I'm obviously not the target market, but Disney just sounds like a hellish experience to me these days. Sort of the Instagrammification of an amusement park. They algorithmed everything & made it all into something you can snap a pic of and post online for your friends, at the expense of being good.
I went to the Star Wars Night, which is a separately ticked event with special characters and shows and food (but also access to all the rides with MUCH shorter lines and smaller crowds) and all the “special” character interactions felt so mass produced and just instagrammed- like they had droids…
out that aren’t usually there, but there were staff members directing everyone to “take pictures while you walk” and the Queen Amidala meet and greet was SO engineered to be I’m sure the MOST efficient way to get through lines it felt off
I also live local to disneyland and work in the theme park industry so I also have a different experience from a lot of families- I usually only go when I have some way of getting discounted tickets or just going in with someone who works there
It is almost starting to feel that way just living in NYC. People come to visit and have a whole list of places to visit that I've never heard of. All these TikTok and IG "viral" eateries and specific spots you "have to" take a photo, etc. Just ... so odd.