Favorite under-rated ride, experience, and foods (and what's over-rated)!

[kathy884]

I agree with many the other posts

Underrated:
Rides: Living with the Land, Mickey's Philharmagic

Shows: Festival of the Lion King

Food: Having a Mickey Bar at the MK with the ears and the great Dole bar chocolate. Hey I know I could buy a box a Walmart for not much more, but the bad thing about that is I would eat them all way too fast. The high price at the parks means I just get one per trip. Biting into that ear is a magical experience.

Experiences: With little kids it's just really run to ride around on the monorail and little boats, etc. Playing at the great hotel swimming pools has always been a favorite of my kids.


Overrated:
Rides: 7DMT, Peter Pan

Food: Love some of the deluxe hotels for the theming, but OMG Disney Table Service dining is just really overpriced in my book (BOMA) Ohana), Fatasmic Mama Melrose dinner package -- had to line up an hour in advance to get into the reserved seating and food was fine but mediocre, Hoop Dee Doo Review -- kind of fun, but humor like Hee Haw that I'm not really into

Experiences: All I have tried were fun, but Just so pricey. Many look fun, but are just too rich for my blood. (I tend these days to just do the theme parks themselves).

 

[Jonfw2]

Underrated…

Ride: Star Tours. Still one of my favorite queues and multiple possible journeys.
Experience: soccer playing guys in AK
Food: pizza rizzo. Admit it. You love it.

Overrated:

Ride: 7D. I just don’t get it. It’s a kiddie coaster with so so theming.
Experience: kite tails. RIP. Yawn.
Food: space 220. $100 per person for an elevator simulator.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Food: pizza rizzo. Admit it. You love it.

I am so weirdly addicted to that terrible pizza and the soggy ceasar salad and I am NOT ashamed to admit that I love it It’s gross in the best way.

 

[jdrasin]

Okay..."Things I appreciate more than others might":

• Ride: Na'vi River Journey (it's so pretty and relaxing; I do wish it was longer though)
• Experience: Country Bear Jamboree (especially when in that tired/silly limbo state of existence late at night when everything is just SO funny!)
• Food: Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar (It's a MUST to eat at least one on the trip...often two.)

Now..."Things I might not appreciate as much as others do":

• Ride: Flight of Passage (one and done for me. It was fine, but I actually prefer Soarin')
• Experience: Ummm...the entirety of Hollywood Studios? It's just not my scene. I much prefer the other three parks. HS is a distant fourth.
• Food: Gideon's Bakehouse (the cake I got was pretty good, but the hype, the wait, and the price were beyond absurd.)

How could I forget county jamboree. I have loved that show since a first saw it 25+ years ago.

 

[TaraS29]

Experience: soccer playing guys in AK

I got roped in to being part of this show last time we were there, my husband and son are football-mad so they loved watching how bad I was at heading the balls!

 

[serenitynow]

I am so weirdly addicted to that terrible pizza and the soggy ceasar salad and I am NOT ashamed to admit that I love it It’s gross in the best way.

Pizza Rizzo pizza brings back fond memories of grade school cafeteria pizza.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thought it would be fun to start a thread of most under-rated rides, experiences, and foods/restaurants!
For foods especially, I seem to hear about the same old snacks (dole whip, school bread from Norway, fish and chips from England, turkey leg, etc.) but I'm sure there are so many delicious "hidden" treats out there too!
(Feel free to include OVER-rated as well!)

Here are my favorite underrates:
Rides - Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Peoplemover, Little Mermaid
Experiences - Disney Springs for breakfast, balloon ride at Disney Springs,
Foods - Chocolate ganache drink at Disney Springs, everything from Les Halles

OVERRATED:
Rides - Winne the Pooh, Remy/Ratatouille (made me dizzy), Jungle Cruise
Experiences - watching fireworks from Polynesian beach, fireworks at MK at night (really loud for the kids and ridiculously crowded),
Foods - the pork belly dishes at any of the Epcot festivals, regular Dole Whip, Gideon's Bakehouse (NO cookies are worth a 3+ hour wait)

I've never heard of Winnie the Pooh as being a must do I do agree JC is nothing special. I get that it's a Walt designed ride at DL but we can take it or leave it. I do have a lot of memories growing up and my dad teasing me about the animals all being real but it's not something we have to do esp if it's a long wait.

