How does WDW compare to rides outside of it? Can you name singular rides that equal or better Disney's?

[gobstoper27]

Where Disney gets it right for me are with the queues! The attention to detail and theming are amazing; especially the Toy Story Mania and ToT queues.There are maybe 1 or 2 rides that check my must do, can't find anything like it elsewhere box and that would be Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion. Other than those I find many of the coasters at Cedar Point way better than any of Disney's coasters. Spiderman, The Hulk coaster and Escape from Gringotts over at Islands of Adventure/ Uni are superior to anything that I've ever ridden at Disney with the exception of Tower of Terror.

 

[Rich T]

By "Disney" I'm assuming you're including all Disney parks, otherwise we'd get into that discussion of which non-WDW Disney rides are better than Florida's. So, sticking with purely non-Disney park of the one's I've actually ridden:

Timber Mountain Log Ride - Knott's Berry Farm
Calico Mine Train - Knott's Berry Farm
Giant Dipper - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Undertow - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Gold Striker - California's Great America
Lost Dutchman Mine - Frontier Village (extinct)

I've yet to experience any non-California parks besides those at WDW, so my list is a bit limited.

 

[TwilightZone]

By "Disney" I'm assuming you're including all Disney parks, otherwise we'd get into that discussion of which non-WDW Disney rides are better than Florida's. So, sticking with purely non-Disney park of the one's I've actually ridden:

Timber Mountain Log Ride - Knott's Berry Farm
Calico Mine Train - Knott's Berry Farm
Giant Dipper - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Undertow - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Gold Striker - California's Great America
Lost Dutchman Mine - Frontier Village (extinct)

I've yet to experience any non-California parks besides those at WDW, so my list is a bit limited.

Giant dipper and gold striker are amazing to anyone who hasn't been. Certain must dos.

 

[Darkzeid25]

The Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure is surprisingly good. It doesn't come close to Kilimanjaro Safari in terms of authenticity and making you feel like you're there. But it does have a worldwide variety of animals: lions, elephants, giraffes, bison, bears, kangaroos, tigers. The safari also makes a stop part way through where you can get out and see smaller animals and feed the giraffes.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

One ride that's actually pretty surprising is the making of the chocolate ride at Hershey Park (I don't remember the exact name). It has the same continuously loading ride system that many of the Disney ride uses, and actually uses animatronics and gives you a live look-in at a fake chocolate factory. Last I went, I don't think that they were using screens, but this may have changed.

And, the ride is actually outside of the park itself, and free to the public. And you get a free chocolate bar sample at the end.

Its pretty surprising considering that the rest of the park is pretty much unthemed amusement park rides -- but the ride collection is pretty awesome, just not really themed.

I was actually very impressed with the chocolate tour ride!!

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I was actually very impressed with the chocolate tour ride!!

Hersheypark is a bucket list place for me. I am only about 7 hours away from it. Between the park and the water park and the chocolate tour and the zoo (I think there is a small zoo within the park?) it is one place I want to hit and looks like you'd need a couple days anyways to see everything.

 

[TARDIS]

Lost River ride at Silver Dollar City was far superior to Animal Kingdom's Kali River. Alas-it is gone this year - no word yet on what's replacing it. While I love KRR it is SHORT compared to Lost River...
I'd put SDC as a whole with Christmas decorations vs Orlando theme parks as well-as long as you don't mind losing all feeling in your face riding the coasters in December

I was going to say lost river! Don’t know what I’m going to do all summer without it. But the rumor that is that it’s staying a river ride but more thrilling and possibly like infinity falls at sea world. We will see.

Others for me are:
Jurassic park
Both Harry Potter rides
Mystery mine at Dollywood

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

Hersheypark is a bucket list place for me. I am only about 7 hours away from it. Between the park and the water park and the chocolate tour and the zoo (I think there is a small zoo within the park?) it is one place I want to hit and looks like you'd need a couple days anyways to see everything.

Actually the small but nice zoo, and the waterpark are included in the regular Hersheypark admission. At Chocolate World the ride is free, but there area few other attractions that have separate costs. We have gone there at least once a year for at least the past 20 years. The town of Hershey has some other attractions as well. You need at least 2 days for the parks(especially if you want to spend some time in the waterpark area) and you could easily spend 4-5 days doing various things in the surrounding area if you have never been.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Nearly all traditional ride systems have great examples that equal or surpass anything at Disney. Coasters, 4D movie based, flume and raft, etc.

