# What is up with Disney World and its following? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123 "2011-11-07T01:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/121 "2012-03-02T18:14:41Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I would compare it to an amusement park. Are coasters somehow inauthentic because Disney has dressed them up with some really fancy and thorouth decor? It’s part amusement park, but frankly, it isn’t a good amusement park. If you want rides, go to a six flags. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/122 "2012-03-02T18:18:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > It’s part amusement park, but frankly, it isn’t a good amusement park. If you want rides, go to a six flags. This is only true if all you care about is thrilling rides. For me, rides can be so much more, as Disney _exemplifies_. Probably one of the last things that I ride Tower of Terror for is the drop itself–that’s the mere icing on an otherwise brilliant cake. I would take a single trip to Disney over a dozen trip to 6 Flags (which I also enjoy, but on a different level. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/123 "2012-03-02T18:28:23Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > It’s part amusement park, but frankly, it isn’t a good amusement park. If you want rides, go to a six flags. _looks at you like you’re crazy_ I’ve been to Six Flags (Magic Mountain). It was boring. Wait in this line for 2 hours, get on ride for 30 seconds, repeat. Last trip was particularly frustrating, as we literally went on only 3 rides despite being there all day - and almost all that time was spent in boring long lines. There was nothing interesting to see in the long long queues. There was nothing interesting to do when you weren’t going from ride to ride. The only fun parts of the day were the 30 seconds at a time on the rides. At Disneyland, there are roller coasters - and also slower rides to enjoy (Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion…), games to play, shows to watch, interesting restaurants to eat at, parades and fireworks to enjoy, pin trading, and everywhere you look is beautiful theming that is fun to look at and puts you in a frame of mind to enjoy the ride/show/attraction even more. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/124 "2012-03-02T19:04:48Z")
Yes, Disney excels at theme park rides. But their thrill rides… Which is what most people want in an amusement park, are far and few between. It’s the non traditional attractions, like toy story mania, not the roller coasters, that make disney. Theme park, not amusement park. If you go looking for a mere amusement park, you’ll sit back in Epcot wondering why anyone built the darn place. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/125 "2012-03-02T19:11:45Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Which is what most people want in an amusement park, are far and few between. Which is why Disneyland/World are **THEME** parks. They have so much more to offer than mere, cheap thrills. Why do you think Disney parks get many, many times the attendance as any other “amusement” park on the planet? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/126 "2012-03-02T19:16:25Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Which is why Disneyland/World are **THEME** parks. They have so much more to offer than mere, cheap thrills… However thrilling Disney’s rides may be, they are definitely NOT cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/127 "2012-03-02T19:36:06Z")
> [@DeweyDecibel](#): > > I have a bit of a soft spot for DisneyWorld, despite most of my travel being focused on things that could be called “authentic” or “cultural”. I like museums, I like going to new countries and meeting people, I like wandering cities and towns aimlessly to experience it. I rely on Rick Steves for Europe and Lonely Planet for everywhere else. I occasionally get a little (internally) judgmental when people talk about going to all-inclusive resorts. At times I’m about a half-step from becoming that annoying person who calls themself a traveller and disparages “tourists”. > > I haven’t been to Disney in 10 years, but I went 4 times as a kid and teen with my parents and once as an adult with my husband, for our first anniversary in 2002. I now have a 4 year old and a 1 year old and envision a trip to Disney in a year or two. What I like about is that it is unabashedly over-planned. There’s very little spontaneity, but they don’t really hide this. It is what it is, and it’s damn good at it. Things are super organized, everything is thought out, and it’s kind of fun to watch the logistics. They are masters at the art of carefully controlling an environment and presenting an image of fun, “magic”, and being in another world. > > I whine about “having” to go in a year or two when my sons are old enough to enjoy it, but I think I’ll enjoy it. Of course, after 5 days there, I plan to hightail it to Costa Rica or somewhere in Latin America for another week… This is about how I feel, except I’d never been to Disney (even as a kid growing up in Florida!). My idea of a vacation is is relaxing on the beach or in the mountains with a good book and a glass of wine. Maybe going for a hike or a swim. I hate crowds. I hate being bustled from one activity to the next. I’m afraid I’m going to be miserable, BUT my family will love it, and I know that I’ll end up having fun. No, I am not looking forward to it, and I will be anxious the entire time, but I’ll probably have a good time. Unless I encounter too many stupid people. No wait - My wife has call a moratorium on homicides. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/128 "2012-03-02T21:00:24Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > However thrilling Disney’s rides may be, they are definitely NOT cheap. Read my post again. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/129 "2012-03-02T21:03:39Z")
