Disney World or Disneyland?

[starjazz]

Heading to WDW next week. But, a great part of DL is that you can ride more rides with less walking. We LOVE both. They've done a good job making them unique. I wish they'd have made the SW lands unique.

 

[kylenne]

Being on the east coast, I only went to DLR once, when I was 8, and it was a pretty traumatizing experience. My older sister took me to LA when she was visiting a college friend, and the college friend's husband was one of those awful dads that drags kids around the parks to do what HE wants. I was a very tall kid so could meet height requirements for everything, but very timid, and afraid of roller coasters. I spent the whole day crying because he dragged me on every single one of them. The other kids in the group bullied me the whole time. It rained nonstop.

Then as an adult, when I lived out west, my CA-raised housemate was one of the hardcore people that constantly badmouthed WDW, saying it wasn't magical, not legitimate because Walt had nothing to do with it, etc. She was nuts anyway for a lot of other reasons but it always made me feel bad.

I would like to go again at some point, to make some better memories if nothing else. But it would probably be easier to incorporate it into a Vegas trip. I have family in Vegas that I don't see often since I moved back east.

 

[GreenTea13]

As far as which park to go to I think it really depends on what you want out of your vacation. I just got back from my week vacation to Disney World and it was quite the exhausting trip. Disneyland is relatively more laid back than Disney World and for me less exhausting just because there is far less area to cover.

Pros of Disneyland:
- It's the original
- Both parks right next to each other and Downtown district also right there. If you want to go to one park in the morning and the next park in the even and then back it's totally doable and all you have to do is walk across the large courtyard area between the two parks. No bus, no monorail, no boat, just walk over.
- Speaking of travel time, if you stay at one of the many hotels right across the street from Disneyland it will take you about 3 minutes to walk across that street and be at the front entrance (depending on which hotel you stay at.) and however long it takes to get through bag check to get into the park from there.
- I prefer their FastPass system. You have to be inside of the park before you can make fast passes, there none of this 60 days in advance stuff (or 80 if you're in the 'club' level or whatever you have to be). MaxPass cost extra but they also give you the photopass with it, which cost like $170 in Disney World for their 'Memory Maker'. So yeah, if you do the math your still saving money if you were going to get the Memory Maker. About $75 for 5 days)
- Less crowded. It's still crowded, don't get me wrong, but this park tends to cater to a more local crowd instead of an international crowd like Disney World were you literally have everyone from everywhere wanting to go to it.
- Radiator Springs AND Indiana Jones. Both are wonderful rides and are absolute MUST dos.
- I personally like Disneyland Fantasmic better

Cons of Disneyland:
- Well, on average it is colder? (Mostly because I always go in December, I have no idea how hot it gets in the the summer. Southern California weather is a bit different from Northern California weather where I live) But also less humid and the temperatures in general is more stable than Florida, so I'm not sure if it's really a con or a pro
- Less Parks (though I honestly think that the quality of both Disneyland and California Adventure make up for the fact that there are only two of them)


Pros of Disney World:
- More parks
- There are many rides and attractions that don't exist in Disneyland that do in Disney World. Avatar, Everest, Frozen Everafter, Seven Drawfs Mine Train, etc (but since you've been to Disney World I doubt this is a concern for you)

Cons of Disney World:
- Spread out all over the place, having to take buses, monorails, boats etc takes sooooo long. I knew about this before hand but wow.... it's kind of a nightmare, really. (Compared to Disneyland and being able to walk across the street from my hotel and be at the park front gates in 3 minutes and inside of the park in 5 minutes.)

Overall I do not regret going to Disney World as it was fun and there is a lot to do, but by the end of the trip everyone in my group and I were really missing Disneyland. I mean really missing it and how easy travel between the parks were.



Disneyland HOTELS:

If you decide to go to Disneyland I would recommend NOT staying at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn. It's very close and looks good on paper, but there is an Ihop right next to them and every morning at 6am they would empty their trash cans out really loudly and continue doing so for a good 30 minutes, taking a couple of breaks just long enough to drift back into sleep before banging on their trash cans really loudly. I was sick at the time, so being woken up like that at 6am every morning felt exceptionally bad to me, so if you are alright with waking up that early then it shouldn't be a problem. But if you like being able to sleep in the morning then I would give this place a pass. (Also when we told the hotel staff about it they weren't surprised and didn't seem to care a whole lot. Their response was pretty much "oh yeah, that.... well, we're trying to work with the city on that." and didn't even offer us any sort of apology. Well, they apologized on my yelp review, but not when we complained in person)

Candy Cane Inn has always been the place I used to stay at, however the place is starting to look a bit dated these days and I am not sure if they have ever remodeled. (though I have hear they did recently change all their mattress.... which doesn't count for a whole lot, really.) They do have a free shuttle that runs every half hour and it takes like 4 minutes to get to the park that way. (or about a 7 minute walk if you don't want to wait)

 

[disneygirlsng]

I keep seeing people say that the FP system is better at DL. If you know how to use and work the system at WDW, then I would strongly, strongly disagree. Like not even close. Almost dreading my upcoming DL trip in a way, simply because I have to use their FP system that i whole heartedly despise.

