I feel like Im cheating!

[stamot]

Ok so please dont think im crazy!
I love Disney and go every year. I live 15 minutes from a Six Flags and had never been there. Everybody tells me Im crazy because i live so close and never put foot in it. Is just that i feel like im cheating Mickey Mouse. Im very loyal to disney and i feel that nothing is as good as the mouse.

does anyone else feels this way??

 

[jjsdad]

somewhat. I don't even see the 2 in the same category. 6 flags is for thrill rides and thats about it, disney is so much more and then some. Feeling like I was cheating, not so much...

 

[jayandstacey]

I rather enjoy going to other parks and enjoying them on their terms. Pound for pound, they aren't up to the WDW standard - but that doesn't mean they can't be fun.

Besides, if Disney REALLY wanted my 100% park loyalty, it would have purchased all these other parks and offered all these other experiences. But they didn't. So they get much of my money (I've often thought about how many parks I'm flying over on the way to WDW) but not all of it.

 

[librarygeek]

I agree that it doesn't even feel like parks such as six flags are in the same category as Disney. They're fun, but it's a totally different experience. They're about the thrill rides, not the magical experience and environment. I go to Dorney Park all of the time and I love it, but not in the same way that I love Disney. I wouldn't worry about feeling like you're cheating... go to Six flags to check it out if you like roller coasters, but if not then it's probably not worth it! The last time I went to a six flags it had horrible customer service, too.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Not really. In all honesty. While I LOVE WDW and I LOVE going there, the trip is so large and expensive for us that we cannot go all the time.

I adore Busch Gardens, I am a huge roller coaster junkie and I really enjoy the newish Sesame Street stuff they are doing (The dine w/ Elmo is extremely well done!!) So this helps keep DD4 entertained and happy!! The park is clean, well maintained and very very very nice... not your typical six-flags type

We have seasons passes and go regularly, It is about 30-40mins from where we live so its a great lil trip on the weekends.

 

[jayandstacey]

Agreed - there are some really excellent parks in the midatlantic region - I wouldn't put six flags among them, but great experiences at
- Busch Gardens
- HersheyPark
- Knoebels
- and others like them.

There's no risk of feeling guilty, but I do have to be careful not to be disappointed, as they aren't Disney. So I consider myself disappointed when a park lets things go that are under their control:
- Employee interaction
- Cleanliness
- Maintenance
- Enforcement of basic policies.
- efforts to handle crowds.

When a park doesn't care these all tend to lag and can make for a miserable experience.

This year, Idlewild and Kennywood are both on my target list as places I haven't been. But I'll also be down in WDW this summer.

 

[Baltazar]

We have a theme park near us and we get season passes every year.

We treat it more like Disney prep. We constantly compare it to Disney and Disney is way better.

Nobody does it better than Disney.

 

[lroger01]

Several years ago when Six-Flags was bought by a new investment group, the leader of that group professed to be a big fan of Disney World. In the years since then I've gradually seen changes for the better in the park. At first they tried to do too much - but fell short. They added things such as a night time parade, night time show, more characters, atmosphere performers and so on. While they tried, they didn't succeed. Not enough money was put into the effort and it was all rather lame. Now they seem to be going for a quality experience instead. Extra effort is being put in on filling ride cars and keeping lines moving and keeping the park super clean. Also, new or upgraded rides are getting more attention-to-detail theming. I give them another 10 years or so, and the Six-Flags experience might be similar to going to California Adventure (before the redo).

I have a season pass to six flags. I found getting to enjoy the thrill of riding roller coasters inbetween Disney trips, helps make waiting for the trips easier.

 

[tony609]

Ok so please dont think im crazy!
I love Disney and go every year. I live 15 minutes from a Six Flags and had never been there. Everybody tells me Im crazy because i live so close and never put foot in it. Is just that i feel like im cheating Mickey Mouse. Im very loyal to disney and i feel that nothing is as good as the mouse.

does anyone else feels this way??

