Disney Vs. Universal: ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN

While Universal is good, Disney World is better, period! You know you all could say the thrill portion blah blah blab, but the consumer has spoken and has selected Disney World over Unviersal. Thats why Disney is not going to lower their prices, because they are in high demand!

Disney seems to be always reinventing themselves while Univesal has been static for the last few years. IOA was a smart move, but they have to keep on moving! Disney is still better because it sets the standard for everybody!

I think there is a lack of talking because Disney's record shows that they are top dog! Now do not paint me as the type of person that thinks that Disney is the ONLY thing in the world lets all hold hands and skip blah blah blab! There has been some pretty bad moves on Disney's part, but they always seem to overcome it! Universal is still reeling in it!

I mean didn't ex-Imagineers make IOA?

I mean how can millions of people be wrong? Universal has the same, if not better, outlets for advertising the parks! Disney owns half of the mainstream media, Universal (or GE) owns the other half. Strange Fact, GE used to sponsor Illuminations at EPCOT. Ironic.

Groan...

Anyway, Disney is great, but Universal is better. Well actually, Universal is the best but I'm guessing Anthony and the 'Rat Pack' already knew that!

I mean I see this war as being a bit pointless now since we are all basing it on our own opinions so everybody wins. Most opinions on this kind of discussion are very insightful and true.

Though this one is for Erik so that that he has some material.

Simply put, the parks are more alike than different and depend on each other to keep the competion up which benefits us, the consumers. I also think that Universal has much to lose if they do bad while Disney, being established, has to do REALLY bad to start tumbling.

Again, I enjoy Universal quite alot, but thats because, in my opinion, they made it more "Disney" via IOA and Citywalk. Not saying that this is any issue, but Universal has struck the gold mine that Disney already found! Both places are getting rich and theme park tickets are still extremly expensive!

Finally, in this rambling, I have noticed that people in FL do not really like Disney World. Why is that? I mean you probably all have a great reason, but I just do not see it at the moment. We have a theme park in Chicago (well, Gurnee) and we all seem to love it even though it couldn't even hold an candle to Universal Orlando or Disney World!

To respond to your answer-

You are telling me that Disney destroyed FL, but not Universal. If anything, both are responsible for the "destruction" of FL. Granted I do not live there, but I do not think that it seems so bad. I have relatives down there are they seem to be fine. Again, I know I am on thin ice in this discussion because there is no way to know. I am thinking for about the Social-Economic stuff you spoke about that before Erik and we got some really poor people in IL and the Midwest. Still, you are probably right anyway.

Its just that this discussion can go on forever!

When Disney first came in the 60's, one of the prerequisites for them coming to Orlando was that they were granted their own charter to create Epcot...their "city of the future" Walt's original intention (or so the city thought it was anyway) was for Epcot to be a working town with working government and utilities. Thus the Fla. gov't gave Disney the power to govern itself on it's own property. No building inspections, it's own private police department, and practically no accountability to anyone. Obviously the city was never built, yet Disney gets all the perks...tax grants, exemptions..etc, while saddling hardly any of the burden it puts on Orlando. They have flooded Orlando with low paying jobs with minimal amount of housing for their employees, put road repair on the top of the list every year for the city, made traffic unbearable at times, turned down a bullet train project worth millions to the city because it made a stop outside of Disney property, and generally done very little for the Orlando community. That's why the locals don't really care for Disney. People come to Orlando for Disney, but Disney has made it so that people don't leave the property for the city. Guests of Orlando going to Disney see the airport, and that's about it, because the Disney complex has everything...golf courses, night clubs, hotels, spas...etc etc. When it boils down to it, Orlando gave Disney the keys to the city in the 60's, and Disney has used them to lock the tourists out. There's a whole book full of stories about it all in "Married to the Mouse."

Universal and Sea World don't enjoy these exemptions. They are governed by the city of Orlando..which means things like building inspections. Example, Disney started building MGM after Universal started building their first park, but MGM was finished 10 months before Universal. Why? Disney didn't have to submit to city inspection. Just an example of the Disney advantage.

Do other parks contribute to Orlando's problems? somewhat yes, but keep in mind that Disney is far bigger than both parks put together, they account for three times the tourists, several times the employees, and their starting wage is about 75 cents per hour lower than Universal....about $6.50 an hour...that wage doesn't even touch the cost of living in Florida. Sea World has no more impact on Orlando than Kings Island has on Cincinnati. I can totally see why locals don't care for Disney.

