Recently, I’ve spent lots of chasing down rumors and authorized paperwork for a possible fifth theme park at Walt Disney World.

Bob Iger lately hinted that one is coming quickly. After all, quickly may imply 2030, and we’d nonetheless be comfortable.

Photograph:visitorlando.com

For the following 5 years, we’ll take pleasure in the identical Disney theme parks in North America. However which one is finest?

Right here’s how I’d rank Disney’s six American theme parks.

6) Disney California Journey

I’ll say one thing important about Disney California Journey. If anybody had created this record earlier than Vehicles Land opened, it wouldn’t have required any thought.

Each sane Disney fan on the planet would have listed Disney California Journey (DCA) as Disney’s worst park.

Photograph: DIsneyland

Then, Radiator Springs Racers arrived and made issues somewhat higher. Now, greater than a decade after its debut, it stays the park’s hottest journey.

Since then, Disney has refreshed the previous Paradise Pier and different elements of the park.

Imagineers have transitioned DCA from a mediocre expertise into a blinding one.

The Pixar neighborhoods and the debut of Avengers Campus compelled me to contemplate DCA for fifth place.

Photograph: Disney

Alas, I nonetheless imagine this park has some work to do earlier than it catches as much as the whole lot else on this record.

The hole has turn out to be just about non-existent, although. And that’s to Disney’s credit score.

(Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort)

Any time a Disney park has appeared lackluster, Imagineers have imbibed it with new life.

At DCA, this tactic entails the retrofitting of outdated points of interest into new experiences just like the Incredicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!

Photograph: WDW-magazine

Additionally, two new themed lands in a decade helped crowds fall in love with DCA anew. Vehicles Land put DCA on the map, whereas Avengers Campus has turned it right into a must-visit Disney vacation spot.

5) Disney’s Animal Kingdom

What it’s best to acknowledge proper now’s that each one Disney theme parks are spectacular.

If one thing as unprecedented as Animal Kingdom finishes second-to-last, the whole lot we’re discussing is spectacular.

In reality, I acknowledge this rating will show divisive. For some Disney followers, Animal Kingdom embodies the whole lot iconic in regards to the parks.

Imagineers carried out a little bit of want achievement right here in including animals at a Disney theme park. Whose want did they fulfill? Walt Disney’s!

Within the run-up to Disneyland’s opening, Uncle Walt had pleaded with Imagineers to make use of actual animals at Jungle Cruise.

These loyal employees talked their boss down from his untenable place, because it merely wasn’t possible in 1955. Lots can change in 40 years, although.

Photograph: Disney

When Animal Kingdom opened on Earth Day 1998, it signified the end result of Walt Disney’s grandest ambitions for household theme park visits.

Alas, the place nonetheless comes with flaws you received’t discover on the different parks. Even within the wake of Pandora – The World of Avatar, it’s nonetheless missing in E-ticket points of interest.

Additionally, the sheer dimension of Animal Kingdom undoes a few of its enjoyment. You’ll spend an excessive amount of time strolling and never sufficient of your go to interacting with animals.

1 / 4-century later, Animal Kingdom stays a work-in-progress…but in addition a shocking triumph of Imagineering and Disney excellence!

4) EPCOT

Photograph: Disney

Anybody who is aware of me properly is conscious about the truth that I like EPCOT the most effective.

I fell in love with the place the 12 months that it opened, and I’ve maintained my loyalty for many years.

Epcot Entrance

Until you have been there, you’ll by no means perceive how profound an expertise EPCOT was within the early Nineteen Eighties.

Nonetheless, as we’ve established, I’m not rating this record based mostly on my favorites.

As a substitute, I’m weighing choices like the standard of points of interest and general park leisure.

That’s why I give EPCOT the nod over Animal Kingdom. The latest addition of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille Journey places it excessive.

Even earlier than then, EPCOT earned reward for its inimitable buying and eating choices.

