Loved Cosmic Rewind on our most recent trip to EPCOT, but I'm unfortunately approaching the age where my inner ear balance takes longer and longer to recover. My extreme roller coaster riding days are drawing to a close.

Just visited Disneyland last week , we have taken the kids to Disneyworld 3 times already and I will compare the two parks.

Anaheim is a bit seedier than Orlando and the park is obviously much older and smaller;however, it wasn't as overwhelming in size and is much quicker to get around due to shorter distances.

If you are into the Star Wars experience they are identical with the same rides and environment except Disneyland wouldn't sell me a beer in the Star Wars cantina thing to walk around with like they do in DW.

I thought Space Mountain in Disneyland was better than the Disneyworld version.

The Haunted Mansion in DL was not as good as DW.

DW has the Aerosmith ride which is my favorite and nothing at DL comparable to it.

Loved the Matterhorn at DL which they don't have in DW.

DW will always be the best though since they have more parks and more rides.

Leaving for WDW in 2 weeks. We've been Disney Vacation Club members since 2005, so pretty much go once per year. Wife and I don't do the parks as much these days, as daughter is old enough to go with a friend by themselves. Here's my Top 3 in various categories

Looking Forward Too/Haven't Ridden Yet

• Guardians Cosmic Rewind
• Ratatouille
• Tron Light Cycle Roller Coaster (not open yet)
• Velocicoaster (UO IoA)

Wish They Never Went Away

• Alien Encounter - Quick story. First time on the attraction I heard some guy yell out "That thing looks like my mother-in-law". Thought it was pretty funny. Rode it again later that same trip and heard the same thing. That's when I realized Disney piped stuff like that in for effect.
• Spaceship Earth (Jeremy Irons Version) - The descent back down was much better
• Great Movie Ride - Needed updating, not replacing

Best For Nostalgia

• Pirates (although DL version is better)
• Haunted Mansion ( WDW version is better)
• Peter Pan - Still love flying over London

Favorite Disney Resort

• Polynesian - Where we used to stay when I was a kid. Great theming and you can't beat Trader Sam's (if you can get in)
• Wilderness Lodge
• Beach Club - Stormalong Bay and close to Epcot

Favorite In Park Quick Service

• Flame Tree BBQ (Animal Kingdom)
• Fish & Chips cart in Epcot (UK pavilion)
• Gaston's Tavern in MK (for the cinnamon roll)

Favorite Sit Down Restaurant at Disney Springs

• Art Smith's Homecomin'
• The Boathouse
• Splitsville (yes, the bowling alley)

Favorite Counter Service Meals at Disney Springs

• Polite Pig
• D'Luxe Burger
• Pizza Ponte
• Honorable Mention - Earl of Sandwich

Favorite Non-Park Activities

• Monorail Bar Crawl
• Ride the Skyliner
• Fantasia Fairways Mini Golf

Best Pizza at WDW

• Via Napoli at Epcot
• That's the list. Giordano's (Chicago Deep Dish) will delivery to WDW resorts.

Top 3 Attractions at Magic Kingdom (cheating here a bit)

• The Mountains (Space, Splash, Thunder)
• Pirates/Haunted Mansion
• Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (who can get the top score of 999,999?)
• Honorable mention: Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover
• Not Worth the Wait: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (unless you can rope drop)

Top 3 Attractions Epcot (of what I have ridden)

• Soarin' (the original version was better)
• Test Track (the original version was better)
• Spaceship Earth
• Not Worth the Wait: Frozen Ever After (if longer than 30 minutes)

Top 3 Attractions at Disney's Hollywood Studios

• Rise of the Resistance
• Tower of Terror/Rockin' Rollercoaster
• Slinky Dog Dash/Toy Story Mania
• Not Worth the Wait: Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway (if more than 1 hour)

Top 3 Attractions at Animal Kingdom

• Flight of Passage
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Expedition Everest

Top 3 Attractions Universal Orlando

• Escape From Gringots
• The Mummy Coaster
• Men in Black

Top 3 Attractions Universal Islands of Adventure

• Hagrid's Motorbike Coaster
• Spiderman
• King Kong

Greezed Lighting was always my favorite at AstroWorld

Just curious, what do you and the wife like to do in the area if not attending the parks?

Yep, good times

Sea Speed said:

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Seabreeze said:

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Greezed Lighting was always my favorite at AstroWorld

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My best day there i got to ride it like 10x in a row because of no lines.

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That was the one similar to Flashback in Arlington, right? Flashback always had ridiculous lines too.

Sea Speed said:

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Seabreeze said:

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Greezed Lighting was always my favorite at AstroWorld

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My best day there i got to ride it like 10x in a row because of no lines.

