4. Everything feels BIG

When you’re watching a movie it feels like everything is on a huge scale, even when it's stuff we experience regularly in real life. For example, a simple kiss can resonate widely with an audience, and a basic break-up can break their hearts. That’s part of the magic of movies: their ability to make you connect with events in them as much as or more than you do with events in your real life. That’s hard to match, but I think the Disney parks do a great job at competing with the feeling. All of the emotions that came from viewing your favorite Disney movies comes to a head when children (and adults!) get to meet the characters who went through those exciting trials and tribulations. The Disney parks even make the experience feel big in a technical fashion with something innovative called forced perspective. Many of the castles at the Disney parks feel larger-than-life in part because the design technique with which the Imagineers play with the scale of an objects in order to affect the viewer’s perception of their sizes. 

5. You’re immersed in the world

The very best movies absolutely immerse you in the world they’ve formed. Disney park fans have a predisposition to hate everything related to Avatar, for a lot of very valid reasons, but I hope they would admit that, if they saw the movie on the big screen, they found themselves fully enveloped in the three-dimensional CGI world of Avatar. Avatar is a particularly tough movie to compete with in that regard, but considering its director is involved in the World of Pandora at the Animal Kingdom chances are the theme park will measure up. Especially since the rest of Walt Disney World and the other Disney parks offer up such an immersive experience for its guests.

It’s also worth noting that, as cool as 3D can be, you can never actually shake a character’s hand. At the Disney parks, meanwhile, hugs from your favorite character aren’t uncommon. With a movie IMAX you don’t get to actual eat at the restaurants the characters of a movie frequent. At the Disney parks you do that and more. Another thing you don't get to do at the movies is experience the story with all five senses. The Disney parks capture you with them all, even smell! Main Street, U.S.A. captivates you with fresh-baked cookies. You’re not going to get a sensory experience like that at the movies.

What do you think? How do the Disney parks fare up against the Disney movies? Share your thoughts on Theme Park Tourist’s Facebook page and in the comments below!