The appeal of Disney parks

You need to allow yourself to let loose and have a good time.

If you can't see the fun in looking for hidden pictures within a real ride or attraction, you need to get out more. It could have been a fun memory for you and your family to be looking for hidden Mickey's all day while you were at "The Happiest Place on Earth". They are hidden in plain sight, all over the place. You'll find that you are looking right at them without realizing it sometimes. Even when your brain becomes accustomed to finding them, some are so well-hidden that it becomes a major win to point it out (like the one created by lights in the Haunted Mansion located behind you as you exit the grave yard).

It's like a vacation-wide scavenger hunt. Pointing at one and yelling out "hidden Mickey!" before the people you are with find it creates exciting memories.

...And the hidden Mickey's are just one of the countless unlimited engaging things you can do at Disney. Take a walk off the main pathways and you are sure to discover something clever and interesting.

You should feel disappointed that you spent all of that money going to Disney with a bad attitude. You and your family could have had the best vacation of your life at Disney that you would have treasured forever. I want to feel bad for you, but the mental picture I have of you cracks me up.

Still waiting for our friend to respond to the other 40 plus things I asked about that he and his family missed...

Figuring out Disney's on/off weeks is harder because they're so dynamic in their pricing, but it's not a simple "these months good, these months bad" like it used to be. My trick? Look at the hotel pricing at Universal. The lowest price weeks are the best weeks to go there or Disney. January can be super awesome, if you go the right week.

Since Jeff brought up Universal... why didn't he go there or SeaWorld?

Then he wouldn't have been able to call us names like ear-wearing something-or-others.

I think his thrill-seeking, goth children would have loved Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's gloomy, yet "exciting". Now that I think about it, his children probably think Harry Potter is boring.

Sea World? Woo hoo... Wait...My guess is that they would have found Sea World boring too. They only have two roller coasters and one water ride, and they were not going to ride the water ride in, what was it, 50° whether.

Busch Gardens is amazing as well, for both the thrills and the animals. Now that I think about it, the animals would probably have been too cute for his goth children.

Damian: "Tigers are stupid, Dad! This vacation SUCKS!"

Crimson: "Yea Dad, I hate this park. Why couldn't we have gone to Six Flags?"

LOL

Damian & Crimson.

:)

Tekwardo said:
I gots nothing else. The most attended parks in the universe and one person doesn't get it. I think the problem is not with the parks.

Another appeal to popularity?

Mc Donalds must make the best hamburgers on the planet!

Argumentum ad populum only concerns whether something is true or not, so it's not a logical fallacy in this case. Disney (or McDonalds) strives to attract customers, so attendance is a reasonable way to evaluate them. It would be a fallacy if somebody were to say "the higher the attendance, the better the park, therefore Disney is the best park in the world." But that's not what they're saying.

Anyhow, my first trip to Disney was at 11 years old, and I had a wonderful time. My parents (and grandparents) also did a lot to build up excitement for the trip. I got to spend a day at Magic Kingdom a few years ago, and it was just as awesome but for different reasons. I liken Disney to a life-size model of a park, so I think your enjoyment of it partly depends on how detail-oriented you are. There's a ton of little things that go into making Disney unique and have nothing to do with the attractions themselves.

The lowest price weeks are the best weeks to go there or Disney. January can be super awesome, if you go the right week.

The Disneyana folks actually chart hotel prices there, too---and that might capture some of the Disney-specific things like Marathon weekend. Edited: forgot the link.

http://www.mousesavers.com/roomrates2012.html

Another appeal to popularity? Mc Donalds must make the best hamburgers on the planet!

The "I'm more sophisticated than you" angle doesn't work when you are comparing one mass-market entity (amusement parks) with another (theme parks). It only works when you are trying to put down the hoi polloi---e.g. opera vs. theme parks.

billb7581 said:
Mc Donalds must make the best hamburgers on the planet!

Ask someone who's been out at the bar all night this exact question, and you /will/ get this answer.

Tekwardo said:
I gots nothing else. The most attended parks in the universe and one person doesn't get it. I think the problem is not with the parks.

Why does it need to be the case that one of them has a problem?

If you can't see the fun in looking for hidden pictures within a real ride or attraction, you need to get out more.

I stopped looking for circles when I stopped watching Sesame Street in 1975

billb7581 said:
Another appeal to popularity?

Mc Donalds must make the best hamburgers on the planet!

Apples to Oranges...in a sense.

Obviously people like McDonalds food or they wouldn't be so popular. But that's really more about convienience and brand recognition...

Having said that, Disney and McDonald's are both hugely popular and well liked brands with children. So to their target audience, yeah, McD's has the best food ever (though I'd say it's more bout the chicken nuggets than burgers).

But here's another angle. McD's is hugely popular because it's fast, chearp, and easy. It doesn't have to be great because it fills 3 out of 4, and to most of the people that go there, the food isn't terrible or they wouldn't go back (mmmm...McRib...).

Disney, OTOH, is not fast, cheap, nor easy. But it's apparently pretty great, to the point people come from all over the world to go there.

So, no, Disney does not equal McDonald's. But apparently plenty enough people like both that they're both extremely popular. That you don't, and can't understand why anyone else enjoys either, seems to suggest that the issue isn't with everyone else, even though you keep trying to push us all off as Mouse ear wearing Disneyphiles.

GoBucks89 said:

to be the case that one of them has a problem?

He's the one that tries to make it like everyone else has some 'problem' in liking Disney. Not us. We didn't spend 3 grand just to come back and complain, after having been told we weren't going to like it before we went and spent all that money.

Tekwardo said:
He's the one that tries to make it like everyone else has some 'problem' in liking Disney. Not us. We didn't spend 3 grand just to come back and complain, after having been told we weren't going to like it before we went and spent all that money.

But why do you care what he thinks? Does the fact that he doesn't like Disney and can't understand why anyone else would either somehow make you like Disney less? Does it make you look forward to your next visit to Disney less? Or your good memories of past visits to Disney less good?

My guess is that few people actually know Bill personally which makes it even more odd to see the reactions in this thread to his views. Seems to me the response would be "Sorry you didn't like Disney. Hope your next vacation is more enjoyable." And then move on.

I am hard pressed to think of any product/service/experience that I like that negative views of someone else (other than a close friend or family member possibly) would change my mind. Same is true for a product/service/experience that I don't like (no matter how popular it may be with other people). Each to his/her own.

I don't care that he dislikes Disney. Were you involved in all of the conversation, including his Pre-Disney trip planning? This whole conversation has nothing to do with people caring that he dislikes Disney, it has everything to do with the fact that before he went to Disney he complained he wouldn't like Disney, we all told him he was correct, he came back with an 'I Told You So' Attitude of "Disney Sucks", which we all expected, and he's spent this entire thread berating people for 'making excuses' to like Disney.

Have you read the same things everyone else has?

billb7581 said:

Mc Donalds must make the best hamburgers on the planet!

Subway passed McDonalds for most restaurants a while ago.

When I was a teenager, I typically avoided Disney World (aka recommended Universal instead) and we had a blast there instead. We did do Magic Kingdom one year, and although not a thrill park, still made the best out of it... It's just a matter of expectation/preference I suppose.

billb7581 said:

I stopped looking for circles when I stopped watching Sesame Street in 1975

I can find a whole bunch of circles with the conversation in this thread. lol

Ha!