About Theme Park Tourist
Theme Park Tourist is one of the web’s leading sources of essential information and entertaining articles about theme parks in Orlando and beyond.
We are one of the world’s largest theme park guide sites, hosting detailed guides to more than 80 theme parks around the globe.
Plan Your Trip
Our theme park guides contain reviews and ratings of rides, restaurants and hotels at more than 80 theme parks worldwide.
You can even print them.
Our trips from Michigan have become both fewer and more stress filled in the last 2 years. We are forces to plan park choices, by day, ahead of time, but cannot choose the experiences we want in those parks on those days. We used to be able to use fastpass availability to help us choose which parks to plan for on which days... months in advance of our trips. Once we headed south, we had nothing to think about except enjoying ourselves. That was not how our last 4 trips went.
My family went to Disney World in May 2021 & we had an excellent time despite it being hot anhumid and having to wear masks. Staff members with the exception of one, were all very nice and helpful. I felt like the "magic" was still there. Genie + wasn't operational yet, so I don't have experience with that. When we went, there were no Fast Passes and with some researching & planning ahead, we waited no longer than 45 minutes for a ride. Instead of Genie, I would use the Touring Plans app to determine which rides to go on & in which order. They were dead on, especially for Magic Kingdom rides. The Disney Tourist Blog also hashelpful ride suggestions.. If you go before the parks open, you can get on a lot of rides in the first two hours. Then leave in the afternoon when it's hot, and come back early evening for low wait times.
This same trip we went to Universal for a day because my daughter is a Harry Potter fan. It was a Wednesday during the first week of May,, so a low-volume day. What a HORRIBLE experience! We had a hard time getting in even though the tickets were downloaded into the Universal app, ride wait times were super long, the Hagrid ride broke down several times & you never knew when the virtual line was available for that ride, cast members couldn't answer questions, visitors at the park were rude, and somebody stole our all-day drink bottle when we set it down to look at a shirt. The four rides we did were fun, especially The Mummy and Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, but overall it was not a fun experience. The vibe there feels totally different--rude & cut-throat. Probably because these parks cater more to teens and adults (who have usually been drinking). I will take Disney any day over Universal! My family's been to Disney World three times & cast members & people visiting have always been so nice. To me, there's a much friendlier vibe to Disney.
I was there in the fall and it sure did not seem as magical and me and family where willing to overlook a lot considering covid is still happening. Genie+ was a total useless purchase for a group with us, couldn't get it to work. Virtual quests full second after they where open both times they opened during the day. At the same time prices have gone up on everything, perks all gone like magical Express. Sho we extended evening hours for those of us not staying in the expensive hotels, etc. I have no idea why Disney did not copy universals Express pass which seemed to less stressful. This is probably or last yearly trip to Wally Disney, cannot justify the price or stress it now cause.
Disney must remember NO ONE is too big to fail
The parks need to do what Cedar Point did and pay $20 an hour for Workers!!!!
"what to some seems like a lack of magic being seen in the parks."
What a weird thing to say. If you want to be taken seriously, maybe back off vague insinuations of "magic." That's not a real thing and has no relevance to actual business operations or the impact to business. Customer service and experience? Yes. Magic? No. You sound ridiculous.
Whenever I visited a Disney park whether it was Walt Disney World or Disneyland Paris it always felt magical to me which is what I was trying to put across in the article. The feeling comes from the music, the ambience, the parades and the attractions.
It may have been a clumsy way of putting it but many Disney fans have said that they think that magical feeling in the parks has declined in the last couple of years. Yes, magic isn't a matter of fact business operation or customer interaction but I think it is that magical feeling that has always set Disney apart from the other theme parks. It always felt that it had soul and heart. I accept we see things differently and to many I may sound ridiculous but that is what I have felt and I am hoping that when I return to Walt Disney World I can still experience that special feeling.
I totally agree, the magic is gone! As a guest staying at a Disney Resort I used to feel special, that was taken away over the past 4-5 years. There is such disconnect between Disney’s hierarchy and fans.
Very lazy article to compare apples(Disney World) to oranges(Universal Orlando). One, Disney World is busy all the time weekday or weekend unlike Universal which has walk on new attractions and very light crowds Sunday thru Thursday. Universal is just doing a Summer ramp up hire like they do every year except this year Universal is already well below staffing needs while Disney continously hires all throughout the year. Give backstop based on facts if you want a compelling article.