Name the parks that are the closest to Disney as possible

[Walt Disney1955]

I don't know if I can name 5 of them, but I hear a lot of different opinions on it. We'll include Universal here because I think this might be many people's #1 on this list. It is for me. Universal is the closest thing in my mind to the attention to detail, the experience and the attractions in comparison to Disney.

After that, I am just going by what others have said. I don't think Busch Gardens (I have only done Tampa) or Sea World come all that close although Sea World probably more than a Six Flags park.

From what I have read and observed places like Silver Dollar City and Dollywood are similar to each other and if there is any "Disney" feel it comes from the fact they are drenched with nostalgia. Dollywood has that new section opened up called Wildwood Grove and it looks incredible, I think. Both seem to be a bit of a throwback, more in a Frontierland-style type of way. Am I right? I haven't been.

Kennywood, I have been to. While not clean like Disney and still has a lot of "carnival" type of feel to it, it also has some old fashioned-ness to it. Probably closer to Disney than your average Six Flags but a lot closer to Six Flags than anything Disney.

Haven't been............but is Knott's Berry farm more "Disneyesque" than your average amusement park?

Lastly and I DEFINITELY haven't hit this one yet and almost none of us on here have I would guess because it is new.............but where does Evermore rank (it is in Utah) in its "Disneyesque" ranking? Seems very immersive and well themed.

 

[orlando678-]

If I just had to mention a few I'm familiar with that are quite detailled I'd say Efteling theme park in the Netherlands, Gardaland in Italy, Phantasialand, Moviepark and Europapark in Germany and a few honorable mentions would be Lotte World in Korea, Port Aventura in Spain, Motiongate in Dubai and Alton Towers in the UK.

 

[Trackmaster]

The elite European parks tend to emulate a Disney style. But their top tier parks (Europa Park, Phantasialand, etc.) also have the big thrills too. I suspect that you can more Disney-eque parks because they don't have WDW and DL. They have EuroDisney but that's not really much of a competitor compared to our Disney parks. Disney and Universal are so big here that it would be tough for another multi-billion dollar park to pop up overnight and try to compete for the attention of family's looking for expensive theme park vacations.

 

[Fable McCloud]

I think Efteling Park would probably be the closest in that "Disney-esque" feeling. It's very whimsical and thematic in that way. I know most parks just sort of feel like a Six Flags unless they're really theme-heavy.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I have to say that over the years Carowinds stepped up their theme game by bringing in the Peanuts gang and updating their park a good bit. DH and I were eating in one of the main buffets (can't remember the name) and in walked costumed Peanut characters walking around like Disney characters would at one of their restaurants. It was really nice to see. It did give us that Disney-esque feel to the park.

 

[Jon81uk]

Warner Bros Movie World in Australia is around a Universal Studios level or Islands of Adventure style, but it doesn't quite get up to the Disney standard.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

Evermore is an elaborately themed LARP. There are no "rides", just highly themed environments.

 

[disneyfireman]

Kings Island in Cincinnati. Roy Disney helped design it. It has international street with Eiffel Tower instead of castle and Main Street. The cleanest non Disney non universal park I have ever been to. And it’s very fun. Just imho the best non Disney park out there.

 

[Mainahman]

Im a fan of the history and theming of Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Not Disney, but a beautiful park.

 

[EOD K9]

Nara Dreamland.....wait. I would also maybe say Futuroscope in France.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

Kings Island in Cincinnati. Roy Disney helped design it. It has international street with Eiffel Tower instead of castle and Main Street. The cleanest non Disney non universal park I have ever been to. And it’s very fun. Just imho the best non Disney park out there.

Really? I knew they looked to Disney for inspiration/emulation but did not know this.

 

[AndyS2992]

Disney and Universal are the only parks I really care about. My sister went to Efteling last year and she did not get the hype, said the place was dated, creepy and falling apart lol Even from videos I can see the place isn't for me and is only seemingly popular because vloggers are jumping on a bandwagon and telling people it's good.

Kings Island in Cincinnati. Roy Disney helped design it. It has international street with Eiffel Tower instead of castle and Main Street. The cleanest non Disney non universal park I have ever been to. And it’s very fun. Just imho the best non Disney park out there.

I will clarify that Roy only gave financial and feasibility advice, he didn't actually design anything. Bruce Bushman however, a former Disney Imagineer, did design the park using Disney techniques.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Well Sinead O’Connor wrote a song about this very topic where she professes her love to Disney....”I can see whomever I choose, I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant...but nothing, I said nothing compares to you...nothing compares, to you”

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Is there a first hand experience from anyone on here in regards to Evermore in Utah? Seems pretty immersive.

 

[voodoo321]

Well Sinead O’Connor wrote a song about this very topic where she professes her love to Disney....”I can see whomever I choose, I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant...but nothing, I said nothing compares to you...nothing compares, to you”

Prince wrote that song.

As a Cincinnati native I can report that King's Island was a true Theme Park back in its early years and I loved it for that. They started to become more of a thrill park and lost some of that theming even before Paramount took over.

Then there were the dark years of Paramount. They ripped out much of the theming only to plaster the name of a movie on a ride, shop or restaurant. They paid no attention to landscaping or maintenance. There was trash everywhere. Rides were staffed to a minimum by aloof teens.
The park is cared for, in light year terms, better now by Cedar Fair but it is nowhere near deserving of being calle a theme park. That was all lost years ago.

 

[DisneyAndADoleWhip]

Silver Dollar City is the only thing stateside that is even close. As an Ohio native who grew up going to King's Island, there's not even a comparison. King's Island (and by extension, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, etc) is in the class of amusement parks, not theme parks (Disney, Silver Dollar City, Dollywood)

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Silver Dollar City is the only thing stateside that is even close. As an Ohio native who grew up going to King's Island, there's not even a comparison. King's Island (and by extension, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, etc) is in the class of amusement parks, not theme parks (Disney, Silver Dollar City, Dollywood)

Obviously Universal is in that "theme" as well. Maybe Sea World to an extent? But from what I hear both Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are similar to each other in that way. I've talked on the phone with their call centres looking for some information and I could literally feel the "southern hospitality" coming from them. It is true that customer service helps an experience, which is why we have always loved Disney. It is just a cut above everything else.