Remy, I actually like that ride a lot. Would I pay to ride it every trip, yeah, maybe!

my fave underated
Rides - Peoplemover - for sure!
Experiences - early morning PPO breakfast when they used to do that pre-covid and park closing dining reservations.
Foods - bacon stick in MK at Westward Ho and the egg rolls in adventureland, the bowls at Satuli canteen in AK

my overrated list
Rides-IMO, and super unpopular opinion I know, but SWROR is not that amazing to me. It's cool and it's a fun experience, but I feel like it's missing something and it really isn't that thrilling. Now I have yet to ride it when all the gizmos are all working so maybe that detracts from my experience but for all the hype, it's not that amazing to me. Again, I think Remy and MMRR are better trackless rides.
Experiences-We're not parade people so while we like stumbling on one and seeing characters go by, we won't camp out for any of them, just not our thing.
Foods- Hmm, we aren't super picky but not so much a food as it is a type of meal..... we won't usually do any buffets, not that there are that many anymore but we don't eat enough to justify AYCTE or a buffet. We did some when the kids were little for characters but they're such a waste of $$ now. I'm sure we'll go back to a few where we love the atmosphere or want to see a character or two but they're super pricy and usually the food is sort of MEH.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I would phrase this as -

Things I appreciate more than others -
Rides - Living with the Land, Tom Sawyer Island, Teacups
Experiences - One Man's Dream (It's the heart and soul of WDW) and Rafiki's Planet Watch
Restaurants - Sanaa

Things others appreciate more than me -
Rides - Tomorrowland Speedway (I would cheer if this was replaced)
Experiences - Dessert parties (I love desserts, but I'm done after maybe 5 bites, this would be totally wasted on me)
Restaurants (food) - fancy cupcakes (they always look better than they taste), Whispering Canyon Cafe, Liberty Tree Tavern (Thanksgiving just doesn't appeal to me on a hot day at a theme park)

The fancy cupcakes are always gross.....the amount of frosting on some of them is ludicrous!!

 

[GAN]

Pizza Rizzo pizza brings back fond memories of grade school cafeteria pizza.

OR WORSE....

 

[DisneyFive]

I don't know if it's under rated, or more so just not very well known (especially for first time visitors), but...

Experiences:

• The Animation classes.

We were so happy to see it back at Rafiki's Planet watch at AK!! We used to LOVE it in HS when they had it in the early to mid 2010's, but sadly for years it was gone. I think they still had some at the Art of Animation resort but that was too much of a hassle.

Overrated:

• Agree with PP. Buffets, especially character buffets.

We can't eat enough to justify, and the cost is WAAAY high compared to most TS where you order off a menu. The only time we really enjoyed some buffets was when the free dining offers were around. (oh how I miss those days!!!) 1 TS credit for a buffet and characters was a great choice especially when our kids were young and loved the character interaction and signing. ...or crab legs and seafood at Cape Mays...


Dan

 

[JoyfulHeart]

I’ve never done Tom Sawyer Island before.
Is there much to do when you get there? I imagine this takes up a long chunk of your day to travel there and back plus spend time on the island?

My girls surprisingly loved it last year ( our first time going). There are caves to go through, a fort and just walking across the bridges was fun for them. They were 7 & 10 last year. it was a nice "break" from crazy. we waited about 15-20 minutes for a 5 minute boat trip across and 10 minutes for the way back. But Disney was still limiting the capacity. So I don't know what it would be now ( only about 10-12 ppl could go on each boat). The girls have already asked to go again on our trip this summer.

 

[jimmymc]

Over-rated:
Rides:

• Dumbo - it's a carnival ride that somehow got associated with Disneyland
• Frozen Ever After - It's a great ride but too short to warrant the massive line
• Alien Swirling Saucers - This ride is way too boring and short
• Slinky Dog Dash - way too gentle for being a large, expensive coaster with a massive wait

Food:

• Cheshire cat tails - not as good as the chocolate breads you can get elsewhere
• Epcot festival booths, most of them - food is smaller, more expensive, and the same or lower quality as the quick service restaurants in Epcot
• Woody's Lunchbox - totchos aren't great and the sandwiches are just ordinary things you can make at home

Under-rated
Rides:

• Carousel of Progress - One of the best shows out there, very comfy theater
• Under the Sea - great dark ride that rarely gets a long line
• Gran Fiesta Tour - really fun boat ride that shows off Mexico, the better Small World
• Kilimanjaro Safaris - this line gets low and I know a lot of people who skip it due to the long ride time, but it's live animals!