 

[GreenTea13]

I keep seeing people say that the FP system is better at DL. If you know how to use and work the system at WDW, then I would strongly, strongly disagree. Like not even close. Almost dreading my upcoming DL trip in a way, simply because I have to use their FP system that i whole heartedly despise.

I do agree there are a lot of pros and cons to both systems and it really comes down to personal preference. When we went to Disney World last week we were actully able to work the system pretty well and got A LOT of fass passes. I just personally don't like the whole '60 days' in advance thing (or 80 if you're in the 'club' level or whatever it was)

 

[disneygirlsng]

I do agree there are a lot of pros and cons to both systems and it really comes down to personal preference. When we to Disney World last week we were actully able to work the system pretty well and got A LOT of fass passes. I just personally don't like the whole '60 days' in advance thing (or 80 if you're in the 'club' level or whatever it was)

It's definitely a preference thing, and what you are used to. I looooove having rides already scheduled in advance, the number of days ahead of time that I make them doesn't really make a difference to me. It helps to build up the excitement of the trip for me.

 

[MaC410]

I keep seeing people say that the FP system is better at DL. If you know how to use and work the system at WDW, then I would strongly, strongly disagree. Like not even close. Almost dreading my upcoming DL trip in a way, simply because I have to use their FP system that i whole heartedly despise.

I couldn't say which one I actually prefer because they both have their pros and cons. However, my wife and I are really good at using the Disney World system to get fastpasses all throughout the day and we absolutely loved the Disneyland system. Especially if you buy the maxpass we were able to work the system at Disneyland just as well as we do at Disney World.

Some of the things we really liked about the Disneyland system is that you don't have to worry about planning fastpasses before hand. We also loved the fact that you could stack fastpasses for different rides and have overlapping return times. When we would take breaks during the day we would be able to make a bunch of different fastpasses so we had like 3 or 4 rides waiting for us when we returned to the park.

 

[Rory607]

We do WDW more often as it requires less travel time, but we love DL! As everyone else has said, it’s just more relaxed. WDW requires so much planning, which I actually love. But it can also be stressful.

We are planning to be back at DL this spring, after spending a few days in San Diego. I have that excited, “We’re going to Disney!” feeling without having to really plan anything. It’s nice. So if I were you, I would do a Southern California trip with DL being just one of your activities. You won’t be in the Disney bubble, but there is so much to see and do in the area.

 

[AngiTN]

I do agree there are a lot of pros and cons to both systems and it really comes down to personal preference. When we to Disney World last week we were actully able to work the system pretty well and got A LOT of fass passes. I just personally don't like the whole '60 days' in advance thing (or 80 if you're in the 'club' level or whatever it was)

I keep seeing people say that the FP system is better at DL. If you know how to use and work the system at WDW, then I would strongly, strongly disagree. Like not even close. Almost dreading my upcoming DL trip in a way, simply because I have to use their FP system that i whole heartedly despise.

Both systems work great in their home parks.
I have no issues with the FP+ system at WDW. Like knowing what time we need to aim to be at the park for our first ride. We do CL but never pay for the extra/early FP. Pointless. We get all we need, and then some, booking whenever we do book, which is rarely over 60 days away.
But MaxPass is fabulous and when at DL, I love it. I know why it won't work at WDW and why FP+ is better at WDW but don't think one system is better than the other. They are different systems for different parks.

 

[AngiTN]

I gotta disagree with all the advice that you can do DL parks in 2 or 3 days.
Sure, if you want to go sun up to sun down, hopping like crazy. Plus, you could miss all nighttime stuff in just a 2 or 3 day trip if you go at some times of the year. They don't do their stuff every night and it gets cancelled at times. Something that never happens at WDW.
Do the 5 days they sell tickets for. You'll have time to enjoy it, not rushing place to place.
2 weeks is too much without question, just for DL. but we never go for less than a week. knowing it will take a day to adjust to the time change from Eastern time and then 5 days for parks and 1 day to hang out. Got our next trip booked for Memorial Day.

