Why is it that the rockwork on Big Thunder at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris looks so much better than the rockwork on Big Thunder at Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland? Was this an artistic decision or is it just because everything at WDW is worse?
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Disneyland Paris actually fits closer to WDW and TDL here. The look of the MK Big Thunder is based on Mounument Valley in Arizona, and this was copied for Tokyo and Paris. Disneyland's, however, was modeled after Bryce Canyon in Utah, at least in part because it was felt that the Bryce Canyon look would be a better fit because of the DL version's proximity to Fantasyland.
Disney World fans deny it, but you are correct. Magic Kingdom's briar patch was overly cartoony. While that works for the ride's interiors, it doesn't quite look right outside.
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That was not the intention. The WDW version was meant to look more realistic so that it would better fit Frontierland. YMMV on whether or not they succeeded. I do think it worked better in person than it does in this particular photo.
I don't know if it's because I have a Disneyland bias, but I don't particularly love Tokyo's Splash Mountain. It's a much subtler and less imposing mountain, at least that's what I get from pictures of it. The drop just looks so much shorter for some reason. I do love the abundance of real plants, however.
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Definitely less imposing, perhaps in part because thrill rides do tend towards being milder in Japan vs. every other place with a Disney park. The pathway to Splash in Tokyo also basically walks you right up to this point, and the flume feels much closer to the midway than the other versions of the ride, but the actual length of the drop is roughly the same as the others. You can better see that in this photo I took in 2010, taken from further away:
Grew up going to WDW, so I admit there is a bias...but you're totally wrong about WDW's Big Thunder. Disneyland's looks like Paper Mache. I do think Tokyo's looks like fried chicken, so you have a point there.
Disneyland has a better version of the ride than MK does IMO, but DL's is so much smaller that it's a bit funny at times. Big Thunder at the other parks is grand, imposing, majestic...and Disneyland's is small and cute. Not a bad thing by any stretch, but the feel is a bit different.
The solution is getting rid of Fast Pass and Lightning Lanes and all line skipping. Adding these queues took away significant portions of existing queues as well as made queues longer since folks were occupying two parts of the park at one time.
Naturally, but let's be real, it's 2024 and we can't have nice things. I can't picture
any park that currently offers paid line skipping to abandon it, it's too much of a money maker. The only solution is to raise the price to such a high amount that only people who can be truly cavalier with money would go for it, but I doubt Disney will ever get there.
Well, naturally. One was intended to be a park icon, and one was built as part of a streetscape eons beforehand.
The one in Shanghai's even weirder, because it was built into Mickey Avenue
after Carthay was made an icon for DCA 2.0:
I haven't seen this much WDW hate since I read MiceAge! But I'm down for it. You got us beat in Carthay Circles, but pound for pound WDW restaurants are a HUGE win over DL. Now before you start jumping up and down, I must tell you: when it comes to full-service, my family only ate at family-style or buffets. And DL has barely any of those.
It depends on what you're going for.
Table service/buffets/family style, for sure WDW wins. There are only so many table service places at DL, and while they're good, the options are limited. I do feel strongly, however, that DL has better counter service food. WDW has a handful of decent options in each park, but there's not nearly enough menu variety.
I can't comment anything on WDW restaurants, but I would agree that Disneyland is lacking in that field. Every time I'm at Disneyland, I find myself at the Hungry Bear. I really should try the Plaza Inn fried chicken some day. The Golden Horseshoe has the best ambiance of the Disneyland restaurants but the menu isn't anything special. Don't even get me started on DCA's lack of options.
Are you just sticking to stereotypical theme park foods? Because those tend to be the most boring, least interesting options on property in my experience.
DCA actually has better food than DL now. Every restaurant in SFS is good, Garden Grill has had good food, I was even pleasantly surprised by the Carne Asada Fries at Award Weiners.
Parts of it absolutely are, but the Red Car also gives DCA a major leg up. I think it ultimately evens out. Had DCA actually gone through with a Hollywood Land remodel, I reckon it would have been better than Sunset Blvd. at DHS.
While I believe that Hollywoodland absolutely can and should be better, Sunset Blvd. really, really works. It's one of the only parts of that park that works like gangbusters. Kinda like Main Street in Paris too, in that if you knock it out of the park that well, why go back to that well? Not sure they can really top it TBH.
I put AK above Epcot simply because I had never been in such a gorgeous park before. AK is a theme lovers paradise. It’s what I imagine Tokyo Disney Sea to be like (but even better). I really loved AK (haven’t been since Pandora was added, so it’s even better now).
Absolutely. It's always interesting to me when people say they want TDS but then slam DAK, when DAK is actually the park in the US closest to the feel of DisneySea. Not everything at DAK is great, sure, and I'm a bit worried about the direction the park will go now that Rohde's gone, but the amount of effort and care put into the best parts of Animal Kingdom is exactly the same sort of detail you see at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo DisneySea. Masterful design and immersion in a real sense, where it's more than just a marketing term. The highs of Animal Kingdom are incredible and undersung IMO.
I wasn't really sure Pandora would work, but they really, really pulled it off well, to the point that I think a version of Pandora, if done at the same level of quality (not necessarily the same attractions) would do much better at DLR than many here would be expecting.