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Same thing happened to me. It was overcast and supposed to rain but never did, but kept people away from the park and we had no waits on any rides. I remember being in 5th or 6th grade and a friend's mom dropped a group of about 4 of us off and picked us back up in the afternoon. As a parent now, that horrifies me.

I remember meeting cute girls there and having these one day flirtation romances that ended with exchanging numbers that you never used. One time I met a super cute girl that was wearing all Adidas clothes and when I asked why she was aghast that I had never heard of Korn, so of course I went home and tried to find out about the band. Its funny to me what random things we remember from our childhood.


Back to the rides though, I loved XLR8, Viper and the precursor to dungeon drip, was it sky screamer? I thought putting a penny on your knee amd watching it float was the coolest thing.

I gotta throw in a plug for Hoop-De-Doo Review at Walt Disney World.

I've been probably five or six times but it never gets old, even though I know the jokes before they are delivered. I can't believe that Disney brought it back after the pandemic, and that it hasn't been tinkered with too much over the years. It's a real throwback to the old Disney approach to entertainment.

Plus, if you order enough beer early on, they'll bring you a pitcher (well, probably not any more but they used to).

My favorite sit-down meal at Disney World is San Angel Inn in the Mexico Pavilion of Epcot.

There's just something about the atmosphere there that I really enjoy. The food is just okay and super expensive, but the experience is great.

I try to be a cheap ******* and just get quick service meal (Pizza) and a churro or two throughout the day

jorgerr96 said:

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I try to be a cheap ******* and just get quick service meal (Pizza) and a churro or two throughout the day

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Nothing cheaper than bringing in your own sandwiches and snacks though.

The Collective said:

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Just curious, what do you and the wife like to do in the area if not attending the parks?

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We stay in the Disney bubble for the most part. Longe at our resort, pool time, resort hop, Disney Springs (we own at Saratoga Springs and stay there about half our trips, so it's a short walk or boat ride over). We have a few restaurants outside of Disney that we'll visit if we have rented a car.

Rocagnante said:

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Here's the Velocicoaster POV. That middle part where they launch you up immediately into that big drop seems intense! Although there's something to be said for that slow climb up on a traditional coaster. Click click click click…. Builds anticipation.

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So I recently got to go to Universal for a private event, and was able to do this and other rides without any lines. It was awesome. This one was definitely my favorite.

But that's my question. I've never been to anything bigger than six flags, so these mega parks just baffle me, do you really stand in line for 2 hours or so for a 1.5 minute ride? I didn't have to wait in the lines, but it was still like a .5 mile trek to walk through to even get to the actual ride. My wife wants to go to Disney or somewhere else, but I'm having a hard time justifying that based on this one experience I've had. I know so many people love it so there has got to be something I'm missing above standing in line so long for a 2 minute experience.

Yea the line thing is a hard pass for me. 45 minutes is about the max I will do. Some of the lines were three hours long. I cant imagine spending that much money to get in to a place only to stand in line for the majority of the day.

This last trip we monitored the lines and hit things up as they slowed down and caught shows and characters in between. That being said, we didn't go on some of the most popular rides simply because the wait times were egregious. Idk how anyone can just wait in line like that.

Dr. Horrible said:

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So I recently got to go to Universal for a private event, and was able to do this and other rides without any lines. It was awesome. This one was definitely my favorite.

But that's my question. I've never been to anything bigger than six flags, so these mega parks just baffle me, do you really stand in line for 2 hours or so for a 1.5 minute ride? I didn't have to wait in the lines, but it was still like a .5 mile trek to walk through to even get to the actual ride. My wife wants to go to Disney or somewhere else, but I'm having a hard time justifying that based on this one experience I've had. I know so many people love it so there has got to be something I'm missing above standing in line so long for a 2 minute experience.

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Different strategies for Universal and Disney.

Universal offers and Express Pass which is good for almost all of the attractions. when we were there earlier this year I think the exceptions were Hagrid's and Velocicoaster. You basically pay an amount almost equal to the cost of your ticket for this. But the Express lines are usually much shorter than the Standby line. Tip is to stay at one of their Deluxe resorts and they throw in the Express passes at no charge for every day of your stay.

Disney now offers Genie+, which replaced their Fastness system. For a cost per day (just recently increased from $15 and the pricing now based on crowd levels...was $29/day last week over Thanksgiving) you get to make ride reservations and come back at a specified time to join the shorter queue. Personal opinion is it's not worth it at Epcot or animal Kingdom.

Each park also has one ride designated for Individual Lightening Lanes, which basically you pay extra to ride this one ride (Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios as an example) in the shorter line. Pricing also varies based on crowd level.

Other Disney strategies...
- Resort guests get into parks earlier than people not staying at a Disney hotel. If you are willing to get up early, you can knock out some headliners without much wait.

- If you get in a line right before official park closing you will get to ride that ride, no matter how long the line is. A good way to get that extra ride in on something that may have a longer line during the day.