Actually isn't Florida famous for it's Alligator population instead of theme parks?!

Possible responses to Florida's fame:

Disney World
Alligators
Miami
Hurricanes
Daytona Beach
Spring Break
Sharks
Oranges
NASA

etc,

No, I understand that Universal tends to cater to an older audience while Disney can't. Case in point: Alien Encounter and its story of birth and death!

Don't forget, Florida is also famous for its successful refill system. Something that we British lack at our parks (exception to Alton Towers).

I hope someone read this and works at Thorpe park etc.

Erik Yates:
Hmm...Universal vs Disney the final showdown, something that I should have responded to before!

My quick summary:

IOA has won the best park award on TPI numerous times.

One word, Spiderman, it's number one for a reason.

IOA in my opinion has the best scenary of any park in the world.

USF has alot of classic rides (granted, Disney has plenty of classics to).

Spiderman was so popular, the editor deleted the best attraction award because it kept on winning! Now that's something.

In my opinion the Universal parks cater to all audiences just as well as Disney in the atttraction department.

Oh, did I mention Spiderman beat off the Mummy and Darkastle for votes on TPI?

IOA has some of the best rated coasters and 3 top notch water rides complete with great food.

Also Spiderman has beaten off EVERY coaster in the world on TPI. These ratings are supplied by the honest theme park enthusiasts located all over this site.

As you can see I'am backing Universal in this war, as I've always done, simply because it is far more superior than Disney in my opinion.

Plus, Disney doesn't have Spiderman, Universal does, Spiderman is the greatest, end of debate, HA!

Well, yeah, Spiderman is and will always have a 9 because its a great ride! You do realize that the top attraction is only decided by a tenth of a point so it can go either way!

Also, Universal does NOT have three top notch water rides. In my opinion, the only one that is good is Popeye (which is really really good IMO). Dudley Do Right is bad and I am very disappointed in the Jurassic Park attraction. It seems to make no sense! Also, if we are speaking of "top notch" what water ride is in the top ten? Why its Disney's Splash Mountain!!! Its funny how an old attraction with a PC nightmare of a movie connected to it does so well. If you look at the top ten attractions, Universal only holds TWO spots, Disney holds 6 of the ten! So you are saying that Universal has the best rides even though they only have two spots of the top ten (1 and 5)? Come on now!

Also, you must assume that everybody who goes to Disney World are mindless zombies since twice as many people go to Disney World than Universal. No, they just know of better quality. Disney has much to lose by rasing expectations, but it looks like they are doing a good job!

Is this the response you want? HA!

Now that I have got the eternally positive Adrian W's attitude out of the way...

Spiderman isn't a great ride, it's an excellent ride! All reasons are supplied in my above post.

"Also, Universal does NOT have three top notch water rides."

Well, maybe 2. I'll be honest (takes off the Universal rose tinted glasses) and say that only Dudley's and Popeye's receive the best reviews on TPI. JPRA is a great ride but not excellent like the other two.

"I am very disappointed in the Jurassic Park attraction. It seems to make no sense!"

I did not just read that...
JPRA makes perfect sense. River cruise-off course-past carnivours-awesome T-rex finale. Works well with the Jurassic park disaster formula so I fail to see how it doesn't make sense.

"Also, you must assume that everybody who goes to Disney World are mindless zombies..."

Your starting to sound like a mindless zombie (LOL). Might be the rose tinted Disney glasses.

"Is this the response you want? HA!"

Not really, I was kind of hoping you would admit that "Disney SUXXXX" and "Universal IS DA BEST!!!". I guess we can only get so much in life. Joking aside it's nice to hear from you, feal free to respond back (preferably with the above comments I have supplied).

Something's missing...(Puts back on the Universal rose tinted glasses).

Universal is better than Disney!

HA!

But no, in all honesty, I will give Universal its dues. It finally got the the right track of everything with IOA. That is currently their crowning achievement along with Spiderman. Universal showed that they could do "family" in their parks/ What do you mean you say? Well if you look at USF, there seems to be attractions for the older (Mummy, MIB, etc) or the really young (Barney, Woody Woodpecker, etc). So that park doesn't seem to have rides that have "family" appeal. They fixed that with IOA.

However, you played with some fire that is now going to burn you because you posted that I should look at the top ten attractions and which one is number one. Again, true, its Spiderman, but Disney holds six of the other nine spots on the top ten. Also, I am not really sure why people like the Hulk Coaster so much. I mean it is nice, but I like Dueling Dragons better! Anyway, that top ten list kinda weakens your argument because Universal is not represented well, though it is an honor to hold the top place.

Also, we are talking about Disney and Universal in general so I am assuming that means in CA as well (though most of us are more familar with the FL parks). In that arena, Disneyland is the clear winner. So the only one that Universal has to offer the FL parks!

Enjoy these debates! They are actually quite insightful and civil.

OK the Glasses go back on

When you wish upon a star................

Yeah Anthony...'Cat in the Hat' is a great example of a family ride. I love the trippy set design and the spinning...

Theres just more things to do at Disney World and I am pretty sure that this is an accepted statemnt. However, Universal does use its space well. Hey, is anybody watching Seaworld lately? They are getting ready to blindside everybody, I gurantee it!

You see the thing that puts a kink in my anti-Universal feelings is IOA. Now that park was done pretty right on! Thats what a park should be and it is proof that Universal might actually know what they are doing. Thinking deeper about what I said before, it just seemed to me that there was very little in USF for everybody, together, to generally enjoy. This also proves why roller coasters don't always work since kids really can't go on them. Disney has created attractions that both adults and children enjoy and the same or differnt levels. USF is really lacking that in my Opinion, but IOA has fixed that with attractions like Spiderman, Sinbad, Popeye, etc.) I was always trying to figure out what "umph" IOA had that made it such a contender against my beloved Disney ahd I think I found it! IOA has rides that everybody can ride and enjoy like Disney! This might be able to explain why Alien Encounter didn't work!

Yeah, having a debate Erik would be an intersting idea and allowing the guests to make fools out of themselves! You might have to look harder since I think that most of us have been to more theme parks that we would like to say so Disney or Universal does not excite us. Now don't get me wrong, I am still a die hard Disney fan, but we do go once in awhile to Universal and have a good time. My family likes to do new things and Universal tends to be "new" since we spend our time at the Disney Parks. Oh and my family doesn't go skipping around with the characters either (not that there is anything wrong with that!). We actaully spend most of our time at EPCOT which is pretty void of Disney Characters. I will be 21 the next time I go there, woo hoo!

Hey, these classes are pretty cool!

Marvel Super Hero Island
Spider-man - Best attraction in the world.
Hulk Coaster - Always on the top 10 coaster list
Storm Force - It's a classic tea cup ride, so that's a bonus point
Dr. Dooms - Marvel's no.1 villian + scary ride = great ride

Toon Lagoon
Popeye and Bluto's - Best raft ride
Dudley Do-wrong's - Best flume ride (2nd is Splash Mountain)

Jurassic Park
River Adventure - Aaah, Raptors!
Pteranadon Flyers - Poor
Camp Jurassic - Great Playground

Lost Continent
Flying Unicorn - Good family coaster
Dueling Dragons - Best Dueling coasters in the world
Sinbad - Average show
Posiden - Rated U for Under-rated

Seuss Landing (Adrian's Fantasy Land)
Caro-seuss-el - (How would I know?!)
If I Ran The Zoo - (...)
Cat In The Hat - Best family attraction
Seuss Trolley - Scarier than Doom's

There, that's a quality list of attractions from IOA. I did this because I felt like comparing IOA and Disney, just for bragging rights. I could have done Disney, but I think I'll let Anthony do it instead, because I might be slightly biased towards it...

But thats just my opinion!

I love Universal, I love the rides, I love the atmosphere, I love the prices and I love the discounts I get with the annual pass...

I have to say that I love Disney too. I love the quantity of attractions throughout the 4 parks. I love the 2 water parks. I love downtown Disney. I love my annual pass to Pleasure Island (Yeah, I love the revolving dancefloor in mannequins and I love 8traxx....) What I love even more about Disney is the Customer Service. The quality far exceeds anything Universal can do. On my weekend trip there (4 parks, 1 day) I was so impressed I went to customer relations on the way out and commented on how fantastic, couteous, polite and ust plain friendly the staff were.
Their response? They gave me 2 free 3 day, park hopper tickets!!
Have Universal ever done this the numerous times I've commented (Both positive & negative) on their staff and operations?? NO! The time a Universal Studios member of staff cut me up in the car park & then flicked me off, did they do anyhting about that DESPITE getting their tag?? NO!!!! I bet Disney would have reprimanded that person and written a letter of apology.

