DisneyFanatic12
Well-Known Member
It is the fastest WDW roller coaster after all…
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Unpopular opinions about the parks?
- Thread starter BlakeW39
- Start date
Mireille
Premium Member
I pretty much agree. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy when new things arrive and they're good, but like... Guardians is not what makes me want to go to Disney World. I look forward to riding Tron for the first time, but what really makes me want to go back are Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, Pirates and Haunted Mansion. Hell, I'm looking forward to Country Bears more than Tron.
This is exactly why so many just go to Tokyo Disneyland now. More bang for your buck and it is kept the way it is meant to. Depending on where you fly from, the cost of the flight evens out to potentially saving money on a WDW onsite vacation.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
On a vaguely related note, that's why I don't even bother with WDW anymore. For me, at this point it's too complicated and expensive to be fun (not helped by their maintenance, which is simply the worst in the world).
While it can be debated whether or not, say, Disneyland is better than WDW (for my purposes and touring style it is; others' mileage may vary), it is indisputably EASIER to experience by degrees of magnitude, and sometimes that's all you need. Seriously, it is so much easier to actually do things at every non-WDW park complex, and it's only underreported because the park fandoms are often split off from each other and insular. And for all that people love to freak themselves out about TDR crowd photos or run to excuses about airfare/etc, it's actually very easy to do what you want to do at Tokyo Disney if you have a remotely coherent plan, and once you get over there, literally everything is cheaper! Whereas WDW often seems to be evolving in a way where there's a 50/50 chance that any plan you come up with will actually work out the way it's supposed to and a 50/50 chance that there will be some nonsense occuring outside of your control (but often VERY MUCH within Disney's control) that will completely muck everything up. And the more things you as a guest and Disney as a company have to keep track of, the easier it is for problems to occur.
Or maybe there will be a workaround for whatever the new complicated system is, but it'll be $30/person/day or something like that. Much less of that at the other parks.
Making the parks more and more complicated to visit does NOT make them better, but boy does Disney have some execs that seem to think that what WDW in particular needs is more complexity!
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Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
The complexity is by design, because every problem now has a monetary solution.
Visiting WDW can be a breeze!...if you spend enough.
Smugpugmug
Well-Known Member
Flights for me are in the $2000 range so definitely not cheaper than WDW. I can't wait to go next year though. Even with the ticket price increases it really isn't that bad price wise.
I don't know your situation or plans but it depends on those too.
We priced it out after visiting last month.
A family of four, with three-year-old being free and 8 year old being a child's ticket. We spend a thousand for eight days for all of us.
I bought the tickets through the travel service Klook so I even saved sixteen dollars when I decided to go another four day to make our original four day trip an 8 day one.
Onsite in a themed Hiilton Room was 167 a night after taxes. This is a closer resort than virtually any onsite WDW property with superior amenities to any Value and moderate Resort. It is about 250 feet or less from its Resort Monorail Station and there is a Disney bus if you would like the option.
Meals were averaging around 10 dollars per person for us and drinks stayed around 2 dollars USD.
Merch was definitely lower priced and far more unique when you did find something not Duffy or anniversary specific.
Even after flights were around 1500 for each of us, we ended up saving around 500 dollars than what our WDW trip of the same number of days would have been and had a lot more attractions operating properly, and service was literally white glove level.
And we went to another country.
We may never return to WDW again.
Smugpugmug
Well-Known Member
I've been to Japan + TDR before and totally agree that outside flights it wasn't super expensive. I also didn't eat at super high end places or stay at 5 star hotels. I actually found an old receipt from a ramen place I went to the other day where a ramen bowl + a Sapporo beer was around 9 USD. The flight is my biggest hurdle since it'll be $2000 minimum for me whereas I can fly to Orlando for $120-300 depending on time of year and airline. I can spend less but it'll have stops and take me forever to get there, which uh...no thanks.
I'm looking at hotels right now and for the time frame I would want to go (November), Hilton Tokyo Bay is around $200/night. That's not bad for a hotel pretty close to the parks. The room from what I see in pictures is pretty nice too. Last time I stayed at an Airbnb nearby for around $100/night (was a super small apartment).
