{"id":2468594,"date":"2026-06-20T18:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2468594"},"modified":"2026-06-20T18:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:51:18","slug":"7-pennsylvania-new-jersey-theme-parks-named-best-for-thrill-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/7-pennsylvania-new-jersey-theme-parks-named-best-for-thrill-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Pennsylvania, New Jersey theme parks named &#8216;best for thrill seekers&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\"><media-video video-id=\"90090278007\" title=\"Better Than Disney? TripAdvisor Ranked This PA Park Best in the U.S.\" poster=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/videos\/stringr\/thumbnails\/90090278007.jpg\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\" placement=\"snow-video-story-priority\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" slot=\"placeholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.4);border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div slot=\"videoDetails\" id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\" hidden=\"\">\n<p>Better Than Disney? TripAdvisor Ranked This PA Park Best in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>TripAdvisor named Knoebels Amusement Resort the best amusement park in the United States, beating out Disney World, Universal Studios, LEGOLAND and Dollywood in its 2026 Travelers&#8217; Choice awards. The century-old, family-owned park is in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, and is considered the nation&#8217;s largest free-admission amusement park, with free parking, daily entertainment and picnic areas. Visitors can pay for rides or choose an all-day pass, and Knoebels also celebrates its 100th anniversary with classic rides, a wooden roller coaster, a swimming area, golf course, campgrounds and budget-friendly food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/media-video><\/div>\n<p>With kids out of school and a slate of sunny days ahead,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the perfect time to hit up an amusement park.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"\/>\n<p>There are plenty in\u00a0the United States to choose from, but a new study naming the best parks for thrill seekers highlighted some a short drive from Delaware.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2 wp-block-heading\">The best amusement parks\u00a0near Delaware\u00a0for daredevils\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p><media-image image-set=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/05\/15\/PAPP\/90106485007-dsc-09139-copy.jpg bestCrop, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/05\/15\/PAPP\/90106485007-dsc-09139-copy.jpg?crop=6229,4671,x778,y0 4:3, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/05\/15\/PAPP\/90106485007-dsc-09139-copy.jpg?crop=3503,4671,x3504,y0 3:4, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/05\/15\/PAPP\/90106485007-dsc-09139-copy.jpg?crop=7007,3942,x0,y0 16:9\" image-alt=\"\" credit=\"Brian Johnston\/Asbury Park Press\" caption=\"Runaway Train during Content Creator Day at Six Flags Great Adventure on Friday, May 15, 2026.\" orientation=\"horizontal\" class=\"spacer-large\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/solitaired.com\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Solitaired<\/a>, a game website, looked at roller coaster data from the Roller Coaster Database for amusement parks across the U.S. to find out which parks offer the most extreme rides for thrill seekers. The study compared the number of thrill and extreme coasters at each park, along with the total number of roller coasters,\u00a0maximum\u00a0coaster height,\u00a0maximum\u00a0drop, maximum\u00a0speed\u00a0and inversions. The factors were then combined to create a final daredevil score out of 100. Only active roller coasters were considered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Two regional amusement parks made the top 10.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hersheypark in Pennsylvania\u00a0ranked No. 7. The park has 13 extreme coasters out of 14 total, according to Solitaired\u2019s study, with\u00a0a\u00a0maximum\u00a0height\u00a0of\u00a0210 feet, a max speed of 76 mph and a max drop of 180 feet for an overall daredevil score of 90.12.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"\/><media-image image-set=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/30\/PPLD\/87962751007-twizzlers-twisted-gravityat-hersheypark-54-990-x-660.jpg bestCrop, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/30\/PPLD\/87962751007-twizzlers-twisted-gravityat-hersheypark-54-990-x-660.jpg?crop=569,426,x35,y0 4:3, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/30\/PPLD\/87962751007-twizzlers-twisted-gravityat-hersheypark-54-990-x-660.jpg?crop=320,426,x160,y0 3:4, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/30\/PPLD\/87962751007-twizzlers-twisted-gravityat-hersheypark-54-990-x-660.jpg?crop=639,360,x0,y64 16:9\" image-alt=\"\" credit=\"Image provided by Hersheypark\" caption=\"Hersheypark's Twizzlers Twisted Gravity was voted number nine for USA Today 10BEST Readers' Choice Awards for Best New Theme Park Attraction.