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The second poster in this topic notes how alot of people driving between Los Angeles and Phoenix stay the night at Blythe, California (right along the California side of the Colorado River) and thinks Blythe would be a perfect place to have a an attraction like an amusement park and/or zoo.
Other smaller cities mentioned in that linked topic without zoos/ and/or amusement parks that have yet to be brought up here are...
Flagstaff, Arizona - has "Bearizona" as its "zoo" but no amusement park
Yuma, Arizona - has no zoo or amusement park, it thankfully does have a water park combined with an outdoor family entertainment center
Eugene, Oregon - has "Cascades Raptor Center" as its zoo but no amusement park
Lexington, Kentucky - doesn't have its own zoo or amusement par but it doesn't need a large size for either since it's around an hour and a half from both Louisville and Cincinnati for big parks and zoos
Huntsville, Alabama - doesn't have a amusement park or zoo other than an independent mini zoo that's a half-hour northwest of Huntsville
Tuscaloosa, Alabama - doesn't have a amusement park or zoo though it's less than an hour away from Alabama Adventure in Bessemer and the Birmingham Zoo
Reno, Nevada - has three independent mini zoos nearby though it's only amusement was converted into a water park
There's more, but that topic is nine pages long so I'll post the rest later.
Montpelier, Vermont and Concord, New Hampshire - It was already mentioned earlier in the thread that Vermont, New Hampshire, and Wyoming are the only three states with no zoos. Montpelier and Concord are just the capitals of their respective states. While there's no amusement parks in Concord itself, there are both amusement parks and mountain coasters throughout the state. Vermont's only "amusement parks" are mountain coasters though I don't think Vermont needs any amusement park that's bigger than Camden Park in West Virginia.
Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario, California - This area is arguably part of of the Los Angeles area which does have a zoo. Though Oakland, California is part of the San Francisco Bay area and it has its own separate zoo.
Fayetteville, Arkansas - Has no zoo right in the city though it a drive through safari only 45 minutes northwest of it. It does not have it's own amusement park though it's only an hour and 45 minutes from Branson, Missouri and it probably gets tons of advertisements from it.
Laredo, Texas - While it may not look like it, but Laredo is actually over 3 and a half hours from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas despite both Laredo and Brownsville being border cities.
Cleveland is closer to Cedar Point than Baltimore, Philly, and Boston are to their respective Six Flags parks. Some parks actually seem to be shared by two metros.
* Cedar Point (Cleveland and Toledo)
* Legoland Florida (Orlando and Tampa)
* Six Flags America (Baltimore and Washington DC)
* Six Flags Great Adventure (New York City and Philadelphia)
Yes, this is true, 2 cities do share amusement parks, I.E. Toledo and Cleveland sharing Cedar Point (You could even possibly throw Detroit into that mix, even though it's a bit more out of the way but still relatively closeby), and Chicago and Milwaukee sharing Six Flags Great America. Most amusement parks nowadays are built far away from downtown cores of major cities, which kind of sucks IMO. Chicago had multiple amusement parks (River View, KiddieLand) which were either in or very close to the city, but no longer exist. I guess technically you could classify Navy Pier as being a mini-amusement park as it has a swing ride and a giant Ferris Wheel, but that's highly debatable.
There are some talks about building a theme park on the former U.S. Steel site on Chicago's south side (HUGE vacant plot of land along lake Michigan with views of the skyline that would be perfect for something like that). Not sure how realistic that would be but that would be awesome for sure.
Yes, this is true, 2 cities do share amusement parks, I.E. Toledo and Cleveland sharing Cedar Point (You could even possibly throw Detroit into that mix, even though it's a bit more out of the way but still relatively closeby), and Chicago and Milwaukee sharing Six Flags Great America. Most amusement parks nowadays are built far away from downtown cores of major cities, which kind of sucks IMO. Chicago had multiple amusement parks (River View, KiddieLand) which were either in or very close to the city, but no longer exist. I guess technically you could classify Navy Pier as being a mini-amusement park as it has a swing ride and a giant Ferris Wheel, but that's highly debatable. There are some talks about building a theme park on the former U.S. Steel site on Chicago's south side (HUGE vacant plot of land along lake Michigan with views of the skyline that would be perfect for something like that). Not sure how realistic that would be but that would be awesome for sure.
@ the bolded: The fact that Cedar Point gets heavily advertised in the Detroit area probably gives the Detroit area a share on Cedar Point.
@ the underlined: Having theme parks away from the downtown cores is understandable as much as you may not like it. The city of Denver wants to either close or relocate Elitch Gardens.
@ the bolded + underlined: It doesn't have to be a super park, if a medium sized park is what could fit there, then there should be no problem running a medium sized park there.
The closest parks to Niagara Falls, NY are Fantasy Island which is 15 minutes away and Six Flags Darien Lake, which is one hour away.
The Buffalo Zoo is a half-hour away from Niagara Falls, NY.
While the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is pretty much the Orlando of Canada, the American side has much more for all-adult groups than it does for families though the American side does have an aquarium.
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