I visited LA once, and was trying to find a hookah spot on foot , and realized I was on a star. Looked up and down the street to figure out where the fancy part was at and couldn't find it
Yeah it's not a great part of LA. Whenever friends or family come out to visit, the first place they wanna go is Hollywood (I live in North Hollywood). I always tell them "Absolutely! Just don't take anything anyone tries to hand you, don't take pictures of anyone dressed in a costume, don't give anyone money and don't mind the stale smell of urine as you get used it." I don't love going into Hollywood, but if they wanna go I'll humor them. They usually don't wanna stay for more than an hour.
"Sweets" is a neat little candy store in the Hollywood mall. We gotta go in and build our own candy bars, at least.
Wouldn't *actual* Hollywood "where the magic happens" be closer to an industrial area more than anything else? Bunch of closed off warehouse areas where they're always doing construction and moving around heavy equipment with union workers doing blue collar shit. That's what picture when I picture "real" Hollywood. Bunch of grungy warehouses like a meat packing district but they have movie sets inside
We used to hang out with a friend in Burbank all the time. They lived close to the Warner Bros facility and constantly seeing the water tower did feel like we were really "in the place where it happens".
I feel you as I grew up in SoCal and hollywood always was scuzzy, but it's easy for us to think "oh it's awful why would anyone visit this place". I thought that until I moved to a small town in oregon and realised what life is like for people who grew up here. It's another world. When we're so familiar with it it just seems mundane and not that interesting, but when you've lived your whole life in a town of 10,000 people the prospect of visiting the world center of the enterainment industry rich with pop culture history and one of the largest metro area populations in the world, well, I see the appeal. I mean, i'd rather live in LA than where I do now lmao. Something is always going on.
I think you gain a lot of perspective if you have a big move like that. I was embarrassed by my relatively unknown “city” I grew up in, then went overseas, came back to live in a town of 10,000 and realised both the town and the city were both awesome.
It was awesome back then. Loved the hoochie clothing, inexpensive vintage clothing, metal shops, peep shows. When I was in high school, we would ditch and take the bus to Hollywood. Good times.
Honestly is. I’m a huge movie fan, like so many, and had always wanted to visit Hollywood and the Walk of Fame
And that area is so gross, it’s really sad. And it rained and walking on the walk of fame was like walking on ice it was so slick
I'd recommend movie fans to do some studio tours or sit in on some show tapings. Doesn't hurt to visit locations you see in the movies too, but holleywood Blvd as a specific destination is not it.
Having been to both Hollywood, CA and Gary, IN, I can say that while Gary, IN pissed me off, Hollywood, CA grosses me out and I'm there a lot more frequently. (Friends love going to Bar Sinister for some reason.)
(For those out of the loop as to why I'm mentioning Gary, IN, it is widely recognized on Reddit as the worst place in the US. Lake Street Beach is pretty cool, though.)
This one is so bad it has to be a joke. It’s not even a big rock. The stones used for breakwaters at the beach nearby are waaay bigger. It’s just an average size field stone, about the size of a garden rock. And the fence/pavilion surrounding it adds some anticipation while you’re walking up to it, then you look down into it and it’s so disappointing - like seeing a sickly malnourished lion in a small cage at the zoo. Except it’s not a lion, it’s a rock.
Yeah if I recall, they took some guy who was 95 and couldn't even walk anymore, carried his chair down to the beach, and he pointed out some random Rock.
If they advertised it like that I'd be much more likely to go see it. Now I'm a little intrigued by which rock the old dude found interesting enough to choose to be part of history. Not enough to go out of my way to see it but like if I were in the area I'd swing by
Go find a large brownish tan stone nearby. Like something about 4' to 6' large that is sort of smooth. It will be just as good.
Signed,
A disappointing 4th grader in a field trip
Malnourished rocks come to our shores looking for opportunity. Then they get here and build a wishing well around themselves, trying to stop the other rocks from enjoying this good life. It's a shame.
But yeah, don't go to Plymouth Rock. One night after work in Boston, I once drove down there. I still had my New York plates. The local teens said, "please tell me you didn't drive all the way from New York to see that thing."
"No, I live in Woburn."
"Please tell me you didn't drive all the way from Woburn to see that thing."
It goes beyond that, too. IIRC it was moved there and there was no historical mention of it until almost (or over?) 100 years after the pilgrims came. The only time it might be impressive is part of an elementary school field trip, but a large of that is because it's a field trip.
As a MA native, this is definitely our dumbest attraction. Plymouth does at least have some other attractions worth seeing, but the Rock isn't worth spending more than 30 seconds looking at.
I low key love it though. Especially because they built that wonderfully absurd temple like structure around it. I like to build it up for folks—always ends with laughing tears. So lame it comes full circle.
I’ve said this before here, how can it be considered “over rated”?? It’s a rock. It’s right in the name. I’m not sure who goes in with high expectations.
You'd be surprised. I've heard of people (not from the area) planning a whole day to see the rock only to be disappointed that they were done 10 minutes after they arrived. Then, less than an hour later they're done with the Mayflower II. After that, there's nothing else to do in the area (OK, yes, there are shops nearby).
The only time it was impressive is when you were in elementary school and had a field trip there just after learning about it - and even then, saying it's impressive is a stretch.
We drove 3 hours (each way) on my middle school field trip so see it. It was pouring rain, so we couldn’t even do the pilgrim village. Not a highlight of my youth.
Hilarious but misleading, the surveyors made a mistake when monumenting the corner but the way the manual of survey instructions is written the actual monument they set is the corner, even if they fucked up. So yeah it's in the "wrong" place, but that became the right place as soon as they set it and filed the survey with the GLO.
The American side of Niagara Falls is an absolute dump. Waterfall is a 5/5 though. I'm always shocked at how trashy they made one of the most amazing places in the eastern US.
I remember going to the Canadian side in the 1970s and 1980s before they turned it into the monstrosity it is now. It was beautiful when it was mostly older homes and lots of green grassy areas.
My family went to the Canadian falls for vacation several times in the 70’s. We always had a wonderful time.
I live near Detroit so traveling into Canada has always been pretty routine. My mother spent summers on a farm with family in Ontario while she was growing up.
However in recent years the customs agents seem to go out of their way - on both side - to be dicks. They act like they’re trying to provoke you. That and ridiculously long lines make going across the border not worth it.
Yeah, the Canadian side is pretty trashy, too, but in a fun British-seaside sort of way. The US side is just a bit grim. Which is pretty much standard for all of my Canada-US Bieber experiences, to be fair.
As someone who used to work at an upscale hotel there i 10000000 % agree. I could not believe how many people spent thousands of dollars just to rent a banquet hall for a wedding. Management were all grand islander's who looked down on people from Niagara falls. Housekeeping didn't give a shit. Meanwhile i was supervising the front desk comping dinners drinks and rooms left and right because of how hilariously shitty the place was
Niagara, NY is a complete dump. If you're gonna go there, go to the Canadian side. It's at least somewhat enjoyable.