 

[PaladinButters]

We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was shocking how you walk out one door into downtown Disney and another door right into the park. NO BUSES NEEDED.

All of this! Whenever somebody questions our smaller DL trips (usually with something like "Why bother - WDW is better because bigger/more parks") I just counter with a stern NO BUSES! No monorail, no skyliner, no Minnie vans, no uber/lyft, it's all right there. Walk out of your hotel directly into the parks/DTD, walk park to park, hopping takes five minutes! Ultimate Disney Bubble.

 

[MaC410]

I gotta disagree with all the advice that you can do DL parks in 2 or 3 days.

I agree with this big time. There's so much stuff packed into these two parks you would be doing yourself a disservice trying to do it all in that amount of time.

 

[MaC410]

All of this! Whenever somebody questions our smaller DL trips (usually with something like "Why bother - WDW is better because bigger/more parks") I just counter with a stern NO BUSES! No monorail, no skyliner, no Minnie vans, no uber/lyft, it's all right there. Walk out of your hotel directly into the parks/DTD, walk park to park, hopping takes five minutes! Ultimate Disney Bubble.

This is true, if you are willing to pay the prices for those on property hotels. You don't get value or moderate resort prices if you stay on property at Disneyland.

 

[Summer2018]

My family has two weeks in June available for vacation. We have been to Disney World with our kids three times, my husband and I once, and me on a girls trip once over the past five years. Part of me wants to make a trip to Disneyland to experience it, but we also love Disney World and there will be a few new things there that we haven’t done yet. We would plan to fly with either option. My kids will be 13,12 & 8. I know Disneyland is much smaller so I’d hate to be disappointed with not as much to do. But I’m also a huge Disney fan and would enjoy getting to go where it all started. Anyone been to both? How do they compare? Thanks for any input!

I'm a Disney World veteran. I never even thought of going to Disneyland until I found out that we had to head out west for a family thing in April 2019 (Easter Week).

We spent a few days in Arizona with family, and then we drove to Anaheim and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for 6 nights. We fell in love. The pace was different, and it was smaller. Making ADRs was basically like a phone call to a local restaurant at home. None of this getting on the computer 180 days out at the crack of dawn to try and get the reservations you want. We ate at Steakhouse 55 and Goofy's Kitchen, which was kind of like the west coast's version of Chef Mickeys, only the set-up was better, food was better, and there was no chaos. We ate there both breakfast and dinner. Both stellar character interactions. Next time, I would like to try Napa Rose.

We didn't have to do Fast passes ahead of time. It's the old paper Fast pass system along with Max Pass if you want it. We didn't bother with Max Pass, and we didn't need it. We didn't even use any Fast Passes. The lines were very short (during spring break) except for Peter Pan. We were so excited to go on rides that are not in WDW. "It's a Small World" was so beautiful from the outside. The walking terrain in Disneyland was different from Magic Kingdom. Downtown Disney was just steps away from the Disneyland Hotel. It was so fun to take the monorail from DD into Tomorrowland. We spent more time in Downtown Disney in 6 days than we did in 15 years at WDW because of the convenience and close proximity. We ate a lot at Downtown Disney without any reservations. The only place we didn't like was the Earl of Sandwich. They put mustard on breakfast sandwiches. YUCK!!! That was gross. We went to Trader Sam's twice and had no trouble getting in. They also have longer hours than the one at the Poly.

We didn't get a chance to go to Disney's California Adventure because we were so fascinated with Disneyland. We spent a day at Huntington & Seal Beaches just a short drive away.

We are headed back to WDW in June 2020. I really have to gear up for WDW. ADR's are done. FP is next. I'm not sure how my knees will hold up in WDW. I did fine in Disneyland. I kind of wish we were headed back to Disneyland. The vibe was super chill, relaxing, and very magical. I felt Walt's presence the entire time we were there.

 

[Summer2018]

Being on the east coast, I only went to DLR once, when I was 8, and it was a pretty traumatizing experience. My older sister took me to LA when she was visiting a college friend, and the college friend's husband was one of those awful dads that drags kids around the parks to do what HE wants. I was a very tall kid so could meet height requirements for everything, but very timid, and afraid of roller coasters. I spent the whole day crying because he dragged me on every single one of them. The other kids in the group bullied me the whole time. It rained nonstop.