I don’t have to. It was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/130 "2012-03-02T21:04:29Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I don’t have to. It was a joke. Then I must admit that I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/131 "2012-03-02T21:05:05Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I hate crowds. I hate being bustled from one activity to the next. I’m afraid I’m going to be miserable, BUT my family will love it, and I know that I’ll end up having fun. No, I am not looking forward to it, and I will be anxious the entire time, but I’ll probably have a good time. > > . In this case, there’s two things you need to do and one thing that will help: 1. Don’t go on a super-crowded day. There are well done crowd predictors on \_len\_s website and elsewhere. I have been to the parks when the time involved winding your way thru the line is longer than the line, the line was 2 minutes- and that’s on a ride with a normal nearly a hour wait time. And without a FastPass. 2. Do not have a mindset there is any list of attractions you MUST do. Go with the flow, people watch, have fun. I have been to Disneyland on capacity crowd days and still had fun. Disney throws in bands and other entertainment on crowded days. Sure, we didn’t get on many “rides’ but it was still fun. 3. Read and follow one of the Unoffical trip plans. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/132 "2012-03-02T22:43:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > As far as adults without kids going, I dunno, is there a non-publicized magical hotel where you can bang Sleeping Beauty or Snow White and all seven dwarves (I understand they’re not dwarfish on all dimensions!)? None of the escort services that are listed in the yellow pages in the hotel room mention any type of princess dress-up, cosplay, or anything else I could see as a possible “code word.” (yes, I was curious 😃 ). So if there is any such thing, they hide themselves pretty well. Probably more afraid of the Mouse’s trademark lawyers than any vice cop. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/133 "2012-03-03T02:22:27Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > It’s interactive theatre. Of course it’s fake, it’s a huge set. It’s fantasy. A lot of people who don’t like Disney get hung up on the fake. And I think that if you want to go to Paris, you probably shouldn’t sit around in the French pavilion in Epcot. But a lot of people don’t really want France, or can’t get to France. This creates a nice fantasy. Some of us can enjoy a trip to the real France as well as the pavilion in Epcot. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/134 "2012-03-03T03:56:41Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Some of us can enjoy a trip to the real France as well as the pavilion in Epcot. I’ve done both myself. And the “real” England, Italy, Germany, Thailand, Japan. But I do feel sorry for Disney fans who think a visit to the Poly is as good a trip to Hawaii (it isn’t, its different.). Or that Epcot is showing their kids the world (its more of the world than many people are exposed it, but it isn’t the world.) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/135 "2012-03-03T04:03:55Z")
While I’m sure you could find somebody who believed that, I rather dispute that the vast majority of Disney visitors feel such pavilions or attractions are anything more than a taste of said locations. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/136 "2012-03-03T04:13:31Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > While I’m sure you could find somebody who believed that, I rather dispute that the vast majority of Disney visitors feel such pavilions or attractions are anything more than a taste of said locations. I was just about to ask “who thinks that?,” but you basically beat me to it. I’m pretty sure even Disney doesn’t view them as a “replacement”–hell, their construction was mostly funded by the respective country governments to promote tourism. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/137 "2012-03-03T05:18:16Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > While I’m sure you could find somebody who believed that, I rather dispute that the vast majority of Disney visitors feel such pavilions or attractions are anything more than a taste of said locations. Spend some time on Disney fan sites. It probably isn’t the vast majority, or even the majority, but it certainly isn’t an unusual belief in Disney fanatics. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/138 "2012-03-03T10:28:04Z")
I’m still working through the jet lag after my last Disney trip. I just spent a week at the Polynesian with my best friend. We were there for last weekend’s Princess Half Marathon (we both got a personal record, go us!) but got to all four parks at least once. We’ve been to WDW so many times over the years that we’ve seen everything and can concentrate on the new things and our favorites. We never had to contend with a crowd or a long line; we just made sure to be where the crowds were not. Two Disney memories, one older and one brand new, that illustrate what makes it special to me: several years ago, we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom to ride their newest attraction, the rollercoaster Expedition Everest, for the first time. We made a beeline to it, got our Fastpasses to come back later, and made a second beeline to Kilimanjaro Safari. The line there was already long enough to make us revise our plans, and we looked at each other and realized that the brisk walks plus the heat and humidity (DAK can get extraordinarily oppressive, more so than the other parks) had just made us uncomfortably hot. We didn’t feel like crossing the park to get to the next attraction we wanted to see, and we didn’t want to leave until we’d been able to ride Expedition Everest, so we got icy Diet Cokes from the nearest stand and found a stone bench in the shade. While we were sitting there, a drum group came up right beside us and started putting on a show. We were absolutely tickled pink and it brought our moods right back into the green zone. And the second – we were already checked out this past Tuesday and just sitting on a bench in the lobby under one of the waterfalls rearranging our last purchases when a lovely man walked through with a tray of two kinds of freshly-baked cookies which he offered to us. So nice, and what a great last impression! ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/139 "2012-03-03T21:33:46Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I was just about to ask “who thinks that?,” but you basically beat me to it. > > I’m pretty sure even Disney doesn’t view them as a “replacement”–hell, their construction was mostly funded by the respective country governments to promote tourism. Actually, this is a common myth about the Epcot World Showcase. The only pavilion that was funded by a government was Morocco. All the others were funded by private companies. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123/140 "2012-03-03T23:24:40Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > Actually, this is a common myth about the Epcot World Showcase. The only pavilion that was funded by a government was Morocco. All the others were funded by private companies. Ah you’re right; I was confused as I’ve read Disney was actively seeking funding from foreign countries. At any rate, the sentiment stands that the pavilions exist to raise awareness, not replace (unlike Disneyland’s sister park, California Adventure). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-disney-world-and-its-following/602123.md?page=8)