I’ve been going to amusement parks my entire life.
I’ve visited almost every major park in the United States and I have also gone to
Europe a few times specifically to visit theme parks.
And it doesn’t take long to notice some major differences between the parks overseas
and those back home.
So in this video, I wanted to point out 20 differences between American and European
theme parks.
These are generalizations, so they won’t apply to all theme parks.
I’m looking at it holistically.
I’ll have a four categories- the arrival experience, park operations, ride operations,
and miscellaneous.
I’ll start with the arrival experience.
1) Parks in Europe are much easier to access via public transit.
You can often get between a major city center and the closest theme park using a series
of trains and buses.
The same system will allow you to cover large distances in between distant parks.
That is not the case in America.
You usually will need a car to get to the park unless the park itself is located in
a major city.
If you don’t drive, you can hire a taxi or Uber, but that will be costlier than the
comparable public transit option overseas.
2) In the United States, you typically pay for parking at a toll booth when you arrive.
In Europe, you pay for parking when you’re leaving.
You can either purchase your ticket online, at the ticket booths, or at dedicated machines.
The European method makes it faster and easier to get into the park in the morning, but it
can amplify the log jams at closing time when you’re trying to leave.
3) In Euorpe, many people still use the ticket booths.
In the United States, most people purchase their admission online, which is why there
are so few ticket windows in use.
Some parks scrapped the ticket booths entirely and redirect on-site purchases to guest relations.
It’s possible to buy tickets online for most European parks and I’d recommend doing
that.
4) In Europe, very few parks have metal detectors or bag checks as you enter, even the larger
ones.
In the United States, it’s the standard at most parks.
This is usually the bottleneck in the morning when people are trying to get into an American
park.
I’m all for whatever parks need to do to keep people safe and it doesn’t seem to
be needed overseas.
5) In Europe, you have more freedom with what you can bring into parks.
Most US parks ban outside food and drinks.
In Europe, people routinely bring snacks, meals, and drinks with them.
Further, some US parks have started to ban or restrict bag sizes, especially after some
incidents at Halloween events.
I haven’t seen something similar take place overseas.
In fact, bags are more common in Europe, possibly because of the extra freedom.
Next I’ll talk about the park operations.
6) In America, particularly at the larger parks owned by Six Flags, SeaWorld, and Cedar
Fair, paid lockers are required for bags before you enter the queue line.
These parks often ban you from storing belongings on the ride platform in the same of faster
operations.
In Europe, I have never seen paid lockers on any individual ride.
Instead, these parks usually allow all belongings to be placed on the ride platform.
And those that don’t typically offer free lockers or cubbies while you ride.
This ties into the European parks being much more bag friendly.
7) In Europe, running is allowed.
When parks open for the day, there’s usually a mad dash to that respective park’s most
popular ride.
It adds a sense of excitement at the start of the day in my opinion.
Then you can also run at other points in the day as well…like if you’re trying to get
across the park for one last ride before the park closes.
In America, almost every park bans running at all times of the day.
Employees will tell you to stop or chide you out if they see you.
I get this is for safety and to avoid lawsuits, but I didn’t notice anyone getting hurt
overseas.
People were careful not to run in densely packed areas and/or trample people.
8) In Europe, parks will stay open in the rain and inclement weather.
Most rides will remain in operation too unless they physically cannot run in the rain like
Intamin hydraulic launch coasters or there’s thunder and lightning.
Europeans also seam less bothered by rain as the difference in crowds between a clear
and rainy day is less pronounced than America.
Visiting parks on days with poor weather is a gamble in the United States.
On one hand, you’ll have very light crowds.
On the other hand, expect reduced operations.
Some parks won’t even open.
Some parks will stop running their rides in the slightest of rain.
Then many parks will use the bad weather as an excuse to close early.
They’ll cite the weather, but it’s really to cut their operational losses on days with
low attendance.
This is presumably tied to how US parks pay their employees.
There, they are paid for the hours they actually work.
In Europe, employees are paid for their contractual hours.
Since the employees get their money regardless, the parks have every incentive to remain open
to get what cash they can.
9) In Europe, parks tend to close earlier, even the larger ones.
I think a lot of this is related to the parks being closer to houses and villages than their
US counterparts and the parks having to respect noise and traffic concerns.
The exceptions are those in city centers.
Those ones usually stay open really late, which make sense given the increased noise
in those areas.
10) In Europe, closing time usually represents when the final cycle is completed.
Many parks want the last train dispatched right at closing time, so they will close
lines early to ensure this.
I think this is tied to the contractual hours and noise items I previously discussed.
In America, closing time usually represents when the physical queue lines are closed,
and then everyone in line can still ride.
11) In America, almost every park will give you a cup of free tap water if you ask at
any food or beverage location.
The same cannot be said at European parks.
Expect to have to buy bottled water there.
And if you were thinking about using drinking fountains, those aren’t as common overseas.
12) In Europe, guests are often allowed to walk and relax on grassy areas.
In the United States, most parks want guests staying on the pathways.
Next I’ll talk about ride operations.
13) Europe has some self-operated rides.
Riders board their own vehicles, secure themselves, and press a button to operate the rides.
Not only that, there isn’t always an employee in the immediate area watching!
You would never get that type of freedom in the United States.
Each ride will have their own operator or operators.
14) In Europe, employees don’t always physically check restraints.
Some do, particularly on the more extreme ones or if you’re visiting a larger corporate
park.
But on some rides, employees simply do spot checks.
Or they even will just trust that guests lowered their own restraint.
In the United States, almost every park will physically touch your restraint to verify
it is down and locked.
15) In Europe, operations are faster.
Part of that is tied to the previous item, but I’ve also noticed ride crews in Europe
tend to be older so I suspect there is more retention and incentive to work quickly among
employees.
16) In Europe, rides have less monitoring.
For example, log flumes in the US usually have an employee stationed atop the drops
to make sure guests don’t stand up.
You won’t see that the European theme parks.
A lot more trust is given to the guests.
17) In Europe, Go Pros are usually allowed on most rides and attractions.
There are some parks that don’t allow it like those in the Merlin chain, but it’s
rarer to see a park ban them.
In the United States, it’s the opposite.
Most parks ban on-ride filming.
This wasn’t always the case, but most parks cracked down when cell phones started becoming
more common.
Finally, I’ll touch on a few miscellaneous observations.
18) In Europe, ride merchandise is less widespread and if it is available, it tends to be more
subtle.
Typically the merchandise will only show the logo.
In the United States, you’ll have these bombastic shirts and hats with stats and ride
track going every which direction.
And one item I wish more European parks had were nanocoasters from Coaster Dynamix.
I love those models!
19) In Europe, on-site hotels and accommodations seems to be more common.
This is almost a certainty at the larger parks, but even some of the smaller ones have either
a campground or smaller hotel on property.
In America, very few parks have onsite hotels outside of Disney.
Parks over here instead rely on nearby chain hotels.
20) In Europe, parks tend to place a greater emphasis on theming whereas US parks tend
to put almost all their budget into just the ride.
As a theme park fan, I love this approach.
Visuals and music go a long way to enhancing an individual attraction and an overall area.
So those are 20 of the biggest differences I notice between European and American theme
parks.
What are your thoughts on this list?
Are there any differences you think I missed?
Let me know down in the comments.
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