Once you merely need to hang around and be a cheerful vacationer at Walt Disney World, EPCOT is the place to go.

3) Disney’s Hollywood Studios

5 years in the past right now, Hollywood Studios would have been nearer to the underside than the highest.

Theme park fans deride some locations as “half-day parks,” which signifies that the leisure choices are missing.

Photograph: Josh Hallett

In 2017, a cynic may actually describe Hollywood Studios as a quarter-day park as a result of it was so missing in points of interest.

As soon as Disney closed The Nice Film Journey, Hollywood Studios felt like a ghost city. And I kinda cherished it that manner.

Forged Members in entrance of Roundup Rodeo BBQ

Most Disney followers left the park by 2 p.m., leaving the remainder of us to relish having the run of the place.

Alas, Hollywood Studios has since transitioned into the house of Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Photograph: Disney

These two themed lands have redefined the park in uncommon and profound methods. Now, Hollywood Studios has essentially turned into THE hottest park.

Folks need to journey Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Canine Sprint, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. They usually’ll wait seemingly any period of time to take action.

Photograph: TheCoasterKings.com

Theme park attendance calculations grew fuzzy through the pandemic. Earlier than then, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios have been in a useless warmth.

These two parks have been the least attended at Walt Disney World. Over the previous 18 months, Hollywood Studios is now second at Walt Disney World and third general in North America.

Hollywood Studios is now the place to be for Disney followers!

2) Disneyland Park

Photograph: Journey and Leisure

In evaluating what ought to win, two parks jumped off the web page, and you realize which of them they’re.

Disneyland began all of it. This was the primary internationally famend theme park and the place the place Walt Disney proved that something was attainable.

Photograph: CNtraveler.com

The truth is, Disney himself famously mentioned, “It’s sort of enjoyable to do the not possible.”

The creator spoke from expertise. Disneyland turned 160 acres of orange groves into the Happiest Place on Earth.

Photograph: Disney

Since 1955, this park has turn out to be a West Coast establishment, a spot the place Southern Californians spend a staggering share of their lives.

In its personal manner, Disneyland Park is completely good in that it got here first and solely received higher over time.

 (Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort)

This park affords extra points of interest than wherever else apart from (arguably) the park I rank forward of it.

1)    Magic Kingdom

New one hundredth Decor

So, if Disneyland is ideal, what may probably beat it?

The reply is easy. The one factor higher than Disneyland is a larger-scale model that got here from higher planning.

Disney officers spent years strategizing on methods to design Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney bought the land almost a decade earlier than the park opened.

After Uncle Walt’s dying, his older brother, Roy, and his loyal Imagineers weren’t about to open one thing unworthy of the Disney title.

As a substitute, they constructed the deluxe model of Disneyland, upgrading the Happiest Place on Earth into the Most Magical Place on Earth.

The outcomes converse for themselves.

For a lot of consecutive years, Magic Kingdom has towered above the competitors as THE most trafficked theme park on the earth.

Some would argue it’s the preferred paid vacationer vacation spot on the planet.

Remarkably, the next-closest competitor is…Disneyland.

Photograph: Disney

The theme park business is a monopoly, and anyone who tries to inform you in a different way doesn’t perceive math.

As dominant as Disney is in its space of experience, just one park can stake a declare over the remainder. And the general public has spoken clearly on this topic.

Photograph: Disney

Magic Kingdom, with all its exceptional points of interest, embodies the most effective of Disney theme parks.

Do you disagree with some/most of my rankings? That’s completely high-quality! The truth is, it’s anticipated!

Luckily, I’m not the one one at MickeyBlog with such opinions. Right here’s Whitney Littlejohn’s rating of each park!

Additionally, right here is Rebekah Sedwick rating Magic Kingdom’s themed lands.

Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Wish to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your subsequent Disney trip, please fill out the shape beneath, and one of many brokers from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Stage Approved Disney Trip Planner, might be in contact quickly!

Function Photograph: Disney