(Only posting this in the Disneyland forum because it's the forum I'm most familiar with, this is not a Disneyland-specific post and can be applied to any park worldwide)
Apologies if this comes off as rambling but I wanted to put some thoughts down and seek out other's reflections on this. The past couple Disney park visits I've had (within the past year or so) I've felt myself "losing my Disney faith." In other words, I feel my interest and sense of novelty in the parks waning.
I do think some of my lessened interest has to do with recent developments at the company, such as the announced removal of Splash as well as continued peeling away of appropriate theme in cases like Pixar Pier and Mission: Breakout, however I don't think this is the primary cause. To put it simply, I've been to these parks a lot. And I've ridden these attractions a lot. I kind of feel like I'm at the point where there's not much left for me to get out of the parks anymore.
I was at Tokyo Disneyland a couple days ago and I was really feeling this burnout. After all these years, I'm so familiar with all of these attractions that I know exactly where every figure is, where every sound effect is coming from, when and where every visual and audio effect will be cued, etc. Whenever I ride an attraction, whether it's PotC, HM, Pinocchio, whatever, I notice that my eyes are everywhere except the actual focal point of each scene. Instead my eyes are all up, down and around the showbuilding trying to find minor details which I hadn't noticed before. While I'm not saying this is a bad way of enjoying attractions (it can in fact be very entertaining), it really made me realize how long I've been doing this, how many times I've ridden all these attractions and how it's just nothing new anymore. Granted new attractions can be one way of breathing some new novelty into a park goer's life, but of course it will wear off eventually.
I now find that I get the most enjoyment out of just being in the park. Taking in the atmosphere, walking around, people watching etc. But I feel like there's natural limits to this too.
Is anybody feeling this same way? Any thoughts? I feel like my days as a hardcore Disney park fan may be nearing an end lately, which is sad but maybe not all-together lamentable.
Apologies if this comes off as rambling but I wanted to put some thoughts down and seek out other's reflections on this. The past couple Disney park visits I've had (within the past year or so) I've felt myself "losing my Disney faith." In other words, I feel my interest and sense of novelty in the parks waning.
I do think some of my lessened interest has to do with recent developments at the company, such as the announced removal of Splash as well as continued peeling away of appropriate theme in cases like Pixar Pier and Mission: Breakout, however I don't think this is the primary cause. To put it simply, I've been to these parks a lot. And I've ridden these attractions a lot. I kind of feel like I'm at the point where there's not much left for me to get out of the parks anymore.
I was at Tokyo Disneyland a couple days ago and I was really feeling this burnout. After all these years, I'm so familiar with all of these attractions that I know exactly where every figure is, where every sound effect is coming from, when and where every visual and audio effect will be cued, etc. Whenever I ride an attraction, whether it's PotC, HM, Pinocchio, whatever, I notice that my eyes are everywhere except the actual focal point of each scene. Instead my eyes are all up, down and around the showbuilding trying to find minor details which I hadn't noticed before. While I'm not saying this is a bad way of enjoying attractions (it can in fact be very entertaining), it really made me realize how long I've been doing this, how many times I've ridden all these attractions and how it's just nothing new anymore. Granted new attractions can be one way of breathing some new novelty into a park goer's life, but of course it will wear off eventually.
I now find that I get the most enjoyment out of just being in the park. Taking in the atmosphere, walking around, people watching etc. But I feel like there's natural limits to this too.
Is anybody feeling this same way? Any thoughts? I feel like my days as a hardcore Disney park fan may be nearing an end lately, which is sad but maybe not all-together lamentable.
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