The theme parks of Orlando, Florida
Summary
Yes its super busy, yes its the definition of commercialisation, yes its often endless queues of people, but even despite all that, its just a fun experience. The famous spots like the Universal Studios, the thrills of the ever-growing rollercoaster parks, the amazing waterparks – they’re all great and worth the visit alone. But the highlight by far for me was the attention to detail that the Disney parks and their surrounding venues provide. Yes it is mass tourism, but where on the planet does it quite this well?
It was years since my last visit, so only a short travel entry and a few key tips:
- Try to go just after it pours it down with rain in the morning. The main group of fellow tourists will typically avoid using up their full day pass, but you’ll find the reduction in queue numbers worth it, and its when many of the locals go
- I’d recommend all the Disney places – Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Centre, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon
- Others that are great – Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios
- Further afield definitely worth it – Bush Gardens (full on rollercoasters) and the Kennedy Space Centre
- If have time – SeaWorld
- If you’re into Disney – consider staying in one of the Disney Hotels. They are basically an extension of the Disney experience, often done just as well as the parks
God its cheesy, but fun
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Super Commercialised, But Fun Places
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone