Is Disney REALLY that great to you guys?
mOOSH (has played way too much RCT)
Gentle teasing, gentle teasing.
I love Disney.
R.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Coaster Junkie from NH
I drive in & out of Boston, so I ride coasters to relax!
I DESPISE Disney. I have been there three times in my life (the Florida version) that I remember and each time was worse than the one before it. Sure there were a couple of fun moments that I remember, but for the most part, my Disney view is this:
The place is severely overcrowded with the stupidest human beings on the planet. The collective IQ at the place is probably higher among the trash cans than the patrons.
Kids overrun the place, drool on everything, throw food at you and generally screech at top volume right in your ear while they either run in front of you or their parents drive their double-wide strollers over your foot, all the while their parents going "aw, isn't that cute!".
Japanese tourists are WORSE than the stereotype with their cameras and stop right in the middle of midways and refuse to let anyone pass until their pictures have been taken.
Lines are insane, nothing is ever under an hour even for a trumped up kids ride like Peter Pan, and most "good" rides are over two hours. The "good" rides frequently break; I've yet to be at Disney when Space Mountain, Pirates and Tower of Terror were not all down for at least a couple of hours if not all day while I was there.
The admission price is insane, basically $100 for what?! Just because everyone else does it? The brain-washing is so ridiculous it makes my head hurt. The money-vacuum is so obvious, yet people flock to it and gladly worship and toss their dollars in like lemmings. $15 for a burger and fries 4 years ago? What is it today, $35? $50 if you want a drink? And the burger tastes like something Wendy's threw out a week before.
The customer service involves treating you like crap, more concern about where to park the massive pileup of double-wide strollers left by stupid parents who prefer to lose their toddlers among clothing racks or queues than run over the clothing racks or through the queues with the strollers, than getting people onto rides or checking you out of a store, general annoyance with your job, and of course topping it all off with a cheery "have a magical day!" and a smile ... quickly followed by a scowl and back to the double-wide stroller pile. And let's not forget that when the line cutting gets so ridiculous (for a slow boat ride accompanied by the most annoying song written by mankind) that you haven't moved from one spot for 10 minutes and you ask the nearest "cast member" to do something about it, they tell you just to wait your turn.
And to top it all off, there's exactly one ride on property (Rock N Roller Coaster) that is even remotely interesting enough as a combination of theme and ride thrill level/experience to make me even BEGIN to forget that I'm shoulder-deep in wave after wave of stupid people (or people who have at least lost their minds).
So no, I don't find anything even remotely appealing about Disney. The only redeeming thing about it is that enough morons go there that the lines at the INFINITELY better park for theme, experience, "anti-reality", and rides, Islands of Adventure, are much, much shorter than if it was a balanced crowd. That being said, the best "anti-reality" is FAR from Orlando ...
Some suggestions for a better visit...
Try the golf courses, a boat ride on the Seven Seas Lagoon, a Bass Fishing Expedition, a private Fireworks Cruise, horseback riding at Fort Wilderness, Drinking around the World at Epcot during Food and Wine (crowds are light, thats why they do the festival), a Surrey ride on the Boardwalk, stay in a resort and do extra magic hours, relax and don't try to do everything in one day- its not like any other amusement park in the world, ride your favorite ride during the parades or fireworks while everyone else is watching the parades or fireworks, if there are 2 SpectroMagic parades- watch the second of the night its like a private viewing, watch the Fireworks shows- they are unlike anywhere else in the world, use fastpass- its free and easy, park-hop but use your own transportation as it gives you a break from the kids and a chance to have your own space and music... times to visit- January, February, September, October, November and early December.... and on your food prices, its about $10 for a burger, fries and soda right now so not sure what you were buying then... but really its not that far out of line, after all you are at the most popular amusement park on Earth. Walt Disney World has more visitors than Busch and Universal and Cedar Fair combined.
One final suggestion when you're in town, go to SeaWorld, go to Universal... they are all great parks.
Oh yeah... one more thing.... RELAX! It's supposed to be a vacation. WDW's rides have a capacity that blows the socks off most rides (except maybe 2 train running Gemini back in the old days) *** Edited 4/25/2008 5:58:47 AM UTC by CPJ***
In bullet form:
* People inside the Disney gates are dumb as rocks, no doubt about it. But, no less so than people inside the gates of any amusement or theme park. For some reason, parks seem to have a de facto policy: "You may not bring outside intelligence into the park."
* Kids do over-run the place. I find them somewhat more tolerable than the teens that over-run most parks.
* Disney has Japanese tourists and their cameras, traditional parks have Gonch. ;)
* You must be arriving mid-afternoon on Christmas Day and using positively no touring sense whatsoever. I have never, and I mean never, waited more than 20 minutes for any attraction in any Disney park, and that includes visiting Florida over President's Week, which isn't quite Easter or Christmas, but it's pretty close. Sure, that means getting your ass out of bed and getting to the park when it opens, but it's no different than wanting to ride Millennium, Dragster, and Maverick at Cedar Point this past season. Show up mid-afternoon and you'll be waiting a good chunk for all three.
