FAMILY & KIDS
Beyond Anaheim & Orlando: Top 10 non-Disney amusement parks
Can't get the family to a California or Florida theme park this year? That's OK.
Needham, Mass. -- TripAdvisor.com has come up with a list of the 10 best parks outside Orlando, Florida, based on popularity among its users and the Web site's editors.
The theme parks are:
• HersheyPark, Hershey, Pa., celebrating its centennial this year. When you're done riding the Storm Runner coaster, head for a tour of Hershey's Chocolate World, located nearby.
• Busch Gardens, Tampa, Fla., which has African-themed rides and landscaping, and a zoo with 2,700 animals.
• Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Ohio, which calls itself the "roller coaster capital of the world," with 17 coasters.
• Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, Texas, known for its entertaining shows in addition to rides like Scream and Poltergeist.
• Family Kingdom Amusement Park, Myrtle Beach, S.C., a combined oceanfront water park and amusement park.
• Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J., known for thrill rides and a tiger exhibit, but with plenty for little kids to do as well.
• Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Island, Ohio, home to The Beast, the world's longest wooden roller coaster, and Face/Off, a face-to-face inverted coaster.
• Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park, Gatlinburg, Tenn., where your visit starts with a scenic aerial tram ride up a mountain. Features include indoor skating, an alpine slide, a fun house, go-carts and a black bear habitat.
• Coney Island, Brooklyn, N.Y., home to the world-famous Cyclone coaster and Wonder Wheel ferris wheel. But hurry - while the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel will survive, this is the final season for the park that is home to many of the area's other rides, Astroland.
• Paramount's Carowinds, Charlotte, N.C., which has coasters along with a 25,000-square-foot wave pool, a three-story water jungle gym and other water rides.
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