Then as an adult, when I lived out west, my CA-raised housemate was one of the hardcore people that constantly badmouthed WDW, saying it wasn't magical, not legitimate because Walt had nothing to do with it, etc. She was nuts anyway for a lot of other reasons but it always made me feel bad.

I would like to go again at some point, to make some better memories if nothing else. But it would probably be easier to incorporate it into a Vegas trip. I have family in Vegas that I don't see often since I moved back east.

I'm so sorry for all of the bad memories.

You really need to go back now and create happy memories. That will help to make those bad ones go away.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Both systems work great in their home parks.
I have no issues with the FP+ system at WDW. Like knowing what time we need to aim to be at the park for our first ride. We do CL but never pay for the extra/early FP. Pointless. We get all we need, and then some, booking whenever we do book, which is rarely over 60 days away.
But MaxPass is fabulous and when at DL, I love it. I know why it won't work at WDW and why FP+ is better at WDW but don't think one system is better than the other. They are different systems for different parks.

I can agree with this.

 

[RamblingMad]

DL. It’s how we tour.

The last time my SO went to DL she road Cars 5x via the single rider line within two hours. You can’t do that at WDW. She also road the Haunted Mansion multiple times too.

How could I possibly do that with a ride like FOP at WDW?

 

[MinMou]

We've done both, and we like both! We went to Disneyland first, when our son was 2, and it was perfect. We had great weather, it wasn't that crowded, and my husband said "Why do people go to Disney world when they can come here?" It was also very manageable with a toddler. But I know people who went to DL after WDW, and were disappointed.

I recommend looking at what the crowds will be like when you are going, and talk to your kids about what they want to see. Two weeks is more than enough time to see DL, unless you are planning to use it as a base to go to Knotts berry farm, the beach and other things in LA. Also what does your family like about WDW? If they just like the Disney feeling, then a trip to DL may be special, since it was the first park. But if they like the fun of getting to the parks on the monorail and/or boats, and seeing all the different hotels, then DL won't be a good choice. DL is surrounded by non-Disney hotels, and a lot of people find that unsatisfying.

It might be good to get DL books out of the library, and see what different rides are available, and talk to your family to see what they would prefer.

 

[Frozen2014]

I've been to both once (and planning a return to WDW in the summer). I will say that I love them both, but they are different.

For WDW, i love

• being immersed in Disney from your hotel to the park
• food is better
• fireworks seemed better
• aside from World of Colour (WOC), the shows are better. Fantasmic show is better, as is the seating.
• from DS comment...Splash is much better
• better castle. My DD did the BBB at age 6 and its something she will never forget (captured in photos so that helps)

For Disneyland, I love

• having 2 parks so close to each other. We hopped back and forth each day, going on each of our favorite rides multiple times
• MaxPass is pretty nice....on the spot, book your pass, then hop to the other park and you an use it. Plus it includes the photos.
• WOC is a great show. If you can splurge, the dessert party is a real treat (for seating and literally to eat)
• Cars Land is amazing...Radiator Springs is one of the best rides
• Loved Pirates, Soarin...better at Disneyland/DCA...and Indiana Jones is lots of fun and cool theming
• Unfortunately, we came end of summer and my favorite WDW attraction, Haunted Mansion was closed for Halloween overlay.
• can mix Disney with other touring. We also went to Warner Brothers, took a tour of LA, went to Universal
• many original rides in Fantasyland...Toad, Snow White, Alice
• hotel not themed (negative...not in bubble), but very convenient as across the street. No time commuting or having to pay for parking.

Not sure we'll make it back to Disneyland, but that's more because of logistics as it's 5hr flight to LA and a time change vs 3 hrs to Orlando. Glad we had an opportunity to get there at least once.

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

We just went to Disneyland this past August after 4 trips to Disneyworld. It didn’t hit us until midway through the trip (or maybe even after the trip) how much we LOVED DL. We can only vacation in August, and I absolutely loved having sunshine from sun up to sun down...not even a trace of cloud in the sky...with temps in the mid 80s and dry. No ponchos!!

The max pass system is superior to DW fast pass. We rode everything we wanted to ride MULTIPLE times.

California Adventure is a fantastic park. I think the Incredicoaster is the best roller coaster on Disney Preperty.

If you stay at one of the 3 Disney hotels and walk through downtown Disney to get to the parks, you have the bubble feel. We love the Disneyland hotel.

We also combined it with a California road trip, so my kids got to explore a different part of the country, which I thought was fantastic.

I agree the Max Pass system is superior, but everyone should keep in mind that every person in your party has to pay for that superiority, it isn't free.