Islands of Adventure vs Magic Kingdom

[ThemeParkHistorian]

Both parks are arguably two of the best in the state of Florida. Both have ground-breaking dark rides (Haunted Mansion and Pirates, Spider-Man and Forbidden Journey) thrilling coasters (Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Mine Train, Hulk, Hagrids, and Velocicoaster), great log flumes (Splash, Dudley Do-Right), amazingly themed lands (Liberty Square, Frontierland and Tomorrowland, Hogsmeade, Port of Entry, The Lost Continent) and overall rely on a great theme park experience.
Which park do you think is better?​

 

[RcTmix]

Apples and oranges, really.

Both for thrills, and for recent innovations I think the winner is pretty clearly IOA. I wouldn't really call Big Thunder Mountain or Mine Train "thrilling." Even Space Mountain, while it is thrilling in large part due to the theming, isn't anywhere close to the caliber of coasters you find at IOA.
That being said, Magic Kingdom is playing an entirely different game. It's more family oriented than IOA, so they're unlikely to build an extreme thrill coaster with a 54 inch height limit.

Rides like Spiderman and Forbidden Journey are technically groundbreaking and impressively themed, while many of Magic Kingdom's "groundbreaking" attractions are now several decades old. Disney has shown they are still capable of innovation (see Rise of the Resistance), and they have continued to refresh or replace dated attractions. Even Magic Kingdom is getting some more modern attractions, but it is also home to many of the "classic" Disney rides. From both a technical and thematic perspective Pirates and Haunted Mansion were way ahead of their time, but that was 50 years ago. They both primarily use technology from the 1960s/1970s. The quality and charm of these old rides, and their historical importance for the industry are two of the many reasons that they continue to offer great experiences and are unlikely to be replaced by a new shiny thing. Disney fans would grab their torches and pitch forks if either were removed, and both rides continue to attract big crowds. I can't speak for everyone, but for me a trip to Magic Kingdom is about that classic Disney magic. Don't get me wrong I'm excited for Tron, but I seriously doubt it will even come close to competing with Velocicoaster. Honestly I'm not sure it's supposed to and I think that's ok.

A more comparable pairing might be Universal's Hogsmede/Diagon Alley vs. Disney's Star Wars Galaxy's Edge.

 

[ricky coasters]

Magic Kingdom is far behind in the Florida parks race... most of the rides and theming there's pretty classic, but it's all kinda lacking when you compare that to the counterpart rides and more solid immersive theming around the world and in the same resort even... and I ain't saying that the Magic Kingdom rides & theming are bad, I bet they're pretty fun, but when you compare them to the rides in IOA, which give a lot more adrenaline, for the most part more high tech, then it's gonna be an easy pick unless ya like classic Disney.
Also for the food, park layout, and IP's I think IOA wins too

 

[ScottLann]

Clear winner is IOA for me. As much as I was amazed by Magic Kingdom and loved the classic feel it had to it, I just can't see anything beating IOA in my opinion. The music as you enter, walking down Port of Entry and hearing Hulk in the background. The view of the castle at MK whilst walking down the main street is pretty breath-taking but I think due to crowds, I could take in seeing the different lands across the lake at IOA much more.

Ride selection....gotta be IOA. I'm a big thrill seeker so it ticks all them boxes and the theming there is the best I've seen in any park.

Another thing I noticed was how well IOA and Universal in general deals with queues in their parks. Comparing it to all the Disney parks I went to, each one seems to have only a few stand out rides there which unfortunately bring the majority of the crowds to them whilst in IOA, there seems to be more of 'something for everyone' to space the crowds out.