The ride category that Disney excells in, that nobody has ever matched or really tried, is the large scale dark ride. Telling a unique story through a slow moving fully realised environment. Pirates, Horizons, GMR, Imagination, 20K....

 

[Alice a]

My dad worked for Kyocera as ceramic engineer designing capacitors, usually for medical equipment like pacemakers. In 1996, I was one of 50 American employees' children sent on a 2-week expenses-paid tour of Japan, and one of the many highlights was when they rented Nara Dreamland for us and a few other guests.

As a WDW regular (from SC) I thought many of the rides were faded past their glory, but on par with their disney counterparts; always wished I could go back.

There was also a Haunted Mansion knockoff in Germany or Austria we went to a few times when I was a kid that I remember having some scenes pretty close to the original, particularly the ballroom scene - anyone know what this may have been? Probably 80s thru mid-90s.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I was going to say lost river! Don’t know what I’m going to do all summer without it. But the rumor that is that it’s staying a river ride but more thrilling and possibly like infinity falls at sea world. We will see.

Others for me are:
Jurassic park
Both Harry Potter rides
Mystery mine at Dollywood

Silver Dollar City is a place I have never been to, but looks every bit as good as Dollywood, if not better. Looks like a hidden gem if you ask me. It is in Branson, Missouri, so it is one of those locations, at least for me, that I know I'd have to combine other things to do along the way because it is more than a day trip for me.

Is it worth going to visit it? Any stories about it?

 

[TARDIS]

Silver Dollar City is a place I have never been to, but looks every bit as good as Dollywood, if not better. Looks like a hidden gem if you ask me. It is in Branson, Missouri, so it is one of those locations, at least for me, that I know I'd have to combine other things to do along the way because it is more than a day trip for me.

Is it worth going to visit it? Any stories about it?

It’s similar to Dollywood but to me since it feels more like a local family owned type of park. It’s an emaculately clean and beautiful. It’s has a lot of charm with some great coasters (Time traveler is a blast!). Plus unless you are going in prime summer on a weekend there is rarely any or much wait for the rides. It needs some updates and they are slowly completing them but even so it’s worth a visit. Plus there are a ton of things to do in Branson itself or you can go do the free Cave tour right outside the entrance to Silver dollar city. It would be a great place to stay for a weekend and check out a few things in the town on top of a day at the park.

I live 2 hours away and many days we just get bored so we drive there to go get lunch and do a few rides, it’s so nice to be close.

 

[SirWillow]

Silver Dollar City is a place I have never been to, but looks every bit as good as Dollywood, if not better. Looks like a hidden gem if you ask me. It is in Branson, Missouri, so it is one of those locations, at least for me, that I know I'd have to combine other things to do along the way because it is more than a day trip for me.

Is it worth going to visit it? Any stories about it?

I'd say it's absolutely worth a visit! Loved my 3 years working there (that's what I'm doing in my profile thumbnail) and we're passholders now that I don't work there. If you want stories, check out my youtube channel. I've got a number of them from and about SDC on it. Otherwise, what kind of stories would you like?

 

[Trackmaster]

Interesting that this has come up so many times. My husband reviewed it poorly compared with Disney. Of course, we haven't been there is 10+ years.

In terms of the ride enjoyment, several of my favorites are not Disney, but in terms of immersion, I don't think anyone does it better. A few Universal rides perhaps.

But its geared towards people who live 8 hours away from WDW, and expect to buy a $60 season pass to go to the park all year. Not people who are expecting to drop $10K on a family vacation. Being able to roll over to your home park and ride an animatronic dark ride is pretty special. They're pretty expensive to build and tough to maintain, so when a park doesn't have a Disney ride and maintenance budget, any themed ride that isn't a screen ride or obligatory water ride is impressive.

 

[aliceismad]

But its geared towards people who live 8 hours away from WDW, and expect to buy a $60 season pass to go to the park all year. Not people who are expecting to drop $10K on a family vacation. Being able to roll over to your home park and ride an animatronic dark ride is pretty special. They're pretty expensive to build and tough to maintain, so when a park doesn't have a Disney ride and maintenance budget, any themed ride that isn't a screen ride or obligatory water ride is impressive.

