20 Biggest Amusement Parks Across Europe

Legoland Windsor, United Kingdom is a kids paradise, with more than 55 million LEGOs and more than 50 rides, live shows and workshops. No wonder that the park was visited 2 million times over 2012.

Alton Towers attracted 2.4 million visitors, about 200,000 less than the year before. The park in the village of Alton is the most visited park of the U.K. One of the main attractions is the The Smiler, a crazy steel roller coaster, which holds the record for the most inversions on any roller coaster in the world, with 14.

Gardaland is a theme park in Veneto, Italy. With more than 2.7 million visitors it is Italy’s most popular theme park.

Liseberg in Gotheburg Sweden is one of Scandiavia’s biggest amusement parks. The park houses about forty rides and attractions for kids and grown-ups. Particular to the park is that it is built on a hill. Many attractions are also incorporated on this hill, as the Lisebergbanan and a giant swing. 2.8 million visitors visited the park last year. The park itself has also been chosen as one of the top ten amusement parks in the world (2005) by Forbes Magazine.

Port Aventura located in Salou Villa Seca is Spain’s largest theme park attracting 3,5 million visitors in 2012. The park covering an area of 8.5 acres also has a water park Costa Caribe Aquatic Park. It has received an award for “Best Live Show in the world” for it’s “Fiesta Ventura.” the show includes fireworks, live music, fire, light and water effects.

Tivoli Gardens located in Copenhagen, Denmark, the largest theme park in Scandinavia welcomed over 4 million visitors in 2012. It is also the world’s second oldest amusement park, with it’s opening dating to August 15, 1843.

Efteling is the biggest amusement park of Netherland with 4.2 million visitors last year. The park was mainly designed for parents with children up to 12 years. But nowadays it has something for all ages. Just like the parks mentioned before, Efteling has also been awarded prizes, which include the Pomme d’Or for “best recreation of Europe” (1972) and the IAAPA Applause Award for “best theme park in the world” (1992).

Europa-Park, the largest theme park in Germany is also the second most popular theme park resort in Europe, following Disneyland Paris. The park is home to eleven roller coasters and is located in Rust, on about 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) north of Freiburg, in south-western Germany. The complete resort has a total of 970.000m² (239 acres) and pulls in a total of 4.6 million visitors yearly.

Walt Disney Studios Park is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris. The park attracts 4.8 million visitors yearly, which is the lowest attendance figure from all the eleven Walt Disney Parks. The park is still the second most visited amusement park of Europe despite these numbers. The park represented by the Earffel Tower, a water tower is themed around the world of the film industry.

Disneyland Park Paris, along with Walt Disney Studios Park, Disney Village, some Disney hotels and the Davy Crockett Ranch is the Disneyland Resort Paris. The park opened on April 12, 1992 and was originally known as Euro Disney, but the name was later changed in 1994. Attracting more than twice the visitors than the second biggest amusement park in Europe, Disneyland Paris is a clear champion with 11.2 million visitors in 2012. The park is located about 20 miles east of the center of Paris.