Analysing Visitors’ Experience of Disneyland Through Online Reviews: What Are the Factors That Influence a Visitor’s Experience at Disneyland?

Abstract

Theme parks like Disneyland are increasingly recognised as emotional and immersive spaces where visitors actively co-construct their experiences through storytelling, interaction, and narrative (King, 2002; Milman & Tasci, 2018; Torres et al., 2019). While extensive literature has explored theme park design, operations, and visitor motivation (Ali et al., 2018; Bai et al., 2023; Hsu, 2011b; Torres et al., 2018), fewer studies have examined how visitors experience these environments through their own narratives. User-generated content on platforms like Tripadvisor offers a valuable data into the emotional, social, and symbolic dimensions of such experiences (Kim & Fesenmaier, 2017). This study addresses this gap by analysing how visitors describe and interpret their experiences across five Disneyland locations.

The study had two primary objectives: (a) to explore how visitors articulate their experiences at Disneyland, and (b) to identify the key themes that shape those experiences across different cultural contexts. By focusing on the visitors’ experience through their narratives, this research aims to add to the academic understanding of experiential tourism and provide insights for enhancing theme park engagement.

Adopting an interpretivist paradigm and qualitative methodology, the study used thematic analysis to examine 294 Tripadvisor reviews from Disneyland parks in Anaheim, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai (Nov 2024 to Apr 2025). Manual open coding was used to categorise visitor expressions, leading to the identification of eight main themes that influenced the visitors: waiting time and queue management, attraction experience, entertainment and events, staff service and hospitality, cost/value perception, access and reservation system, crowding and space management, and character interaction. These themes reflect the emotional, operational, and symbolic dimensions of Disneyland experiences.

The findings contribute to the literature by shifting the analytical focus from operation performance or satisfaction metrics to the lived experiences and narratives of visitors. This research offers both a theoretical contribution to the field of tourism and leisure studies and practical implications for theme park operators seeking to enhance emotional engagement and culturally responsive design across global contexts.