TripAdvisor ranks IOA as #1 theme park in the USA

[Imperius]

MAGIC is the most negative, or as I call it, the least pixie dust addled of the Disney sites.

They hate Universal though.

Yeah. It was hilarious that people were legit angry about it. I never will never understand the devotion people have to a large corporation that doesn’t care about them.

 

[Bulldog45]

MAGIC is the most negative, or as I call it, the least pixie dust addled of the Disney sites.

They hate Universal though.

I'll never understand how people can hate Universal. Does that mean they hate some of their classic movies like Jaws, E.T. and Back to the Future too?

 

[Teebin]

I had to wander over and rubberneck and I made it through a page and a half. At least there were a few there that saw the reasoning behind it all, while the others seem to view Universal as a sewage treatment facility.

 

[shiekra38]

I think that's what we're ignoring... that it's possible that guests actually ARE having a better time at Islands than at Magic Kingdom, especially when it comes to lines to get in, waits for rides, waits for food, etc. At Disney they don't even have the option of paying to skip the line or staying at the right on-site hotel for it. I have friends and family who come back from parks and say they "couldn't do" this ride or "couldn't do" that ride. They could've done it...it was open... they're just not willing to wait whatever the posted wait time is for them.

We don't do TripAdvisor reviews... we do Trip Reports here or on other boards. This is mostly the general public who is buying their 1 or 2-day tickets and navigating these parks with sometimes little to no research. So there's quite a few variables as to why guests might be rating IOA higher than parks that even we as a theme park community agree are actually superior.

MK relies a lot on past nostalgia and name alone...IOA has at least grown recently....I always said the park was better than Magic Kingdom, even before Potter...I wish it go the attention it deserved back in 1999, but they just didn't sell it right.....Walking through a new IOA when it first opened and experiencing everything for the first time was a truly, pardon the pun, magical experience

Also, the food is better at IOA than MK

I'll never understand how people can hate Universal. Does that mean they hate some of their classic movies like Jaws, E.T. and Back to the Future too?

Let's face it, it's the only threat to their perfect magic town...Therefore, they take the competition personally

 

[hishedale]

I don't get the complaints for MK crowds. I thought everyone enjoyed shoulder to shoulder crowds in 90 degree heat with obnoxious children and people who don't know how to walk properly. So ungrateful!

 

[Mad Dog]

MAGIC is the most negative, or as I call it, the least pixie dust addled of the Disney sites.

They hate Universal though.

I read it since their Insiders have the best WDW info. BUT I WOULD NEVER POST on the site. It's too hostile and unfriendly.

 

[UNIrd]

Just decided to do a quick glance of Magic Kingdom TripAdvisor reviews.. The issue doesn't seem to be with the park at all but how you get in and out of it. Some of these are gold..

You queue up to pay £20 to park, you queue up for a tram to the ticket office, 30 minute queue to part with £400 to go in, you queue up for 30 minutes to get a monorail to the park, you queue up again to have your finger prints taken and then you get in and you cannot even move.

Queued to get out, queued for the monorail, queued for the tram, queued to get out the car park. What a total nightmare, more than £100 an hour for queuing up and £100 a minute for time on the actual rides.

Decent place and all that, but despise the monorail and boat system to get to/from the park to the transportation center. My idea of a vacation does not include spending 30-60 minutes with my closest sweaty friends hovering over a mosquito-infested lagoon at 11pm. Mostly thinly veiled marketing ploy to get you to stay on-property I've ever seen.

For the first time, we did not stay in a Disney Resort & we drove our own car and parked...

OOOOOOOOOOOH MYYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOODNESS!!!
BAD BAD BAD BAD CHOICE!!

it is just a total complete disaster when trying to get back to our car. On the evening that we were there, Magic Kingdom closed at 11pm & we started making our way out at 10:40 or so....
we should have left much earlier.

