1

Disneyland

Image: David Guerrero

Let’s start with "The Happiest Place on Earth" itself. The first theme park to be envisioned and built by creative tycoon Walt Disney was Disneyland, the one still located in Anaheim, California. It features a range of themed lands such as Fantasyland or Adventureland, and includes main attractions that are widely famous. Who hasn’t heard the "It’s a Small World" song, whether or not they’ve been on the ride?

Five more Disney parks went on to be opened in the United States, including Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. All of them feature parades, character meet-and-greets, and attractions that invite visitors to immerse themselves in the spirit of Disney films .

2

Legoland

Image: Clyde He

Legos began as small, colorful playthings for children—but they have grown into a whole subculture of their own. Fans who have spent decades inventing and carrying out new designs for their colored blocks dream of visiting the theme park one day. The first Legoland opened in Europe, but the California park debuted over 20 years ago and has been expanding ever since.

It features 9 sectors with over 60 rides, shows, and attractions, all themed around popular Lego sets and characters, such as the Dragon Coaster and Lego Ninjago The Ride. A standout feature is Miniland USA, which displays miniature Lego replicas of famous American landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and New York City. The park was so successful that similar resorts have since opened in Florida and New York.

3

The Big E

Image: Zachary DeBottis

The Big E, officially known as the Eastern States Exposition, is held between September and October in West Springfield, Massachusetts . It’s the largest agricultural fair in the northeastern United States, aiming to boast the best of New England culture, food, agriculture, and entertainment.

The fair features state-specific buildings representing all six New England states, each offering regional foods and crafts. The fairgrounds also host a large midway with rides, games, and live performances, as well as livestock shows, parades, and a variety of exhibitions. One of the biggest favorites of the 1.5 million visitors who attend each year is the Big E Cream Puff , a popular treat that’s been served since 1926.

4

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Image: Aditya Vyas

A round-the-clock fire-breathing dragon , spell-casting spots, immersive stores and alleys, along with themed rides and roller coasters—these can all be found at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, located within Universal Orlando Resort in Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in California.

The park's concept is to transport visitors into the magical universe of J.K. Rowling's books and films, featuring recreated settings such as Hogsmeade Village, Hogwarts Castle, and Diagon Alley. Guests can also enjoy interactive experiences, like purchasing magical wands or sampling "butterbeer," a beverage made using a closely guarded secret recipe.

5

Arizona State Fair

Image: PONCIANOMX

Arizona State Fair is held annually in Phoenix. It traditionally combines agricultural exhibits, concerts, and carnival rides, with attractions such as livestock shows, rodeos , and demolition derbies, as well as thrilling roller coasters and rides for all ages.

The fair receives around 1 million visitors a year, who love its diverse range of deep-fried and unique fair foods. A main attraction is the iconic "La Grande Wheel," one of the largest traveling Ferris wheels in North America, standing at an impressive height of 130 feet.

6

Dollywood

Image: Adam Kring

The only singer-songwriter to have her own theme park is Dolly Parton. Dollywood is located in her home state of Tennessee, in Pigeon Forge. It is open from March to early January, with seasonal festivals and special events throughout the year. The family-friendly theme park is nestled in the Smoky Mountains , themed around Appalachian culture and the life of country music star Dolly Parton.

Originally, it was a small attraction called "Rebel Railroad," until it was purchased and rebranded by Dolly Parton in the 1980s. Today, it boasts a mix of roller coasters, craft demonstrations, and live entertainment, including bluegrass and gospel music. Dolly herself is known to make surprise appearances at the park, events affectionately referred to by fans as " Dolly Sightings. "

7

Hersheypark

Image: mjimages

Hershey's Chocolate Bar is another American favorite with its own theme park. Hersheypark is located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and is a family-friendly amusement park that blends thrilling rides, water attractions, and entertainment, all themed around "The Great American Chocolate Bar. "

"Candymonium" is one of its iconic rollercoasters, and it also features a large water park called The Boardwalk. Hersheypark offers live shows, character meet-and-greets, and a range of dining options that highlight Hershey's chocolate and sweets. It opened in the early 1900s as a leisure area for employees of Hershey, starting as a small picnic area with a carousel. Now, it receives around 3 million visitors yearly!

8

State Fair of Texas

Image: Zabdiel Gonzalez

The State Fair of Texas is celebrated every year in Dallas, Texas. Another fair to celebrate the large state's rich history and cultural heritage, traditionally held in its home Fair Park , which has been expanded over the years to accommodate the growing attendance.

