I liked Silver Dollar City more than Tokyo Disney Sea.
I am from southern California and grew up going to Disneyland and all the other west coast parks. I've been to Tokyo DLR multiple times. After two days at SDC this week, it is hands down my favorite theme park in America.
It reminded me of how California's Disneyland was many years ago; alive and full of roaming characters, entertainment, and manageable wait times. Around every corner was a citizen of Silver Dollar City, eager to interact with me.
With the quality of the shows and artisan demos, I felt so immersed in the story. Citizens were pretending to not know what credit cards and phones are, rides referenced the lore of shows, shows referenced the history of Marvel Cave... Every new experience tied back to a previous, making the story of the City unfold before me.
The environmental storytelling was on par with Tokyo Disney Sea, but WAY more fun because I could be a part of it without a language barrier or 2 hour waits! The employees encouraged me to roleplay and play along.
I went during 4th of July week, expecting wait times to be crazy, but 90% of our rides were less than a 15 min wait. The rapids ride is ACTUALLY INSANE and the craziest water ride I've ever been on. And Time Traveller has got to be in my top 3 coasters now.
The price was unbeatable at ~$50/day for two days. The food was good. There was infinite shade and seating areas because of all the trees. The only other park I've enjoyed this much was Tokyo Disneyland. I wish SDC was my home park so badly. 😭🙏