\" orientation=\"horizontal\" class=\"spacer-large\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\"\/><\/p>\n<p>At No. 9 is Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. The park has 10 extreme coasters out of 13 total, with\u00a0a maximum height of 230 feet, a max speed of 80 mph and a max drop of 215 feet for an overall daredevil score of 88.89.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>The\u00a0No. 1\u00a0amusement park for daredevils in the United States is Cedar Point in Ohio. The park had a daredevil score of 99.65 out of 100, with 16 thrill coasters out of 18 total, a max height of 420 feet, a max speed of 120 mph and a max drop of 400 ft.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><cta-atoms-container-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/cta\" class=\"spacer-large\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The rest of the top 10 U.S. amusement parks for daredevils are:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Six Flags Magic Mountain in California at No. 1, with a score of 94.02\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kings Island in Ohio at No. 3, with a score of 92.48\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carowinds in North Carolina at No. 4, with a score of 92.12\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kings Dominion in Virginia at No. 5, with a score of 91.61\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Six Flags Great America in Illinois at No. 6, with a score of 91.39\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Six Flags Over Texas in Texas at No. 8, with a score of 90.06\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Six\u00a0Flags\u00a0New England in Massachusetts at No. 10, with a score of 87.61.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other tristate area parks that made the list of 50 best U.S. amusement parks for daredevil include:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kennywood in Pennsylvania at No. 15, with a score of 84.34\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dorney Park &amp; Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania at No. 17, with a score of 83.13\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Morey\u2019s Piers in New Jersey at No. 32, with a score of 75.35\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania at No. 38, with a score of 72.24\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park in New Jersey at No. 47, with a score of 66.77\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">Wallet strain explained: <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delawareonline.com\/story\/news\/local\/2026\/06\/16\/its-gotten-out-of-hand-how-delaware-saw-utility-prices-balloon\/90355344007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">How utility prices have &#8216;gotten out of hand&#8217; in Delaware<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys&#8217;tal Griffin at<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:kgriffin@delawareonline.com\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>\u00a0kgriffin@delawareonline.com<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<lit-timestamp class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-small\" slot=\"timestamp\" publishdate=\"2026-06-20 09:20:45.756248974 +0000 UTC\" updatedate=\"2026-06-20 09:20:45.756248974 +0000 UTC\"\/><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.delawareonline.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Better Than Disney? TripAdvisor Ranked This PA Park Best in the U.S. TripAdvisor named Knoebels Amusement Resort the best amusement park in the United States, beating out Disney World, Universal Studios, LEGOLAND and Dollywood in its 2026 Travelers&#8217; Choice awards. The century-old, family-owned park is in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, and is considered the nation&#8217;s largest free-admission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2468595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[39915,346465,346470,28769,346466,446521,421042,323885,6297,305430,21739,344928,26575,23360,239343,239347,346464,23982,23759,384607,421041,421043,25306,428396,358629,346463,346469,23139,239344],"class_list":["post-2468594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-affiliate","tag-amusement","tag-amusement-parks-and-attractions","tag-and","tag-attractions","tag-coasters","tag-comparisons","tag-delaware","tag-eamotion","tag-jersey","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-travel","tag-new","tag-new-jersey","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-parks","tag-pennsylvania","tag-positive","tag-price","tag-product","tag-product-reviews-u0026-price-comparisons","tag-reviews","tag-roller","tag-roller-coasters","tag-theme","tag-theme-parks","tag-travel","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7-Pennsylvania-New-Jersey-theme-parks-named-best-for-thrill.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2468594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468596,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468594\/revisions\/2468596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2468595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2468594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2468594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2468594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}