TripAdvisor just released their “Best of the Best” amusement park rankings and the number one park in America is not Magic Kingdom. It is not Universal. It is not Dollywood. It is a family-owned park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania called Knoebels Amusement Resort that has been operating since 1926, charges nothing to walk through the gate, and has apparently been sitting at the top of the amusement park world this entire time while most of us had no idea it existed.
Knoebels scored a 4.7 rating from nearly 3,000 TripAdvisor reviewers to claim the top spot. Dollywood came in second. Magic Kingdom was third. Hollywood Studios fourth. Universal Islands of Adventure fifth.
When Knoebels announced the ranking, their fanbase reacted the way a fanbase reacts when they have been trying to tell people something for decades and someone finally listened. “We knew it all along,” the American Coaster Enthusiasts for Eastern Pennsylvania posted in response. Someone else added: “Been going since 1996.” These are not surprised people. These are people who have known exactly what this park is for a very long time.
We had not been to Knoebels before we started writing this article. We have some questions about our own life choices now.
What Is This Park and Why Have We Not Heard of It
TripAdvisor’s description covers the basics: “Family-owned and operated since 1926, Knoebels Amusement Resort, located in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, is America’s largest free-admission amusement park. It’s got it all: roller coasters, kid-friendly rides, bumper cars, a haunted mansion, swimming, camping, a mining museum, and even a championship 18-hole golf course. The accommodating staff, clean facilities, and fun attractions make for a memorable family-friendly visit.”
The free admission part is the one that keeps stopping us. This is America’s largest free-admission amusement park. You show up, you walk in, you pay for rides individually, and that is the whole deal. More than 100 rides available and the gate does not cost you anything. For a family that wants to see how the day goes without committing to a full multi-hundred-dollar investment before they have eaten breakfast, this model is genuinely remarkable.
The rides are serious too. The Impulse roller coaster has upside-down twists and a 90-degree free fall. The Phoenix is a wooden coaster that originally opened in 1947 in Texas, was relocated to Knoebels in 1985, and coaster enthusiasts consistently rank it among the best wooden coasters anywhere in the country. The antique cars attraction drives guests through the woods and under the Phoenix in a Model-T replica. The Grand Carousel includes a ring game where the winner gets a free turn on the ride.
These are not consolation prize attractions. These are the kinds of details that make a park feel like somewhere specific, somewhere worth returning to, which is exactly the kind of thing that shows up in a 4.7 TripAdvisor rating from thousands of reviewers.
The Full List and Where Disney Lands
Here is the complete top ten because it is worth seeing in full:
- Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, Pennsylvania
- Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
- Magic Kingdom Park, Bay Lake, Florida
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Bay Lake, Florida
- Universal Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida
- EPCOT, Bay Lake, Florida
- Legoland California, Carlsbad, California
- Universal Studios Florida, Orlando, Florida
- Disneyland Park, Anaheim, California
- Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri
Four Disney parks in the top ten. That is a strong showing and we are going to say that plainly because it is true. Magic Kingdom at third and Hollywood Studios at fourth, EPCOT at sixth, and Disneyland at ninth, this is not a list that has dismissed Disney. It has placed Disney exactly where longtime fans feel it belongs, among the best parks in the country.
What the list has also done is put Knoebels and Dollywood and Silver Dollar City alongside those parks and said: guest satisfaction does not require an unlimited budget or a multinational corporation behind it. It requires doing the thing you do well and making guests feel like the visit was worth it.
TripAdvisor described Dollywood in second place as a park with “a downhome feel with singalongs and a museum dedicated to Parton’s life, plus high-velocity roller coasters and thrill rides,” where artisans showcase glass blowing and pottery skills and guests can stay at one of the park’s two resorts. Dollywood has been earning this kind of recognition for years and the second-place finish is not a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to how the Smoky Mountains park has developed.
What This Means if Disney Is Your Go-To
We cover Disney here and we are not going to pretend this list challenges the case for a Disney vacation, because it does not. What it does is add context.
If you have been trying to convince a skeptical family member or partner that a Disney trip is worth the money, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios in the top four of a nationally recognized rankings list is useful evidence. The parks earn those spots because the experience is genuinely exceptional. The rankings back that up with data from thousands of reviewers.
If your family takes multiple theme park trips per year and you have been wondering whether to add something new to the rotation, the list gives you a credible framework. Dollywood at second and Knoebels at first are not flukes. They are parks that consistent visitors love deeply and recommend loudly, and the free-admission model at Knoebels specifically makes it a low-risk addition to any trip itinerary for families who are nearby or passing through Pennsylvania.
And if you have never heard of Knoebels before today, that is fine. Neither had a lot of people before this list dropped. The people who have been going since 1996 knew. Now everyone else does too.
If Knoebels has your attention and you want to plan a visit, their official site has the full ride list, camping information, and current operating season details. For anyone planning a Disney trip who wants to use the TripAdvisor rankings in a trip planning conversation, the placement of four Disney parks in the top ten is exactly the kind of third-party validation that helps make the case. We will be keeping an eye on this list as it updates and covering any Disney-adjacent movement in the rankings when it happens.
