Originally Posted By Mr X I wrote some of this stuff over on another thread, but I thought it would be interesting to hear from some other Mom's and Dad's about which of the Disney parks (worldwide, wherever you've been) your kids like the best. As for mine, she is three and a half for the record, and her favorite park is EPCOT of the five she has visited. Nemo is her favorite attraction, but she loved Journey and Soarin as well (just passed the height requirement on that one!), as well as the fountain and Illuminations. Here's what I wrote... Interestingly, Animal Kingdom is my daughters very LEAST favorite Disney park of the five she has been to. She liked the safari okay (no better reaction than the month before at our local zoo though), Bugs was one of the few attractions that really scared her EVER, for some reason, and she liked Chester and Hester's Dino Spinner (ugh...no accounting for a 3 year olds taste), but again, no more or less than Dumbo. Other than that, she really didn't seem to care for the place at all. She seemed bored with Nemo, the musical (so was I ), and everything else we checked out seemed rather lacking for kids surprisingly enough. Hands down, her favorite park in the world is EPCOT. And I mean by a LOT. She kept asking to return to Epcot when we were at the Magic Kingdom, she was interested enough to even learn the LAYOUT of the place (she dragged us physically to her favorite attraction, Nemo, as well as pointed out where SE was at all times and showed us where the fireworks would be the second night). Funny story about how much she loves Epcot...we were leaving the magic kingdom around 6:30 and she was DONE, falling asleep on my arm (long week), I pointed to the castle a few times and asked if she was sure she wanted to leave and she said "yes, back to the house. I wanna sleep!" (in Tokyo, as well, it's usually she that is the first to call it a night...she's done enough Disney not to bother with kicking and screaming thank GOD). So, we left. The car was at Epcot so we hopped on the monorail, but when she lifted her head up to catch a glimpse of SpaceShip Earth her exhaustion VANISHED and she was like "EPCOT! EPCOT! Let's go see Nemo! Let's see the fireworks!" (fireworks were offered over at the Magic Kingdom, she couldn't have cared less). So, she happily lead us back in and we stayed til Illuminations was finished. As for the other parks, I think she likes the Magic Kingdoms fine, no real preference, and she likes DisneySea a lot but mostly because of Mermaid Lagoon and Sindbad (her favorite attraction til Nemo).
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think this is a great question, however I am not sure how many families have visited multiple parks. For my two DLP reigns number 1 (we'll see how DL fares in comparison in a few weeks). But Mikey adored Epcot, probably as much. Jessica probably likes DAK the most, but she adores animals. Ironically though I always felt that DAK would be a good kids park and the Studios a poor one. Our last trip to WDW, there were loads for the kids, and at DAK, not so much.
Originally Posted By wendebird My kids are 8 & 11. They've been to WDW & DL. DD11 said her favorite park of all was Typhoon Lagoon. With the wave pool being the highest on her list of favs. I wasn't sure if a water park was what you had in mind, so I asked her the 2nd favorite & she picked MGM. Why? Because she LOVED RNRC.
Originally Posted By Mr X A water park? Sure, why not? Interesting that she would pick Typhoon over Blizzard Beach (did you guys go there too?)..I thought BB was considered a better park overall. Wave pools are awesome, I love em!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Well all four WDW parks are covered as favorites by at least one of our 6 kids. I would say though overall, the MK is the cumulative fav. There is something there for all ages.
Originally Posted By Mr X **There is something there for all ages.** I would definitely say the same for Epcot, these days. If you asked me even a few years ago it Epcot could be a little kids' favorite, I'd have thought it crazy.
Originally Posted By grammy954 My daughter is 14 and we have been going to DL and WDW since she was 3. Her favorite by far is EPCOT, and has been for a really long time. She loves both parts of the park and could watch the nightly show over and over and over.
