I posted this same story a few months ago in the Epcot Guardians thread. It seemed relevant here given the comment above:
A coworker of mine recently reached out as they were going to Disneyland for the first time. A couple in their 40s with their one tween daughter. My coworker is a pop culture geek but also a well-grounded C-suite exec at a multi-billion dollar company. None of them had ever been to Disneyland. I gave them an extensive multi-day touring plan. Off they went.
Upon their return we had lunch and he told me that GotG: Mission Breakout their favorite ride...by far. I inquired about some of the Disneyland classics...Pirates, Mansion, Indy, etc...and his response had me think about the parks in a different way (relevant to this conversation). He said that since none of them had never been, the nostalgia/Americana aspect of Disneyland held very little interest to them. They told me they actually spent more time in DCA than DL over the course of 4 days. Relevance to them was Guardians, Toy Story Mania, Soarin’, etc.
It’s easy to forget how so many of the “classic” rides rely on our own nostalgia and to someone 100% new to the experience, they may not be as special.
