I didn’t mean to cause such controversy! We just didn’t like it.
No worries! I dislike a lot of the tourist traps mentioned here, such as Las Vegas, Times Square, and Fisherman’s Wharf and my family agrees with me on these. Then again, I like some of the other tourist traps mentioned here. It’s our first-ever trip to that area so just wanted to be prepared.
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I don’t think this one has been listed -
Digger’s Dungeon, home of Grave Digger, the big monster truck that was popular maybe 20 years ago. It’s on the coast in NC, on the way to Nag’s Head. I haven’t been, but we drive by it when we head to the Outer Banks.
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This is where we stayed in Charleston. It was the town home of the folks who owned Middleton Plantation. https://www.21eastbattery.com/
Some places are a mixed bag. When the kids were young, we took two different sets of older relatives to the Flying W Ranch chuckwagon bbq/music in Colorado Springs. (We went to the original version, before it burned to the ground - have not tried the rebuilt location.). The dinner and music were really fun! The second visit we knew not to leave too much time beforehand to see old recreated town. It was fun too, but it had lots of retail woven into the stores etc.
Mixed bag for sure. On our Ireland trip those who went to the night of Irish food and culture raved about it. On our Scotland trip the included night of Scottish food and culture was horrible—a guy on an accordion accompanied by a keyboard is NOT NOT traditional Scottish music!!! Not a fiddle or bagpipe to be heard!
My first answer here is Venice, which is like a 400 year old version of Disney Land. It’s the only place in Italy where the restaurants are not good – they have almost no reliance on repeat, local customers. I like Florence a lot more, though we often go to other places in Italy.
I’m allergic to touristy places generally. Hated Las Vegas (but then I have studied a lot of statistics so betting against the house is a painful idea). Have driven past South of the Border and it is so tacky it seems like a self-parody.
We took our kids to Disney World when they were young. Neither ShawWife nor I would ever go back, but our 4 year old and 7 year old were walking on air for two days. Disney knows how to deliver extreme customer satisfaction to its intended audience. But, that was 20 some years ago so maybe it has declined.
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Scottish bagpipes are outside instruments. Irish pipes can be played inside, but Scottish pipes are traditionally only played outdoors.
Do they ever. In addition to the princess experience I shared above, at one point we were leaving our Disney hotel room and the 3-year-old was crying. The housekeeping staff cleaning rooms at the other end of the hallway heard her crying and came running to show her how they made animal sculptures out of hand towels and gave her a beautiful “elephant” to take with her. It’s honestly awe-inspiring to see any operation that executes its business at that level.
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Absolutely! Everything else aside, Disney’s customer service is number 1.
For example, you can ask anyone, any question. They’ll never brush you off saying they don’t know or it’s not their department. If they know the answer, they’ll happily help you out. If they don’t know, they’ll walk you over to someone who does. Always, with a smile.
It’s rare to see this level of customer service anywhere else these days.
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Just about everything regarding Disney Parks that I’ve heard in the last several years has been negative, at least until Iger took over again. People were complaining about crowds and how Disney was nickel-and-diming customers to the point that they never wanted to go back to Disney.
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I think Disney parks deserve most of the critique they get, as well as most of the praise. Going to the parks in high season is a unique form of torture.
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My husband and I went a year ago October and had a blast. It wasn’t very crowded that time of year and the weather was great. We had so much fun doing whatever we wanted to. We lingered in the Animal Kingdom quite awhile, talking to the cast members who worked with the animals.
Having said that, I don’t think we’ll be going again. It’s too expensive.
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There’s a Scottish band popular in our area that we have heard live many times and the piper plays smallpipes indoors. You can play Scottish folk music without highland pipes.
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Since we’re on a Disney sideline: We went once with our young family, about 25 years ago. Loved it. ONCE. But we had the best advice from a dear friend who would visit nearly every year. #1: Travel between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Far fewer crowds, nice weather, and all the Holiday decorations will be out. The children were young enough, that missing school was not a problem. #2: Arrive at the park first thing in the morning. Go back to hotel for a mid-afternoon nap or swim, but at least a 2 hour rest. Then return. Otherwise no one will be happy toward the end of the afternoon or early evening by sheer exhaustion. It worked for us.
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That may have been the case for crowds 25 years ago, but the Thanksgiving to Christmas crowds are now oppressive. We went in mid-December, before Christmas break for schools, and it was packed. One evening visit to Magic Kingdom had more people packed in than anything I have ever seen in my life…and I have been in some big NYC crowds and some big sports crowds.
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Historically it’s cheapest for Disney’s timeshare owners to stay at there in the period between thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s on a points system. So lots and lots of vacation club members plus people trying to go when it’s been less crowded.
Disney is a “victim” of its own popularity. Also because of the pandemic, people want to travel and feel more comfortable traveling domestically. I think National Parks have been slammed also.
As the pandemic wanes, people might be less inclined to visit places that have a lot of outdoor spaces and visit other areas. Who knows.
I wish their intended audience included adults at the end of their lives due to cancer. A couple of people were fabulous, including the chef at Ohana (we were staying at the Polynesian). Most didn’t care. A few were downright mean, including one of the monorail attendants at the Polynesian who berated her/us for using the emergency exit to get to her loading area more easily AFTER we had been shown how to do this by a different attendant the previous day and told him so. “Can’t you read?” he stated over and over. “This is for emergencies only - go through the line!” There was NO line of people - just the cattle line gates to maneuver with a wheelchair.
We haven’t been back since and if we’d had a do-over never, ever, would have gone there. Mom loved traveling and thought going to Epcot to “pretend” to travel the world again would be a nice “end.” Overall, it was horrid. The few nice people were the exception unfortunately.
When I was going through chemo my family ( including my parents) went to Universal Studios. It restored my faith in humanity - everyone was so accommodating! Waiting in line indoors for the Jimmy Fallon ride I got extremely nauseous and before I could even say anything to my family, the line attendant was by my side, asking if I needed assistance.
I’m so sorry that was your experience during what should have been a memorable time together.
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We never took our kids to Disney World but took them to Grand Teton/Yellowstone for 11 days. They still talk about that trip 20 yrs later. Looking back on Disney (we went there before the kids came along) it strikes me as fake—why go see fake landscapes when you can see real ones? Europe is so close to us on the east coast, why visit fake castles when you can visit real ones?
We can visit Europe for what it would cost to visit Disney, TBH. I have a cousin who hassles me for going to Iceland instead of Alaska (“you need to see 'Murica”). My comeback was that Iceland was closer and cheaper than Alaska.
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