That’s fair. I’m sure budget-wise dark rides can be burdensome.

I’ve never spent $10k on a vacation though, not even to Disney or overseas.

 

[Trackmaster]

That’s fair. I’m sure budget-wise dark rides can be burdensome.

I’ve never spent $10k on a vacation though, not even to Disney or overseas.

Let's put this in perspective. At most parks, roller coasters are the most expensive investments in their park. A big time, star attraction white knuckler will usually cost you $20-30 million. With $40M being on the absolute highest side.

The most expensive roller coaster of all time was $100M - Expedition Everest.... at Animal Kingdom.

Disney and Universal all round out the top 10 with attractions over $100M.

Most expensive ride of all time -- Test Track at EPCOT, coming in at $300M.

The dark rides that are well one are always going to be some of the most expensive rides. And the parks will make sure that the costs are being passed onto the guests.

Not to talk down on coasters. One of the major appeals for roller coasters is the awesome, unmatched experience you get at a relative bargain compared to the dark rides and the powered rides. The hottest FP+ at Disney usually tend to be all of the roller coasters with 1-2 hotshot dark rides sprinkled in.

Oh, and BTW, why was EPCOT so expensive? Cost overruns and mechanical failures. Its a popular attraction, but in many ways its been a major headache for Disney. I'm sure with its popularity they got their money back, but spending a fortune on it that would have blown most amusement park's ride budgers for a decade was never part of the plan.

The Cars ride in CA was actually planned to be $200M+, and that has been considered to be a masterpiece from what I've heard.

 

[Bob Harlem]

Even if you aren't a big fan of the character, the Popeye raft ride at Island of Adventure, "Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges" is better themed (and a better ride) than Kali River, and the mini Sweet Haven village around the ride there is really well done.

 

[cheezbat]

I'm thinking about planning a trip to Efteling in June and was wondering if you could offer any tips?

I was originally going to go to Disneyland Paris but think instead i'll probably be heading to Efteling because it seems a lot more "authentic" and integrated a lot better to its local environment compared to Disneyland Paris. I know the theming and style is very similar to Disney, But are the employees and atmosphere and safety (On ride policy's, Crime, litter ect) nice?

I'm also probably going to be staying at one of the Hotels Efteling owns, Any advice or what-not-to-do's would be super appreciated.

Their on site hotels look nice. The staff was friendly and the area is also nice. Kaatsheuvel is a pretty quiet town. We stayed at an Air B&B and enjoyed walking around the town.
The park itself is definitely a must see if you’re in the area. The upkeep and landscaping is top notch. Their coaster collection isn’t the biggest or baddest, but the mixture between them, the dark rides, and the gardens and play areas make for something truly special.

Ironically, my fiancée was not impressed with ‘wasting time’ At some no-name park (in her opinion), but after visiting, she was blown away and so happy we visited. She was upset we didn’t have extra time to stay there longer!

 

[Hcalvert]

Hersheypark is a bucket list place for me. I am only about 7 hours away from it. Between the park and the water park and the chocolate tour and the zoo (I think there is a small zoo within the park?) it is one place I want to hit and looks like you'd need a couple days anyways to see everything.

Zoo America. My husband and I used to work at the boarding school the company and the Hershey Trust fund as houseparents (lived with 12 middle school girls as well as my two kids-16 total people in the house). From every purchase of a Hershey product, a percentage goes to the school (which currently has over 2000 kids enrolled from economically-disadvantaged households around the US).

A fun town that used to smell like chocolate when the original factory was operational in the town. I do like the Hershey kiss lights down Chocolate Ave.

The free ride is in Chocolate World and doesn't really have a name. You can pay to watch a 3D show and/or make your own chocolate bar at CW too. I also recommend Hershey Story, which has a chocolate lab in it and is located on main street (Chocolate Avenue) not far from Houlihans.

*sorry for the shameless plug for the company and school.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Men in Black > Buzz/TSM
Hulk > RoRC
ET Adventure > Peter Pan’s Flight
Popeye > Kali River Rapids
The Mummy > Everest
Hogwarts Express > Monorail/Skyliner