I’ve Been to Every Theme Park in America—And These 13 Are My Favorites

The origins of my obsession

I visited my first amusement park when I was five years old, and I fell in love. After that, I always preferred going to an amusement park over heading to the beach to play in the sand or in the water. I still do. As an adult in the 1970s, I was horrified to see some of my favorite childhood amusement parks being bulldozed to make room for new construction, and I decided to visit the parks and take pictures of the roller coasters, just so I had something to remember them by.

At the time, I was an optical engineer; I designed lenses for all kinds of cameras and secured 41 patents for optical design. But after my local PennySaver let me write an article about one of the coasters I had photographed, I found my passion. I learned that I could travel to amusement parks on vacation with my family and get paid to write travel stories. A light bulb went on. I kept working in the camera industry, but I’d go on a business trip and stay a few extra days to visit local amusement parks in the area. Eventually, I became an editor and writer who focused solely on amusement parks, and I turned my hobby into a career. In total, I’ve been writing about amusement parks for 44 years, the last 31 of which have been for Park World magazine, where I’m the North American Editor.

In my 83 years, I’ve visited 333 parks—including every major theme park in the United States—and ridden 903 different roller coasters. These days, it’s my so-called job, but it feels more like a 52-week summer vacation. It was tough to choose, but these are my 13 favorite theme parks in the United States.

The post I’ve Been to Every Theme Park in America—And These 13 Are My Favorites appeared first on Reader's Digest.