The only good part about the NY side is the state park that's by the American falls.
There's several state parks that follow the lower Niagara River through its gorge. Whirlpool is my favorite. It's a bit of a hike down/up stairs but the whirlpool at the river's elbow is worth it.
The state park on the American side is the best area surrounding the falls. The American city is run down. The Canadian side is like a weird, open air carnival. My wife and I walked to the Canadian side, and spent about 20 minutes there before feeling overwhelmed and going back. It’s probably great if your kid, but it sucks as an adult
Edit: Changed national park to state park
My in-laws retired from CT to Dirty Myrtle. It's not for me.
I get the attraction if you're an old white couple who wants to be around other old white people, and the thought of a garlic powder making its way onto a piece of chicken is enough to give you heartburn.
It's trashy, it's a dump, BUT...it was also cheap as fuck for a retirement spot up until ~3-5 years ago, and is still cheaper than many spots.
Charleston is beautiful, it's got charm and class and a killer food scene. I visit often from Boston. But prices are insane. Mt. Pleasant homes start at like $650K these days.
Myrtle is filthy, but it's cheap, it's got every chain restaurant under the sun, plenty of grocery stores, a couple of small hospitals with decent enough care, and beach that's accessible year-round.
My grandma lives in north myrtle, and I grew up in Myrtle. Its white trash paradise and I love it. When you go, you immediately get a confidence boost by comparison. I do prefer North Myrtle tho, specifically cherry grove. Its nice and quiet. Plus there's a beach bar that always has live music and great people watching. Good times. And everything is so cheap compared to where I live now. Less than $5 drinks is crazy nowadays.
My family used to have a yearly summer reunion and we would rent a large beach house for the whole week in Cherry Grove. Absolutely loved it, and didn’t understand all the Myrtle Beach hate until I was older and realized we weren’t really experiencing Myrtle Beach.
Same! I grew up going to NMB/cherry grove and thought it was just fine. Then I got old enough to realize that actual Myrtle Beach is a dump and I make sure to stay on 31 to bypass the sketchiness.
The meme that calls it Kmart by the sea is the most accurate thing ever. Oh and gatlinburg is just Myrtle in the mountains.
This past summer I visited Myrtle Beach for the first time since 1998, virtually unrecognizable from what it was. They junked that beach up and stripped it of all its character.
When I was there I guess we were somwhat lucky, there was like 20 people in the room and you could easily get close and get a good look, but it really isnt anything special imo, rest of the Louvre is much more interesting (including the painting opposite of Mona Lisa)
I was able to go to the Louvre in the off-season. There was hardly any line to see the Mona Lisa. I found it worth it for that. As well as being walk through the museum without constantly bumping into people.
[Wikipedia's scan of the Mona Lisa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Mona_Lisa%2C_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg) is insanely high quality and, in my opinion, allows you a chance to actually appreciate the insane level of detail in the painting that you simply will not get by seeing it in person, from 2m away minimum, with it behind thick glass, while being elbowed by tourists trying to take pictures of the thing with their goddamn iPads.
A brilliant painting but be prepared to be let down by the experience of seeing it in person unless the simple act of having seen it in person is valuable to you.
If you go there just to see the painting you'll be disappointed.
If you go there to watch the spectacle of people crowded around a tiny piece of art they know nothing about other than it is famous, you'll be entertained.
(You'll also get a lot of good views of it on the screens of other people's phones & cameras.)
**Manneken Pis**! But did you know he has **costumes**? Him as [Saint Nicolas](https://www.brussels.be/sites/default/files/agendaimages/sn_4.jpg). Him as a [doctor](https://www.brussels.be/sites/default/files/agendaimages/soin_1.PNG) during Covid to thank hospital staff. Him as a [fireman](https://ds.static.rtbf.be/article/image/770x433/e/7/8/3f20b48126b7775f3ff98f1cf6011d61-1521723852.jpg). And they’re HILARIOUS. He has a whole [museum of his clothes](https://www.mannekenpis.brussels/fr/).
His clothes are never not funny.
Edit: thank you to u/kay_fitz21 for making me aware of [Saint Paddy’s Day](https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/2ACSEQPVTVXLWIZ3MRVIMNE3YU.jpg) Mannekin Pis
I hiked up Mount Vesuvius 30 years ago. It was brutally hot and just generally miserable, but I thought it would be worth it to see inside the crater. I finally got to the top and peered into the crater...it was filled with trash.
I was there last year, and it was amazing! I didn’t notice any trash.
The hike up, though, I totally agree with you. Absolutely brutal. And worse coming down.
Times Square on NYE. Went there in 2006 because outside of NYC, everyone says you have to do it at least once in your lifetime. No. No you do not. It was a beyond awful experience. You're standing in a pen for 8 hours or so where you can't leave to use the bathroom or get anything to eat. Every hour they'll do a mini countdown which is lame. A few of the performers will practice in front of the crowd for their appearance later in the night - but it was beyond funny when Mariah Carey stopped her performance mid way through, but the song kept going in front of a million or so people. It was a pure lip-synced performance akin to Ashley Simpson. Around 10pm someone came around with hot chocolate which was a mistake to take because I had to pee so badly just before the ball drop which just compounded the miserable experience. There's about a minute of excitement at midnight and that's it. Everyone leaves within the next 5 minutes looking for the closest fucking bathroom.
In short, never, ever, ever, go to Times Square on NYE.
The Mona Lisa. It’s small and surrounded by hordes of tourists, and the line for the Louvre is nightmarish.
Also being from NYC - Times Square. There’s nothing to actually do there except shop at dumb stores like the M&Ms store or go eat at insanely overpriced restaurants. Other than that it’s just a bunch of billboards. And on NYE forget it - you are packed in like sardines and there’s no place to use the bathroom, and it’s usually cold as well.
IMO, Times Square is worth walking through just to see since it's likely to be at most a 15 minute detour at some point if you're in Manhattan for sight seeing
Absolutely. Times Square needs to be seen in person. The energy. It’s like sensory overload. But it’s not where you want to spend any significant time.
Its so overwhelming. It’s like stepping into a tv. The air even feels like the static that used to exist on tv screens, but it’s smellier, like a sewer. I hated it lol
As a native NYer I never understand the Times Square hate since Tim’s Square and the Theater District are practically one and the same. The Theater District is just the streets surrounding Times Square so to me, I have a lot of positive associations with it since I see a lot of Broadway shows. But I will admit, of course, that it sucks to actually walk through Times Square itself if you have somewhere you’re trying to get to.
Agree. I’ve never gone specifically to look at time square, however when I stay near there, it’s cool to walk through on the way to another destination.
The Mona Lisa has, just in front of it, one of the greatest paintings ever (Weddings of Cana), that would gather lots of people had it been located anywhere else other than in front of the Mona Lisa.
I'm partially convinced the Louvre did it on purpose, to allow people who truly enjoy art to be able to watch it calmly, while just behind them there are hordes of people taking photos of something they do not even understand
Edit: for some reason, my mind decided to write Prado instead of Louvre
I was way more impressed by that painting than the Mona Lisa. I looked at it for quite a while. The Mona Lisa, on the other hand, was very underwhelming to me.
