Ask It Results: If You Could Visit an International Park

Greetings, AskIt readers! If you’re reading this it means one of two things–either my house made it safe and sound through Hurricane Irma, and I have electricity to continue with life as usual or I’m writing this before the storm hits and having Laurel add the numbers for the final results. Either way, there was no chance that I’d miss sharing these results with you–especially because as the storm rolled in, a visit to any of these parks sounded like a much better option than where I was at!

But enough chit chat about the weather. Last week we asked you:

If you could visit one international Disney theme park location, which would you choose?

And while the obvious answer is Gotta See ’em All, there were some clear preferences.

Hong Kong (85 votes, 5%)

Ouch. Sorry, Hong Kong. People just aren’t feeling the love. Disney’s well aware that this park doesn’t get a lot of love from its international guests. They certainly are doing a lot to try and help improve the park, however, with announcements about a Frozen land, a Marvel land, a Moana stage show, and yes, even rebuilding the castle to make it bigger and better. So while many of you don’t feel the need to make a trip there now, let’s see if views change by 2023.

Shanghai (384 votes, 22%)

I don’t think any Disney park has been subject to as much criticism before it opened than Shanghai. Even in its first year of operation, so many people have talked negatively about the park, the people of China, anyone associated with the project, anyone who orders soup dumplings from a take-out restaurant…you name it. Then a funny thing started happening. People actually went and visited. Suddenly, the discourse turned from “Iger’s folly” to “You know, this is actually a really cool park.” It certainly is a word of mouth success, beating attendance estimates and coming close to breaking even in its first year. Currently, it is on its way to becoming the most profitable Disney park worldwide. The technology in the Pirates ride is jaw-droppingly good, the castle is huge, and the TRON coaster is something that even the biggest critics of Shanghai admit that they’re very eager to see duplicated in Walt Disney World. Plus, it’s new, shiny, and exotic. No surprise that this one has become a desirable vacation dream destination.

Paris (387 votes, 22%)

Am I still the only person in the world who has to stop myself from calling it Euro Disney? Yes? Well, okay then. Because a trip to France is a relatively short flight away (compared with say, China), this tends to be a popular first exploration of international Disney parks for some. And there certainly are some headliners there that make it a worthwhile visit. For starters, the castle is a sight worth seeing, complete with a dragon! (How cool is that?) Crush’s Coaster, a 20,000 Leagues Nautilus attraction, and Phantom Manor are all must-see attractions you won’t find elsewhere. Yet some people who visit have said that there’s something just a bit missing in the magic at times. Now that Disney has taken over ownership and has said that investments are coming in the park, we’ll see if there’s enough pixie dust to have people visit–and come back.

Tokyo (927 votes, 52%)

I have a feeling that if Tokyo DisneySea didn’t exist, the number of people who would vote for Tokyo might go down. Even though Tokyo Disneyland is a beautiful park with some amazing attractions, the real draw of visiting Tokyo is DisneySea, a park that is unique in all the world. From Journey to the Center of the Earth to the new Nemo and Friends SeaRider, and Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage to the kid-friendly area of Mermaid Lagoon, there is really something for everyone. To top it off, the park is beautiful! It is a must-Sea for any Disney fan.

So that’s the results for this week’s Ask It. Do you agree with the results? Got any trips to these parks scheduled? Let us know in the comments. Next week’s Ask It is live on the blog and on Twitter. We’ll see you next week!

*Percentages total >100 due to rounding.