Disney World versus Disneyland??

[PirateBoatDropRide]

I'm going to push aside the "you can love both resorts" and "WDW and DL are comparing different experiences" stances in this response aside from saying WDW's game is strong in themed resorts, solid out-of-park dining options (plus Epcot) and week-long all-encompassing vacations.

In most other respects, the DL experience significantly exceeds WDW especially if you have less than 5 days. I was just at WDW in December and, while I had a great time making memories with my family, the logistics and ability to experience attractions were mediocre at best. Many of the DL attractions are the same or better than WDW (POTC, Space Mountain, RSR, Indy, Haunted Mansion NBC overlay to name a few). Transportation and park hopping is just problematic in WDW where DL is a breeze. You can plan for all but the quietest times of the year at WDW and still, good luck getting on all the top attractions in a day without waiting in lines over 90 minutes. And don't expect to ride any of the E ticket attractions more than once without sacrificing your ability to get on other E ticket rides that day. With DL, multiple rides of the best rides in a day is very possible with some fairly simple day-of planning. Food in the parks is better and, once again, it's so easy to stroll out to Downtown Disney to eat if you so wish.

To be clear, WDW has a few things over DL such a Disney Springs versus Downtown Disney, a better destination for a week-long trip and Expedition Everest, while both have their share of crowds. But when talking about park experience, it's just not as close as regular WDWers would have you believe if you can get over having to have the "Disney bubble" effect.

With all this said I'll also add that while I'd go back to WDW, I think that Universal is just the better Orlando experience overall than what WDW offers right now.

 

[midnight star]

Just got back from WDW! I loved it! That place is just amazing! I'm already trying to figure out ways to go every other year LOL.
But I did miss my home park back west.

What you have to remember is that DL is different than WDW. It's smaller, more compact, you feel the crowds more, etc. It is more local driven so that means entertainment and ride schedules are posted a short notice (less than 6 weeks sometimes). Sometimes reservation bookings open super late, especially when the seasons are switching over.

The biggest pros to DL over WDW:
- Easier to plan; no 6 month ADR's, no 60 day fastpasses
- Fastpass system is less stressful and a more equal playing field;
- Easier to park hop; plus both parks are within the security area so no need to leave one park and do security again
- It's the OG park! Walt even lived there
- Food is better at DL..I also notice more healthy options at DL than at WDW
- Easier to navigate since it isn't as big

 

[Canooknic]

We went to DL for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it.

I was not looking forward to it at all because I love DW so much, but I was very pleasantly surprised and we will definitely go back.

We aren't huge planners, our aim on all our trips is to relax so we never stress about ADRs etc, and even for us the ease of hopping back and forth between parks and the close proximity of everything was so stress free.

 

[Mike_M]

Ah, the eternal debate…

WDW
- A planner’s happiest place on earth
- much more of a resort experience and easily isolated from the outside world during your entire stay
- 5-7 days minimum
-Bigger, dare say grander, but each park has less total attractions than Disneyland Park does (I felt like I had to hike a long way to get from one ride to the next at MK and I was missing E-Tickets that are there at DL, not miles away in another park)

DLR
- The happiest place to just drop in and enjoy on short notice (very little planning required)
- The Disney bubble encompasses the parks themselves. Outside the parks, you are in a touristy downtown area (Very clean and safe by my standards, but there are some of the things about downtowns present that many people don’t like)
- A 2 or 3 day trip can experience most of both parks, although 3-4 days is the sweet spot for a more leisurely approach.
- Smaller, more quaint I’d say. Creative use of space to squeeze just about the same amount of entertainment as all of WDW into two parks right across the way from each other.
- Walt’s direct influence is everywhere. Just about every picture of Walt in Disneyland is a place you can and will find yourself in frequently.

The main advantage for me that DL has over WDW is not needing to plan so much. I can just show up and have fun. The counter service resturants are very good and have a lot of variety to them. If I’m in the mood for Mexican in the morning, but decide by dinner time that Cajun / Creole sounds better, I’m not locked into a dinner reservation. I just go to the other place. I can figure out my rides there in the park based on my mood and how the day is going.

All in all, Disneyland is the hands down winner for me.

 

[MillauFr]

We like DL better because many of the rides are superior to their WDW counterparts. Some far superior. The WDW pirates was a joke compared to the DL version.

 

[califlorican]

I grew up in Florida an hour from WDW and loved going as a kid. But as an adult, and living in California, DL is far and away my favorite of the two.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

thank you - its a bit confusing to say the least lol

There are good videos on YouTube which walk you through the basics. MP is pretty easy to use once you start using it!