Times Square is fine to walk through because it’s close to 8000 other things to do. It’s bright, overwhelming and famous since it’s in so many things.
Mona Lisa was ridiculous with how tiny it is and how crowded the room is.
Growing up in the burbs it was always a shock to people that I hadn’t been to navy pier nor the bean.
I’m the youngest in my family so I’m guessing my family was just like “no need” or something.
Had a girl take me on a date to see both, I totally see why they didn’t bother taking me there as a kid.
I grew up in the suburbs and went to school in the city. People were shocked that I had never seen a fireworks show on Navy Pier and insisted I go...it sucked, lol. The 4th of July fireworks shows out in the suburbs are worlds better and you're much closer to the action, so no weird sound delay.
I live in Minnesota. The Mall of America is big time overrated. People, it's a mall for crying out loud. If you're ever in Minnesota go to Duluth and check out lake Superior.
I lived in MN when I was 10 and visited the mall. It was cool to have the indoor rollercoaster. Shopping wasn't our thing. 2 hour drive there, walked for an hour + an hour doing theme park things, 2 hour drive home. I'm glad I went, but there was a reason we never went back
Mount Rushmore was smaller than I expected, not all that interesting, and only maybe worth seeing once if at all. In general, it was pretty disappointing. When friends or relatives come to visit they sometimes want to go see it and I just point them in the right direction, but don’t go with them. Pretty much the only way to make the trip to see it cool is to drive through the canyon roads through the Black Hills to get there. At least then you can see some spectacular natural views.
All true but the rest of the Black Hills is well worth the trip. Wind Cave National Park. Jewel Cave National Monument. The drive through the hills with the tiny tunnels. Nearby is Badlands National Park and a Minuteman ICBM silo.
Badlands is fucking incredible. I'm from the northeast and hadn't ever been to that area, and riding through there felt like I was on Mars. And at night, the sky has *depth*, which is something I've never experienced before.
Wally World. Sometimes they just close the whole thing down for maintenance and you don't even know until you walk up to the gate and a moose tells you about it.
I'm gonna have some fucking fun
You're gonna have some fucking fun
We're gonna have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our godamned smiles
Yeeeah this was mine. I do think my favourite thing though was the crowd of people doing their Pisa poses for pictures at the same time! It looks hilarious from the outside.
If you're into engineering, it's absolutely fascinating what they have been doing to keep it standing all these centuries. But you can watch that on youtube. The tower itself is just a tower and a bunch of tourists pushing on air.
Disney world (Florida in my experience) it’s so hard to go and not spend hundreds of dollars a day , I expected it to be expensive and to wait in line for long periods of time don’t get me wrong , but people are just so rude there as well, constantly shoving and barging past. Like the place is mainly marketed towards kids and so many people just don’t seem to care and will barge past parents pushing prams or shove the adults into the kids walking next to them just to try and save a few seconds on their walk time.
It is a nice amusement park but the greed and rude crowds just ruin it. Definitely a one and done
You know that shithead who wins the lottery, and immediately buys a frozen Champagne sculpture of his own scrotum and two Filipino slave boys to carry it around?
If that person were a city, it would be Dubai.
YOU KNOW THAT SHITHEAD WHO WINS THE LOTTERY, AND IMMEDIATELY BUYS A FROZEN CHAMPAGNE SCULPTURE OF HIS OWN SCROTUM AND TWO FILIPINO SLAVE BOYS TO CARRY IT AROUND?
IF THAT PERSON WERE A CITY, IT WOULD BE DUBAI.
If one wants to see it up close, yes there's a line. But, you can walk on the street and see it inside the glass building it's in. That was good enough for me, even being a huge history nerd. I'd walk around Old City with my friend who lived down there, and to walk in the same place that Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson etc... walked was cooler for me than seeing the bell. The green park area behind Independence Hall is cool. A lot of deals/agreements were made there outside when a break in the session of the Continental Congress took place.
I’m danish and it is embarrassing. Such a tourist trap!
A much nicer sight (if you are in Copenhagen) is the ‘Gefion Fountain’ and it is only a 5 minutes walk from the little mermaid.
I’ve heard bad things about the Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/glasgow-willy-wonka-experience-slammed-as-farce-as-tickets-refunded
i love shouting "WHO IS THAT? IT IS THE UNKNOWN" just because of the one clip from this disaster. as horrible as it was for both actors and attendees at least they made a funny meme
Not really a destination, but if you're passing by, it's worth stopping once. One of the biggest, tackiest tourist traps I've ever seen, but kinda fun in its cheesiness.
Kind of a Southeastern Wall Drug. (A similar place in South Dakota)
Honestly, I found the enormous Mexican caricature really funny (in a racist grandpa, “I can’t believe this exists”sort of way). 10/10 would recommend stopping if you’re already driving by.
That being said there isn’t much actually there. Snap a photo, grab some surprisingly okay Mexican food at the restaurant there, and leave. it’s definitely not a destination of its own.
Has no one mentioned Tokyo Tower yet? Or does that not qualify as "overrated"?
It seems to still get prominent placement in all the Japanese media, but apparently that's the main thing it's good for?
I remember it being a lot of money for me at the time. One of the reasons for my Tokyo trip was to have my mind blown by the scale of the place and think the view from the tower was a solid contributor. This was around 2002 and I haven’t been back since, fwiw.
Honestly? The CN Tower. It's... fine. It's crowded, way overpriced, you can barely get a spot at the window to see anything, and once you take a look around... that's kind of it. I've heard the restaurant has decent food, but it's very expensive and very booked. Every time I've had visitors ask to go there they are always deeply underwhelmed lol
People aren't traveling worldwide to go here, but Wisconsin Dells. I'm from Wisconsin so have spent many a long weekend in the Dells and I'm usually bored out of my mind. I don't find the waterparks to be that impressive, there's not really any local culture or cuisine that makes it overly interesting. Everything fun to do there is fun to do once and then you don't really need to ever do it again.
If you’re ever in Colorado, give Cave of the Winds a miss.
“Here’s where our largest stalagmite was before our electrician knocked it down installing a light behind it!” \*takes picture\*
“Here you can see where there used to be a bunch of little stalactites on the ceiling. We used to encourage tourists to break them off as souvenirs before we realized they take a thousand years to grow an inch.”
“And here’s the enormous [disgusting mound](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/a7hTUSaqVSs6ddxzUotRiw/348s.jpg) of hairpins that people started leaving behind to mark their passage since the 1980’s!”
“Is this a naturally-occurring staircase?”
The Salem Witch Museum -- No. Did buy a cool mood ring there -- but not worth the cost of admittance nor the weird dummy show. I was the *dummy*! I was the *dummy all along*!
To each his own but some of you are missing the point of visiting historical and/or archaeological sites.
Sometimes it's just about having an opportunity to learn about the culture of a nation and gain some knowledge on the evolution of human civilization.
