Whether it's the magic of Disneyland or the exhilaration of Universal, we all know a theme park fanatic who loves the thrill of the rides, the atmosphere of the park and the general fun of being at the resort. But which theme parks are the best for our pockets and where is it inevitable we will have to splash the cash?
When it comes to the least expensive parks for cost per ride globally, the top 3 hail from different continents, which means any theme park fan can see the world whilst seeking a theme park adventure. The chart below highlights more information on the least expensive locations, availability of hotels and number of rides.
When looking to experience the more well-known park names, the general costs of the experience can skyrocket. Universal Hollywood, home of Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey and Jurassic World, tops the charts at £9.35 per ride compared to our lowest contender Chimelong Paradise, in China at 38p per ride.
When planning your trip you always want to get the most for your money and get on as many rides as possible, so which parks allow you to complete the most rides per day based on their average queue time?
Whether you’re seeking a cost effective trip with plenty of rides to keep your schedule busy or the more mainstream themed rides, there will be something for everyone but be sure to get saving for the more well-known parks like Disneyland’s Hollywood Studios or SeaWorld Orlando, as these are certainly more expensive.
Depending on where you're travelling to and from, there's a strong possibility that you will need to apply for ETIAS for minors as well as for adults - you can find out if minors need ETIAS here.
Methodology: Using a list of amusement park rankings, the top 25 worldwide theme parks, top 20 North America theme parks and top 20 European theme parks were analysed. Using each theme park’s website we've found out the cost of a day ticket and the number of rides to work out the cost per ride for each theme park. We've used Queue Times to calculate the average queue time length for each park and the number of rides that you could complete in a day. The number of rides you could complete in a day does not include walk times from ride to ride and any breaks you may take throughout the day. Number of hotels has been sourced from Tripadvisor.