“How can you possibly spend almost 2 weeks at Walt Disney World?” is the most asked question I get. And I always start the same: “You have to understand that there are 4 huge themeparks. So there is a lot to do, believe me!”. These 4 parks are very different and amazing in their own way but what was an re-occurring discussion during our recent trip was: “What’s your favorite park and how would you rank them?”.
Many different opinions and rankings passed as we explored all 4 parks but now that our trip is over let’s finally try to rank them. Not an easy job by any means as there are no ‘bad’ parks, but I have selected some criteria to help me create a ranking: rides, food, shows, general atmosphere and crowdlevel. Keep in mind this is my personal opinion based on my recent trip to Walt Disney World in May 2023. I am sure you can mix them up for many different reasons, preferences and experiences.
I gave each park scores on the determined criteria and this is how it turned out! Let’s kick it off with fourth place and work our way up to the top spot!
4the place: ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Food: 2/5
- Rides: 4/5
- Shows: 2/5
- Atmosphere: 3/5
- Crowdlevel: 4/5
Total score: 15/25
To be honest, it was a really close call between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. These are both amazing parks, but in my opinion they also have some points of improvement. Let me motivate my scores:
So I do take responsibility for the bad food choices at Animal Kingdom. We were on our way to have lunch at Yak & Yeti quick service when we passed the famous Kamal’s fries. I walked by, I thought about it, but then decided ‘let’s just all have food together, I’ll find something there’. Turns out I did not really see anything I liked, so I ended up getting a kids menu which was a tasteless burger. Worst decision ever and to this day it still hurts that I did not get those fries as I have been hearing people rave about them everywhere ever since! I do have to mention the food that everyone else got was really good so it was all on me. I did have a nice frozen chocolate banana but other delicious food items did not really catch my eye during the day. My rating is my experience, I do see people saying there is some great food at this park, and get the fries is all I can say! Also, everything closes very early in the day, which we did find a bit frustrating.
Animal Kingdom does not have a lot of rides but there are some really showstoppers here. The stunning Avatar rides, Kilimanjaro Safari and Expedition Everest are all truly amazing rides, some of my top rides in the whole of WDW, which explains the high score here. Also waiting times were not too bad, only Flight of Passage requires some patience, but very much worth it. To read more about these specific rides, check out my blog on my top 10 rides at Walt Disney World!
There are just not a lot of shows at this park. You have Festival of the Lion King, which is really good, a must see! And then there is the Finding Nemo show which I personally did not find that great because Finding Nemo does not have a lot of original songs, so there are some new and unknown ones in there and considering I am really a sucker for a Sing Along, this show did not do it for me.
Finally the crowdlevel when we went was really nice, I would say medium, so all the rides (apart from Flight of Passage) were quite a short wait and that just always makes a good themepark day!
In conclusion, Animal Kingdom is a great park. The atmosphere is very relaxing, you are surrounded by nature and animals, you really feel like you’re at a zoo. It feels like a very different park from the rest and that’s a good thing! It’s small, it’s intimate, it’s cute, but… I do also feel like it just needs more.. More rides, more park, more updates… The park isn’t very big, there aren’t a lot of rides so I really feel like they should focus on expanding this park.
Pandora was a great start, but still quite a small expansion in my opinion. So that’s the final reason why it takes the last spot. Specifically because of Dinoland… I really did not like this part of the park, I get it can have some nostalgia for locals but to us it just feels dated, it doesn’t match the atmosphere of the rest of the park and really takes you out of the experience that Animal Kingdom tries to create. Also now that Universal has expanded Jurassic Park, and very successfully so, I believe they should totally transform and update this part of the park. Funny note, I started writing this article before the D23 event this year, so I guess Disney read my mind here?! I am happy to announce that they are indeed planning major updates in the park in the coming years, especially for this area. Crazy right? Disney, if you want me to join in on the brainstorms, call me!
3rd place: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
- Food: 2,5/5
- Rides: 3/5
- Shows: 4/5
- Atmosphere: 4/5
- Crowdlevel: 2/5
Total score: 15,5/25
So my personal favorite park ends in 3rd place, well bronze medal is still good right? So why only 3rd if it’s my favorite? Going into the trip I was sure this would take one of the top spots as I’m such a fan of the whole old Hollywood vibe here, plus I am not a particular Star Wars fan, but I do have to say that part is really immersive and amazingly done. But as the atmosphere is great, the parks loses some heavy points on other criteria which is why it’s ranked in the 3rd spot. We visited Hollywood Studios for 2 complete days and this was our experience.