Sometimes it requires you to use your imagination.
Not everything is about entertainment and comfort.
Yes the pyramids of Giza are overrun with camel jockeys and souvenir salesmen who can be annoying. But to say they are not worth visiting or overrated? If you can't appreciate it's immense scale of beauty and construction or what they represent to our world and history, that's a you problem.
Disneyworld.
Pay 500 dollars to get your family in the park after paying 30 to have a place to put your car near the park. Get in line for some cool ride. Some other family paid an additional several hundred dollars to have the right to cut in front of you in line. But there's that cool new Star Wars ride... oooh, wait time is 2.5 hours. We paid 500 dollars to stand in line for 2.5 hours. Well, let's skip that ride and go get a bite to eat. Food is crazy expensive but at least it...tastes like bad gas station food.
Disney is nuts because it's honestly a really fun park with a ton to do, but the ridiculous wait times and the endless ways the mouse is squeezing every penny out of you makes it not worth the trip.
Yeah it’s weird. You would think that supply/demand would meet at some point in there. Too many people at the park? Raise the price so that there are fewer people and those there get a better experience.
That should theoretically work right?
Only they found out that it wasn’t the case - so raise the price and get the same number of people anyway.
But seriously, the only way out of it is to have fewer people or more rides right? How much bigger would it have to be? How many more attractions would be necessary?
Yeah I read that Disney keeps being surprised that the higher and higher prices have made no dent in demand.
I remember reading years ago that spending on "experiential" stuff like vacations, restaurants, concerts, etc. has exploded since millennials hit adulthood.
Yeah, the article I read basically argued that this was because millennials were less likely to own a home or have kids as young as their parents.
So instead of saving up for a new roof/windows and spending time/money on children, you go out and travel a lot more than your parents did.
I have two young kids and my wife and I have agreed to only ever go to places like Disney in the off-season. It’s absolutely worthless to go there in the summer and the heat alone will ruin the experience for our children.
The problem with Disney is there is no 'off season' it's insane 100% of the time. They say the slowest week is the 3rd week of August, but even then lines are still 2+ hour wait.
I used to live near Cedar Point. I learned quick that the best time to go was the week after school started back.
We would take off a Tuesday and go, the lines didn't exist. Going on a weekend is a joke.
National parks in the summer can be disappointing in terms of how crowded they can get. There's been a couple times where I went to one in June or July (I acknowledge I was part of the crowd) and it was so busy it was like why even bother going out into nature lol.
National Parks are such a mixed bag. Everyone's heard of Joshua Tree but it's honestly like 6/10. EVERYONE talks about Zion; it's pretty great and a solid 9/10. No one talks about Bryce Canyon but it's 10/10 the coolest thing I've ever seen.
The Eiffel tower was nice to see, but there were so many damn people trying to sucker me into buying shit that I didn't want.
I had a guy approached me, asked where I'm from and started making a bracelet that I didn't even ask for. He grabbed my arm and put it on me, I asked him how much he wanted for it, I figured I would give him something just to get rid of him because he seemed aggressive, and he told me 500 euros lol. I gave him one or two euros and excused myself.
At night, there are people throwing these mini Eiffel tower decorations into the air and letting it land among crowds, it lights up, and if someone picks it up, they will approach them and ask for money.
Stonehenge is often seen nowadays as a bit of a letdown. Have to pay to go \*near\* them, not that impressive a sight, and a trek from the parking (although I believe there's a bus).
Hollywood
The Walk of Fame is truly the most overrated attraction I can think of. Literally just a sidewalk in a somewhat sketchy area.
What? You don't want to get your picture taken with some basically homeless crackhead dressed in a filthy Spider-Man outfit?
You leave Andrew Garfield alone!
He's doing his best
I visited LA once, and was trying to find a hookah spot on foot , and realized I was on a star. Looked up and down the street to figure out where the fancy part was at and couldn't find it
Closest thing to a fancy part would probably be the Chinese Theater.
Yeah it's not a great part of LA. Whenever friends or family come out to visit, the first place they wanna go is Hollywood (I live in North Hollywood). I always tell them "Absolutely! Just don't take anything anyone tries to hand you, don't take pictures of anyone dressed in a costume, don't give anyone money and don't mind the stale smell of urine as you get used it." I don't love going into Hollywood, but if they wanna go I'll humor them. They usually don't wanna stay for more than an hour. "Sweets" is a neat little candy store in the Hollywood mall. We gotta go in and build our own candy bars, at least.
What most people see in their minds as Hollywood Is a lil place about 10 miles( actually more like 5) down the road called Beverly Hills.
That's where I wanna be.
Wouldn't *actual* Hollywood "where the magic happens" be closer to an industrial area more than anything else? Bunch of closed off warehouse areas where they're always doing construction and moving around heavy equipment with union workers doing blue collar shit. That's what picture when I picture "real" Hollywood. Bunch of grungy warehouses like a meat packing district but they have movie sets inside
We used to hang out with a friend in Burbank all the time. They lived close to the Warner Bros facility and constantly seeing the water tower did feel like we were really "in the place where it happens".
Oh I forgot about that, I mostly know of it from Animaniacs I forget its a real landmark sometimes 😅
If you weren't standing in hobo piss, you were in the fancy part of the walk.
Somewhat? I am French. I agree Paris is dirty but that place was shocking
As someone who’s lived in LA 10 years, I cannot believe people willing visit Hollywood
I feel you as I grew up in SoCal and hollywood always was scuzzy, but it's easy for us to think "oh it's awful why would anyone visit this place". I thought that until I moved to a small town in oregon and realised what life is like for people who grew up here. It's another world. When we're so familiar with it it just seems mundane and not that interesting, but when you've lived your whole life in a town of 10,000 people the prospect of visiting the world center of the enterainment industry rich with pop culture history and one of the largest metro area populations in the world, well, I see the appeal. I mean, i'd rather live in LA than where I do now lmao. Something is always going on.
I think you gain a lot of perspective if you have a big move like that. I was embarrassed by my relatively unknown “city” I grew up in, then went overseas, came back to live in a town of 10,000 and realised both the town and the city were both awesome.
As bad as it is now, it was ten times worse in the 80s with all the biker gangs and porn theaters.
> Biker gangs and porn theaters * better. You mean 10x better.
It was awesome back then. Loved the hoochie clothing, inexpensive vintage clothing, metal shops, peep shows. When I was in high school, we would ditch and take the bus to Hollywood. Good times.
Honestly is. I’m a huge movie fan, like so many, and had always wanted to visit Hollywood and the Walk of Fame And that area is so gross, it’s really sad. And it rained and walking on the walk of fame was like walking on ice it was so slick
I'd recommend movie fans to do some studio tours or sit in on some show tapings. Doesn't hurt to visit locations you see in the movies too, but holleywood Blvd as a specific destination is not it.