Not so much. Do what you enjoy. But you shouldn't feel like your cheating Mickey Mouse. I also live within 20-30 minutes of a six flags. i have for about 7yrs now and have never been. i just have no real desire to go. i don't do thrill rides and six flags seems packed with thrill rides. Since i haven't been to a six flags in years probably 14 and that was in Chicago. I can't say how they REALLY compare.My guess would be disney IS better so your probably only cheating yourself, not Mickey. UNLESS you like thrill rides.

 

[Prolif1k]

We live about an hour from Hershey Park, 1.5 hours from Six Flags in Jersey, 45 mins from Dorney Park, We very rarely go to any of these parks, simply because all my girlfriend and I can do while there is think about Disney World.

I know it's ridiculous, but I don't care. I just can't enjoy those parks, knowing what kind of experience there is in Disney. Especially Dorney Park and Six Flags. They are absolute hell holes with the worst employees, park maintenance, ambience, etc. I've been there plenty of times, so I have plenty of experience with them. Hershey Park is the only one I would put on a higher pedestal, but the only problem there is that the place can get so ridiculously crowded sometimes. This happens at Disney too, but with a park mostly focused on rides and very little ambience or other activities, it's hard to justify spending a day there.

We just wait and look forward to our next trip instead of doing other parks. We've been to plenty of others besides the ones near us and they have mostly been once and done endeavors.

 

[castmember19]

I live about five minutes away from Sea World and thirty from a Six Flags. I don't go to Six Flags anymore but I did enjoy it quite a lot as a child. The rides are thrill rides and I used to be a roller coaster junkie. WDW doesn't have very many thrill rides so they are totally different experiences.

As for the Sea World, I have a season pass and it's no WDW but it'll do. We go every other week or so just to go swimming for a few hours.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

The Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ that we go to has some awesome roller coasters.....I mean like world class (Kingda Ka goes 458 feet straight up )

We go for those.

The one in MA near you has Bizzarro which is one of the best steel coasters in the world.

So if you like roller coasters, Six Flags is a must do.

Same for Busch Gardens and Hershey Park...insane roller coasters.

And I understand Cedar Point in the Ohio region is the same.

I am sure other parks in other regions out west have their coasters too.

WDW isn't about roller coasters.

 

[Doug7856]

We too live 15 minutes from a Six Flags. On the few occasions I enter the park I wonder how safe I am on the rides. From the pealing pain on the attractions to the sixteen year olds operating the roller coasters and cussing out their "friends" that they have let ride for the past four times just makes you long for the quality that Disney expects from their cast members.

 

[FigNewton]

I grew up going to Kings Island at least once a year, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom weekly in college, and Holiday World often as well. Each park has something to offer I don't get as much of at Disney, even though my heart is truly with the Mouse.

Unfortunately I haven't been back to King's Island in 5 years because the upkeep last time I went was terrible. It used to be a beautiful park and the last time it just felt run down. Six Flags closes Kentucky Kingdom in their bankruptcy period. Thankfully Holiday World remains a clean family run park with some fun classic styled coasters - the staff is every bit as friendly and helpful as CMs at WDW. It's a small regional park but I love it for that.

It's like pizza for me. Sometimes I want a neopolitan style, sometimes I want Chicago style. But my heart is with the local style. All the same basic concept, but different enough to do different things for meant different times.

 

[RBrooksC]

That is just crazy.

One can enjoy many different parks. We try to go to Hershey Park at least once a year. Sometimes, we have gone twice in a year. It is fun place to go. Is it WDW? No, it isn't. But I never looked at it as such. I think Hershey Park is beautifully landscaped with great rides. It is a nice escape close to my home.

But Hershey Park is not about creating a setting or a mood. They are not putting on a show like Disney does.

So, just go and enjoy yourself.