To kick it off with the food: I’m not really sure what’s going on here but we really had trouble finding good food. The park is often open quite late but many restaurants (in our experience) were not open that late and the food we did end up settling for was not the best. We ate at the Backlot Express and Catalina’s Eddie’s which was OK, and then we had food at Docking Bay 7 and Ronto Roasters at Galaxy’s Edge and that was really good. But apart from Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, the food options felt quite limited to traditional fast food. At some point we heard PizzeRizzo was good and we wanted to have dinner here but it was already closed, so that was disappointing.
On the rides Hollywood Studio has a couple of good rides, but to be honest there are just not that many and also nothing too spectacular in my opinion. There are some highs here with the advanced new Star Wars rides ofcourse (but they do suffer from mad queues unfortunately), also Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania , Frozen Sing Along and of course Indiana Jones show, Walt Disney Presents and finally my favorite Tower of Terror. However this is also a bit it… You can make your way around this park very quickly (depending on crowdlevel ofcourse), but there is just really not that much to do… Also some of the rides I mentioned were fun but also not as great as expected or remembered such as Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror. So in general Star Wars pulls the score up for the rides at Hollywood Studios for sure, but I feel like there are still a lot of room for more great rides to be added to this park.
As I already tapped into crowdlevels briefly, I added this criteria because it simply just has a major influence on how you experience a park. I can get quite overwhelmed and too big of crowd is just very intense for me, so I was a bit sad that we visited one of my favorite parks when it was quite busy. That means you get tired faster and like I said the park doesn’t have too many rides, so add a high crowdlevel to it, at some point you just call it a day and return to your hotel. Most rides are just not worth waiting an hour or more for (for example Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is great but if you’ve done it once, you will not wait another hour for it) and the ones that are worth it, for example the rides at Galaxy’s Edge go waaaaay overboard with the waiting times during the day, so I’m just not waiting 200 to even 300 minutes for any ride, period. That’s too crazy even for me. So maybe with less crowds my scores would with have been different, but this was our experience.
But let’s round up my beloved Hollywood Studios with a major positive note shall we? The absolute highlight of the park… Fantasmic. Holy-moly, that is one amazing show. Mind you, I had low expectations. When I visited the park 6 years ago, the show really did not stand out to me but now it blew our minds! I’m not going to spoil to much here, but it’s FANTASMIC, ha-ha! We loved it so much, we had to and did see it a 2nd time. After the last show we ran over to Center Stage and also enjoyed the show Wonderful World of Animation or Disney Movie Magic (I don’t know exactly which one we catched), but that was also so fun and so well done. It was a magical way to round up our time at Hollywood Studios, just sitting there in the middle of the park on the ground! Truly a great memory.
In the end Hollywood Studios will always have a special place in my heart, it’s an amazing park with a great vibe, an amazing show and some great rides!
2nd place: MAGIC KINGDOM
- Food: 3/5
- Rides: 4/5
- Shows: 4/5
- Atmosphere: 4/5
- Crowdlevel: 2,5/5
Total score: 17,5/25
And taking the 2nd place is Magic Kingdom. Is there even another way? It’s the main park, the mother of them all, it’s the place where you can feel the most of Walt Disney’s legacy in my opinion, so it has to be on the top. You just feel like you stepped into Walt’s dream. What’s really amazing when you think about it, and it’s the same in Disneyland Paris but even better executed at Magic Kingdom, is that the different areas flow into each other really effortlessly, you can’t feel the transition but yet when you are in a certain area you are completely immersed and you can only see and feel the area that you are in. It’s so great and so unique, hats of to the imagineers for this! Naturally that gives the park a very high score for atmosphere.
Next up is the food, unlike Disneyland Park Paris, Magic Kingdom is filled with amazing food spots. You can literally have anything you want and they have it. We had so many good snacks like a hotdog at Casey’s, the cheeseburger spring rolls, the cinnamon roll at Gaston Tavern, the pineapple dolewhip and so much more. The main thing is, it was all good and I felt you had just so many options to choose from.