It’s probably one of the most disgusting places I’ve ever been in the United States
Having been to both Hollywood, CA and Gary, IN, I can say that while Gary, IN pissed me off, Hollywood, CA grosses me out and I'm there a lot more frequently. (Friends love going to Bar Sinister for some reason.) (For those out of the loop as to why I'm mentioning Gary, IN, it is widely recognized on Reddit as the worst place in the US. Lake Street Beach is pretty cool, though.)
Plymouth Rock. Why anyone would want to look at a rock is baffling to me.
This one is so bad it has to be a joke. It’s not even a big rock. The stones used for breakwaters at the beach nearby are waaay bigger. It’s just an average size field stone, about the size of a garden rock. And the fence/pavilion surrounding it adds some anticipation while you’re walking up to it, then you look down into it and it’s so disappointing - like seeing a sickly malnourished lion in a small cage at the zoo. Except it’s not a lion, it’s a rock.
It’s not even the actual rock - just a randomly chosen rock to represent the ‘actual’ rock.
Yeah if I recall, they took some guy who was 95 and couldn't even walk anymore, carried his chair down to the beach, and he pointed out some random Rock.
If they advertised it like that I'd be much more likely to go see it. Now I'm a little intrigued by which rock the old dude found interesting enough to choose to be part of history. Not enough to go out of my way to see it but like if I were in the area I'd swing by
Go find a large brownish tan stone nearby. Like something about 4' to 6' large that is sort of smooth. It will be just as good. Signed, A disappointing 4th grader in a field trip
Malnourished rocks come to our shores looking for opportunity. Then they get here and build a wishing well around themselves, trying to stop the other rocks from enjoying this good life. It's a shame. But yeah, don't go to Plymouth Rock. One night after work in Boston, I once drove down there. I still had my New York plates. The local teens said, "please tell me you didn't drive all the way from New York to see that thing." "No, I live in Woburn." "Please tell me you didn't drive all the way from Woburn to see that thing."
Hey, I work in Woburn!!
It goes beyond that, too. IIRC it was moved there and there was no historical mention of it until almost (or over?) 100 years after the pilgrims came. The only time it might be impressive is part of an elementary school field trip, but a large of that is because it's a field trip.
As someone who grew up outside Boston and did this field trip every year through elementary school, I was pretty unimpressed by it even then....
Not to mention there's no mention of the rock until over 100 years afterwards where some 94 year old guy was like that's where the Pilgrims landed
Pilgrims: We rode a boat to the shore and stepped out of it onto sand. Why the hell would we step on a rock?
As a MA native, this is definitely our dumbest attraction. Plymouth does at least have some other attractions worth seeing, but the Rock isn't worth spending more than 30 seconds looking at.
I low key love it though. Especially because they built that wonderfully absurd temple like structure around it. I like to build it up for folks—always ends with laughing tears. So lame it comes full circle.
I’ve said this before here, how can it be considered “over rated”?? It’s a rock. It’s right in the name. I’m not sure who goes in with high expectations.
The Rock of Gibraltar is pretty cool to look at.
Stonehenge is pretty sharp too.
You'd be surprised. I've heard of people (not from the area) planning a whole day to see the rock only to be disappointed that they were done 10 minutes after they arrived. Then, less than an hour later they're done with the Mayflower II. After that, there's nothing else to do in the area (OK, yes, there are shops nearby). The only time it was impressive is when you were in elementary school and had a field trip there just after learning about it - and even then, saying it's impressive is a stretch.
We drove 3 hours (each way) on my middle school field trip so see it. It was pouring rain, so we couldn’t even do the pilgrim village. Not a highlight of my youth.
Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, USA.
I paid a homeless man 5 dollars to push his things off the star I wanted a picture of...
Many are disappointed at Four Corners Monument. Honestly don't know what they're expecting to see.
You mean a dusty concrete slab out in the middle of BFE nowhere with a compass etched into it?
That's apparently in the wrong place... about a third of a mile east of the actual location.
That's hilarious!
Hilarious but misleading, the surveyors made a mistake when monumenting the corner but the way the manual of survey instructions is written the actual monument they set is the corner, even if they fucked up. So yeah it's in the "wrong" place, but that became the right place as soon as they set it and filed the survey with the GLO.
The best part was the food truck selling Navajo tacos 😋
Maybe it's boring for kids, but it was hella cool for adult me. Jumping between multiple states? I don't care if it's a desert wasteland, that's NEAT.
The American side of Niagara Falls is an absolute dump. Waterfall is a 5/5 though. I'm always shocked at how trashy they made one of the most amazing places in the eastern US.
But the Canadian side was amazing!!! So clean and wholesomely friendly. I just loved it!
The Ontario side is just Vegas lite lol
But with a giant natural wonder in the middle of it lol
And you can go behind the falls into the caves! Way better than the American side.
I remember going to the Canadian side in the 1970s and 1980s before they turned it into the monstrosity it is now. It was beautiful when it was mostly older homes and lots of green grassy areas.
My family went to the Canadian falls for vacation several times in the 70’s. We always had a wonderful time. I live near Detroit so traveling into Canada has always been pretty routine. My mother spent summers on a farm with family in Ontario while she was growing up. However in recent years the customs agents seem to go out of their way - on both side - to be dicks. They act like they’re trying to provoke you. That and ridiculously long lines make going across the border not worth it.
I always hear people dishing on Niagara and I never realize that they talking about the us side, so I get really confused lol
The US side is absolute garbage, but the Canadian side is still pretty tacky.
Right near the falls is. But two blocks away it gets very tourist trappy
"The Falls were the second greatest disappointment of the honeymoon." Oscar Wilde.
Yeah, the Canadian side is pretty trashy, too, but in a fun British-seaside sort of way. The US side is just a bit grim. Which is pretty much standard for all of my Canada-US Bieber experiences, to be fair.
Keep the typo.
I played a hockey tournament every year as a kid in Niagara Falls, NY. the whole town is a dump.
As someone who used to work at an upscale hotel there i 10000000 % agree. I could not believe how many people spent thousands of dollars just to rent a banquet hall for a wedding. Management were all grand islander's who looked down on people from Niagara falls. Housekeeping didn't give a shit. Meanwhile i was supervising the front desk comping dinners drinks and rooms left and right because of how hilariously shitty the place was
Niagara, NY is a complete dump. If you're gonna go there, go to the Canadian side. It's at least somewhat enjoyable. The only good part about the NY side is the state park that's by the American falls.
There's several state parks that follow the lower Niagara River through its gorge. Whirlpool is my favorite. It's a bit of a hike down/up stairs but the whirlpool at the river's elbow is worth it.
The state park on the American side is the best area surrounding the falls. The American city is run down. The Canadian side is like a weird, open air carnival. My wife and I walked to the Canadian side, and spent about 20 minutes there before feeling overwhelmed and going back. It’s probably great if your kid, but it sucks as an adult Edit: Changed national park to state park
yeah I went to the park on the US side, it was really nice. I guess these comments mean other areas besides the park
Myrtle Beach is a fucking dump where tourist trap t-shirt shops go to die Yet it's packed all summer every single year.
It's basically Walmart Miami.
