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The Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was formed when Cedar Point purchased Valleyfair theme park in Minnesota. Over the years, Cedar Fair purchased parks like Worlds of Fun, Dorney Park and Six Flags Ohio. Then they made their biggest buy ever in 2006 by acquiring Paramount Parks from the CBS Corporation. This buy included parks like Paramount’s Kings Island and Paramount Canada’s Wonderland. Cedar Fair and Six Flags recently merged in 2023 to become the largest theme park operator in the world. That said, we’ll be keeping this list simple and sticking to the original Cedar Fair parks. This article will rank all 11 parks from worst to best, based on our opinions.

11. Michigan’s Adventure

Michigan’s Adventure is…not great…not great at all. This is the smallest park in the Cedar Fair chain. It’s even smaller than Great Escape, the smallest Six Flags park, for comparison. It is home to Shivering Timbers. This is a spectacular coaster that has won a few awards. Other than that…the park doesn’t have a lot to offer. They have a Vekoma Boomerang, a Vekoma SLC, and some other coasters…but they’re all below average. They finally received a Camp Snoopy kids area in 2021. Still, the zone is much less impactful than others in the chain. This park is definitely a miss. Shivering Timbers is the only worthwhile coaster there.

10. Valleyfair

Valleyfair is a moderate sized park located in Shakopee, MN. It is very close to the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Like we said before, the Cedar Fair company was formed when Cedar Point bought Valleyfair. The “fair” part of Valleyfair’s name makes up the second part of “Cedar Fair.” This park has very similar attractions to a Six Flags park, including a StarFlyer and a Super Loop. They also have a large Planet Snoopy and Soak City water park. This park is a friendly rival to the former sister park Nickelodeon Universe, which is located close by. Some notable coasters at this park include Wild Thing, which is a Chance-Morgan hyper coaster. Renegade, a GCI woodie, is another. Finally, Steel Venom, an Intamin Impulse coaster, is also featured. Overall, this is a decent park, but it doesn’t have a bulked-out lineup like some other Cedar Fair parks. It’s probably best to do a half day at Valleyfair. This way you can get all of their coasters. Then, go spend the rest of your day at Nickelodeon Universe.

9. Worlds Of Fun

Worlds Of Fun is located in the Kansas City metro. The coaster lineup includes Mamba, a Morgan-Chance hyper coaster. It also features Patriot, a B&M Inverted Coaster. Furthermore, it has Timber Wolf, a Dinn wooden coaster, along with some other supporting coasters. The park also has a WindSeeker (formerly at Knott’s Berry Farm) and many more family attractions. Overall, the parks lineup of rides really needs to be improved on. They have a decent top three coasters. Still, some people debate this as they think Mamba and Timber Wolf are just okay. There’s also the new for 2023 Zambezi Zinger, a wooden coaster with a spiral lift hill. World’s of Fun also has a water park counterpart named Oceans of Fun. This addition has been included since the early 2010s. In our opinion, this park sits right in the middle out of the three Missouri parks. It’s not as good as Herschend’s Silver Dollar City, but better than Six Flags St. Louis. Cedar Fair should really give World’s of Fun more attention though, especially because of how much space the park has.

8. Dorney Park

Dorney Park is located in Allentown, PA. Its main competitor is Six Flags Great Adventure & Wild Safari, which we rated as the top Six Flags park. Dorney Park boasts a few pretty awesome coasters. These rides include a B&M floorless coaster, Hydra. They also have a Morgan hyper coaster, Steel Force, a B&M Invert, Talon, and an Intamin Impulse coaster, Possessed. Other than that though, the park only has four other coasters, two of which are family coasters. That said, the new for 2024 Iron Menace dive coaster is pretty impressive. As far as other offerings, the park boasts a large Planet Snoopy and Wildwater Kingdom water park. Similarly to World’s of Fun, Dorney Park has lots of potential, but doesn’t necessarily get the attention it deserves. You’d think that Cedar Fair would put more effort into Dorney. They are competing with a top tier Six Flags park.

7. California’s Great America

California’s Great America was formerly known as Paramount’s Great America and Marriott’s Great America. It is located in San Jose, which is very close to San Francisco. Most people used to overlook California’s Great America as a weaker Cedar Fair park. Yet, recently it has been making a comeback. The park has Flight Deck, (a B&M Invert), and Gold Striker (a GCI wooden coaster). In 2018, the park added an RMC Raptor. This addition has been met with an overwhelming amount of praise. They announced a couple years ago the park would get large expansions. These expansions will occur within the next few years. They will include a shopping district and a B&M hyper coaster. Right now, California’s Great America isn’t the most amazing Cedar Fair park by far. But, it is proving that it will be a force to be reckoned with in coming years. That is, if it doesn’t get shut down.

6. Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion (Formerly Paramount’s Kings Dominion) is located in Doswell, VA near Richmond. The top 2 coasters give this park a high placement on this list. Pantherian is an Intamin Giga Coaster. Twisted Timbers is an RMC. This is without even considering the above average supporting lineup. Like its sister Paramount parks (King’s Island, Canada’s Wonderland, etc.), this park features clones like Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster. It also has a Planet Snoopy. Formerly Nickelodeon Central, it is often recognized as one of the better ones in the chain by most people. Sadly, the park has closed three coasters in the past few years. Yes, Hurler did reopen as an RMC. Yet, the other two, Shockwave and Volcano, are only now getting replacements. The replacements are Tumbili and Rapterra after all this time. King’s Dominion isn’t placed higher because the coaster lineups of other parks are more fleshed out.

