I had a friend who went to Japan for a couple of weeks, went all over, hit the nightlife, historic sites, natural wonders, the list goes on, but while in Tokyo, he went to DisneySea for a day at my recommendation.
He said it was the highlight of the trip and it wasn’t even close. He isn’t even a theme park fanatic like me, and this was this past Christmas even before Fantasy Springs opened. Hadn’t even been to MK in over a decade.
My first trip to Disneyland involved going to San Francisco, Monterrey, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and Venice Beach. DLR, for 4-nights, was just the icing on the cake at the end of the 2-week vacation.
I love soccer too! Was it a mistake to see a Real Madrid match when I happened to be in Madrid? Absolutely not.
What are people even doing on a Disney super fan forum if they don’t want to experience the best of the best and then some? I’m not saying to go into debt over it, but the most often repeated knee-jerk reason given is “price,” which is blatantly false if you’re shelling out bank for deluxe hotels or DVC, and then people go on to other random excuses that are generally irrelevant or misguided as well.
It’s like everyone here just wants to hate on Disney, hoping for their downfall and imminent collapse. I’m definitely not a pixie duster and will call out Disney when I see fit, but I do love Disney, and I adore theme parks.
So many of the criticisms on this forum are wild, and like any Internet forum, subject to groupthink. Every time someone mentions “visit TDR, it’s the best!” here, there’s the inevitable person or two that hasn’t been and has got everything figured out declaring to the world that they’re better than theme parks when it comes to international travel. I find that trite and irrational.
If someone has already decided to cast something off as pointless, I think that's a silly approach if it's a topic you genuinely enjoy, especially when the parks here just do not compare to those abroad. Shanghai is no slouch either, but I understand a hesitancy now to travel to China for political reasons, but Japan? I just don’t get it. Swapping one year’s WDW vacation for 3-4 nights at Tokyo Disney Resort, and another week or two exploring Japan is a killer vacation. Infinitely better than what WDW could provide, and unlike many people here, I still find a WDW vacation to be a fantastic experience if you don’t go in peak crowds.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed riding Shanghai Pirates, walking around Mysterious Island, and experiencing a level of service at both resorts that can only be found from the company today on Disney Cruise Line.
Hong Kong Disneyland is okay, but it’s definitely not anywhere near the other two Asian resorts, even though Mystic Manor is a top 10 ride for me. I’d definitely visit Tokyo again for TDR alone (with days spent in Japan as well given the distance), and I have an itch to go back to Shanghai for SDL, but HKDL I’d only ever go back to if I’m visiting Hong Kong again. Same for Disneyland Paris. If I’m already flying into Charles de Gaulle, a day or two makes sense for me.
I love to be a local, just immerse myself in a place. I love to be a tourist and climb a famous monument too. I’m a history buff times 10. Give me ruins to check out. I’m a huge urban design advocate, so I love really experiencing a place’s transit system (Barcelona is unreal!), nature is the coolest, and I adore theme parks.
I sure as hell enjoy climbing the Swiss Alps or seeing the Vatican. I love riding a bike through Copenhagen, eating a sandwich and a cappuccino staying in a local’s spot in Rome, venturing off into the countryside of Tuscany, seeking out highly rated restaurants on TripAdvisor in Paris, meeting friends and family in places like Frankfurt and Prague, the list goes on.
But, I also had such a terrific time at Europa Park, to an extent I couldn’t believe it. It literally is better than Disneyland Paris somehow. If you don’t try stuff you’ll never know, and here, on what’s again, the most Disney-obsessed forum arguably there is? People who haven’t been to these parks just don’t know what they’re missing out on.
I hope to go to India/Bhutan/Nepal in 2026 with a friend. I could understand how that would not be for everyone, but for theme parks that are godly when were the target audience? It’s actually a good way to dip your feet in the water to a new place to be honest. Gives you an excuse to go.
If you don’t know already, Earth is big, and there’s so limited time to experience it, might as well check out what you enjoy without worrying about what people think of you or that you should be doing something else. The key though with life is trying things outside the box because you never know what you’ll enjoy. Some people say adding a beach day is a waste of time on a European trip. I disagree, you need days to break things up and relax. Others ignore a city’s museum because they’re boring. I mean the list goes on.
When I was flying to Shanghai a flight attendant asked me what I was going to do first, and I said Shanghai Disneyland and then head to the city and she quipped “Why didn’t you just go to Orlando.” Some people just won’t get it, and that’s okay. But us here? This is like THE place to talk about it.
I do want to see all the best the world has to offer, and I’m here to tell you, DisneySea is genuinely one of mankind’s most breathtaking creations, full-stop. That’s not even an exaggeration.
The way I view it, is going to a theme park that’s as good as DisneySea for a couple days a perfect change-up to balance out a much larger trip?
Yes.
Is it difficult to communicate with people there?
Absolutely not. People act like other countries are aliens due to us culturally being told we’re the best. The reality is, there’s a lot of other terrific places and many do exceed what you can find here, and that applies to theme parks too. I’ve never felt safer anywhere as in East Asia, like anywhere, period. The transit throughout the region is second to none, the cultures are so rich, the food is outstanding. Go and check out the world! At least for me, there are only SO many churches you can go to before they start becoming a blur, and this is coming from someone who’s been to the Vatican 3 times because I love just finding new details everywhere. Diversity is the spice of life.
I thoroughly appreciate art, culture, languages, and also theme parks. I go more to experience places now, and I don’t see anything wrong with tacking on a few days at parks especially if you’ve never been to that one before and are shelling out thousands on trips to Orlando every year, which was what my original point was about, that it isn’t actually cost-prohibitive to visit Tokyo Disney Resort any more so than DVC or Deluxe hotel visits would be.
California, for instance, is such an incredible state that you could argue the same for Disneyland, or the same for Europeans going to Disneyland Paris being so close to arguably the most impressive city on Earth.
I've probably spent close to two weeks in Paris itself now, I'll tack on 2 nights at DLP to break up the trip. It's a great launching point due to relatively affordable airfare into CDG that has made sense in the past.
People just don’t know what they’re missing out on.
