Maryland Theme Parks and Water Parks

Adventure Park USA: Monrovia – Outdoor and Indoor Family Entertainment Center

Adventure Park USA offers three small steel coasters as well as other rides, mini golf, and bumper boats. It also offers indoor attractions that are open year round including laser tag, bowling, bumper cars, mini-golf, a rock climbing wall, an XD Theater, a ropes course, and an arcade. The Whistle Stop Smokehouse specializes in BBQ and offers craft beers and wines.

Baja Amusements: Ocean City – Outdoor Family Entertainment Center

Baja Amusements has a variety of go-kart tracks, bumper boats, mini golf, climbing walls, and an arcade. It also offers kiddie rides such as a Wacky Worm roller coaster, a Frog Hopper, and a carousel. The center is open seasonally.

Chesapeake Beach Water Park: Chesapeake Beach – Outdoor Water Park

A medium-sized park, Chesapeake Beach offers eight water slides, fountains, waterfalls, a lagoon, a lazy river, and a kids activity pool. In addition to its regular operating schedule, the park offers swim lessons and summer camps.

Fourth Dimension Fun Center: Frederick – Indoor Family Entertainment Center

Among the featured attractions at Fourth Dimension Fun Center are Lazer Frenzy, a laser mazer experience in which participants get to make like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, and XD Dark Ride, an interactive shooting game enhanced by a 3D film and motion-enhanced seats. Other activities include laser tag, bowling, escape rooms, and an arcade.

Frontier Town: Berlin – Outdoor Theme Park and Water Park

A small park, Frontier Town features a Wild West show, walk-through mine attraction, pony rides, stagecoach rides, mini train ride, shops, and a Native American village. The small water park, which requires a separate admission offers a tube slide, lazy river, activity pool, small slides, mini-golf. Frontier Town also offer two campgrounds.

Grand Prix Amusements: Ocean City – Outdoor Family Entertainment Center

As its name suggests, Grand Prix features go-karts with nine courses in total. They range from a kiddies track for young children all the way up to a pro track with karts that hit up to 30 mph. Other attractions include a slide, rock climbing, bumper cars, bumper boats, batting cages, and an arcade.

Great Wolf Lodge: Perryville - Indoor Water Park Resort

Scheduled to open in 2023. the resort will follow the template at the many other Great Wolf Lodge locations in the chain. The highlight will be a 126,000-square-foot indoor water park that will likely include a variety of attractions such as a wave pool, body and tube slides, an interactive water play structure, a family raft ride, and a lazy river. It will probably feature a marquee water park attraction such as a funnel slide or an uphill water coaster as well. The resort will also offer 700 hotel suites, an adventure park with “dry” attractions, a full complement of restaurants, and daily activities for children and their families. When the resorts first opened, they reserved the indoor water park for overnight guests. More recently, however, Great Wolf Lodge has made its parks available to day visitors as well.

Jolly Roger and Splash Mountain: Ocean City – Outdoor Amusement Park and Water Park

The oceanside amusement area is actually a collection of small parks, including two Jolly Roger amusement parks, the Splash Mountain outdoor water park, and the SpeedWorld go-kart park. Among the attractions, there are three coasters, spinning rides, mini golf, and a zip line course,

LOL Stations: Greenbelt – Indoor Family Entertainment Center

Open year round, the Laugh Out Loud Mega Fun Center offers laser tag, bumper cars, kiddie rides, roller skating, a bounce house, an obstacle course, and an arcade.

Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor: Upper Marlboro – Outdoor Theme Park and Water Park

Six Flags America is a huge park that features world-class coasters including the hypercoaster, Superman: Ride of Steel, the flying coaster, Batwing, and the classic wooden coaster, The Wild One (which is over 100 years old). Hurricane Harbor water park is included with admission.

Trimper's Rides: Ocean City – Outdoor Amusement Park

This traditional seaside amusement park has been delighting Ocean City vacationers since 1887. Trimper's Rides include a beautiful carousel and a Wild Mouse coaster. There are some indoor rides for younger kids.

Nearby Parks

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg- Virginia
  One of the most beautiful theme parks has a great collection of coasters and rides. It also boasts wonderful food.
• Kings Dominion- Doswell, Virginia
  Major amusement park with wild coasters such as Intimidator 305 and Twisted Timbers.
• Water Country USA-  Williamsburg, Virginia
  Huge water park that is operated by Sea World, the same company that operates Busch Gardens.
• Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg- Virginia
  Major indoor water park resort is open year round.

Defunct Parks

Let's pay homage to a few parks that are no longer open in Maryland. In Ocean City, for example, some places remain (including one that dates back to the late 1800s), but the popular area used to offer Playland Park. From 1965 to 1981, visitors could ride the wooden Hurricane and the steel Monster Mouse coasters. In the early 1900s, Chesapeake Beach was the home of Seaside Park, which offered two wooden coasters, Great Derby and Griffiths Scenic Railway.

Other defunct spots include Bay Shore Park in Sparrows Point. It opened in 1906 and featured the racer Dip coaster. Baltimore boasted a few places, including Carlin's Park, Liberty Heights Park, Frederick Road Park, and Gwynn Oak Park. Today, there are no coasters in the city. A carousel remains at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, but in its heyday it was a bustling amusement park with a number of coasters and rides.