Food:

• Columbia Harbor House - the good quick service in Magic Kingdom, plenty of room to sit upstairs
• Katsura Grill - The curry and ramen are both amazing
• La Cava del Tequila - way better margaritas than what you get outside
• Ronto Wraps - they only serve 1 item but it's the perfect snack

 

[jennyq87]

Underrated:

• The Brown Elephant drink at African Outpost in World Showcase. It's not even on the menu anymore, buy they will still make it if you ask!
• Victoria Falls lounge. I swear it's always empty when we are there? But a great place to relax & have a beverage.
• The Skyliner. I feel like I see a lot of negativity about it on here, but we LOVE it! We will hop on and just ride around

Overrated:

• The Boathouse. Love the atmosphere, but never really had a "great" meal there.
• Pretty much all pastries on property (but mostly looking at you, cupcakes). They look so pretty in the display cases and in online reviews, but are usually SUPER dry
• Staying on the monorail loop. We love the atmosphere of the Poly, but it just really wasn't convenient for anything outside of Magic Kingdom (for us).

 

[jimmymc]

Underrated:
Ride: Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Experience: any special exhibit in the countries at Epcot (although, the lack of appreciation did give us one of our favorite overheard quotes of all time: "we ain't got time for this cultural sh*t" - overheard about 20 years ago and we still laugh about it!)
Food/Restaurant: nothing that I can think of that is currently offered

Overrated:
Ride: I'm just going to say it...Peter Pan's Flight, I like it and totally appreciate the nostalgia but just not the hype level that it is at.
Experience: the dessert parties, we've done them twice...they keep making them higher in price and lower in "specialness"
Food/Restaurant: Be our Guest, I always get caught up in the FOMO and make an ADR and we always walk away totally underwhelmed.

I second Peter Pan! Such a massive wait for a tiny ride.

 

[lfcfan]

Enjoying reading everyone's thoughts, and made me want to share a story. The moral is, I guess, that Disney magic can happen in some of the most unexpected places!

After 10 or so trips of ignoring the dreaded, awful, Tomorrowland Speedway, my newly driver's permitted son wanted to ride it one night in December 2018. I was the lucky passenger. Well, whether it was him, or all of the cars are like this, he couldn't keep it straight for one second. Not one second. He was trying so hard, and we just lurched back and forth against the middle rail the ENTIRE ride. I got the giggles early on, and we just could not stop laughing. My husband was riding behind us, witnessing this catastrophe. Our sides hurt from laughing so hard. Literally, tears were streaming down my face. My son was thinking he would never be able to get his license since he couldn't drive this car (but he was laughing about it.)

Fast forward 4 years to our trip coming up next week, and my mellow 20 year old who never really makes requests, has specifically asked if we can ride it again. One of my best times ever at DW with my son was that ride, and I think it's the same for him, too. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected that.

 

[nonnadisney]

I’m coming at this from a slightly different angle than most.. Underrated food: anything gluten free! Seriously, it is so nice to be able to safely eat “normal” theme park food like hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders, French fries, etc. I can’t speak for other food allergies, but as someone who has celiac disease this is a big deal. A very big deal. Are there restaurants elsewhere that offer a gluten free menu? Yes, but you have to go through lots of duds to find a place that knows what they are doing. And it’s relatively easy to make a gluten free steak, baked potato, and salad. The underrated food is the stuff i don’t get to have on a regular basis. The junk food that goes with a theme park visit. There’s still plenty I can’t have, especially all of those instagram worthy cupcakes and desserts. But I’m happy having the savory stuff plus dole whip floats are gf!
Also, underrated rides: Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Navi, Little Mermaid, People Mover

My DD has a number of food allergies so this really puts a different perspective on food choices at WDW. The Dole whips are such a treat for those who are dairy free and or Gluten free! Wanted to let you know there is a bakery in Disney Springs; Erin McKenna Bakery that has allergy friendly baked goods. My daughter loves the place. So maybe you can have a couple yummy desserts.

 

[Mamiamjo]

UNDERRATED

Foods - Dole whip SWIRL - dole whips on their own are too tart, vanilla soft serve too boring on its own, but put them together and it's heaven in a cup. Yes! I especially like the Orange/Vanilla Swirl

OVERRATED:
Rides - Rise of the Resistance. Not worth the frustration of how often it breaks down and disrupts your daily schedule, half the time is in disappointing "B" mode, and to be honest I've always like MFSR better. I for one, agree with your assessment of ROTR, but frankly, don't care for Smuggler's Run much at all.

Foods - The kitchen sink at Beaches and Cream. Mediocre store-bought ice cream, weird mix of toppings and wayyyyy too much whipped cream. "A whole can?" Not a fan of the Kitchen Sink, but I can devour a "No Way Jose"

I definitely agree with some of your ratings