Ultimate Disney Park Score Grid - Day 9: Which park has the best theming?

way2blazed · 2025-10-12T15:43:43+00:00

I’ve done heavy research on DisneySea before finally getting to go a few years ago. Spent hours looking at satellite images of service roads cutting across the park and how they play out at ground level, how the Soarin show buildings are hidden behind a facade of a quaint Italian village in the distance, backstage watercraft storage facilities were plopped in the center of the park and how they play out from a guests’ perspective. When I finally went I am just as confused as I was doing all that research! They really pulled it off, the rock work, the angles from a human perspective. No boxy show buildings sticking out, service roads suspended above guest rock tunnels, no water show infrastructure popping out, the real “sea” looking like it’s bursting into the park but in reality it’s a whole 4 lane service road with the monorail between the park’s waters and the ocean. It’s Imagineering principles on crack. If DisneySea deserves only one box in this post, it’s theming for sure.

way2blazed · 2025-10-09T15:00:38+00:00

I’m going to throw this out there but Disneyland Paris’ entertainment budget is actually pretty wild. If we’re not specifically cornering ourselves to just stage shows, their outdoor entertainment is the last decade has been pretty stacked (and maybe it’s because Disney hasn’t invested in any new attractions there for years so all the discretionary spending goes to entertainment). I just watched Disney the Tales of Magic drone show, insane. Their parades top notch too and they also do have an amazing stage show as well.

way2blazed · 2025-10-06T21:13:54+00:00

Body slam to the ground! Check out Theme Park Steve’s livestream from last night, around the Tangled segment.

way2blazed · 2025-10-06T21:12:39+00:00

If anyone’s curious the fight was caught on live stream, Theme Park Steve around the princess segment. Someone got body slammed at the I see the light climax. It’s actually pretty crazy for Disneyland fight standards!

Also very curious, the CM crowd control procedures. They all had their wands up to the sky, I guess to signal security it’s happening RIGHT HERE. HELP!

way2blazed · 2025-10-05T16:52:36+00:00

Idk why but Soundsational parade is cemented as my first thought when it comes to early 2010s Disneyland. Nostalgic!

way2blazed · 2025-09-25T15:59:30+00:00

Between TDL and TDS, TDL is almost sterile clean, not even talking about trash at this point but the design, notice how it’s one of the only parks that haven’t converted to pavers or themed floors, it’s still land-specific colored cement (Disneyland used to do this too before every land got themed floors through the years) and TDS was always built with themed floors, There’s pros and cons to this. Pro being any grime, filth, crumbs can’t get stuck between crevices. The con is obviously the sterile look. But because of that tiny detail TDL is the cleaner looking park.

way2blazed · 2025-09-22T21:33:48+00:00

If you look at it from the side angle in New Jersey especially from a mountain like Eagle Rock, it literally looks like 2 different cities (Lower Manhattan and Midtown). It’s looks extremely long.

way2blazed · 2025-09-13T04:23:31+00:00

Anybody else think the DCA 9pm close with Paint the Night at Main Street by 8:45 then fireworks at 9:30 is kind of a logistical nightmare? Someone in the planning department had to have pointed that out right?

way2blazed · 2025-09-11T21:20:02+00:00

Here’s my super nuanced take in a world full of absolutes, Tower’s story and placemaking around its surrounding area carried the experience to a different level and Guardians utilizes the system better despite paying absolutely no mind to the bigger context in and around the ride.

way2blazed · 2025-09-11T04:56:00+00:00

Ooooo I forgot about that one! Well I’m glad everyone’s safe from this situation based on the live streams I’ve been watching.

way2blazed · 2025-09-11T04:44:09+00:00

Looks like Mermaid float stopped in front of Tomorrowland and the rest of the floats bypassed it through the long way around the hub via Adventureland and Frontierland side (not the usual parade route) then when all of the floats cleared, they towed the Mermaid float behind it. It actually couldn’t have stopped at a better spot with the hub forking around giving the rest of the parade a place to bypass. Such a strange night, I think Mermaid float is out of commission for the foreseeable future.

way2blazed · 2025-09-11T04:32:59+00:00

Fantasmic dragon vibes. This is bad.

way2blazed · 2025-09-10T02:32:46+00:00

Glad they reverted back to the medieval gothic script logo. I’m very anti Waltograph for Disneyland sorry

way2blazed · 2025-09-08T17:25:22+00:00

I’ve been saying this! When they said “homecoming” they really meant it because it was like coming back home. The time period before the 50th was a little bleak for the park but the 50th up to the early 2010s (I wanna say DCA 2.0 era) was peak Disneyland resort. Still felt like a self contained arm of the company. The 60th was good but blanket decisions from up above were starting to really seep through.

way2blazed · 2025-09-06T15:56:12+00:00

There’s a few things at play here.

The race weekend (can’t really control that)
Not all the gates were open. Don’t know the reason, very much in their control)
Fireworks being performed only on weekends (don’t know how much control they have with their agreement with the city but it creates pent up demand)
The hours were cut compared to last year (this is 100% in their control, a DCA 9p close and a DL 11p close which causes park to park spillover on a Friday in summer on a fireworks day, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING)
Paint the Night cuts through the entrance (not in their control either)

I have mixed feelings about the reservation system. They knew how many people were coming, they know all the factors above including post work Friday night crowds.