Thats the biggest difference between the 2 parks.
I love Universal more BUT Uni could learn a lot about customer care (#1 in my book) from Disney. And Universal could learn a lot by listening to its customers. Disney don't have that high almighty opinion of themselves that Universal blatently does!

There, tats my bit!!!

Free Tickets? Thats crazy!!!

1). Gareth, didn't you once say you were going to do a trip report on all 4 Disney Parks?

2). Anthony
Bah! Who gives a damn what you think. (Just kidding)
I chose you to do it because lets face it, you know more about Disney than I do. You could just do Magic Kingdom, because Epcot and MGM are over-rated and Animal Kingdom is poor. Besides, I didn't bother with Universal. Feel free to put your own opinion down, but try not to be too biased!

The Problem with Disney World is that it is too spread out. I mean most of the rides that I can make a case for on this discussion are not in the Magic Kingdom! So I will just put down my favorites, MY FAVORITES, not all of them or I will be here all day!

Magic Kingdom:

Pirates of the Carribean (Great Dark Ride)

The Jungle Cruise (I just like classics)

The Magic Carpets of Aladin (for the simple fact is that Dumbo and Astro Orbitor are always crowded!)

Philharmagic (Pretty Cool for a 3D movie!)

Peter Pan's Flight (Not really sure why everybody loves it so much, I guess Disney's verson of ET)

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (New Classic ride, though miss Mr. Toad!)

Mad Tea Party (First spinning attraction thing!)

Snow White's Scary Adventure (In classic dark ride fashion)

Dumbo (Brings back out the kid in you)

Its a Small World (Catchy tune that you can't get out of your head)

Splash Mountian (need I say more!!)

Thunder Mountain (Great Theming!)

Country Bear Jamboree (First attraction to premire at WDW before DL, also Disney's last attracton)

Haunted Mansion (Good memories on going on this at like 1 am a ton of times!)

Hall of Presidents (but I am a nerd :))

Space Mountain (Darkness makes you go faster!)

Buzz's Space Ranger Spin (Clever ride, good addition!)

Carosel of Progress (my absolute favorite attraction ever!!0

Tomorrowland Transit Authority (Great Place to relax---and make out!!! Ok, so I haven't made out on this ride, but I have seen tons of people do it in other cars!)

Indy Speedway (Cars that go around on track, not as tacky as DL's)

Astro Orbitor (the height makes it exciting!

EPCOT

Honey I Shrunk the Audience (Pretty scary 3D ride!)

Journey into YOUR Imagination (I like Figment and the idea! It used to be much better!)

Innoventions (Ride a Segway? Yes me please!! Plus I am a technofreak and in love with the house of Innoventions and the Home Theater)

Misson Space (Never got sick on this ride, never, also unique like Spiderman)

Test Track (EPCOTS thrilling Educational ride-yes I said it was educational!)

Soarin (Great, but Change the damm movie!)

Spaceship Earth (history lover and I think communication is the way to world peace)

Living with the Land (Actual Science going on there, hope to Intern there one day!)

Turtle Talk with Crush (Talk live with an animated Character? Yes!!)

Living Seas (I just like animals, just wait til AK!)

Ellen's Energy Adventure (I laugh at the bad jokes and am a big fan of Bill Nye the Science Guy!)

Cranium COmmand (If still there, the most clever attraction ever!)

Body Wars (again, thrilling and educational!)

All the Countries (food, booze, entertainment=fun!) Especially Reflections of China!

MGM:

Voyage of the Little Mermaid (good considering they do it non stop the enitre day!

Disney Animation (Pretty cool stuff)

Indy Jones Epic Stunt (Best Stunt Show I have ever seen)

Star Tours (Your in a movie!)

Sounds Dangerous (Great concept that nobody except me gets!)

Who wants to be a Millionare (ok its gone, but I got in the hotseat 32000 points!)

Muppetvision 3D (Its the Muppets!)

Honey I Shunk the Kids Movie Set (Yeah, I am old, but this is the best playground in a park that I have ever been in!)

Lights Motors Action (I am a guy so cars are cool!)

Fantasmic (Great ending to a great park!)

Tower of Terror (More than 10 years old and still gives me chills to hear that ding!)

Rockin Roller Coaster (Disney's attempt to be edgy, I think it works and fits well!)

