yeah, totally. It's a neverending sprawl of resorts, shopping areas, theme parks, water parks, lakes and beaches and boardwalks and hotels. And Disney World (which comprises four or five different full-sized theme parks and multiple other things) isn't even the only theme park company in town. There's also Sea World and Universal Studios, the latter of which also consists of multiple parks. Nothing else quite like it in the world.
To put it in perspective a bit, the city of Orlando receives almost half as many tourists as the entire country of France does total. and France is often touted as the biggest tourist destination in the world. Though, that's not exactly completely true.
yeah... the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Sea World, Universal Studios, the Disney Institute, the boardwalk, Pleasure Island, the downtown area, all the many different resorts, several water parks, lakes, beaches, camping areas, shopping, nightlife, etc etc etc.
This quiz is a good example of why it would be really nice to have the power to tag our own quizzes. For whatever reason, it was tagged twice, and I think that probably has something to do with why it has been taken over 500 times, yet it was never featured, and I don't think I've ever even plugged this one the way I do some of my others, except maybe in the comments section of the one quiz that inspired it. Just thinking out loud...
I've still never really promoted this quiz and it has more hits now than some of my quizzes that have made it to the front page. So I think I'll do some cross-pollination here, as well. Enjoy the quizzes, friends.
Yes I know. I've just noticed that how a quiz is tagged can have a big impact on how many times it is taken. Getting tagged in certain popular categories boosts visibility. Getting tagged in multiple categories is even better of course.
Also, the city of Orlando does contain some things other than Disney World. There are many conventions held in the city, and it's also home to a lot of big resort hotels, Sea World, and Universal Studios, Florida.
Not questioning the veracity of the list; just wondering how Washington fails to make the top 10? As either an American or an international tourist, Washington would certainly be one of the top 3 or 4 destinations of choice for me.
Surprisingly it's not. As a native of the greater Washington DC metropolitan area myself, I feel strongly that the nation's capital is very underrated as a tourist destination. So much to see and do there. But it doesn't make the top 10.
The best information I could find seems to indicate that Washington receives about 15-16 million tourists annually. Impressive, but not as much as the 27 million that visit Paris, which wouldn't make the top ten list if it were an American city, either. Or the 50 million each that visit Orlando or New York.
Disneyland is in Anaheim which is, in my opinion, basically a neighborhood of Los Angeles. If you type in L.A. then Anaheim will come up so you should have at least gotten that one.
Strongly disagree with you here, Kal. Anaheim is well over an hour away from Los Angeles city, in a different county, and has an industry independent of LA. While they are geographic neighbors on the macro scale, one could certainly live their whole life in Anaheim and never have a need to step inside LA borders.
Anaheim is in the Los Angeles metro area. It's only an hour away because traffic is horrible. Google maps says it takes 33 minutes from city center to city center. From municipal boundary to municipal boundary it's probably significantly less than that. I don't know. Do they touch borders? When I was there it was absolutely impossible to tell where one municipality ended and another began, it's all one big city...
I think this information has to be somewhat wrong. Visitors and tourists are different things. I am from the DC area too. The city is crawling with tourists. All year round. And where is New Orleans? San Francisco? You could fill a small library with books written about those cities. You'd be hard pressed to even FIND a travel guide written about Houston. Cause there's not that much to see and do. Atlanta has the world's busiest airport; I hope that wasn't grounds for counting all those laid-over flyers as visiting the city. And Savannah and Charleston are filled with nothing BUT tourists. The other thing is convention traffic. That could certainly skew the data in San Diego's, Houston's and Atlanta's favor. I wonder how many B&B's are in Houston? lol I guess it all depends on the metric used.
I think you may be right if you define tourists more selectively and I'm sure you are right about those cities you mention getting a lot of traffic from conventions, business travelers, and people in transit etc. Maybe they shouldn't count as "tourists," per se, but this was the only set of data I could find.
It must be conventions or hotel stays for people going across country, people staying for a temporary job, etc. It's a flat, boring, sprawled out mess.
Good quiz. By the way I cleared up a few of your questions on my quiz. And I was slightly surprised to see Orlando top this list, as Disney World is around an hour drive from Orlando. Don't question that fact, cuz I've done it. I guess most people fly into Orlando though. That's the only thing that'd make sense.
huh? Disney World's address is definitely Orlando, Florida. And Orlando International airport is only 18 miles away. I'm not sure which Orlando you are thinking of.
Hmm. Their address is indeed Orlando. But none of the parks are in Orlando. Magic Kingdom, for one, is in Lake Buena Vista, a 45 minute drive from the airport. There are some Disney resorts in Orlando, but the majority are close to Disney World.
::shrug:: well whatever. The park(s) is/are gigantic and I know some are technically at Lake Buena Vista but obviously they're in the Orlando area, and I think every visitor to Disney World is counted as visiting Orlando.
I think the way a quiz is tagged has a lot to do with how often it is seen and taken and this one was tagged twice. (another reason it would be really nice to have the feature of being able to tag our own quizzes).
This quiz has definitely been popular. It's by far my most popular quiz that has never been featured. But I think I agree with QM that it's not front-page material. I've done dozens of other quizzes that I personally think are better than this one.
Houston surprised me, unless there's a huge NASA museum or something I can't see how the city even gets tourists at all. Good quiz, and should be featured!
I'm pretty sure you're being sarcastic and joking, buuuut just incase: there IS a giant nasa museum; infact I just went there this year. It's actually pretty cool, though it my not be the majority of Houston's tourism.
Washington DC is extremely underrated as a tourist destination. Also I believe Houston is more commonly utilized as a spot for conventions and business gatherings. Probably because it is warmer and cheaper.
Ahhh, I've been looking for this kind of thing. It definitely proves that, for example, Atlanta is leaning a bit heavily on its airport to attract visitors. Though to be fair, you don't see much of the city from inside the airport.
¿¿Houston?? Hot, dry, flat, suburban hell Houston? There is absolutely nothing there that can't be seen in any other modern cookie cutter American city.
Houston is very suburban. Sprawled out, every 1-story decrepit house 1/2 a mile from downtown has a yard. Even downtown, like most newer American cities, is full of parking lots between skyscrapers. Even small towns in the Northeast and Europe are many times more densely built up than "inner city" neighborhoods of newer cities like Houston.
And yeah, it is a humid hellhole closer to the bay. Depends on the wind.
I guessed Boston. I was under the impression that a lot of tourists would go there due to the historical sites. I used the same logic for Philadelphia, which did turn out to be there.
Huh? Whose? Mine? I've been making quizzes since I got here so if you were waiting for that... you're late. And if you're implying that I complain about other people's quizzes... I don't... you're reading my comments the wrong way if so.
Most Populous Countries in 1950
American Immigrants by Country
Those are both probably better than this quiz, and though they each get a lot of visitors, not as many as this quiz does.
This quiz has definitely been popular. It's by far my most popular quiz that has never been featured. But I think I agree with QM that it's not front-page material. I've done dozens of other quizzes that I personally think are better than this one.
And suburban? Which urban area is Houston a suburb of? I agree with the other descriptors. How about "hot, flat, humid, urban hell?"
And yeah, it is a humid hellhole closer to the bay. Depends on the wind.