 

[catfan98]

Asking which is better is like asking which is the better flavor of ice cream at Baskin & Robbins. You wouldn't go to WDW expecting a DL experience. And you wouldn't go to DL expecting a WDW experience. They're both great. They're just different. Here are MY personal top reasons why I think that DL is great:

1. Park hopping is so easy. They are SO close. Closer than walking from the MK turn stiles to the ferry boat launch.
2. FP, especially if you pay for Max Pass, is superior at DL.
3. Quick Service restaurants offer a wider variety of food & it's not all burgers, hot dogs, & fries.
4. Character interaction - it's more organic, spontaneous, fluid. Way more characters roaming around. Some even without a Photo Pass photographer and sometimes not even a character handler. No, you can't get a FP to meet a character, but it's not necessary at DL.
5. The pirate band that roams around New Orleans Square
6. the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes
7. POTC is twice as long and has 2 drops.
8. Space Mtn is a better ride, you can HEAR the music, and it doesn't leave me feeling like I'm ready to throw up.
9. Carsland. All of it.
10. Grizzly River Run is much longer than Kali River Rapids. More thrilling and doesn't feel like it's over in the blink of an eye.
11. The weather is usually better. Not so sweaty.
12. The outside facade of It's A Small World is really beautiful at night. And that's a great spot to watch the fireworks yet still see projections.
13. DL has the Matterhorn.
14. You can still see cartoons at the Opera House.
15. it has Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, which inspired the Hall of Presidents at MK.
16. Getting ADRs is way easier and you don't have to sweat about being online 6 months before your trip just to get a breakfast, lunch, or dinner reservation somewhere.

I'm a WDW girl at heart as I am a major planner - it's just part of the fun for me. BUT, we are vacationing in California this year and have incorporated 2 days at DL into it. Your list makes me really excited about experiencing it!!

 

[ambula603]

What is an E-ticket ride at DL?

 

[fly girl]

I'm a WDW girl at heart as I am a major planner - it's just part of the fun for me. BUT, we are vacationing in California this year and have incorporated 2 days at DL into it. Your list makes me really excited about experiencing it!!

You'll love it. But you will find yourself thinking you didn't plan enough. You did, you did.

And get a churro! I cannot express that enough to WDW folks. To me, being at DLR includes a warm perfect churro. I won't get them at WDW, just not the same.

 

[PirateBoatDropRide]

What is an E-ticket ride at DL?

Indy
Space Mountain
Matterhorn
Big Thunder
Rise of the Resistance
Splash Mountain
Radiator Spring Racers
Soarin'
Incredicoaster
Grizzly River
Gaurdians of the Galaxy


We can debate if these are E-Tickets:
Haunted Mansion
Pirates
Smugglers Run
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours

 

[GoingSince1990]

They’re both great and it’s hard to say definitively which is “better”. We like to go to Disneyland in July or August, where every single day is sunny, 85 degrees or so, zero rain, and low humidity by our east coast standards, and WDW in the winter.

 

[Lumpy1106]

IMHO, Better at DL;

• Autopia
• Space Mountain
• Pirates
• Haunted Mansion (Holiday overlay)
• Small World
• Jungle Cruise
• Indiana Jones (compared to dinosaur)
• Fantasmic
• Radiator Springs Racers (compared to Test Track, though Test Track is faster)
• Grizzly River Run (compared to Kali River)

Better at WDW;

• Splash Mountain
• BTMRR (barely)
• Haunted Mansion (exception above)
• TZToT (compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, but the overlay is a massive improvement over the budget ToT that was there)
• Philharmagic
• Pooh
• Peter Pan

Everything else, side-by-side, is pretty equal. Carsland is my favorite land in any park - it's VERY good! Second place for me is Avatar.

ALL of this said, I live 20 minutes from DL and go to WDW more often. It's just more immersive and FAR away from "real life". When you go to DL you can hear the outside world and feel the pull of everything else you need to do. I am sure there are people in Orlando that feel the same way about DL though.

 

[TikiRob]

This conversation reminds me of a conversation I had with my 10 year-old daughter the other night. She was upset about thinking she likes one parent more than the other. I told her that it is fine for feelings to change and to feel more affection to one parent from time-to-time. It doesn't mean you love either less or one is "better" than the other.

That being said, I'll let you know in April after my first trip to DL!

 

[mentos]

As an amateur student of history, it's DLR hands down. When you walk down the same pathways that Walt did just before the park opened, stare up at the Dominguez tree knowing that the family wanted it saved as they deeded their land to WED, drive down Cerritos Ave and wonder why it just dead ends before the DL hotel, look into why there are steps to a porch with no door on Main Street USA, and walk into the Golden Horseshoe and imagine a nervous Walt & Lillian celebrating their anniversary just days before park open....the intimacy of the past is something you just can't duplicate anywhere else.

