you have to pick disney, there is no excuse for not picking disney, i mean...it's DISNEY. The name (when on anything) becomes a landmark. Simple choice.
Also, paramount is not a chain anymore, it's owned by Cedar Fair, so PKI is now King's Island, etc.
Well since Disney is on there, you pretty much HAVE to say Disney. But not including Disney I would say the Anheuser Busch Adventure Park chain. Simply because it's the best.[:p]
Busch Gardens Europe
Busch Gardens Africa
Water Country USA
Adventure Island
Sesame Place
SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Deigo
and for 2008 Aquatica
gotta say Cedar Fair hands down. i love the Cedar Fair chain, and how well its done its park.
its park goes on the simple coaster-junkie/ family oriented park formula, while running a tight ship and not bothering with heavy theming areas.
unlike Disney and Universal parks which got major multi-conglomerate corporations backing them, they do not set out for coasters - which quite frankly is what i'm all about.
Cedar Fair nor Six Flags has the money backing them to do heavy theming, good maintenece, original rides, and keep parks clean.
Cedar Fair does this, take for instance their inverted coasters, - btw when i say Cedar Fair i mean the original before Paramount cashed out - Talon, Raptor, Silver Bullet, and Patriot (and God i hope Valley fair gets one of their own one day) are all unique, etc. etc. the only theming Cedar Fair does is of the ride itself, not so much the area.
its not just for the coasters but it also makes good business practice. for instance, for us Coaster Junkies, whether we take family and/or friends we visit the parks often. i for one do, what is so special of going from Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Fiesta Texas if they both got the same rides, same name same everything. Now i know this arguement is flawed, but that how i measure choosing which parks to go to, with Cedar Fair parks there is little argement, i can expect lots of unique rides, a good atmosphere, and know that the rides are well maintained.