Took the family to Disney World last month and rode everything at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. To me, far and away, the Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind was the best ride. Rise of the Resistance was 2nd. Everything else was cool, but not on the level of those two.

So does anyone have a brief description of the different parks at Disney World? This thread has got me excited about taking my kids there. From my quick googling and looking at the maps, are these decent descriptions?

EPCOT - Seems more suited to adults than the others? Not a lot of rides, more food and drink and educational type stuff

Animal Kingdom - Some rides and pretty much a big interactive zoo and aquarium?

Disney Hollywood Studios - Where a lot of the high-flying rides are and more your typical amusement park feel?

Magic Kingdom - This your Disney animation and most kid friendly park? Rides and characters walking around.

And this seems like you need to dedicate a full day to each park to appreciate it, so get there on a Monday and leave on Friday type of thing? Or is that way too long

Quote:

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Wish They Never Went Away

• Alien Encounter - Quick story. First time on the attraction I heard some guy yell out "That thing looks like my mother-in-law". Thought it was pretty funny. Rode it again later that same trip and heard the same thing. That's when I realized Disney piped stuff like that in for effect.
• Spaceship Earth (Jeremy Irons Version) - The descent back down was much better
• Great Movie Ride - Needed updating, not replacing

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Man, Alien Encounter was awesome. Was actually pretty scary given that I believe it derived some inspiration from the movie Alien. Got to do that one during my Y2K trip, and was bummed that by the time we returned in 2011, they had reset the ride to be less intense with Stitch as the extraterrestrial presence. It was more comedic than frightening. Last trip there even that was gone.

Great Movie Ride was always one of my favorites. The movie choices might have needed updating but otherwise it was always an entertaining few minutes to get off your feet and into some good A/C.

Legal Custodian said:

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So does anyone have a brief description of the different parks at Disney World? This thread has got me excited about taking my kids there. From my quick googling and looking at the maps, are these decent descriptions?

EPCOT - Seems more suited to adults than the others? Not a lot of rides, more food and drink and educational type stuff

Animal Kingdom - Some rides and pretty much a big interactive zoo and aquarium?

Disney Hollywood Studios - Where a lot of the high-flying rides are and more your typical amusement park feel?

Magic Kingdom - This your Disney animation and most kid friendly park? Rides and characters walking around.

And this seems like you need to dedicate a full day to each park to appreciate it, so get there on a Monday and leave on Friday type of thing? Or is that way too long

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That's a good high-level description of the parks.

Timing is entirely dependent on how much your family will tolerate. I've been on trips where it was one park a day and that was it, for 4 days; that one seemed too brief. My last visit was 7 full days, no down time, and that was a bit much. Our sweet spot was the 2013 trip, where we didn't really get any down time in 6 days but we managed to spread everything out more than we were able to in 2019 (plus in 2013 neither Avatar nor Star Wars Land existed). We did do the Christmas Party in 2013, and were actually in Magic Kingdom until something like 2am; I was amazed that my young ones actually handled that so well.

texas_ute said:

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We have been to DL and Universal already. For a theme park for 1 day in the LA area, thoughts on Knott's Berry Farm versus Six Flags Magic Mountain? 13 y/o and 10 y/o, enjoy coasters and all types of thrill rides. This would be a potential trip where drive to either one would be an equivalent distance. I have never been to either park.

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Went to both parks last month. Knott's is definitely better themed and is more suited for families. Some big thrill rides as well. Ghost Rider is amazing and can stand up to just about anything at SFMM. Also has Hangtime and Silver Bullet, also very good thrill rides. One of their main attractions, Xcelerator, was down when I was there and as far as I know is still down.

SFMM is all about the thrills. Not big on theming and not as much stuff geared towards families as Knott's but you'd be hard pressed to find a better collection of thrill rides. There are more coasters there than any park in the world, several of them being very high tier. Lots of variety as well... you have Tatsu for a flying coaster, X2 which is an experience unlike anything else you can find on this continent, Twisted Colossus which was revamped a few years ago and is an airtime machine.... probably the best in the park, and Wonder Woman which is their newest and is also fantastic. And that's just scratching the surface. There is probably more there than can be done in one day.

If you are a coaster junkie then go to SFMM, no brainer. If you want a better themed, more family friendly park then Knott's is the way to go.

Disney was extremely short-sighted in cancelling the Magical Express, IMO.

I got hooked on Adventures By Disney thanks to our rides on ME. Those ABD trips have to have some serious profit margins because they are pricey (but totally worth it). Since Covid, I've wondered how much longer that division of the company is going to be around. I'm not sure they've recovered the same way the parks have.

Barf city

https://gizmodo.com/disney-splash-mountain-closure-princess-and-the-frog-1849843067

Awesome- thanks for the advice!

