Falling out of love with Magic Kingdom

[pitpat]

Does your 5 year old daughter prefer the World Showcase to MK as well?

 

[AngiTN]

Does your 5 year old daughter prefer the World Showcase to MK as well?

Our DGD (9 now, started going at 3) has always picked Epcot as her favorite park, if you can believe it. She loves the WS. MK has never been her favorite. Though with Pandora opening AK nudged out Epcot

 

[bigbabyblues]

MK isn't our family's favorite park and wasn't even when our kids were little. We visit it every trip but usually only one day.

 

[mckennarose]

MK is not my family's favorite park. My kids are all adults now and we do Disney differently than when they were little. Maybe that will change when we have grandbabies who will want to stay in MK longer than we currently stay. There's something about experiencing MK with little ones that makes it fun. (I still make my 23 yr old go on PP with me because I remember her taking her on it as a baby!)
Epcot is our favorite followed by AK. AK used to be our least favorite but the past two years we've really started to appreciate it more.

 

[HopperFan]

For ME, having visited the MK right after it opened .... it is the beginning of my Disney life. Only once did we go to Disney and not visit MK. As we drove away DS1 got so upset (this was a long time ago) he started throwing up in the car .......... have never skipped it again. We skip all other parks on trips but not MK.

I think it is the park theme that is the most replicated around the world because it's the flagship style (DL). It has the classic rides and characters. It has a castle with fireworks behind it. It is character heaven. It's the core. It's what people think of when you say Disney World.

I also appreciate it's tight footprint with nonstop theme.

But I understand what you are saying. I think on days I feel like that it's because of the other guests. It tends to be the most crowded although AK is getting pretty ugly too. It is the park we see guests act their worst and impact others. It's the park CMs tend to look like they are beat down and exhausted - I imagine due to it's long hours and guests behavior. It's the park that I will up and leave before I planned due to ... other guests. It is also a park lacking in decent food, which is then a real plus for other parks with all their food offerings.

TRON coming is I guess a good thing if it spurs an overhaul of Tomorrowland, but I think the crowds/behaviors will be worse. I think each park has it's own awesome qualities and none are like the others. MK = magical & fantasy. That is the escape from real world.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

MK isn't my favorite, but that's because I'm fairly close to DLR and go there often; MK is a bigger but much less charming DLR. Our upcoming trip, we're giving MK a miss and doing two days at Epcot (F&W) and one each at HS and AK. MK isn't going anywhere; we can come back to it in a few years.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We don't ever quite feel like we're in WDW until we hit MK each trip. It's still the place I dreamed about going as a kid... where our kids first experienced the magic of Disney... where we ride attractions that Walt had his hand in... etc., etc.

I think there is a reason that it remains the most visited park in the world.

We have shifted some time away from MK and toward the other parks as the kids have gotten older, and depending on why we're in WDW (e.g. rD, F&W, etc.), the proportion of time we spend in MK is different.

Looks like Disney got the hours wrong at MK this July (closed too early given apparent crowd levels: https://www.disboards.com/threads/amazed-and-disappointed.3615389/page-20#post-57936102), and without an evening parade the masses leave all at once making those late hours less pleasant than in years past. Maybe that's contributed to your feeling this year, and I do hope they correct this.

 

[Mpls Mom of 4]

MK will always hold a special place in my heart because of that feeling of walking down Main Street and seeing Cinderella's castle. But as my sons have gotten older, Epcot has become the collective favorite for us. We still visit MK each time we visit, but it is not a park we visit more than once per stay.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

MK doesn`t have to be your fav Park.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's going to take a lot more than anything currently proposed to move MK from #1 on my list. It's the heart and soul of WDW.

MK doesn`t have to be your fav Park.

In fact, I'd love it if a few more people would decide it wasn't their favorite either.

 

[tsme]

I feel the same about MK. It use to my fav but Epcot has replaced it. Mostly because the crowds at MK are insane & I really enjoy leisurely walking thru the WS in Epcot. We usually go to the other parks in the am & hop to Epcot at night.

 

[DVCcurious]

Magic Kingdom has the castle
Magic Kingdom has rides
Magic Kingdom has themed lands

That's why people love it the best.

And don't tell me other parks have rides, they have like 5 vs MK's 20
And don't tell me other parks have themed lands, is World Showcase as different from Future world as Adventureland is from Fantasyland?
And don't tell me other parks have castles...oh wait they don't.

There's a reason EVERY Disney theme park location has a Disneyland Clone (Shanghai, Paris, Orlando, Anaheim, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beruit, etc)

MK RULES, the other parks DROOL.

There's a good reason MK has twice the attendance as the other three parks. If your favorite park is HS, AK, or EP, then there IS something wrong with you.

 

[pitpat]

well that escalated quickly

 

[loves to dive]

Truth be told, I've never been in love with MK. It's never been my favorite. I don't hate it either. I've never understood or held to the theory that I must start or end my trip there. It's just 1 of 4 parks and to me, it's all Disney, all 4 parks, not just MK. It's not better, or worse than the other 3. If someone held me down and made me pick a favorite park (which is almost like picking a favorite child) I would have to say AK. This has been since the start, and it's only been improved with Pandora. But really, we love all 4 equally.

This exactly. MK is a nice park and I can't imagine going on a Disney trip and not visiting it but it's not even a full day park for us. We aren't ride centric, maybe spend 3 hours riding rides and the rest of the time we are there just enjoying the details. We love all the parks but tend to spend the most time at Epcot, we are there just about every night but it's WS for us. We love food, we love a refreshing adult beverage and we love just hanging out there. We spend more time at AK then MK, but that's just because we love animals. Again, it's not about the rides for us so all the parks hold something special.

 

[mckennarose]

....... If your favorite park is HS, AK, or EP, then there IS something wrong with you.

I think your signature says it all:
"The things I post are only correct about 50% of the time..."

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Right now, MK is the most popular because HS is half shut down and EPCOT needs some TLC. Plus MK has the most to do and feels the most "Disney".

MK is consistently the number 1 most visited theme park in the world. It honestly has nothing to do with DHS construction or Epcot needing TLC.

It does however have to do at least in part with having a wide variety of things to do for all ages and for a lot of people is what WDW represents.

 

[pmaurer74]

MK is consistently the number 1 most visited theme park in the world. It honestly has nothing to do with DHS construction or Epcot needing TLC.

It does however have to do at least in part with having a wide variety of things to do for all ages and for a lot of people is what WDW represents.

What I am saying is more people are going to MK vs. the other parks because there is more to do there. Many people are skipping HS all together.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What I am saying is more people are going to MK vs. the other parks because there is more to do there. Many people are skipping HS all together.

And my point is the construction at DHS has nothing to do with MK's popularity over time. It's been #1 visited for a while now.

You said: "Right now, MK is the most popular because HS is half shut down and EPCOT needs some TLC."...and my point is it's not a "Right now" situation.

Wiki doesn't have 2016 numbers on here but here's 2008-2015:


For 2016 speaking about WDW only (which attendance did drop for all 4 parks) Theme Entertainment Association has the following information: Numbers to the left reflect overall world ranking. The percentage reflects change in attendance. We all know 2016 was a rough year for WDW but a good year for Universal.

 

[smallworldnh]

It's all about personal preferences and experiences - there's no "I'm right and you're wrong" with this. For my family, we do have special memories there and I still get choked up when I see that castle for the first time that trip. I 100% agree with the poster who mentioned it's the guests that sometimes ruin the experience though. I found (IMO) that at MK we had the most issues with rudeness and selfishness than in the other parks.