Originally Posted By jdub I've got a 14-year-old, and he's been to all the local Bay Area amusement parks, Universal & Disney in SoCal, and the Floriday Disney amusement parks--and it's ALLLLL about Disneyland. If we have 2 hours on a Monday night, I ask, "what do you want to do?" The answer is "go to Disneyland." Got Disneyland on the mind sometimes. Star Wars the rest of the time.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Just asked my son. He's been to the DLR and WDW parks and his favorite is Epcot. He loves science so it was a given.
Originally Posted By wendebird >>Interesting that she would pick Typhoon over Blizzard Beach (did you guys go there too?)..I thought BB was considered a better park overall.<< Blizzard Beach was closed when we went. (Early December) So I don't know if she would have liked it better. Funny thing, both times we've been to WDW, BB was closed.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 My son is 4 years old and has been to more theme parks than I can keep track of. Out of Disney parks, my son's favorite is DCA, mainly because of Monsters Inc, and the Bugs Life area. Overall though my sons favorite park is Europa Park, a huge ttheme park in Germany that although not as well kept and nice as most Disney parks, is still a nice park, and a hell of a lot cheaper than a Disney resort. We gave him a choice of Disneyland Paris or Europa Park last year and he chose Europa Park.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh My 13 year son says: Disneyland, Epcot, California Adventure, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Magic Kingdom, Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom. I expected Animal Kingdom to place a little higher.
Originally Posted By Mr X Are you guys left-coasters, Doug? That's a great list actually...definitely puts MK into (correct) perspective vs. Disneyland, and Epcot...though you must have a smart kid there cause I think many kids wouldn't differentiate much between the magic kingdoms!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros At least when I was younger, I knew the difference. Things like the Matterhorn and Indiana Jones don't go unnoticed by most children, and they seem awkwardly absent in the Magic Kingdom, even with all the wiggle room and big castle.
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, I probably shouldn't have even said "children", I do realize that people with an attention to detail notice the difference. But in my experience most "non-Disney" people I've talked to (all east-coasters though) who've been to both places just remark "Disneyland is small". Obviously the extra attractions are something you'd notice though...but I think lots of people just look at DisneyWorld as a whole (and obviously there are lots more attractions in the FOUR parks combined!).
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< even with all the wiggle room and big castle. >>> I can't imagine most small children caring about or even noticing those things, as compared to attractions.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I definately noticed how samll DL's castle was after a couple trips in a row to WDW. I had gotten bigger in the time since I was last at DL, and I had gotten used to a much bigger castle. I was probably about 12 or so at the time, and it really threw me off, but it didn't keep me from having a good time and enjoying the park in general. It was just kind of strange...
Originally Posted By wendebird >>But in my experience most "non-Disney" people I've talked to (all east-coasters though) who've been to both places just remark "Disneyland is small".<< I lived in NJ for 34 years. My parents used to take us to WDW every 2 years. I honeymooned there, went back for our 1st anniversary, took our kids when they were 3-1/2 & 1. We were hooked & loved WDW. Then we moved to CA the end of 2000. We decided to try DL in May of 2001. Kids were 5 & 2. Back then, they didn't sell 2 day park hoppers, so we only went to DL. We only planned on being there 2 days because "it's so small, there isn't as much to do, you can see the freeway from the park, etc." Were the comments we got from east coast friends. So we didn't expect much. Yes, after entering & we immediately noticed how small the castle was, I also noticed how wonderful DL is. We all instantly fell in love. IMO, the cast members in DL are a huge reason why I feel it's set apart from WDW. I also love how you can get around at DL without spending an hour to get from one park to the next. You can hop over to DTD for lunch & back again easily, etc. We decided to go back to WDW last year when the girls were 10 & almost 8. I have to say the magic was just not there for us. We had an awesome time at Typhoon Lagoon & Epcot. But the Magic Kingdom just does not have the charm & magic like DL does. It feels like one big store with no personality. So from now on, we'll stick to our favorite (meaning my other dd8 my dh & myself.) Disneyland!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>But the Magic Kingdom just does not have the charm & magic like DL does. It feels like one big store with no personality. So from now on, we'll stick to our favorite (meaning my other dd8 my dh & myself.) Disneyland!<<< I totally agree!!!!
