Originally Posted By karlg I have been to DL (first visit 1962) and WDW (first visit 1972) many times and 3 or 4 times to TDL and twice to TDS. I went to DL Paris a back when it was still EuroDisney (before Space Mountain opened). I have not been to Hong Kong nor to DL Hollywood Studios. Last year in less than 2 months I visited TDS (1 day), WDW (stayed at ALK 10 days), and DL (3 days stayed off property). By a wide margin, my favorite single park is DL. While I love the total emersion with the hotels at WDW, I find the parks themselves a bit lacking these days. A huge amount of your day is just spent getting to and from the various parks. As a single park, DL has more to do and bigger and better shows (you can see a better fireworks show at DL and then go see a vastly better Fantasmic all in the same night). These days I treat DCA as if it is just another “land†attached to DL and as such it works for me. Personally I find TDS a bit over-rated by others. It has a few very good attractions, its best two being Journey to the Center of the Earth and Indiana Jones (I like the DL version a little better mostly due to the fire in the skull) and now ToT. I liked their ToT but honestly didn’t find it better than say DCA’s version other than I like the pre-show better (even though I couldn’t understand it). Many of the other attractions are to me just not that great. The park has a lot of great eye candy, but the attractions are lacking (and probably a reason why the attendance has been falling off). I didn’t get the best impression of EuroDisney, but I only had a change to visit it on a very busy Sunday and this was before there was Space Mountain. Overall, I think DLP (as it is now called) is one of the prettiest parks to look with a lot of walk through attractions and activities, but once again not as much and not as complete at DL. So my OPINION on the various parks in order of the parks I would most want to visit: 1. Disneyland – far and away the best and by a wide margin. After visiting TDS and WDW, I was thinking that maybe I had finally gotten too old for Disney theme parks, but then going to DL brought the good feelings back. 2. Disneyland Paris Park – not sure on this one as it has been a long time since I have been there. This park has a lot of great eye candy in the design. My only experience is a 1 day visit on a busy Sunday and this was before Space Mountain opened, so I would really like to give it another try. 3. Tokyo Disneyland – Has a bit more to it than WDW Magic Kingdom. The downside is that the train does not go around the park and the covered “Main Street†makes it feel a bit too much like a shopping mall. 4. Magic Kingdom – WDW’s MK keeps dropping in my opinion. The upkeep has been pretty poor and they have added very little since the 1980’s. The ride operation was ABISMAL when we were there last summer (cast member did nothing to stop/reduce the continual flash photography while on Pirates) 5. Disney Hollywood Studios – I have always like the look of this park, it just needs more to do. 6. Animal Kingdom – I’m not a huge “zoo†fan and this park should have had more shade on the pathways. Also the layout causes traffic jams. But these is also a lot of really great detail and theming. 7. Tokyo Disney Sea – Lots of great eye candy, but lacking in terms of attractions. 8. Epcot – Sorry to the fans of this park, but it has never really worked for me. My favorite attraction was world of motion and it is long gone. As evidenced by the extreme lines, there are only two good attractions in future world Test Track and Soaring and neither would be on my top ten picks of greatest attractions. Mission to Space has been a dud. To me, each country in the world showcase is done in too small a way and too many are very old movies. The American Adventure is the only top notch attraction in all of the World Showcase. I would rather see Fantasmic or the DL fireworks than Illumination (a show that got old very fast for me). 9. DCA – All of DCA put together makes it be a good extra “land†for DL since it is only 5 minutes away. I can run over and catch Aladdin (but long time past needing a new show!), hit ToT, Scream’n (but a long walk with nothing that interest me in between so a lot of dud attractions to walk past), GRR (ok, but I’m not a fan of getting soaking wet for the rest of the day), Soaring (a “good but not great†attraction IMO) and maybe Monster’s Inc (boy that attraction seems to have lots its appeal fast). I have not been to but form what I hear they would be near the bottom: 10 Hong Kong Disneyland 11 Walt Disney Studios Paris
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Hmmm, I cannot claim as mush experience as others on here, but I clocked about 300 days in DL between 1974 and 1986, 49 visits to DLP, and 6 weeks in WDW. We just got back from our latest and greatest trip to DL. After our last trip to WDW I had lost faith in the Disney company, but this week totally restored my faith. Faves to least: 1. Disneyland - this park is awesome, chock full of live entertainment, and there is a vibe like no other. This is the king of parks - the greatest IMHO. 2. Epcot - increadible optimism and mix of experiences. I love Illuminations (though not as much as Remember at DL). It is an amazing park. 3. DLP - this is the most beautiful MK park ever created, and it's versions of HM, PotC, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, IASW, Casey Jr, Buzz, the FL dark rides etc. are the best versions world wide. The bad gueast behaviour, dirtiness and lack of live entertainment/fireworks drags the park down from the top spot however. 4. Animal Kingdom - this park is chock full of details, and some of the best animal experiences. Love it!!!! 5. DCA - I really love this park - Aladdin, ToT, Soarin', Grizzly et al are first rate. Screamin' is a blast. And we like the edutaintment available here. Plus we really love Muppetvision 3D and ITTBAB. Add in the best Animation exhibit and some great entertainment. We love it. 6. WDSP - I am fed up of the bad press this park gets. To me it is better than 50% of WDW's park. To me Disney is about live entertainment, and there is loads of this on offer at WDSP. Also, lmost all of the park's attractions are first rate - and where the same ride is in DHS and WDSP, Paris has the better version IMHO. We really like it. 7. DHS - we have fun everytime we go here, but it needs a little work. Where WDSP has quality but little frosting, this park is almost the antithesis. It may look good, but it has no heart or soul (whereas WDSP is the ugly duckling). 8. The MK - this is supposed to be the flagship park, but it has the worst version of almost everything. I also don't like the bigger scale. The only attractions I really aim for here are due to my love of my childhood at DL (Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree and I like Liberty Square). We are currently saving up to see the other 3 Asian parks we have yet to visit, but we really do love DL. And although we love Epcot and DAK, we are unlikely to return in the near future.
Originally Posted By mstaft I have been to all these resorts except for the 2 in Asia (3 parks). So, eight parks, just like dennis-in-ct. The bottom of the barrel is easily WDSP- just a dog of a park. Few trees, little theming until recent additions, poorer versions of the similar attractions stateside and a horrible layout. An expanse of contrete with little style or substance. Conversely, DLP is a piece of art! Absolutely the most beautiful Magic Kingdom you'll ever see. You could spend all day in just one land, soaking up the atmosphere and feeling as if you were in another world. In Florida, in my book, Epcot is the best, then Animal Kingdom, next Magic Kingdom (only because the "classics" are there) and last and certainly least Disney Studios. That last park started out well but the last decade has not been kind. In California, DL is still the overall best MK style park- intimate, small even, but wonderful attractions and environment. Filled with detail. Plus there is something special about knowing this is the park that started it all. DCA is much better than WSDP and Florida's Disney Studios, but still falls short due to short-sightedness regarding execution of the theme. Just this man's opinion...
Originally Posted By SuperDry I've been to all 5 resorts and all 11 parks. I'd say my favorite MK-type park is DL. DLP puts on a strong showing in architecture and plussed attractions, and TDL puts on a strong showing with the amount and quality of live entertainment and special events, but all things considered, they just barely can't beat the original DL overall. My favorite non-MK-type park is TDS, with Epcot coming in second.