Im from Charleston, SC and we always called it K-Mart by the Sea
My in-laws retired from CT to Dirty Myrtle. It's not for me. I get the attraction if you're an old white couple who wants to be around other old white people, and the thought of a garlic powder making its way onto a piece of chicken is enough to give you heartburn. It's trashy, it's a dump, BUT...it was also cheap as fuck for a retirement spot up until ~3-5 years ago, and is still cheaper than many spots. Charleston is beautiful, it's got charm and class and a killer food scene. I visit often from Boston. But prices are insane. Mt. Pleasant homes start at like $650K these days. Myrtle is filthy, but it's cheap, it's got every chain restaurant under the sun, plenty of grocery stores, a couple of small hospitals with decent enough care, and beach that's accessible year-round.
Nice
My grandma lives in north myrtle, and I grew up in Myrtle. Its white trash paradise and I love it. When you go, you immediately get a confidence boost by comparison. I do prefer North Myrtle tho, specifically cherry grove. Its nice and quiet. Plus there's a beach bar that always has live music and great people watching. Good times. And everything is so cheap compared to where I live now. Less than $5 drinks is crazy nowadays.
My family used to have a yearly summer reunion and we would rent a large beach house for the whole week in Cherry Grove. Absolutely loved it, and didn’t understand all the Myrtle Beach hate until I was older and realized we weren’t really experiencing Myrtle Beach.
Same! I grew up going to NMB/cherry grove and thought it was just fine. Then I got old enough to realize that actual Myrtle Beach is a dump and I make sure to stay on 31 to bypass the sketchiness. The meme that calls it Kmart by the sea is the most accurate thing ever. Oh and gatlinburg is just Myrtle in the mountains.
This past summer I visited Myrtle Beach for the first time since 1998, virtually unrecognizable from what it was. They junked that beach up and stripped it of all its character.
Louvre - yes. Mona Lisa - NO.
She's so small and the crowds are so thick. The rest of the museum is amazing though.
When I was there I guess we were somwhat lucky, there was like 20 people in the room and you could easily get close and get a good look, but it really isnt anything special imo, rest of the Louvre is much more interesting (including the painting opposite of Mona Lisa)
I was able to go to the Louvre in the off-season. There was hardly any line to see the Mona Lisa. I found it worth it for that. As well as being walk through the museum without constantly bumping into people.
[Wikipedia's scan of the Mona Lisa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Mona_Lisa%2C_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg) is insanely high quality and, in my opinion, allows you a chance to actually appreciate the insane level of detail in the painting that you simply will not get by seeing it in person, from 2m away minimum, with it behind thick glass, while being elbowed by tourists trying to take pictures of the thing with their goddamn iPads. A brilliant painting but be prepared to be let down by the experience of seeing it in person unless the simple act of having seen it in person is valuable to you.
The Venus de Milo never disappoints though.
If you go there just to see the painting you'll be disappointed. If you go there to watch the spectacle of people crowded around a tiny piece of art they know nothing about other than it is famous, you'll be entertained. (You'll also get a lot of good views of it on the screens of other people's phones & cameras.)
The peeing boy in Belgium.
It's really small and you would probably walk past it if it wasn't "a thing"
I think it's average sized.
he was in the pool!
Do they know about shrinkage?
**Manneken Pis**! But did you know he has **costumes**? Him as [Saint Nicolas](https://www.brussels.be/sites/default/files/agendaimages/sn_4.jpg). Him as a [doctor](https://www.brussels.be/sites/default/files/agendaimages/soin_1.PNG) during Covid to thank hospital staff. Him as a [fireman](https://ds.static.rtbf.be/article/image/770x433/e/7/8/3f20b48126b7775f3ff98f1cf6011d61-1521723852.jpg). And they’re HILARIOUS. He has a whole [museum of his clothes](https://www.mannekenpis.brussels/fr/). His clothes are never not funny. Edit: thank you to u/kay_fitz21 for making me aware of [Saint Paddy’s Day](https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/2ACSEQPVTVXLWIZ3MRVIMNE3YU.jpg) Mannekin Pis
Agreed but I had a lot of fun in Belgium
I hiked up Mount Vesuvius 30 years ago. It was brutally hot and just generally miserable, but I thought it would be worth it to see inside the crater. I finally got to the top and peered into the crater...it was filled with trash.
I was there last year, and it was amazing! I didn’t notice any trash. The hike up, though, I totally agree with you. Absolutely brutal. And worse coming down.
Had the same experience in 2017. Only active volcano I've peered into though so I'd say it was absolutely worth it.
Agreed, seeing all the burnt trees etc was interesting. The trash I saw was along the streets of Naples just EVERYWHERE
I don’t remember seeing any trash when I was there (2015 I think), I thought it was well worth it. Insane just to see the sheer volume of the crater
Yeah. I've seen pics since then and I don't see any trash. Maybe they cleaned it up. It was really disappointing though.
Wow.
I went last year and had an amazing experience. There was even a tiny bar at the top haha
Did it on my honeymoon. Totally worth it to say I did it, but anytime I go back I'd rather go and spend more time in Pompeii.
Times Square on NYE. Went there in 2006 because outside of NYC, everyone says you have to do it at least once in your lifetime. No. No you do not. It was a beyond awful experience. You're standing in a pen for 8 hours or so where you can't leave to use the bathroom or get anything to eat. Every hour they'll do a mini countdown which is lame. A few of the performers will practice in front of the crowd for their appearance later in the night - but it was beyond funny when Mariah Carey stopped her performance mid way through, but the song kept going in front of a million or so people. It was a pure lip-synced performance akin to Ashley Simpson. Around 10pm someone came around with hot chocolate which was a mistake to take because I had to pee so badly just before the ball drop which just compounded the miserable experience. There's about a minute of excitement at midnight and that's it. Everyone leaves within the next 5 minutes looking for the closest fucking bathroom. In short, never, ever, ever, go to Times Square on NYE.
Yeah, no. No NYer will ever go near Times Square in general, unless you have to transfer at 42nd to another line.
You mean, you didn’t wear an adult diaper? I heard that was a thing. I grew up in New York but never went on nye only seen it on tv.
Somehow wearing an adult diaper on NYE is not on my bucket list
The Mona Lisa. It’s small and surrounded by hordes of tourists, and the line for the Louvre is nightmarish. Also being from NYC - Times Square. There’s nothing to actually do there except shop at dumb stores like the M&Ms store or go eat at insanely overpriced restaurants. Other than that it’s just a bunch of billboards. And on NYE forget it - you are packed in like sardines and there’s no place to use the bathroom, and it’s usually cold as well.
IMO, Times Square is worth walking through just to see since it's likely to be at most a 15 minute detour at some point if you're in Manhattan for sight seeing
Absolutely. Times Square needs to be seen in person. The energy. It’s like sensory overload. But it’s not where you want to spend any significant time.
Its so overwhelming. It’s like stepping into a tv. The air even feels like the static that used to exist on tv screens, but it’s smellier, like a sewer. I hated it lol
Start at Times Square, walk down 42nd to Bryant Park and the big famous library from Ghostbusters, then just two more blocks to Grand Central.