5. Kings Island

This is probably the most controversial placement on this list. People usually rank the park at 2 or 3 in the Cedar Fair lineup. But, in our opinion King’s Island has become overrated as of recent. Their top 3 includes Orion, a B&M Giga coaster. It also includes Mystic Timbers, a GCI wooden coaster, and The Beast, a PTC wooden coaster. All three are pretty fantastic coasters. Yet, the rest of their coasters are pretty mediocre. Sure, they have quantity in 14 coasters, but they aren’t necessarily the most quality coasters out there. The Bat, Invertigo, Racer and Vortex are all extremely rough coasters. They aren’t worth riding more than once. Banshee isn’t nearly as good as some people say. The park offers a decent flat ride collection. It also has an excellent Planet Snoopy. Still, those features can only get them so far. Some of the higher ranked parks on this list have fewer coasters. But, their lineups are better in quality and variety.

4. Knott’s Berry Farm

Case in point here. Knott’s is definitely on the smaller side. It doesn’t have a lot of space to work with. Still, it makes up for this by having a sound coaster lineup and Disney level theming. The park’s top three can really be based on personal preference. Most people agree that Ghost Rider and Xcelerator are the park’s top two. After that, it varies from enthusiast to enthusiast. Some prefer the new for 2018 Hangtime, while others think Silver Bullet is the third best. They also have awesome and unique supporting coasters like Montezooma’s Revenge, Pony Express, Sierra Sidewinder and more. The park doesn’t just have coasters though. At Knott’s you can find a large number of awesome flat and family rides. There’s also a Soak City water park. It even has a few dark rides that are on par with Disney or Universal. Again, it is not be the largest Cedar Fair park, but their quality is through the roof.

3. Canada’s Wonderland

Canada’s Wonderland, formerly Paramount Canada’s Wonderland, is Canada’s premier theme park. Nobody lives in Edmonton. Six Flags doesn’t care about La Ronde. Marineland is basically a drop tower. This park has a pretty great top 3 coasters. Leviathan is a B&M Giga. Yukon Striker is a B&M Dive Coaster. Behemoth is a B&M Hyper. They also have a LOT of supporting coasters (13) to be exact, but their quality is often debatable. Besides coasters, Canada’s Wonderland includes the SplashWorks Water park, which is one of Toronto’s two water parks. It also features attractions like a large Planet Snoopy and the Triotech dark ride/coaster Wonder Mountain’s Guardian. There are also a few flat rides unique to this park. This park isn’t ranked higher for the same reason as Six Flags Great America’s. Both parks offer a lot in coasters, flat rides, and more. Yet, most of their rides have better versions at other parks. Also like Great America though, their recent and upcoming additions will hopefully boost their lineup a significant amount.

2. Carowinds

Carowinds is located about 20 minutes south of Charlotte, NC, but actually sits on the North Carolina/South Carolina border. This gives the park a super unique atmosphere that embodies the Southern vibe of the Carolina’s. It is easily one of the most friendly-feeling amusement parks in the U.S. A fun atmosphere can’t get a park that far though. Luckily, Carowinds also has an awesome coaster lineup. The lineup includes Fury 325, a B&M Giga. It also has Intimidator, a B&M Hyper, and Afterburn, a B&M invert. New for 2019 was Copperhead Strike, a Mack multi-launch. The coasters don’t stop there though, as they also have 10 other coasters to bulk up their lineup. Really, the only coasters at Carowinds considered “bad” are Nighthawk and Vortex. In our opinion, Vortex isn’t even that bad. Even Flying Cobras, their Vekoma Boomerang, is somehow an above average coaster (probably thanks to its padded restraints). Carowinds also has a large Planet Snoopy. The park offers a decent amount of flat rides. Some of the best are located in the well themed County Fair area. There’s so much to love about Carowinds. Yet, one other park in the Cedar Fair chain beats it for the number one spot.

1. Cedar Point

And that park is Cedar Point! The crown jewel of the Cedar Fair chain is located in Sandusky, OH. Cedar Point is most famous for its setting, coasters and family fun. Cedar Point is home to Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Millennium Force and many other top-tier coasters. Cedar Fair invests a significant amount of its funds into Cedar Point. They introduce a new coaster every two-three years. It’s a shame, but it can’t be argued that it makes for an absolutely spectacular park. The best part is the fun doesn’t stop with the coasters. Cedar Point has various other flat and family rides. There is a water park, lots of dining options, and even a couple of on-site hotels. There is so much to do at this place. It feels less like a theme park and more like an entire resort. It will be interesting to see. Maybe a different Cedar Fair park will come in at the number one spot. Most people agree that Cedar Point is easily the best in the chain. Even the grumpy enthusiasts admit it, though they are bitter about their home park not getting enough love from Cedar Fair. It will most likely stay that way for a long time.

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