Beyond the live music and carnival rides, the fair is known for its iconic "Big Tex," a 55-foot-tall cowboy figure that serves as the fair's mascot. Another classic of the fair is the competition for the best new fried food item; past winners have included fried butter and fried Coca-Cola.

9

Puyallup Fair

Image: Scott Webb

The Puyallup Fair, officially known as the Washington State Fair, is held annually in Puyallup, Washington. One of the largest fairs in the Pacific Northwest, it features popular attractions like thrilling rides on the Midway , concerts by famous artists, and unique competitions such as pie-eating contests and rodeos.

The fair is also known for its iconic "Giant Pumpkin Contest," where the growers of the largest pumpkins are rewarded. Additionally, the fair hosts a "Food Truck Frenzy," offering a chance to try various local food trucks alongside traditional fair fare. The fair also includes a unique event called the "Farm & Garden Show," where visitors can learn about sustainable farming and gardening practices.

10

Seaworld

Image: J.U.L.Ö

SeaWorld can be found in Florida and Texas, but the first and most iconic park is the one in San Diego, California. This amusement and marine zoological park is known for its aquatic life exhibits, thrilling rides, and live entertainment featuring sea animals. Visitors can enjoy roller coasters like "Mako" and "Kraken," as well as interactive exhibits where they can get close to dolphins, sea lions, and other marine animals.

The park also hosts educational shows about animal behavior and conservation efforts. SeaWorld has played a significant role in animal preservation and has rescued thousands of marine animals over the years, including seals, sea turtles, and birds. In recent years, the park has also introduced virtual reality experiences to immerse visitors into underwater worlds.

1

The Purple Store – Online (with a location at Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA)

The Purple Store does exactly one thing: it sells purple items. Every single thing in the store is purple . Shirts, socks, kitchen appliances, furniture, jewelry, dog collars, dice, cowboy hats—if it exists and can be purple, The Purple Store has it.

This is the store for the person in your life who is very, very serious about their favorite color, or for anyone who finds the concept of a store with a strictly enforced color policy absolutely hilarious and also kind of admirable.

2

The Museum of Bad Art Store: Somerville, MA

The Museum of Bad Art exists to celebrate paintings that tried hard, fell short, and ended up magnificent for entirely the wrong reasons. The gift shop sells prints, books, and merchandise built around the museum's collection of gloriously terrible masterpieces .

Nobody here is embarrassed: the art is bad, everyone knows it, and that's precisely the point. This is the store for people who believe that effort deserves recognition regardless of outcome, and for anyone who has ever hung a painting in their living room that wasn't quite right and left it there for fifteen years anyway.

3

Marty's Reliable Cycle: Westfield, NJ

Operating since 1946, Marty's Reliable Cycle is the kind of place that shouldn't still exist but absolutely does. It's famous nationwide not just for its vintage bicycle inventory, but for its ceiling-to-floor stacks of cycling memorabilia, spare parts, and decades of accumulated everything that give it the feel of a very organized avalanche.

Walking in feels like stepping into a time capsule where someone hit pause around 1978. Cyclists make pilgrimages here. If you're passing through New Jersey and remotely enjoy bicycles, nostalgia, or both, it's worth the detour.

4

The Sock Drawer: Providence, RI

The Sock Drawer is devoted entirely to novelty and compression socks in every pattern, theme, and level of absurdity imaginable . Cats riding tacos. Flaming hot dogs. Historical figures on argyle. If you can think of it, there’s a good chance The Sock Drawer already has it in stock.

What makes it more than a joke is that it also carries medical-grade compression socks for people who need them, meaning you can solve a circulation problem and walk out with a pair of socks featuring a screaming eagle at the exact same time.

5

Archie McPhee: Seattle, WA

Archie McPhee has been selling rubber chickens, bacon-scented soap, canned unicorn meat, and inflatable Stonehenge for decades, and it shows no signs of slowing down or becoming even slightly more sensible. It is the undisputed gold standard of American novelty shops: the place other weird stores aspire to be when they grow up .

The genius of Archie McPhee is that everything is absurd, but nothing feels accidental. Someone sat down, thought very carefully about what the world needed, and concluded the answer was a horse head mask and a bag of dismembered gummy bears. They were right, and the store has the loyal following to prove it.