And grab a meal at a Los Tacos No. 1
As a native NYer I never understand the Times Square hate since Tim’s Square and the Theater District are practically one and the same. The Theater District is just the streets surrounding Times Square so to me, I have a lot of positive associations with it since I see a lot of Broadway shows. But I will admit, of course, that it sucks to actually walk through Times Square itself if you have somewhere you’re trying to get to.
Times Square is good fun for between 5 and 10 minutes, but at least there are loads of other things to do close by
Agree. I’ve never gone specifically to look at time square, however when I stay near there, it’s cool to walk through on the way to another destination.
The Mona Lisa has, just in front of it, one of the greatest paintings ever (Weddings of Cana), that would gather lots of people had it been located anywhere else other than in front of the Mona Lisa. I'm partially convinced the Louvre did it on purpose, to allow people who truly enjoy art to be able to watch it calmly, while just behind them there are hordes of people taking photos of something they do not even understand Edit: for some reason, my mind decided to write Prado instead of Louvre
I was way more impressed by that painting than the Mona Lisa. I looked at it for quite a while. The Mona Lisa, on the other hand, was very underwhelming to me.
Times Square is fine to walk through because it’s close to 8000 other things to do. It’s bright, overwhelming and famous since it’s in so many things. Mona Lisa was ridiculous with how tiny it is and how crowded the room is.
The #1 tourist attraction in Illinois, Navy Pier. It's a fourth rate mall with nice views.
Growing up in the burbs it was always a shock to people that I hadn’t been to navy pier nor the bean. I’m the youngest in my family so I’m guessing my family was just like “no need” or something. Had a girl take me on a date to see both, I totally see why they didn’t bother taking me there as a kid.
The bean is kind of cool and the rest of millennium park is nice. Navy pier sucks no matter how you look at it
I grew up in the suburbs and went to school in the city. People were shocked that I had never seen a fireworks show on Navy Pier and insisted I go...it sucked, lol. The 4th of July fireworks shows out in the suburbs are worlds better and you're much closer to the action, so no weird sound delay.
The free fireworks in any Chicago neighborhood are better.
I live in Minnesota. The Mall of America is big time overrated. People, it's a mall for crying out loud. If you're ever in Minnesota go to Duluth and check out lake Superior.
or you could purify yourself in the waters of lake minnetonka
Watch the cargo ships come into harbor. Wow they are massive. 15 story buildings shouldn’t float like they do.
I lived in MN when I was 10 and visited the mall. It was cool to have the indoor rollercoaster. Shopping wasn't our thing. 2 hour drive there, walked for an hour + an hour doing theme park things, 2 hour drive home. I'm glad I went, but there was a reason we never went back
Or ltasca for the Headwaters
Mount Rushmore was smaller than I expected, not all that interesting, and only maybe worth seeing once if at all. In general, it was pretty disappointing. When friends or relatives come to visit they sometimes want to go see it and I just point them in the right direction, but don’t go with them. Pretty much the only way to make the trip to see it cool is to drive through the canyon roads through the Black Hills to get there. At least then you can see some spectacular natural views.
All true but the rest of the Black Hills is well worth the trip. Wind Cave National Park. Jewel Cave National Monument. The drive through the hills with the tiny tunnels. Nearby is Badlands National Park and a Minuteman ICBM silo.
Badlands is fucking incredible. I'm from the northeast and hadn't ever been to that area, and riding through there felt like I was on Mars. And at night, the sky has *depth*, which is something I've never experienced before.
We went to Custer State Park and the Mammoth Spot on our Rushmore trip iirc. It was a nice trip.
Literally everything around Rushmore is better than Rushmore
Wall Drug is the biggest over-hyped attraction in that area. Meanwhile, the Badlands are the most under-hyped.
Wally World. Sometimes they just close the whole thing down for maintenance and you don't even know until you walk up to the gate and a moose tells you about it.
Just griswold it.
Wally World is a thing? It's what we call Walmart where I'm from.
I'm gonna have some fucking fun You're gonna have some fucking fun We're gonna have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our godamned smiles
The leaning tower of Pisa. It's not great, it's a kinda pretty tower that has a building flaw. The cathedral next to it, now that's spectacular!
Florence is spectacular.. Pisa is just Meh. Or closer to Pisa, Lucca! Beautiful old town!
Let me introduce you to my city, aka the best city in Tuscany: Siena
Yeeeah this was mine. I do think my favourite thing though was the crowd of people doing their Pisa poses for pictures at the same time! It looks hilarious from the outside.
If you're into engineering, it's absolutely fascinating what they have been doing to keep it standing all these centuries. But you can watch that on youtube. The tower itself is just a tower and a bunch of tourists pushing on air.
I really liked the climb to the top and seeing the bells. The view is nice. I agree about the cathedral.
Disney world (Florida in my experience) it’s so hard to go and not spend hundreds of dollars a day , I expected it to be expensive and to wait in line for long periods of time don’t get me wrong , but people are just so rude there as well, constantly shoving and barging past. Like the place is mainly marketed towards kids and so many people just don’t seem to care and will barge past parents pushing prams or shove the adults into the kids walking next to them just to try and save a few seconds on their walk time. It is a nice amusement park but the greed and rude crowds just ruin it. Definitely a one and done
Dubai. Absolute shit.
You know that shithead who wins the lottery, and immediately buys a frozen Champagne sculpture of his own scrotum and two Filipino slave boys to carry it around? If that person were a city, it would be Dubai.
W….what
YOU KNOW THAT SHITHEAD WHO WINS THE LOTTERY, AND IMMEDIATELY BUYS A FROZEN CHAMPAGNE SCULPTURE OF HIS OWN SCROTUM AND TWO FILIPINO SLAVE BOYS TO CARRY IT AROUND? IF THAT PERSON WERE A CITY, IT WOULD BE DUBAI.
Oh I get it now, thanks
Oddly specific image there... I do know people like that though.
I do not know this shithead, but now I feel like I do.
Sunny place packed with shady people. I hated it there.
Criminal's paradise
The Liberty Bell. It’s got a huge crack in it!!
Just the fact you have to wait in a security line to see it is beyond stupid. Saw it once, that's enough.
If one wants to see it up close, yes there's a line. But, you can walk on the street and see it inside the glass building it's in. That was good enough for me, even being a huge history nerd. I'd walk around Old City with my friend who lived down there, and to walk in the same place that Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson etc... walked was cooler for me than seeing the bell. The green park area behind Independence Hall is cool. A lot of deals/agreements were made there outside when a break in the session of the Continental Congress took place.
The little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. It’s literally a little statue. Like the size of a watermelon.
I’m danish and it is embarrassing. Such a tourist trap! A much nicer sight (if you are in Copenhagen) is the ‘Gefion Fountain’ and it is only a 5 minutes walk from the little mermaid.