Beauty and the Beast (I just like the movie and the music so naturally I would love this)

Animal Kingdom:

Kilimanjaro Safaris (Great ride that is differnt every time you go on it!)

Pagaini Forest Trail (Great thing to do when waiting for fastpasses and you get to see naked mole rates, the coolest animals!)

Everest (Big themed roller coaster, nuff said)

Majahara Jungle Trek (Fastpass wait)

Kali River Rapids (Wet ride where you WILL get wet!)

Flights of Wonder (Great Bird show!)

Festival of the Lion King (Greatest Theme Park show EVER and ANYWHERE!)

Dinosaur (the one ride that scares me every year!)

Primeval Whirl (Simple, yet fun!)

Triceretop Spin (Kid comes out inside you!)

Its Tough to be a Bug (the funniest and scariest 3D show out there)

Whew! I think I am done!

Wanna see Guest Service taken to a new level? Go on the Disney Cruise Line. However, Like Discovery Cove, it will cost ya!

Chris or Gareth, care to take on some disney fans on the podcast?

On top of all this - what is with changing ALL the food at Disney to McDonalds?? I don't enjoy paying $8 for something I can get off the Dollar Menu two miles from my house!

What I can do is just add it onto one of the open discussions and REALLY summerise it due to time!! Back in a couple of days so let me know!

First of all, Disney is not the only one to raise their prices. Universal did as well. Also, as long as people pay the money to go, I do not see Disney cutting down their prices. Universal has been struggling so thats why they are offering deals.

Want to go to all the parks? Two Words: Park Hopper

Cast Members get paid at least $7 an hour (at least the College Internship thing!). They get reduced rates on everything under the WDW name including tickets and merchindise. Plus no cover at PI!

I am really not understanding what the difference between Universal and Disney's "Skip Line" bit. They both work the same way, but we figured the loophole at Universal's easily and took full advantage of it. Disney, on the other hand, seems to be harder to crack. Plus, we have never had a problem with fastpass except when the attraction breaks down. It is not rocket science, but people make it seen so darn difficult! It really isn't!

And what is with calling Disney's guests mindless? It seems that the Unversal fans on this site are very cynical and have a bad attitude when going to theme parks. This doesn't make sense since I assume most people love theme parks on this site! Why is there such a hate for Disney? In the eyes of corporate America, Universal is just as guitly of capitlaistic crimes as Disney. Don't bite the hand that feeds Universal came from Disney. IOA was made by former Imagineers right? If Disney didn't exsit, neither would Universal.

And if we are talking about DISNEY and UNIVERSAL, we cant forget CA which it appears that Disneyland wins hands down. Also, there is Japan in which has the two parks. Which company's park clearly dominates? Why Disney of course and there is no debate on that I gather!

Universal only has a prayer in FL, but Until more people decide to go to Universal than Disney World, then nothing will change at the House of Mouse!

Come on Disney people! Where are you??

As far as Cast Member pay goes, there's life out side of Disney World...it's called the real world, when it comes down to it who really cares about WDW discounts, some people have families to support, mouths to feed. Granted alot of adolescents are working at WDW, there are also still plenty of people trying to support their families.

Shame on Mr.Eisner and Mr.Iger for turning the Walt Disney Company into what it is today! Walt is probably turning in his grave! Walt's dream was to built a place of magic for families of all incomes to be able to experience a wholsome fun time together. Every year that dream becomes foggier and foggier as it's becoming a casualty to today's greedy, heartless, money-hungry corporate world. Walt Disney did not need to inflate prices to turn a profit, when Walt passed away alot of the magic went with him. I love the Disney experience, and yes, I still do feel some of the magic that Walt intended, but I don't care much for today's thieves behind the ears.