6

Wall Drug: Wall, SD

Wall Drug started as a modest drugstore in 1931 in the middle of South Dakota and somehow became one of the most aggressively advertised destinations in America. Signs for it appear thousands of miles away, and the complex has grown to fill an entire block with shops, exhibits, animatronic dinosaurs, and attractions that resist easy categorization. A five-cent cup of coffee is still on the menu.

Nobody drives to Wall Drug because they need something. They go because the signs wore them down over five straight states and they finally gave in. Once inside, the sheer scale of the thing (part store, part roadside attraction, part collective hallucination) becomes impressive.

7

Possumbilities: Fredericksburg, VA

Possumbilities is a gift shop, wildlife education center, and opossum advocacy organization all rolled into one cheerfully strange package. Run by a licensed wildlife rehabilitator named Karen Brace, the store sells opossum-themed merchandise —plushies, mugs, apparel, hand-crocheted baby opossum figures— and features live opossum ambassadors on-site Thursday through Monday.

This is the store for anyone who has ever been told that opossums are ugly and gross and wants to argue the point. Imagine stopping in Fredericksburg on a road trip, wandering into what looks like a small gift shop, and coming face-to-face with a real, live opossum named Stuart. That is a story you'll tell at every barbecue for the rest of your life.

8

Unclaimed Baggage: Scottsboro, AL

Unclaimed Baggage is exactly what it sounds like : a store that buys luggage that airlines have given up on reuniting with its owners—after a full three-month search—and sells the contents to the public . Items are cleaned, tested, appraised, and priced at up to 80% below retail value. New inventory arrives daily, because bags are lost daily.

Over the years, the store has turned up a NASA Space Shuttle camera, an Egyptian burial mask from around 1500 BC, a live rattlesnake, and a puppet from the Jim Henson film Labyrinth . The everyday inventory includes designer clothes, electronics, jewelry, and sporting goods, but the real draw is the promise that you have no idea what you'll find.

9

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop: Seattle, WA

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop has been operating on Seattle's waterfront since 1899 and in that time has assembled a collection of genuine mummies, shrunken heads, narwhal tusks, and oddities that blur the line between souvenir shop and sideshow attraction. You can buy a snow globe or stand two feet from an actual mummified human body.

It’s the kind of place that would be impossible to open today and which survives partly on reputation, and partly on morbid curiosity.

10

The Mütter Museum Store: Philadelphia, PA

The Mütter Museum is a medical history museum housing anatomical specimens, preserved human remains, and things in jars that no one entirely expects to find in downtown Philadelphia . Its gift shop sells anatomical models, medical curiosity replicas, and books that somehow make the whole experience feel educational and gift-able rather than deeply alarming—most of the time.

You can buy a soap shaped like a human brain, a replica Civil War surgical kit, or a calendar featuring unusual medical case studies from the 1800s. It's oddly tasteful given the subject matter, and the store has developed a devoted following.

1

California

Image: Ross Stone

California is famous for its grand sights, but few can compete with Methuselah, a Great Basin bristlecone pine more than 4,800 years old, widely considered the oldest known tree on Earth.

Beyond its ancient forests, the state also shines in pop-culture records: one of Kurt Cobain’s guitars sold in Los Angeles for over $6 million, becoming the most expensive guitar ever auctioned. California is also home to eye-catching personal records, including the world’s longest female arm hair and the largest male afro. From timeless trees to memorable modern oddities, California’s record list is full of true West Coast flair.

2

Nevada

Image: Jordi Vich Navarro

Nevada knows how to entertain…and break records along the way! Las Vegas boasts the highest density of hotel rooms in the world, along with an unmatched lineup of themed resorts that range from ancient pyramids to miniature European cities.

The Bellagio holds the record for the most fountains in a hotel, and the Venetian shines with the world’s largest polished-marble floor area. The city also has more resident magicians than anywhere else and hosts thousands of weddings each month. In Nevada, the show is always bigger, brighter, and endlessly jaw-dropping.

3

Idaho

Image: Craig Adderley

The Gem State holds some of the country’s most lighthearted records. Beard enthusiast Joel Strasser turned facial hair into a full-time hobby. He has tucked thousands of everyday objects into his whiskers, from 3,500 toothpicks to 600 barbecue skewers.

Idaho is also home to record-setter David Rush, known for everything from lightning-fast lemon-juice sipping to catching marshmallows fired from a homemade catapult. And on the scientific side, the University of Idaho helped welcome Idaho Gem, the first cloned mule in history.

4

Arizona

Image: Edmundo Mendez, Jr.

