Cheaper tickets COMING SOON

[ConfettiCupcake]

I've visited lots of parks. My general experience is none of them hold a candle to Disney, or even present day Universal. In general I've found:
1. The food is almost always a lot worse;
2. Park ops are usually nightmarishly worse; and
3. The attractions, with a few exceptions, are not as good (especially when comparing dark rides).

My experience as well.

And I’ll add, I go to Disney because I want to go to Disney, not because I want to go to a theme park. If I was just scratching the theme park itch I could get so many more full blown vacation style visits to the one nearest me and still have money left over.

 

[JD80]

Second Tom Bricker. He’s fantastic.

My only problem with Tom is that he doesn't date his articles. Extremely frustrating.

 

[doctornick]

As great as the Asian Disney parks are, Europe has some of the best theme parks in the world.

Europa Park, Efteling, and Port Aventura are amazing but many seem to ignore them.

Meh. If I’m traveling to a foreign country, I’m not using my valuable time there going to a theme park. No matter how awesome it might be.

More specific to Disney, I don’t know how long of a vacation I’d have to have in France or Japan or China to where I’d consider doing the local Disney park, but it would definitely have to be more than 2 weeks. There’s just too much culturally unique stuff to see and do IMHO to warrant spending days at a theme park there.

 

[doctornick]

I don’t either and it’s certainly a downgrade from a pool, but kids that age do seem to love it. I hear lots of talk from my nephew about who was champion of the GaGa pit on a given day.

Yeah, all my kids love it and I don’t see it. They added a permanent GaGa pit to our swim club last summer (they had a kind of makeshift one the previous few years)

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

More specific to Disney, I don’t know how long of a vacation I’d have to have in France or Japan or China to where I’d consider doing the local Disney park, but it would definitely have to be more than 2 weeks. There’s just too much culturally unique stuff to see and do IMHO to warrant spending days at a theme park there.

Same could be said for Florida and California.

 

[Jrb1979]

Meh. If I’m traveling to a foreign country, I’m not using my valuable time there going to a theme park. No matter how awesome it might be.

More specific to Disney, I don’t know how long of a vacation I’d have to have in France or Japan or China to where I’d consider doing the local Disney park, but it would definitely have to be more than 2 weeks. There’s just too much culturally unique stuff to see and do IMHO to warrant spending days at a theme park there.

That's fair. Most wouldn't do the road trip we have planned next summer of doing a roadtrip of Pennsylvania amusement parks

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

That's fair. Most wouldn't do the road trip we have planned next summer of doing a roadtrip of Pennsylvania amusement parks

Not a theme park but if you get the chance swing by Strasburg Railroad near Lancaster. 45 minute steam train ride - really fun atmosphere.

 

[doctornick]

When I priced it basically I wouldn’t lose money and I would stay at a deluxe vs. value or moderate for same price. But then I’d be locked in to DVC.

It’s a real stretch to “save money” with DVC - I don’t get it but I know people who have it and love it!

It works for us but we generally use it to go to WDW (and sometimes DL) about every 3 years and stay for a week+ in a 2 BR with grandparents and kids. My parents sometimes go in between for a long weekend as well. We’d probably stay in deluxes anyway when we go if we weren’t DVC so it works for us since it’s a value for those.

To someone else’s point, doing DVC/Disney absolutely doesn’t stop us from other vacations. But we’re not really that frequent there. We usually do at least one international trip a year. We often do other trips (driving or flying) in the USA, plus sometimes long weekends. I can’t imagine buying into DVC and having that be my only or main big vacation all the time.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Yeah, all my kids love it and I don’t see it. They added a permanent GaGa pit to our swim club last summer (they had a kind of makeshift one the previous few years)

I think it’s the simplicity. Basically dodgeball but without the risk of That One Kid launching you across the room with a hard plastic ball, lol. Any kid can just jump in regardless of their skill or background with sports, and as long as the can run fast, probably stay in for awhile.

The biggest downside I’ve noticed is that there can be angry indignation about if someone is actually out or not. Some kids take it in stride but some insist everything is a “bad call” and get really upset about it. With the fast movement of the game I gather it’s hard to tell if a ball actually grazed someone’s shin or if it was a narrow miss.

 

[C33Mom]

Same could be said for Florida and California.

Florida?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Florida?

Absolutely! The Everglades are amazing, key west, St. Augustine, NASA, Miami Beach, Silver Springs.

 

[C33Mom]

Absolutely! The Everglades are amazing, key west, St. Augustine, NASA, Miami Beach, Silver Springs.

I’m not saying there’s nothing else worth doing in FL and I think you could dedicate a week to the places above (and many people might even enjoy those things more than WDW)—but you were replying to someone who said they’d need at least 2 weeks before it was worth it to visit a theme park overseas and I don’t think that more than half of the places above are more interesting/unique than WDW. Florida has a lot of things you can do, but it’s not on par with Italy, France, or Japan for history or cultural enrichment.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The argument is more valid in California I’ll give you that.

It’s hard for me to imagine a Disney park fan who wouldn’t want to see the different parks but hey - it takes all kinds!

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Same could be said for Florida and California.

California sure. Florida? Eh…

 

[seabreezept813]

This narrative that everyone is pulling their kids from school and that’s why wdw is DEAD in the summer is beyond stupid

Because overall attendance is still DOWN

I won’t tell people not to lie to themselves
…but you shouldn’t come on here and lie to strangers

I teach high school so I average about 100 students a year. I can’t name a time in the last 3 years that a kid missed school for Disney.. for islands or cruises? Yes. Some of them go to Disney for April break but not as many as you would think. Our attendance policy is loose so it’s not hard to take kids out.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I teach high school so I average about 100 students a year. I can’t name a time in the last 3 years that a kid missed school for Disney.. for islands or cruises? Yes. Some of them go to Disney for April break but not as many as you would think. Our attendance policy is loose so it’s not hard to take kids out.

Generally speaking…people follow the rules

Some pull their kids…but it’s not responsible for empty parks on July 4th

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Same could be said for Florida and California.

Not quite the same methinks

Absolutely! The Everglades are amazing, key west, St. Augustine, NASA, Miami Beach, Silver Springs.

There is unlimited amount of stuff to do in Florida…but a heavy dose of people have traveled there FOR WDW…not a lot of people go to Tokyo or Paris for that

Have to be kinda hard-o

 

[DisneyHead123]

If you follow Tom Bricker (and everyone should!) you’ll see that their trips to Japan are filled with many destinations other than Disney Tokyo

I would love to do a train tour of Japan with my son. Aside from the famous bullet trains, they have some really unique things like a Pokemon train. They take their trains seriously!

 

[seabreezept813]

I teach high school so I average about 100 students a year. I can’t name a time in the last 3 years that a kid missed school for Disney.. for islands or cruises? Yes. Some of them go to Disney for April break but not as many as you would think. Our attendance policy is loose so it’s not hard to take kids out.

Even in the regular off times Disney isn’t the destination it was in my opinion. I have “exit interviews” with each kid at the end of the year and only 1 or 2 ever has summer Disney plans. Lots of Florida in general like Miami sometimes Universal, cruises, and lots of local beach type vacations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

That’s not true at all. Japan has one of the worlds most famous mountains and has many hikes through temples, and ancient gardens.

Okay but that's not the question, is it?

The question is not "is Mount Fuji awesome?" I'm sure it is. The question is "is Mount Fuji so exceptionally awesome and so much better than all the other alternatives that it justifies the additional time, hassle, and expense to get there?"