There was a total crush of people trying to get on the monorail to take them back to parking.
Although I know the parking attendant and tram drives work like crazy and are mostly professional, I was very disappointed in the entire process of trying to get back to our car at the end of the day. It made me not want to EVER take my car again.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just decided to do a quick glance of Magic Kingdom TripAdvisor reviews.. The issue doesn't seem to be with the park at all but how you get in and out of it. Some of these are gold..

When I stay on sit at WDW, I usually drive to all the resorts EXCEPT MK. I take the bus, most of the time to MK for those reasons. And the buses back up pretty bad too.. Those reviews are soooooo right on.

 

[hishedale]

When I stay on sit at WDW, I usually drive to all the resorts EXCEPT MK. I take the bus, most of the time to MK for those reasons. And the buses back up pretty bad too.. Those reviews are soooooo right on.

I learned the hard way to run as fast as possible out of MK before the fireworks end. However, a little tip, if you ever get caught in the rush and don't want to wait the 1 hour ferry wait or 2 hour monorail wait, just take the resort back to Polynesian and cut across to tickets and transportation. That has saved me so much time before.

 

[shiekra38]

Just decided to do a quick glance of Magic Kingdom TripAdvisor reviews.. The issue doesn't seem to be with the park at all but how you get in and out of it. Some of these are gold..

Sounds like getting in and out is the biggest issue haha, and the queues of course

 

[jtsalien]

I really sincerely hope Park 3 is Universals MK. IOA is fantastic, but we need a park with the robust roster that MK has. A park with Universals innovation and MK's lineup depth can topple Disneyland as best Park in the country.

 

[shiekra38]

I really sincerely hope Park 3 is Universals MK. IOA is fantastic, but we need a park with the robust roster that MK has. A park with Universals innovation and MK's lineup depth can topple Disneyland as best Park in the country.

Hot take, perhaps, but I never found MK's lineup to be particularly...robust

Do you mean quantity?

 

[jtsalien]

Hot take, perhaps, but I never found MK's lineup to be particularly...robust

Do you mean quantity?

Yes and no. Quality definitely helps. I mean robust in that other than top thrills like Hulk or RNRC it hits about every level of attraction. And there's many different types of things to do. Not just hop from different D/E tickets around IOA. You can watch a show, you can ride the people mover, you can ride a Rollercoaster, you can ride a water ride without pretending like you jumped in a pool

Yes MK still can't touch DL. But hands down it has the most to do of any Orlando park.

 

[Skipper Justin]

I just would like the openness of Disney showbuilding for a few of the attractions. Universal tends to do more intimate. There’s just something so grand about the size of pirates or Indiana Jones Adventure.

 

[mainejeff]

The 3 best theme parks that I have been to are:

Disneyland
Dollywood
Islands of Adventure

 

[Magic-Man]

My question is, how in the world is Universal Studios Japan ranked so low? O:

 

[Ridgepole]

Apparently MAGIC choked on the info as the site is down.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

The 3 best theme parks that I have been to are:

Disneyland
Dollywood
Islands of Adventure

(I like SDC more than Dollywood)

My question is, how in the world is Universal Studios Japan ranked so low? O:

Because it's an English focused site with a self selecting reporting system. It's not accurate and very subjective. I could see a Japan focused, or a Chinese focused, site put Ocean Park as #1 in the world.

 

[JunoSynth]

The 3 best theme parks that I have been to are:

Disneyland
Dollywood
Islands of Adventure

Mine would be
Carowinds (Haven't been to Ceder Point yet)
Disneyland
Six Flags over Texas in 1985

As far as theme park food goes. Dollywood blows them all away.
Cinnamon Bread at Dollywood. Oh man I didn't know something could taste so goood!

 

[twebber55]

MAGIC is the most negative, or as I call it, the least pixie dust addled of the Disney sites.

They hate Universal though.

there are plenty on magic that like Universal ( i could list them if you like starting with you and me)
as far as trip advisor i think its a just a different group of people or with a different perspective
its certainly a site i look at