Theme Parks with the Longest Lines

From summer vacation to a weekend getaway, theme parks have a lot to offer for travelers of all ages. While some Americans make it a goal to visit as many parks as possible, others have their favorites and stick to them. Whether you are a Disney fan or prefer smaller local parks, you have plenty to choose from across the U.S.

Although theme parks include a variety of thrilling activities, sometimes the lines can dull the excitement. At Sudoku Bliss, we know that waiting around forever can take the fun out of anything. Many of our users will play a game of sudoku to pass time. Whether it be a lengthy line for a roller coaster or a long ad in the middle of your online game, waiting can be annoying.

With this in mind, we set out to learn which theme parks are keeping their visitors waiting in lines the most and which are allowing guests to quickly pass through each activity and experience. To do this, we built a list of more than 100 theme parks across the country and collected Google Reviews for each.

We then analyzed the mention of 15 different keywords and phrases related to waiting in long lines and calculated the percentage of people who experience lengthy waits at each park. We then ranked parks from the highest to lowest percentages to determine which theme parks have the longest and shortest lines. Read on to learn more about our findings.

Key Takeaways

• Hurricane Harbor Phoenix in Glendale, AZ, and Six Flags White Water in Marietta, GA, have the longest lines of theme parks in the U.S.
• Super Slide Amusement Park in Bismarck, ND, and Belmont Park in San Diego, CA, have the shortest lines of theme parks in the U.S.
• Hurricane Harbor Phoenix in Glendale, AZ, and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Jackson Township, NJ, are the theme parks where visitors complain most about waiting.
• Land of OZ in Beech Mountain, NC, and Hersheypark in Hershey, PA, are the top two theme parks Americans consider worth the wait.
• Waterparks make up 6 of the top 10 theme parks with the longest lines and 18 out of the top 50.
• Waterparks make up 5 of the top 20 theme parks with the shortest lines.

Where Visitors Are Waiting in the Longest Lines

Sometimes waiting in a long line can be worth the wait, but in other cases, it can lead to a negative experience. To gain insight into which parks across the country have the longest lines, we collected more than 345,000 reviews from 106 theme parks in the U.S. and analyzed the mentions of long lines and wait times to determine where these waits have left park-goers with a less-than-memorable experience.

Leading the way with 33.39% of visitors experiencing long lines is Hurricane Harbor Phoenix in Glendale, AZ. As part of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, Hurricane Harbor Phoenix is a waterpark with 15 different rides and play areas. While visitors have found the waits to be lengthy, the park offers a variety of ways to relax during these waits like floating along in the Adventure River and lounging in a reserved cabana.

Up next is another Six Flags park—16.04% of visitors at Six Flags White Water in Marietta, GA, have faced lengthy waits in lines. With 20 different rides and experiences, it is possible that having a few more options than Hurricane Harbor Phoenix helps to reduce wait times in comparison.

Moving on to third place, with 15.68% of visitors experiencing long lines, is Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Jackson Township, NJ. Once again a waterpark has made the top of our longest lines ranking. Overall, 6 out of the top 10 theme parks with the longest lines are waterparks. It doesn’t end there, however, as waterparks make up 18 of the top 50 parks as well.

In addition to our overall ranking for long lines, we wanted to compare these complaints about waiting to the current star-rating for each park. From that, we determined where long lines are not keeping visitors from enjoying the park. First up is Land of Oz in Beech Mountain, NC, which originally operated from 1970 to 1980. After ownership of the park returned to the original landowners, steps were taken to demolish areas plagued by decay and vandalism, while others were preserved, including the nostalgic yellow brick road.

Then in 1993, the park reopened for the Autumn at Oz Festival, an annual event. Unfortunately, due to the devastation that Hurricane Helene brought to the western part of North Carolina in 2024, the Autumn at Oz Festival has been canceled for 2025. The park has issued a statement, however, stating that their staff is hopeful the festival will return for 2026.

Next up for the parks that visitors consider to be worth the wait is Hersheypark in Hershey, PA—a chocolate lovers’ dream. This park is home to a wide variety of attractions, not just roller coasters. Hersheypark also offers visitors the opportunity to watch live concerts and shows, a chocolate tour ride, gardens, and more.

In third place is a Six Flags park, Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA. Unlike the other Six Flags parks previously mentioned, Six Flags Magic Mountain is not a waterpark but instead a park full of 42 different attractions. The rides in this park range from the Magic Flyer for kids to the Twisted Colossus, the world’s longest hybrid roller coaster for anyone over 4 feet tall.

Theme Parks with the Shortest Lines

After learning which parks are most likely to keep you waiting in line, we wanted to gain insight into the theme parks with the shortest lines as well. Leading the way with just .28% of visitors experiencing long lines is Super Slide Amusement Park in Bismarck, ND. The family-focused park has been open since 1967 and is home to North Dakota’s only roller coaster.

In second place is Belmont Park in San Diego, CA, where .32% of visitors complain about the wait times. Dating back even further than Super Slide Amusement Park, Belmont Park has been open since 1925. This beachfront park is home to 26 different attractions including a 7D theater, bumper cars, and more.

Next up is a waterpark: Big Sky Waterpark in Columbia Falls, MT, with just .50% of visitors experiencing long lines. As Montana’s largest waterpark, the park offers 10 water slides and a whirlpool, along with non-water activities like mini golf and bumper cars. While waterparks claimed many of the top spots on the longest lines ranking, we found some on our shortest lines ranking as well with 5 making up the top 20 parks.

Kill Time in Line with Sudoku

Waiting in line is rarely a fun time, but for some experiences, the wait can definitely be worth it. So if you have an upcoming trip planned for one of the parks listed for lengthy lines, don’t cancel them just yet. Instead, plan ahead and determine ways you can kill the time.

At Sudoku Bliss, we like to make gaming easy so you can enjoy it any time, anywhere—including a theme park line. So whether you are waiting around for a roller coaster or simply passing time on a relaxing weekend, we have the game for you.

If you are new to Sudoku, don’t worry, we offer easy puzzles for beginners, along with medium, hard, expert, and even evil level puzzles for when you are ready to crank up the difficulty.

Methodology

For this study, we set out to learn which theme parks in the U.S. have the shortest lines. To do this, we built a list of more than 100 parks across the country and scraped reviews with 3 or fewer stars for mentions of 15 different keywords and phrases related to waiting in long lines. We then divided the total number of mentions by the total number of reviews to determine the percentage of visitors who experienced long lines. We then ranked the parks from the longest to shortest lines based on this percentage.

In addition, we followed the same steps for keywords and phrases related to waiting to determine which park's visitors complain the most about wait times. Finally, we wanted to learn which parks' visitors consider them to be worth the wait. To do this, we analyzed the number of mentions regarding waiting in long lines for parks with an overall rating of 4.5 stars or higher and once again divided that number by the total number of reviews.