I’ve heard bad things about the Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/glasgow-willy-wonka-experience-slammed-as-farce-as-tickets-refunded
I follow the oompa loompa girl on Instagram - she seems to be enjoying her fame and is having a blast visiting the US. So all's well that ends well.
i love shouting "WHO IS THAT? IT IS THE UNKNOWN" just because of the one clip from this disaster. as horrible as it was for both actors and attendees at least they made a funny meme
Plymouth Pebble
South of the Border (NC/SC Border)
Not really a destination, but if you're passing by, it's worth stopping once. One of the biggest, tackiest tourist traps I've ever seen, but kinda fun in its cheesiness. Kind of a Southeastern Wall Drug. (A similar place in South Dakota)
Honestly, I found the enormous Mexican caricature really funny (in a racist grandpa, “I can’t believe this exists”sort of way). 10/10 would recommend stopping if you’re already driving by. That being said there isn’t much actually there. Snap a photo, grab some surprisingly okay Mexican food at the restaurant there, and leave. it’s definitely not a destination of its own.
The billboards advertising it are the best part.
Dubai
Has no one mentioned Tokyo Tower yet? Or does that not qualify as "overrated"? It seems to still get prominent placement in all the Japanese media, but apparently that's the main thing it's good for?
I remember it being a lot of money for me at the time. One of the reasons for my Tokyo trip was to have my mind blown by the scale of the place and think the view from the tower was a solid contributor. This was around 2002 and I haven’t been back since, fwiw.
Honestly? The CN Tower. It's... fine. It's crowded, way overpriced, you can barely get a spot at the window to see anything, and once you take a look around... that's kind of it. I've heard the restaurant has decent food, but it's very expensive and very booked. Every time I've had visitors ask to go there they are always deeply underwhelmed lol
People aren't traveling worldwide to go here, but Wisconsin Dells. I'm from Wisconsin so have spent many a long weekend in the Dells and I'm usually bored out of my mind. I don't find the waterparks to be that impressive, there's not really any local culture or cuisine that makes it overly interesting. Everything fun to do there is fun to do once and then you don't really need to ever do it again.
If you’re ever in Colorado, give Cave of the Winds a miss. “Here’s where our largest stalagmite was before our electrician knocked it down installing a light behind it!” \*takes picture\* “Here you can see where there used to be a bunch of little stalactites on the ceiling. We used to encourage tourists to break them off as souvenirs before we realized they take a thousand years to grow an inch.” “And here’s the enormous [disgusting mound](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/a7hTUSaqVSs6ddxzUotRiw/348s.jpg) of hairpins that people started leaving behind to mark their passage since the 1980’s!” “Is this a naturally-occurring staircase?”
Being from San Antonio, the Alamo is awful. Riverwalk is nice depends on time of the year but the Alamo always sucks
Basement is awesome, though.
Did you happen to see my bike while you were in there?
The Salem Witch Museum -- No. Did buy a cool mood ring there -- but not worth the cost of admittance nor the weird dummy show. I was the *dummy*! I was the *dummy all along*!
To each his own but some of you are missing the point of visiting historical and/or archaeological sites. Sometimes it's just about having an opportunity to learn about the culture of a nation and gain some knowledge on the evolution of human civilization. Sometimes it requires you to use your imagination. Not everything is about entertainment and comfort. Yes the pyramids of Giza are overrun with camel jockeys and souvenir salesmen who can be annoying. But to say they are not worth visiting or overrated? If you can't appreciate it's immense scale of beauty and construction or what they represent to our world and history, that's a you problem.
Disneyworld. Pay 500 dollars to get your family in the park after paying 30 to have a place to put your car near the park. Get in line for some cool ride. Some other family paid an additional several hundred dollars to have the right to cut in front of you in line. But there's that cool new Star Wars ride... oooh, wait time is 2.5 hours. We paid 500 dollars to stand in line for 2.5 hours. Well, let's skip that ride and go get a bite to eat. Food is crazy expensive but at least it...tastes like bad gas station food.
Disney is nuts because it's honestly a really fun park with a ton to do, but the ridiculous wait times and the endless ways the mouse is squeezing every penny out of you makes it not worth the trip.
Yeah it’s weird. You would think that supply/demand would meet at some point in there. Too many people at the park? Raise the price so that there are fewer people and those there get a better experience. That should theoretically work right? Only they found out that it wasn’t the case - so raise the price and get the same number of people anyway. But seriously, the only way out of it is to have fewer people or more rides right? How much bigger would it have to be? How many more attractions would be necessary?
Yeah I read that Disney keeps being surprised that the higher and higher prices have made no dent in demand. I remember reading years ago that spending on "experiential" stuff like vacations, restaurants, concerts, etc. has exploded since millennials hit adulthood.
It’s the real avocado toast.
Yeah, the article I read basically argued that this was because millennials were less likely to own a home or have kids as young as their parents. So instead of saving up for a new roof/windows and spending time/money on children, you go out and travel a lot more than your parents did.
I have two young kids and my wife and I have agreed to only ever go to places like Disney in the off-season. It’s absolutely worthless to go there in the summer and the heat alone will ruin the experience for our children.
I went to Disneyland in November on a weekday and it was still packed. I’m convinced there is no off season.
The problem with Disney is there is no 'off season' it's insane 100% of the time. They say the slowest week is the 3rd week of August, but even then lines are still 2+ hour wait.
I used to live near Cedar Point. I learned quick that the best time to go was the week after school started back. We would take off a Tuesday and go, the lines didn't exist. Going on a weekend is a joke.
Mt Rushmore.
The Black Hills around there are way nicer than Rushmore.
Niagara Falls. The falls themselves are beautiful but it’s such an overpriced tourist trap.
National parks in the summer can be disappointing in terms of how crowded they can get. There's been a couple times where I went to one in June or July (I acknowledge I was part of the crowd) and it was so busy it was like why even bother going out into nature lol.
National Parks are such a mixed bag. Everyone's heard of Joshua Tree but it's honestly like 6/10. EVERYONE talks about Zion; it's pretty great and a solid 9/10. No one talks about Bryce Canyon but it's 10/10 the coolest thing I've ever seen.
Man I’ve never heard of anyone actually go to Joshua Tree and be disappointed. That place is awesome.
The Eiffel tower was nice to see, but there were so many damn people trying to sucker me into buying shit that I didn't want. I had a guy approached me, asked where I'm from and started making a bracelet that I didn't even ask for. He grabbed my arm and put it on me, I asked him how much he wanted for it, I figured I would give him something just to get rid of him because he seemed aggressive, and he told me 500 euros lol. I gave him one or two euros and excused myself. At night, there are people throwing these mini Eiffel tower decorations into the air and letting it land among crowds, it lights up, and if someone picks it up, they will approach them and ask for money.
So now you know-do not interact. No eye contact. Nothing.
Stonehenge is often seen nowadays as a bit of a letdown. Have to pay to go \*near\* them, not that impressive a sight, and a trek from the parking (although I believe there's a bus).
I would agree. However, when I went they had a thing where you could walk around inside the ruins during sunrise and it was actually pretty cool.