OThopeful35
Nurse by night, Princess by day
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2010
We always leave DHS by noon or no later than 1pm. We've done the shows and Star Wars dessert party multiple times. After we do our fastpasses and do some shopping, we usually leave.
I loved MGM back in the day and I love HS now. I don't think it's impossible to love both. I can find more than enough to do in the park to fill an entire day now, even 1.5 days when I have the time. Just because some people don't want to experience everything a park has to offer doesn't mean it's a poor value for everyone.Oh, I totally agree with the OP. It's funny to me how many people are on the defensive for HS in it's current state. It is clearly a poor value and waste of a ticket if you don't have hoppers. Disney basically took away all of our family's favourites: Great Movie Ride, Backlot Express, Lights, Motors Action, Streets of America and the Honey I shrunk the kids playground (our kids far prefered that playground over meeting a character). Most of these lost attractions were good for all ages. They replaced these with...2 rides, one of which small children cannot ride. Waiting years to open up more attractions than that and keeping half the park under construction was a dumb decision on Disney's part. Great Movie ride should not have been closed until SWGE was open.
I feel like those who don't understand the OP's position are possibly fans that are newer to the parks and didn't visit / don't remember what HS was like in the past.
Did you find the margarita kiosks?How about this “we don’t like the limited rides and shows there “
I believe the OP mentioned the prevalence of meet and greets, which I've noticed have increased exponentially over the years. Your list highlights this fact. It makes sense, something to put on the map that costs Disney little.RNRR
ToT
Beauty and the Beast
Lightning McQueens Racing Academy
Frozen Sing a Long
Star Tours
Indiana Jones
Launch Bay (3 meet and greets and a video attraction)
Disney Jr. meet and greets
Disney Jr. Dance Party
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Meet Mike and Sully
Slinky Dog Dash
Alien Saucers
TSMM
Meet Toy Story characters
Incrediberg Dance Party (and num num cookies)
Muppets
Assuming you spent 30 minutes at each one, that's an 9 hour day
Add in Fantasmic, the Star Wars stage shows, meal breaks, longer lines, shopping, bathroom breaks, I do not see how this is a 1/2 day park, unless you are just intentionally skipping half of the park
I think you're making a lot of assumptions, like many people are, and mischaracterizing things, like many people are.Oh, I totally agree with the OP. It's funny to me how many people are on the defensive for HS in it's current state. It is clearly a poor value and waste of a ticket if you don't have hoppers. Disney basically took away all of our family's favourites: Great Movie Ride, Backlot Express, Lights, Motors Action, Streets of America and the Honey I shrunk the kids playground (our kids far prefered that playground over meeting a character). Most of these lost attractions were good for all ages. They replaced these with...2 rides, one of which small children cannot ride. Waiting years to open up more attractions than that and keeping half the park under construction was a dumb decision on Disney's part. Great Movie ride should not have been closed until SWGE was open.
I feel like those who don't understand the OP's position are possibly fans that are newer to the parks and didn't visit / don't remember what HS was like in the past.
Disney basically took away all of our family's favourites: Great Movie Ride, Backlot Express, Lights, Motors Action, Streets of America and the Honey I shrunk the kids playground (our kids far prefered that playground over meeting a character).
I feel like those who don't understand the OP's position are possibly fans that are newer to the parks and didn't visit / don't remember what HS was like in the pa
It’s not a matter of not understanding, its personal preferences.
We started going to HS a month after it opened so I’m fully aware of how it used to be. All the things you listed with the exception of GMR, we disliked. It wasn't until TSL opened that I actually enjoyed it enough to spend several half days there. We never do full days at any park, we open 1 park, close another. Before TSL, HS got 2 half days, but only to see both Fantasmic and the fireworks. With SWGE, HS will probably be the park that gets the most visits per trip for us.
What I don’t get is not being able to understand that just because you don't like something and others do, they must not know how good it used to be, they’re newbies or they’re apologists. I also don’t get the one and done with a show, but the desire to ride the same roller coaster dozens of times. I’ve probably seen Fantasmic 20 times and I’m still excited to see it again n our next trip.
I don’t want WDW to become an amusement park packed with dozens of rides and nothing else. If I wanted that, I’d go to Universal.