Arizona loves a good spectacle. In Phoenix, an exhibition opening once used a pair of 10-foot scissors —the largest in the world— to cut the ribbon in style. Down in Yuma, sunshine reigns supreme: the city enjoys about 91% of all possible daylight hours each year, adding up to more than 4,000 hours of bright, warm weather.

The state also embraces playful oddities, including its own "Poozeum", the world’s largest collection of fossilized… well, you can guess the rest. And at the Phoenix Zoo, visitors can even meet Nikki, the world’s oldest mandrill, adding another unique distinction to Arizona’s lineup of record-setters.

5

Georgia

Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Georgia blends big art with big sports. The state is home to the world’s largest tattoo artwork —a massive 79-plus square-foot piece created by two Atlanta studios using a special silicone canvas and more than $30,000 in materials.

On the athletic side, Georgia Tech once set the highest football score ever recorded, finishing an unforgettable 222-0 game back in 1916. From oversized art to record-setting touchdowns, Georgia knows how to leave a bold, lasting impression.

6

Alaska

Image: Rod Long

Up north, "large" takes on a whole new meaning. Alaska’s Pribilof Islands host the biggest northern fur seal colony on Earth, with close to a million animals gathering during peak seasons.

The state also celebrates remarkable feats of endurance: a tagged bar-tailed godwit flew more than 8,400 miles nonstop from Alaska to Tasmania, setting a record for the longest continuous bird migration. And in the Arctic interior, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes stretch across nearly 24 square miles —the largest active dune field in the region. Even in a land known for ice and mountains, Alaska proves it can go big in surprising ways.

7

Delaware

Delaware may be tiny on the map, but it knows how to draw a crowd. The state is home to 11 record holders, including the World's Largest Doctor's Bag Monument.

Delaware State University once gathered 1,709 people waving foam fingers at the same time, and another huge group buzzing handheld buzzers together. The state is also home to a towering 36-foot stack of cardboard boxes called the "Leaning Tower of Pizza." Small state, big personality.

8

Hawaii

Image: Matt Paul Catalano

Hawaii’s natural wonders reach record heights, and many of them are straight from the islands’ own landscape. Kīlauea is recognized as the world’s most active volcano, with decades of steady activity and a name that fittingly means "spewing."

The islands also celebrate remarkable achievements on the ocean: off Oahu, Australian surfer Laura Enever rode an astonishing 43.6-foot paddle-in wave, the largest ever recorded for a woman.

9

Illinois

Image: Brett Sayles

Illinois loves to go big, and it shows in all kinds of creative ways. In the small town of Casey, visitors can stand beneath a giant rocking chair more than 56 feet tall —one of the state’s many oversized roadside attractions.

The Prairie State also stirred up the world’s largest jar of spread, using more than a ton of peaches and tomatoes in a three-day cooking marathon. Are you waiting for something more extreme? An Illinois native set the record for the fastest clapping ever recorded, reaching an incredible 804 claps in one minute.

10

Alabama

Alabama has a special talent for turning simple moments into big record-breakers. Here you’ll find the largest bubblegum bubble ever blown —a bright 20-inch sphere made from just three pieces of gum and plenty of practice.

The state also celebrated the Apollo 11 anniversary by launching nearly 5,000 model rockets at once, filling the sky with a burst of color. Alabama is home to more than 50 record holders, including inspiring stories like Curtis Means’, the world’s most premature baby to thrive and grow. If you enjoy bold, cheerful achievements, Alabama delivers them in generous size.

11

Arkansas

Image: Jametlene Reskp

The Natural State mixes small-town charm with some truly memorable oddities. Arkansas was once home to Lurch, the African watusi steer famous for having the largest horn circumference ever measured —an incredible 37.5 inches around.

Arkansas also wears its heart on its sleeve: a statewide effort gathered more than 81,000 pounds of pet food in just 24 hours, setting a cheerful charity record. And for pure determination, a young Arkansan even held a deep squat for nearly three hours. In Arkansas, generosity and eye-catching achievements go hand in hand.

12

Florida

Image: Richard R

Florida takes "large" to heart. The Sunshine State is home to the world’s longest limousine, a restored 100 ft 1.5 in cruiser with room for 72 passengers —nearly three times the length of an ordinary stretch limo!

Florida also knows how to put on a show: Miami hosted the first-ever pay-per-view pillow fight, complete with pro fighters and custom-made pillows; in Bradenton, a Monster Jam driver set two eye-popping records for the most consecutive spins in a monster truck.