlando was expanded considerably following a takeover by Anheuser Busch in 1989. Now part of the broader SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment chain, it invested in another major expansion in 2013.

This had a short-term effect, but the larger impact of the negative publicity surrounding the Blackfish documentary had a devastating effect on attendance in 2014.

Don't miss: Opened in May 2013, Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin is billed as "the world's coldest theme park ride". Using a trackless ride system, it offers a different experience every time, with guests disembarking into an ice cold penguin exhibit.

21. Europa Park

Location: Rust, Germany
2013 attendance: 4.9 million
2014 attendance: 5.0 million (up 2.0%)

Europa Park

Mack Rides first opened Europa Park in 1975, aiming to show off its newest ride models. As its roster of attractions has grown over the proceeding decades, the park has developed into a multi-day destination resort, and boasts five hotels and dozens of restaurants. Occasionally, Mack has allowed other manufacturers to encroach on its territory, adding the Bolliger & Mabillard hypercoaster Silver Star in 2002 and Great Coasters International's wooden creation Wodan: Timbur Coaster in 2012.

Don't miss: Blue Fire, a combination of a launched roller coaster and a dark ride. A towering vertical loop, a rare twisted horseshoe roll and a heartline roll feature in its circuit.

 
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Comments

1. Magic kingdom at walt disney world

2. Epcot

3. Disney's Hollywood Studios

4. Disney's Animal Kingdom

I visited about 20 parks among the 50 and all the 12 first of these ranking. Here is my top ten :
10. Disney's California Adventure
9. Disney's Hollywood Studios
8. Universal Studios Japan
7. Port Aventura
6. Disneyland Park at Paris
5. Phantasialand
4. Disney's Animal Kingdom
3. Universal Islands of Adventure
2. Efteling
1. Tokyo Disney Sea

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