According to a new survey, Universal Parks has officially defeated Disney and taken its place at the top of the theme park hierarchy.

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While there are many beloved theme parks throughout the country, like Knott’s Berry Farm, SeaWorld, and Six Flags, two companies stand out ahead of the rest when it comes to popularity: Universal and Disney.
The Walt Disney Company has consistently been on top of the amusement park world, with Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort being home to some of the most iconic parks ever built, including the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Disney California Adventure.

However, Universal Destination & Experiences has been keeping up with the media giant, opening multiple beloved parks of its own, including Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and the upcoming Epic Universe as a part of Universal Orlando Resort.
For a long time, Universal has been nipping at the heels of Disney, trying to wrestle that number-one spot from Mickey Mouse’s grasp. However, according to a recent survey conducted by Westgate Palace Hotel at Universal, the park that brings the movies to life may have finally succeeded.
Universal Beats Out Disney As the Most Popular Theme Park

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Recently, the Westgate Palace Hotel at Universal conducted a study regarding Florida’s most popular theme parks. The study focused on three key factors: Instagram hashtags, monthly Google search volume, and percentage of “excellent” reviews on TripAdvisor. The factors were weighted in favor of customer experience, meaning the TripAdvisor reviews had more effect.
Universal clearly came on top, with Universal’s Islands of Adventure taking the number-one spot with a rating of 91.1. This wasn’t the only Universal park on the list, with Universal Studios Hollywood coming in seventh with a rating of 79.4, despite not being located in Florida. More on that later.

While Disney was not at the top of the ranking, it still had the most parks, with the Magic Kingdom taking second (90.4), Disney California Adventure taking third (84.2), Animal Kingdom taking sixth (80.7), Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California taking eighth (78.1), and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park taking tenth (77.7).
“It comes as no surprise that theme parks operated by Walt Disney and Universal Studios have dominated the list,” said a spokesperson from Westgate Palace Hotel. “What may be surprising, however, is that the research crowns Universal as the best-rated theme park, beating all four major Disney parks.”

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The spokesperson continued, “Universal Studios Orlando stands out as the premier theme park destination in America due to its unrivaled customer experience and unwavering commitment to visitor satisfaction.
Other Theme Parks That Also Made the List

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While various Universal and Disney theme parks clearly dominated the top ten, there was still some representation from the other competition. Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, took fourth place with a rating of 91.7. This ranking is expected since it is considered one of the best roller coaster parks in the United States.
The other non-Disney/Universal park is Silver Dollar City in Stone County, Missouri. It received a rating of 81.1, defeating significant competitors like Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Disneyland.

Finally, Dollywood came in at ninth place, with a rating of 77.9. This lower ranking was particularly surprising since Dollywood received five Golden Ticket awards this year, including Best Park. Here’s the full ranking for the top ten theme parks:
- Universal’s Islands of Adventure (91.1)
- Magic Kingdom (90.4)
- Disney California Adventure (84.2)
- Cedar Point (81.7)
- Silver Dollar City (81.1)
- Animal Kingdom (80.7)
- Universal Studios Hollywood (79.4)
- Disneyland Park (78.1)
- Dollywood (77.9)
- Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park (77.7)
The Ranking is Flawed, To Say the Least

While this list is undoubtedly interesting, some questions remain regarding its legitimacy. For one, this list claims to be all about the best Florida theme parks, yet six of the ten parks aren’t located in the Sunshine State. On top of that, it was conducted by Westgate Palace Hotel at Universal, potentially showing some bias toward the parks where it resides.
There’s also a question regarding how the factors affected the score. While Universal’s Islands of Adventure has the number one spot, it is listed as having 74% “excellent” reviews on TripAdvisor, which is 38,661 out of 52,310 total reviews. Meanwhile, Magic Kingdom has 69% “excellent” reviews but actually boasts about 10,000 more “excellent” ratings.

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Meanwhile, Magic Kingdom absolutely dominated Islands of Adventure when it comes to Instagram hashtags. While Islands of Adventure boasts 854,821 hashtags, Magic Kingdom absolutely destroys that total with over 8,000,000. In fact, multiple parks had more Instagram hashtags than Islands of Adventure, including Disney California Adventure, Animal Kingdom, and Disneyland Park. Each of them had well over one million hashtags.
In the end, the most important thing is to find the park that you enjoy the most for yourself and have a great time. So get out there and enjoy as many theme parks as you possibly can!
What’s your favorite theme park to visit? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!