I'm taking my sister who has never been to Japan, let alone Asia before and she's super excited. She doesn't care at all about not going to WDW. Not like anything super exciting is coming to the resort anyway. Meanwhile TDS is getting a humongous expansion that looks awesome.
Yeah, Hilton Tokyo Bay is the top choice to stay. You are just as a close as Disney owned. (Hilton now hugs the Toy Story Hotel) It's closer to Disneyland than The Grand Floridian is to Magic Kingdom distance wise. The monorails of course there are much more reliable.
I don't know where you live but here is a hack a lot don't think about to save some dough and sanity if you have young kids or want to break up travel time.
Fly to a city that flies to a city that has major airlines to Asia first. A regional flight then an international flight saved us a few hundred and then had our flight there about three hours less than we would have had to experience had we of flown out of where we originally were going to get at our nearest airport.
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So for around 700 more dollars, you know you get a lot better time and make some of the 700 back on dining and experience cost. So you may hit near the same situation we did.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
Fast is not always thrilling. Test Track is fast too and it's like driving in your car.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
Japan is one of my favorite places in the world and been to Tokyo at least 6 times, but it's not WDW.
It's better in some ways but it's worse in many others. The biggest problem is the scale isn't close. It's more of a comparison to Disneyland, if anything. Also, much of what makes Tokyo Disney better is simply bc the Japanese ppl (on overage) are better in the same ways (Cleaner, nicer, more respectful, etc).
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
I love the new additions to the parks and look forward to comparing the hype to the actual ride. Giving us something more to change the parks and spread out the numbers is always good. But like you I love the classic things that made Disney. Fast, flashy, loud music and IP connected doesnt necessarily mean better.
Twirlnhurl
Well-Known Member
I've stayed at both the Hilton Tokyo Bay and the Sheraton and both were very nice. If memory serves, the room at the Hilton seemed more recently renovated. But both had excellent service and we're very clean. (my visits were in 2018 and 2019)
Smugpugmug
Well-Known Member
Honestly the scale doesn't really bother me. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better in my eyes. Agreed that the clientele being better is a big part of it. I also like how the rides are actually maintained and the quick service food is really good at a cheaper price point. WDW has a better resort feel but I'm not really looking for that on a TDR part of my vacation.
Good to know about Hilton Tokyo Bay. Unsure if I want to splurge on the Sheraton since I'll just be using the room to shower and sleep.
I grew up on WDW as a Floridan so I get the scale, but when everything in that resort is not up to par, I will take a two park resort that keeps the standards the others should any day, with Disney Sea. Tokyo Disneyland has more attractions and entertainment in it than current Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios combined. Also, literally less than half the price.
Nah. The Hilton is better than the Sheraton's conditions. There is some fun stuff over there but it all costs extra and its nothing amazing. Arcade, mini golf and laundry(which I used and the dryers did not work well enough)
Plus at Hilton you have a 24 hour convenient store, which can get slammed but can be fun for a few nights when you just want some grab and go on the cheapish side.
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Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
The tickets may be half the price, but there is the nagging issue of flying to Tokyo. The food is also not cheap and it's worse, table service in particular. I've eaten everywhere and there is almost nothing on the level of Sanaa, Topolinos, California Grill, or even Teppan Edo. Tokyo outside of Disney has some of the best food in the world, but the park food in Tokyo isn't good or cheap.
Again, the Japanese people have a lot to do with the cleanliness and efficiency of the parks. However, I've found Tokyo Disney to be way too crowded and small. There isn't a single ride in Tokyo I prefer to its counterpart in WDW besides the ones it has that WDW doesn't, such as Snow White.
I have flown the red-eye from LAX to MCO. Some get off the plane at 630am and go straight to hotel then to parks in morning to start their vacation. No time being wasted.
Smugpugmug
Well-Known Member
Well, you convinced me to check out Hilton Tokyo Bay! The way to book a Disney hotel sounds like a hassle and from what I've seen there aren't a lot of perks. We don't plan on doing any table service since I've heard it's not worth the price, so no point in having advanced booking. If there's no laundry facilities, that does stink but I can make do.