Many people choose to head to Disney World, Disneyland, or Universal Orlando for their family vacations. These theme parks are a classic for a reason!
Magic Kingdom
Whether it’s due to nostalgia, the magic of Disney, or the thrills of Universal, these are some of the most popular theme parks in the country regarding attendance. However, USA Today just came out with its list of the top ten theme parks in the United States, and Disney AND Universal have been left off of the list entirely.
The list was released on April 30th, 2025, and was created by theme park experts. Then, USA Today readers voted on the nominees to see who would make it into the top ten, and, of course, who would come out on top. We’ll be the first to admit, some of the parks on here SHOCKED us. To start, Number 10 is Kings Island (which we honestly thought would be higher up), Number 9 is Holiday World (which is only open from May-November each year!), and Number 8 is Hershey Park (which we honestly forgot existed, for the most part…sorry Hershey).
Number 7 is Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which we think lands in a pretty good spot, and then Dollywood comes in at Number 6! We can see that, for sure, and we’ve heard that some people absolutely adore the park, but choosing it over Disney or Universal? We’ll have to see for ourselves one day, that’s for sure.
©Dollywood
Number 5 is Kennywood, and Number 4 landed with Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (again, we see this one being on the list, but this close to number one? Shocking!). But then, get ready for the real shocker — SeaWorld Orlando landed in the Number 3 spot! We know there are some pretty fantastic rides here, but we really didn’t see this one coming.
©SeaWorld
Number 2 is Knoebels in Pennsylvania and Number 1 Silver Dollar City. Needless to say, we’re VERY curious about these rankings, and to see Disney and Universal not mentioned at all was a bit of a shocker. However, we fully recognize that both of these locations are EXPENSIVE, and if the people who voted can make it to these other parks much easier than getting all the way down to Orlando, we can understand.
©Silver Dollar City
Don’t want to go through all of the stress of booking your Disney World trip alone? Reach out to our friends at Small World Vacations! Their experienced agents monitor your reservation for possible future savings, compare discounts and figure out which one works best for your travel party, dates, resort, and touring plans. And, they share expert tips and first-hand advice with you about your magical vacation.
We’re also curious to see if Epic Universe will land on any lists once it opens on May 22nd, 2025. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out, so stay tuned to DFB!
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Do you think Disney and Universal were snubbed, or do you agree with the list? Tell us in the comments!
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Magic Kingdom at WDW was 9th on the list in 2021 and 7th in 2017, the same year Disneyland placed 10th. Cedar Point used to routinely be the top five but has fallen out of the top ten entirely too.
Obviously the USA Today list can be completely discarded. Few of those choices deserve to be top 10. Those involved apparently are very biased rather than objective.