2016 Edition of the UG Recommends skipping DHS for Short Stays

[crostorfer]

"If you've got just two or three days to visit Disney World, skip the Studios. It's hard for us to recommend spending $80-$100 on a park that has so little to offer."--The UG Team.

They recommend going to US instead.

Thoughts?

 

[js]

"If you've got just two or three days to visit Disney World, skip the Studios. It's hard for us to recommend spending $80-$100 on a park that has so little to offer."--The UG Team.

They recommend going to US instead.

Thoughts?

I agree especially if you are just adults. If I was UG I may also tell all to skip Epcot unless you just wanted to do the countries also if you were just adults. I like Ellen but its meh, Nemo and Figment blah and Captian EO is 20 minutes of my life Ill never get back and what an absolute waste. I have two children and they are now 17 and 21 but even when they were younger those or their predecessors were just okay. Epcot also needs to be updated but to answer your question, I agree with UG.

 

[aVASTGrl]

Agree. I do park hoppers, so if I only had a few days, there is no way I'd be wasting my time at a nearly empty (attraction-wise) park when there are so many things to do and see at the other three.

 

[GPC0321]

Yeah. DHS is on the "We might pop over if we're desperate for something different" part of my plans currently. We have hoppers, so might take the boat over from Epcot one day just to ride the Great Movie Ride (which I wasn't able to do on my one and only trip to that park long ago when it was MGM), and grab a cupcake from Starring Roles.

 

[momtosam]

Sounds about right.

 

[Micca]

I have zero interest in Universal Studios, and there are a few things at DHS I like a lot--including TOT which is my second favorite attraction on property. However, without a park hopper, it isn't money well spent as it's not a full day park at this time. When they get all the Star Wars stuff in there and the other attractions that are planned, it will be another story altogether.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We plan on spending 2/3 of a day at DHS on our next trip, but we have 9 day tickets and there are a lot of things I want to do before they are gone. Our 2016 Disney trip will be much shorter and we'll probably skip DHS all together.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think that touring strategy makes perfect sense, I'm glad to see Touring Plans wrote it. USF is a great park, well worth it to spend the ticket over there over DHS.

 

[juliekzp]

My son would never let us skip RnR, ToT, or Star Tours (nor would I want to) but I sure hope everyone else stays away so our lines are short!

 

[soniam]

I am torn. I like DHS, but I admit it is usually about a half day for us. With more Star Wars stuff for Season of the Force, I could see spending more time. However, we always do park hoppers. Last summer, we had 3 days before a cruise. We spent one at MK, one at Epcot, and a half day each at DHS and AK. It worked fine but wasn't ideal. I love Universal, but I wouldn't bother going just to spend 1 day. It really needs at least 2. So now our Orlando trips have gotten to where we can't spend less than 7 days: 4.5 at WDW & 2.5 at Universal However, if I were just going as an adult to Food & Wine or just a short trip for some specific event, like Star Wars Weekends, I could get away with maybe 3 or 4 days. I wouldn't see everything, and I probably wouldn't go to Universal.

 

[dreamseeker9]

I was just looking at attractions on the WDW official website. When I sorted by park, it listed the number of attractions per park:
MK- 41 attractions
EPCOT - 34 attractions
DHS - 10 attractions
AK - 28 attractions

If I didn't have a park hopper, I would really question the value I'd get for a one-day ticket to DHS right now, even thought ToT and MuppetVision 3D are near and dear to my heart.

 

[andyman8]

I was just looking at attractions on the WDW official website. When I sorted by park, it listed the number of attractions per park:
MK- 41 attractions
EPCOT - 34 attractions
DHS - 10 attractions
AK - 28 attractions

If I didn't have a park hopper, I would really question the value I'd get for a one-day ticket to DHS right now, even thought ToT and MuppetVision 3D are near and dear to my heart.

I would recommend it if you're there for 4 or more days. Adding on a 4th+ day becomes substantially less expensive and I still think you could make a full day out of it. TSM, ToT, RnR, Star Tours, GMR, Indiana Jones, Disney Jr., LMA Stunt Show, Frozen Sing-Along, VoLM, One Man's Dream (what is left at least), the streetmosphere, JTA, etc... Top if off with dinner at Sci-Fi and a showing of Fantasmic! and I'd say still enough for a day after you've seen the others. Personally, I'd go for a day at DHS over a second day at MK, but that might be different if I had young children.

 

[Sparkly]

I don't know. A one day ticket for Universal is still $100 and I'm still not sure I would pay that just for one day. I wouldn't pay that for MK either. As much as it's a better park, it's still expensive.

 

[DisneyPrince1982]

Yes this is correct. DHS is the armpit of Disney World.

 

[Gru]

I just got back from a quick 5 day trip (4 park days). We went to MK twice, Epcot and AK.....for the first time totally skipped DHS. Once they got rid of animation academy I couldn't justify spending a day at a park for. TSMM, star Tours and RnR (my son's favorite ride).

 

[Praying Colonel]

"If you've got just two or three days to visit Disney World, skip the Studios. It's hard for us to recommend spending $80-$100 on a park that has so little to offer."--The UG Team.

They recommend going to US instead.

Thoughts?

I half-agree. If I only had 2 or 3 days, I'd spend it at MK & EP. I would not go to US. The only way I'd go to US is if I'd seen all of WDW that I wanted to see, which would take 7-8 days or so.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I love DHS and can't imagine skipping it on any trip. In fact, on our week trips (well, they are usually from Saturday, through the week, and end on Sunday), we usually spend two and a half days there. That said, I do think that with all of the closures, Disney could benefit from rearranging their show schedules. As is, it is hard to fit in Beauty and the Beast, Indy, and LMA while still getting in RNRC, TOT, and TSMM before the lines get really long. I understand people not being happy with all of the closures, but I really don't think that there is less to do here than Animal Kingdom. At least, for our family there is less for us to do at Animal Kingdom. When we do short trips, that's the park we skip. Epcot is another one we find ourselves spending less time at each trip.

I would go to any of the Disney parks before Universal, though. Just doesn't interest me and doesn't have an easy way for us to get there.

 

[richmo]

From a cost point of view, I think its best to keep WDW and US trips separate. While I'll agree that DHS is not worth a $100 single day ticket (not even close), with limited days I would be inclined to visit DHS as part of a multi-day ticket rather than shell out another $100 for Universal. The incremental cost of the additional day at WDW isn't insignificant on a short trip, but its well under what a single day at US would be.

 

[BeerMe]

Like everything else, what's listed here are opinions, not facts. When we take grandkids they love MGM. There's lots for them to do.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think the quote above is very specific...two or three days. I think it's only at four days that you start to get a discount at WDW.

I look at this quote as another way of saying that if you had to rank the Orlando parks in order of the ones you should see, Universal, in their opinion, is ahead of DHS right now.