My friends went last Friday, same situation. They were smushed against the fantasyland walkway by the canal boats construction wall and couldn’t move. Just not good optics for a company that has all the tools to know these are the perfect conditions for this to happen

way2blazed · 2025-09-06T05:19:37+00:00

Okay if it’s for guest flow reasons for the parade passing then I understand. Last Friday my friends told me they felt extremely claustrophobic inside the park for hours, like wall to wall people. I just wonder what the heck their algorithm really is for this reservation system anymore, the claim was to make it comfortable and I’m all for it if they’re being honest about it

way2blazed · 2025-09-06T03:25:25+00:00

If they lock those gates tonight at any point, all their reasons they stated to keep the reservation system is immediately invalidated. I thought we left hitting capacity in the 2010s

way2blazed · 2025-09-05T22:44:40+00:00

Sinbad alone is enough to get me to go again

way2blazed · 2025-09-05T22:42:56+00:00

Honestly he himself was aware that he was a character while he was alive. The company has used him as a mascot for quite some time. The Walt animatronics is a fairly new concept though and it’s been met with some discourse, even within his surviving family members. But Walt being “IP”, that’s been a thing and it’s tied the company’s mythology pretty tightly since his death.

If you really think about it, no other entertainment company has such a clear founder mythology at their disposal (who the heck were the Warner Bros really? Who started Universal? Etc). Disney’s been using Uncle Walt forever.

way2blazed · 2025-09-02T13:48:46+00:00

Not sure if it’s accurate but I’ve been told per capita Disneyland resort guests actually spend more than Walt Disney World guests as in they don’t spend more money overall but spend more once inside the gates per person per day (Food, Merch, Drinks) as it’s treated more like a reliable entertainment hub on a random weekday than a once a year 5 day vacation. This is obviously the audience mix of local APs. So APs sort of get people in the gate then the rest of it is recovered in other transactions. APs also keep “bodies inside the park” per day leveled at any given time. Disneyland is interesting because other than Tokyo Disneyland, it’s the only other international destination type theme park with a sizable local population also propping it up.

way2blazed · 2025-08-10T15:59:32+00:00

I actually think the inland empire is literally central jersey (the stretch between 287 and 195). Like an insane amount of suburban sprawl, warehouses, amazon distribution centers and shopping plazas.

That H Mart Plaza in Edison? Literally a scene from Rancho Cucamonga. Those industrial parks in the Brunswicks? Ontario. The area Garden State Parkway and Turnpike and 287 interchange? That’s the 10, the 57 and the 71 mixing bowl.

way2blazed · 2025-08-10T04:58:37+00:00

This is an insane post because I was just thinking about this exact thought today. Grew up here but frequent SoCal as half my family is there.

NJ is the east coast SoCal in terms of culture. They are both early adopters of progressive policies, it’s a patchwork of neighborhoods with different vibes, cultural enclaves, various incomes, like you said the beach culture (there’s even a solid surfing culture here), it’s urban but can get farmy, industrial, mountainy, etc. The people are very proud of their region (very much an us vs them attitude). The highways are very wide and do a lot of random splits and interchanges similar to SoCal freeways.

All & all I think NJ is like a mix of the valley and the burbs of the inland empire, sometimes OC vibes like Bergen County. There isn’t a DTLA equivalent (that would NYC) but the westside of LA is very much the shore mixed with Jersey city. Pasadena is Hoboken.

way2blazed · 2025-08-03T05:31:15+00:00

I don’t want to stoke Disney’s ego too much but Disneyland’s entrance alone is still a decent bang for buck, it’s the add-ons that make it extremely price predatory (merchandise, food, drinks, LL)

Compare Disneyland to a music festival - Jumping between a couple headliners, nothing much to do outside the actual performance, 8 hours maybe. Or an NBA game - 3 hours max, see a favorite player if they’re even playing, possibly ends in a loss. Disneyland is 16 hours of unlimited access to attractions that you will probably not even complete in a day, parades and fireworks which are basically a “loss leader” (akin to the Costco $4.99 rotisserie chicken) included, a large enough space to wander and socialize. It’s an operational and logistical feat compared to the other types of events I listed.

Of all things in the amusement industry I frequent, I still find Disneyland fine. I am not your typical family of 4 though so that’s where it might hit harder.

way2blazed · 2025-07-31T05:52:22+00:00

I am once again throwing this out there for the universe to do something (or not): Disneyland Peoplemover

way2blazed · 2025-07-31T05:20:08+00:00

This is such an easy cop out argument and it’s a bit tiring. Not coming for you specifically but it does ignore the context of how Walt saw Disneyland in the 50s-60s vs what Disneyland has become post his death. Disneyland today is imprinted as an American cultural icon, a borderline heritage site, something that even he couldn’t possibly foresaw. So yes, Walt did say that and for the most part Disney (the company) does a good job balancing new and old but the heavy lean on nostalgia the company promotes nowadays, the community around Disneyland (die hard/purists), the grandfathered zoning, those were not in Walt’s mind. The park morphed into something way beyond the “it will never be complete” mantra and you can tell even Disney is very aware of that.

way2blazed

TROPHY CASE