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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It's been known for a while now, but it still sucks. It may not be as old as Pirates but I think it's rightly considered a classic Disney ride by now. Losing that classic song just won't be the same for the generations of kids who'll never know it. It's like losing Yo-Ho or Grim Grinning Ghosts.

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We all know why this was done (oh noes, politics!!!), but what I can't fathom is why not simply build a new attraction featuring Tiana?

I posted earlier with a ranking of rides, and Splash Mountain was tied for the top spot with the other mountain rides. I'm going to miss Splash Mountain. The story told on that ride was always fun for me, no matter how many times I rode it. I'm sure the Tiana version will be fine in its own rights, but I'm just bummed that next time I go, I won't get to ride an old favorite.

Haven't been since Cosmic Rewind opened.

We love all of the new trackless rides.

Ratatoulie - its just a damn perfect ride.
M&M Runaway Railroad - only road it once but it was a blast.
Rise ot R - Enough has been said.

I've always loved Tower of Terror. The queue is just badass. I never mind having to stand in the hotel lobby for an extended period, looking over every object in the area.

Smugglers Run is a blast BUT one time there were 2 little non-English speaking boys as the pilots. The youngest controlled up and down. He spent the entire ride, from start to finish, w/the yoke pressed forwarded. It turned the MF into a ditch digger across the planet. Awful experience. His father kept trying to tell him what to do but he just had his head down, yoke forward, oblivious the entire time. It would suck for someone if that was their only time to ride it and the pilots were beyond bad, they were 5 year old boys w/out a clue what to do and no ability to get them to even try doing something else.

I love the classic MK rides - Peter Pan (london scene), Haunted Mansion, and Pirates. Got stuck one time in the last room on Pirates due to a ride stoppage. Was fun having 15 minutes to look all around the room in detail since the stuff kept playing. Similar happened for 45 minutes once on Its a Small World and I believe suicide was an option.

Never understand the lines for 7 Dwarves - the queue is boring and ride is as well - I understand having a coaster that is a little more kid friendly, but they failed to thread the needled of "edgy enough for adults, kiddy enough for kids" because the few "scenes" you go throu are pretty spare.

Rockin RR is a fanstastic coaster as well. Smooth, plenty of excitement, great scenery, etc.

At UV the HP rides and queues are of course awesome. We love spending time in Springfield. I like the Simpson's ride because it is re-ridable due to how much stuff is on the screen - you can always find something you hadn't seen or heard before.

Mummy is awesome because of the combo of queue, in-ride story telling, and just a good fun coaster.

I've always loved Hulk but the past few times I realize as I get older it's too aggressive for me. Every damn time it boxes my ears on the shoulder bars and I feel like someone drug my ears across carpet. Likewise it gives me a raging headache.

Velocicoaster - sham-F'ing-wow. It isn't "brutal" like Hulk, in fact it is liquid silky smooth. The twists and turns and flips though are awesome. The very last twist a few feet above water before it ends I always feel like I'm about to fly out of the cart.

In all parks though as we get older we spend more and more time just walking around, soaking up the atmosphere, admiring the quality of the presentation, etc. I can see why grandparents are content to just sit on a bench and watch. The level of detail they put into the parks is beyond reproach.

I am super excited to visit Super Nintendo World. (2023 in Hollywood, 2025 in Orlando)

Went to Universal Studios in Hollywood last month. I love that Harry Potter ride and have never read any of the books or seen any of the films. Actually had the fast pass so rode it twice.

Haven't been to Orlando since the 90's but have been really wanting to check out all the new Star Wars stuff. Sounds awesome. Also, this is really funny if you haven't seen it:

This was an absolute Star Wars low point pic.twitter.com/WMjQzUyG8Z

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 1, 2022

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I am super excited to visit Super Nintendo World. (2023 in Hollywood, 2025 in Orlando)

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I saw all kinds of ads and them setting this whole world up when I was there a few weeks ago. Looks like it will be great.

Saxsoon said:

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Absolutely go to EPCOT during Food and Wine Festival

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Yep ... we had a blast last year. Weather was awesome, food was good, beer was cold. We typically bought a couple of different items at each stop and shared them so that everyone had a taste.

Epcot was my favorite park on this trip. I really enjoy the people watching and interacting with the cast members from different countries. One of my daughters participated in the Kid-Cot experience and when she got to the end in Mexico, the pin trader gave her a free pin which was really cool. She's real into them now and i bought her some Star Wars ones to get her started.

After being pretty blah on the rides a few years ago, the additions of Cosmic Rewind and Remy really bolster its offerings. My girls are still in love with the Frozen ride, Soarin' is one of my top 5, and I really dig the educational value of the Living with the Land boat ride.

Plus the innovation of the fireworks show is really gorgeous and the inclusion of Epcot on the SKyliner line is great.