My head is not in the clouds to think that Disney is infallable. Though there are many that don't believe it, I am very realistic about Disney World. I know that it costs alot of money and that Walt probably is rolling in his grave, but remember, he was a businessman as well. Sure, they probably would have taken risks, but Disney would probably have cared about the bottom line if he was still alive. Disneyland was built for his love, Disney World was built to make him money and put more of his ideas there. Disney wanted to build his own community (EPCOT). Celebration was kinda a flop so I am pretty sure that idea would have been scrapped too. Listen, I know that Disney is not the only company that has good ideas and theme parks. Universal has definatly made a name for themeselves and personally I thought they got the whole "Movie thing" right before MGM did. Now, in my opinion, they are at a dead heat. What I am saying is that in all honesty, there is no real difference NOW between Univesal and Disney World. Both places are trying to make you feel the same emotions using the same magic (IOA has proven this) and empty your pockets for it. I mean it is obvious that Disney is guilty of this, but Universal cares about the bottom line too. Case in point: Back to the Future. That ride is a great classic, but they would rather put something else there (God help us if it is Fast and the Furious, sorry, I don't think it has the broad appeal as Back to the Future) instead of fixing up the current ride. I mean Back to the Future has been Universal Studio's flagship ride for how long? People identify with Universal Studios with that paticular attraction. Another example is Jaws which I thought was going to close, but it didn't. Its the put you right into the action feeling that you get on that ride and others like the Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, and of course Spiderman. The point here is that both companies only care about the bottom line and that is terrible! Disney might have Mickey, but Univesal has Spiderman, Shrek, Jurassic Park, Popeye, you get the idea.Universal also "dilutes" their guests into a dreamworld too because it works. Its a good way to get money out of you. Disney and Unversal do it really well, Six Flags doesn't! So they are the ying and the yang of each other. Universal needs Disney to bring people and Disney needs Universal to stay on the cutting edge of attractions. I am also aware that people can't live on $7 an hour. Having that problem right now as a poor college student. In the real world, it doesn't cut it and I hope that people aren't suffering in poverty for working at Disney World or even Universal. I would like to think they don't, but out of all workers and cast members, there has to be at least a few and thats sad. There are unions for these cast members at Disney and Universal so they they at least have some kind of say in their work.

Still really puzzled at people's bad experiences in theme parks and the fastpass issues. I have been to Disney and Universal and have always had a great and fun time. Never that I can remember, we ever had a really poor time that we were angry about. Well actually, there have been times, but it mostly had to do with us and the weather which Disney nor Universal have any control over. Anyway, I guess we just have a good attitude when we go into parks and I take it that most of you do too! Sorry for seeming so snappy, I really haven't gotten much sleep (again College Student's life). Also the coverstation is getting heated and intersting. Now the real fun begins!

Also, where did the Anthingy come in? Have you been talking to Gareth lately? :)

Also if you want a good song that probably expresses your views, check out the lyrics for No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom. Yeah, you can probably guess what its about!

Anyway, speaking of trip reports, my Drayton Manor article is overdue! Gotta get back to work!

Sure we got paid 3 bucks each for the pita survey, but they were horrible and was the last thing I needed after a heavy lunch. What made it worse was for the rest of our trip we got stopped at least 3 times a day asking to be included in some survey. It got really annoying having to either dodge these people or tell them "sorry, done that". Usually they were annoyingly persistent or appeared irritated at being rebuffed.

I don't recall ever being pestered like that at Disney...well, they do try to cram the whole "Disney Magic" thing down your throat every chance they get. What is it this year? A Year Of A Million Dreams? What's next year? A Year Where Our Imagineers Go To Universal And Learn What Real Imagineering Is About? ;)

So Imagineers need to go to Universal and learn? Its funny, since Imagineers built IOA (or former Imagineers if you want to be more specific) :) I will admit that Disney has taken it really far with year of...... Do you know they are doing NOTHING for EPCOT's 25th? Shameful!

Universal is good, Disney is the best!

And we are all in agreement that Universal does it better!

Secondly, the fireworks show at every park (or three of the four) are all very unique fireworks shows with MK taking place in front of the castle (like the Disney symbol of the castle), EPCOT's is lazer, fountain, light show, and MGM's live action fireworks show.

The two that are actually alike are Universal's and EPCOT's. The only complaint I have about Disney is that they are taking the celebration thing a little far! They elongated 100 years of Disney too long! They really should be celebrating EPCOT's 25th because, lets face it, it probably is the most unique park anywhere on Earth. There is not too many places that have what EPCOT has!

Oh, and please remind me to kick Yates Butt when see him next for starting this thread all of those yrs ago!

I Respond: Disney is not within the city limits of Orlando and therefore would not be subject to any regulation regardless of the status of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Further Disney IS in fact subject to building inspections and IS required to meet uniform codes related to design, engineering and construction.

It used to be that Disney was, Walk Disney World, Orlando, that got changed within the past couple of years to, Walt Disney World, NEAR Orlando.

This was done to save confusion for the tourists who booked hotels along I-Drive and surrounding who thought Disney was in the same locale at Universal, Seaworld, etc etc.

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