 

[scrapquitler]

Ok so please dont think im crazy!
I love Disney and go every year. I live 15 minutes from a Six Flags and had never been there. Everybody tells me Im crazy because i live so close and never put foot in it. Is just that i feel like im cheating Mickey Mouse. Im very loyal to disney and i feel that nothing is as good as the mouse.

does anyone else feels this way??

Don't feel bad, you aren't missing much.

We got season passes for there this year because DH and the kids wanted them, I hate the place. Lines are always long - flash pass costs $$, food is terrible and ridiculously expensive (small Ben&Jerry's ice cream cup or cone: $4.99 + tax, 'family pizza deal - 4 small sodas, one gross pizza and a 'family salad' $44.99 +tax)

I used to LOVE the place when it was Riverside, but now I dread every week or whatever when the family says they want to go. I find myself continually comparing to Disney, and feel like I'm getting ripped off (even with my $55 season pass LOL)

 

[pooch]

to Riverside Park. Anyone remember when you bought individual tickets for each ride? I've always felt the problem with the Six Flags take-over of Riverside is the lack of land to expand (except, apparently, the parking lot!!). This makes it a very crowded park as SF tries to introduce better, bigger attractions with no place to put them. My daughter MC'd the Wiggles show there for a summer & performed as a character in the parades. We got season passes that year to see her perform but hasven't since.

As opposed to Disney, I think the SF type of park is geared toward children/teens/young adults. When DH and I were younger, we took the 2 kids on a roller coaster vacation hitting Six Flags Great Adventure, Kennywood, Cedar Point and Hersey in the space of a week. I think we went on 25 coasters!! I could never do that now and there's really nothing else to do at these types of parks IMHO. At Disney, there are a million things to do no matter what you happen to like.

However, I don't feel like I'm cheating by going somewhere else for entertainment. Do you think Disney is cheating on ME when they let other guests in????

 

[scrapquitler]

to Riverside Park. Anyone remember when you bought individual tickets for each ride? I've always felt the problem with the Six Flags take-over of Riverside is the lack of land to expand (except, apparently, the parking lot!!). This makes it a very crowded park as SF tries to introduce better, bigger attractions with no place to put them. My daughter MC'd the Wiggles show there for a summer & performed as a character in the parades. We got season passes that year to see her perform but hasven't since.

I don't remember individual ride tickets, but I do remember that you used to have the option of entering the park and NOT riding, or buying a wristband that allowed you to ride all day. Back then the Loop Coaster and the Thunderbolt were the big coasters!

And we used to go into the park and walk around (with no admission charge) while we waited for the race track to open on Saturday nights. After doing that a few times, we started buing season passes so that we could go on a ride or two before the races started on Saturday night. It was a very sad time for us when the track closed.

 

[Luv4Disney]

Ok so please dont think im crazy!
I love Disney and go every year. I live 15 minutes from a Six Flags and had never been there. Everybody tells me Im crazy because i live so close and never put foot in it. Is just that i feel like im cheating Mickey Mouse. Im very loyal to disney and i feel that nothing is as good as the mouse.

does anyone else feels this way??

DH and I actually took a drive up to that SF one year, but we mainly go to the Jackson, NJ one. Believe me, Disney is in such a different league, I don't even consider it worthy to call it competition. We go for the thrill rides and that's it. Whenever we're there all we do is say things like, you'd never see that in Disney, etc.

 

[BAMLuvMickey]

I WILL ride the "THRILL" rides at Disney(ToT,SM etc) but for some reason, six flags rides are too "THRILLING" for me. The thought of going on one of their rides scares the poop outta me!

I don't know what it is but to me, I feel safer on Disney rides...I go to Six Flags New England(about 2 hours from here) every few years or so and it pretty much reminds me why I should have put the money I spent there in the DISNEY FUND jar. Its not just for Disney, but vacation in general, right now it IS for Disney though.
I am not even a fan of Universal/IOA. There are a few rides rides I like at IOA though(Spiderman, any of the Dr. Suess ones) but unless I got my ticket for free, will not be visiting there any time soon.