As noted...mostly meet and greets,or some toddler fare. Even with the newer Toy STory rides(saucers....ummm maybe not worth waiting for?) it's 5-6 rides,whether they're great rides is debatable to each person. When we visited last year, we found it to be a 1/2 day park also. Not much of the previous atmosphere left to soak in, not much in the way of great new atmosphere to soak in...just a few rides and then we left.RNRR
ToT
Beauty and the Beast
Lightning McQueens Racing Academy
Frozen Sing a Long
Star Tours
Indiana Jones
Launch Bay (3 meet and greets and a video attraction)
Disney Jr. meet and greets
Disney Jr. Dance Party
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Meet Mike and Sully
Slinky Dog Dash
Alien Saucers
TSMM
Meet Toy Story characters
Incrediberg Dance Party (and num num cookies)
Muppets
Assuming you spent 30 minutes at each one, that's an 9 hour day
Add in Fantasmic, the Star Wars stage shows, meal breaks, longer lines, shopping, bathroom breaks, I do not see how this is a 1/2 day park, unless you are just intentionally skipping half of the park
12 of those things are not toddler fare or meet and greets. And only 3 I would say are toddler fare. Just because you don't find them interesting doesn't mean they're toddler rides.As noted...mostly meet and greets,or some toddler fare. Even with the newer Toy STory rides(saucers....ummm maybe not worth waiting for?) it's 5-6 rides,whether they're great rides is debatable to each person. When we visited last year, we found it to be a 1/2 day park also. Not much of the previous atmosphere left to soak in, not much in the way of great new atmosphere to soak in...just a few rides and then we left.
That list that someone posted a few posts back,about 2007-2019 differences?I'm one of those who heartily prefers the older version of the park. I know it may be just opinion, but it's mine. There is no discernible atmosphere currently in this park making it special. There used to be. There might be again in the future. When the streetmosphere characters began to be thinned out,and stuff started closing....this park lost it's luster overall for me. I consider it a few rides and then out. I'm sad to hear ToT is under construction, it's still a gem as far as I'm concerned and I hope they don't change it. Honestly our last visit was approx. 10-3.12 of those things are not toddler fare or meet and greets. And only 3 I would say are toddler fare. Just because you don't find them interesting doesn't mean they're toddler rides.
No, it was a list that mentioned it being a 9 hour day. I was just calling out the fact that there aren't that many toddler rides, even though people keep saying there are. That's my real complaint with this topic; a lot of people are generalizing that the rides are for toddlers or everything is a show, simply because they don't like it. It's factually wrong.That list that someone posted a few posts back,about 2007-2019 differences?I'm one of those who heartily prefers the older version of the park. I know it may be just opinion, but it's mine. There is no discernible atmosphere currently in this park making it special. There used to be. There might be again in the future. When the streetmosphere characters began to be thinned out,and stuff started closing....this park lost it's luster overall for me. I consider it a few rides and then out. I'm sad to hear ToT is under construction, it's still a gem as far as I'm concerned and I hope they don't change it. Honestly our last visit was approx. 10-3.
It's just their perception of the park. They perceive it as catering more to younger guests. None of us need to agree. And we don't need to defend liking the park or defend the park itself. It's fine for someone else to perceive the park as being mostly for little kids. Others don't see it that way at all, and that's okay too.12 of those things are not toddler fare or meet and greets. And only 3 I would say are toddler fare. Just because you don't find them interesting doesn't mean they're toddler rides.
Our family doesn't do the toddler rides and we find it hard to do a full day there. We there there a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of the stores on main street closed. I get that the app says everything is up and running, but that's because many of the previous attractions we enjoyed are gone forever. Studio Backlot Tour, Great Movie Ride, Magic of Disney Annimation, and Lights, Motor, Action. Plus, some of the shows are so old, we find them hard to enjoy. There are no suprises at Indy Jones.
For us, there are a handful of rides, RRC, TT, and TSM. Slinky Dog is OK, but falls somewhere between Barnstormer and BTM.
I agree with OP. It's a half day park for us even with TSL open. I really dislike the dance parties (seems like a cheap 'attraction' and they've often been poorly attended when we've passed by them). We don't do Meet & Greets - lots of time spent standing in lines - unless we have star struck kids with us who really want to do it. Shows have been the same for years so no great appeal there. SDD FP was a no go when we tried for it, same for the Alien Swirling Saucers. And, the food choices at this park are 'meh' (we miss Starring Rolls, Writers Stop...). So we do a few things, look around and say, 'On to another park!'
Maybe GE will help extend our stay next year.