* Admission is expensive, true. However, counter service food at Disney is cheaper, and better, than food at Cedar Point. I don't know where you got $15 from, but it's flat out wrong. Right now, today, you can buy a burger, fries, and a drink at Pecos Bill's for $8.72, including tax. Try doing that at any Cedar Fair or Six Flags park. There's no way in hell you can. http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/men_pec.htm
* Again, I don't know when you are visiting, but Disney rides hit interval, send full vehicles, and are run safely.
The one thing I won't quibble about is that you don't find any of the attractions interesting. That's certainly your opinion and you are entitled to it. For my money though, I think Tower and Everest are both better theme/thrill combinations than Coaster.
My wife and I have been to WDW at least ten times in the past seven or eight years and we always have a fantastic time. It's expensive and people are dumb, but it's no more expensive and filled with more morons than most other theme parks. Besides, it's not like those idiots don't exist outside the Disney gates, so dealing with them is nothing new.
*** Edited 4/25/2008 1:59:13 PM UTC by rollergator***
Brian Noble said:
* Disney has Japanese tourists and their cameras, traditional parks have Gonch. ;)
Disney gets Gonch this fall.
(I, for one, miss the unbridled frustration expressed in many of Brett's posts. :) )
I gotta second (or is it third?) Brian and Rob. ToT was one of the most terrific ride experiences I've ever had. Soarin' was no slouch of a ride either. And both Pirates and Haunted Mansion are absolutely fantastic since the upgrades.
Impulse-ive, I'm sorry you had such bad experiences. But I don't think it's fair to characterize people who actually like Disney parks as "morons". Just as it wouldn't be fair for any of us to suggest that you went to the parks with a bad mindset and were biased in your judgment because you like thrill parks more than theme parks. None of us knows what was in your brain when you visited, just as you don't know what percentage of Disney visitors are morons.
My author website: mgrantroberts.com
Fortunately, I chose to go see Fantasmic first and then head over to see Illuminations after that, so it could have just been the one day. It still soured my experience of Epcot, and to date it is my least favorite of the parks, barely edged out by DAK (before Expedition Everest). The Magic Kingdom is still the best with the now Hollywood Studios behind it.
More unbridled frustration:
on the issue of stupid people, yes, I agree that every park has its share of idiots but at Disney it just reaches EPIC levels. You have so many extra factors;
- with so many people in one place the average stupidity level inevitably increases.
- you have the "leave your brain at the door" policy of all parks
- one in ten don't speak English which for most Disneyers seems to be as mind-blowing as discovering they have nine heads.
- most Disneyers go only to Disney and not all that often, so are FAR from "experienced" in how amusement parks work.
- young kids seem to breed extra stupidity and of course the parents can't be bothered to watch their kids because they're too wrapped up in having "a magical time!" (cue extreme sarcasm on that quote)
- the lower number of unsupervised teens leads to a lot less worries about embarassing public acts which would forever doom you in the eyes of the opposite sex leading to more stupidity performed and allowed
- and of course, its Disney so you can't walk five feet wihtout some stand or store in the way trying to sell you some crap with a mouse or a fish or a duck on it that kids are force-fed and parents obcess over, so the little bit of brainpower that people have left upon entering the gates is consmed trying to figure out what to buy with their Home Equity Loan they had to take out to go on this trip, which will be thrown out immediately upon returning home.
So all of this combines to short-circuit everyone in the park and they become stupider than any patron at any other park resulting in my desire for me, and in he future, my kid, to avoid anythng and everything Disney.
Feels good to express myself again :)
Teach them that stuff when there AREN'T a dozen people waiting? :)
Can ya tell I don't have any rugrats of my own? ;)
I'm reminded of a conversation I was having with a neighbor about not wanting to buy my daughter a Barbie. This neighbor happens to be one of two moms in an "alternative family" with a couple of kids. She looked at me, and said something to the effect of: "Look, we're the last people on Earth who think Barbie is a good idea. But, we realized quickly that there was no way we were going to be able to keep the little b*tch out of our house."
If a lesbian couple can't defend the gates against a Barbie invasion, what hope does an enthusiast have against the Mouse? ;)
I can't say I've every left a Disney park and thought, "well, I'd have rather been at (some other random park)." Every Disney park I've gone to has been a lot of fun, each with its own bits of uniqueness. I've seen Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Sea, and Euro Disneyland. No, no Orlando. I've enjoyed them all and, often, was blown away by Disney Sea.
I also happen to have a daughter that loved her first trip to Disneyland and asks to go back every so often. For her, it's a new and magical place. A place she certainly wants to go back to. *** Edited 4/25/2008 7:29:10 PM UTC by Niomosy***
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