Now what I love about Magic Kingdom in the variety of rides there. There are so many different kinds of rides and they all have their own magic dust to them. You have the cute family dark rides like Winnie The Poohs Adventures, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and It’s a small world and the more adult dark rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates. You have the rides where you can really feel the nostalgia of Walt Disney himself in the Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise and Carrousel of Progress and also more thrill rides like Tron, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. So much to do and all so much fun in their own magical way.
Now if you say ‘show’ and ‘Walt Disney World’ there is only one thing that comes to mind, the Happily Ever After spectacular on the castle that rounds up the most perfect day. We have a similar show here in Disneyland Paris and both of these shows are just pure magic, there are no words, you just need to experience them. I like what they did in WDW with having projections on the buildings in Main Street, so if you are a bit further away you can still enjoy the show. But nothing compares to being in front close to the castle. Last day of our vacation, I cried because the show makes me so emotional. I sing along, I get carried away, I love it. It just brings me to tears of joy. My friend thought I was crazy, but hey that’s okay 😉 We’re all a bit Disney crazy here, no shame. Finally let’s not forget about the parades, those are also always fun and there are also some small shows here and there during the day. Magic Kingdom does not fail to entertain.
To round it up, Magic Kingdom only loses a bit of points on crowdlevel, but it just speaks for itself. When you go here, always expect crowds, and it will make your life a lot easier. There is no point in getting worked up about it. It’s the main park, the most popular park and the park that speaks most to children of all ages, so just be prepared that there are a lot of kids here, more that in any other Disney park. It’s Strolleyville for sure, so watch out that you don’t get hit, I had to dodge a few during my visit. But just go with it, and you will still have a magical time. However there is a small part of me that does wish to experience Magic Kingdom once with low crowds. One day…A girl can dream right?
Magic Kingdom is unique, there is truly nothing like it. Here to you Walt!
1st place: EPCOT
- Food: 4,5/5
- Rides: 4/5
- Shows: 2,5/5
- Atmosphere: 4/5
- Crowdlevel: 4/5
Total score: 19/25
And the absolute winner, I mean look at that score, and I did not even see it coming myself. I would have never believed you if you would have told me this before I left for my trip… but it’s epic EPCOT. And for so many good reasons… I visited this park first 6 years ago for only half a day and it really did not make any impression on me at all, but this time around it was so different. Clearly I was not paying attention the first time. So why is this the best park in my opinion?
We visited during Flower & Garden festival and I can keep this really short and sweet here. Those booths with the different foods and snacks from all over the world… it was epic. The food was literally all amazing, the prices were quite OK and we just had so much fun checking out and trying out all of the snacks. It was just the absolute best experience. We came back to the park when we didn’t even plan it, just for the food.
When it comes to rides, what I love about EPCOT is again the variety, this just scores points for me. There are so many different fun things to do here. You have good thrill rides, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, you have a great motion simulator like Soarin, you have cute little rides like Frozen, Spaceship Earth and even Gran Fiesta Tour and so much more. There is also a lot of other stuff to discover at EPCOT like for example the Seabase, which is actually a quite a big aquarium that I totally missed during my first visit. And then I haven’t even talked about Worldshow case, it’s so much fun visiting all the different lands, with their small stores, restaurants and rides in them. I can just go on and on…
The only thing where EPCOT loses point is on shows. There are some cute small shows in the different countries at World Showcase, but the final firework show did not do it for us. It felt like random fireworks, there was no story, there was no theme (or maybe we missed that?). I feel like they have options for improvement here, I have an idea to go more like a watershow with light and fire details like Aquanura in the Efteling. Again Disney, call me, I got ideas!
To round up the final reason why EPCOT takes this top spot, is crowd level and general atmosphere here. I feel like this park appeals the least to little children, so that means there are just less (small) kids here, it’s less crowded especially in our experience. You can just feel it’s more for the ‘adult’ visitor, although the park still does have something for everyone. But less kids means less crowds and apart from that the park also just feels very spacious, there are many open spaces, you never feel crowded, you can breathe, you can relax… We just felt amazing at this park, it was a joy to walk around. It has a very different vibe to all the other parks, but the big globe in the middle that lights up beautifully at night, and all the countries around the lake, it’s a stunning park on its own and we just loved every second of being there.
So there you go! My ranking based on my experience.
Do you agree with me? And how would you rank them?
the travelcoaster 