When you visit DL, it's like you're communing with the past and listening to a master recording of John Coltrane. Every other park, be it WDW, Tokyo Disney, etc... is a generation removed from the original. That's not to say they're inferior, but when dusk falls on Orange County, California and the warmth of summer gets nudged away as the sea breezes find their way to Anaheim, for a quiet moment you're taken back to when it was just an idea and some orange groves in the middle of nowhere.

 

[HydroGuy]

What is an E-ticket ride at DL?

I wasn't sure if you were asking which rides were E-Tickets, or what in the heck is meant by an E-Ticket ride.

@Lumpy1106 above answered the first question.

If you were really asking the second question, an "E-Ticket" ride is a major headliner ride. In the original days of DL, there were ticket books for rides A, B, C, D and E. The "E" ticket was for the headliner rides and there were fewer of those in the ticket book. As you went down to D and C tickets and so forth, the rides were less exciting. The name "E-Ticket" has stuck around at Disney even though the ticket books were disbanded in the 1980's as I recall. But I definitely remember the ticket books as a child!

 

[maltdizzy]

In the original days of DL

Disney World too!

 

[Lumpy1106]

I wasn't sure if you were asking which rides were E-Tickets, or what in the heck is meant by an E-Ticket ride.

@Lumpy1106 above answered the first question.

If you were really asking the second question, an "E-Ticket" ride is a major headliner ride. In the original days of DL, there were ticket books for rides A, B, C, D and E. The "E" ticket was for the headliner rides and there were fewer of those in the ticket book. As you went down to D and C tickets and so forth, the rides were less exciting. The name "E-Ticket" has stuck around at DIsney even though the ticket books were disbanded in the 1980's as I recall. But I definitely remember the ticket books as a child!

This is GENERALLY true, though you might be surprised to find that many E-ticket offerings were not what you would consider to be "exciting":
A genuine E-Ticket

What is absolutely true is you'd run out of E-tickets very early in the day but you'd be stuck with A-tickets you couldn't use at the end of the day. A tickets were the hub transportation ride that would shut down mid-way though the day. Anyone miss this system? I sure don't. I fondly remember when my Dad got "Passports" for us though his work that we could just present to get on any ride as much as we wanted while everyone else was still stuck using ticket books. Who's a big shot? THIS GUY!

 

[PirateBoatDropRide]

IMHO, Better at DL;

• Autopia
• Space Mountain
• Pirates
• Haunted Mansion (Holiday overlay)
• Small World
• Jungle Cruise
• Indiana Jones (compared to dinosaur)
• Fantasmic
• Radiator Springs Racers (compared to Test Track, though Test Track is faster)
• Grizzly River Run (compared to Kali River)

Better at WDW;

• Splash Mountain
• BTMRR (barely)
• Haunted Mansion (exception above)
• TZToT (compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, but the overlay is a massive improvement over the budget ToT that was there)
• Philharmagic
• Pooh
• Peter Pan

Everything else, side-by-side, is pretty equal. Carsland is my favorite land in any park - it's VERY good! Second place for me is Avatar.

ALL of this said, I live 20 minutes from DL and go to WDW more often. It's just more immersive and FAR away from "real life". When you go to DL you can hear the outside world and feel the pull of everything else you need to do. I am sure there are people in Orlando that feel the same way about DL though.

Agree with everything said above except:

1) BTMMR is better at DL due to the final lift hill scene. It's close, but DL gets the nod IMO.
2) Peter Pan is equal in both parks.
3) Jungle Cruise is better at WDW because I think it's slightly longer.

 

[Pamela M]

What is an E-ticket ride at DL?

Space Mountain,

IMHO, Better at DL;

• Autopia
• Space Mountain
• Pirates
• Haunted Mansion (Holiday overlay)
• Small World
• Jungle Cruise
• Indiana Jones (compared to dinosaur)
• Fantasmic
• Radiator Springs Racers (compared to Test Track, though Test Track is faster)
• Grizzly River Run (compared to Kali River)

Better at WDW;

• Splash Mountain
• BTMRR (barely)
• Haunted Mansion (exception above)
• TZToT (compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, but the overlay is a massive improvement over the budget ToT that was there)
• Philharmagic
• Pooh
• Peter Pan

Everything else, side-by-side, is pretty equal. Carsland is my favorite land in any park - it's VERY good! Second place for me is Avatar.

ALL of this said, I live 20 minutes from DL and go to WDW more often. It's just more immersive and FAR away from "real life". When you go to DL you can hear the outside world and feel the pull of everything else you need to do. I am sure there are people in Orlando that feel the same way about DL though.

Agree mostly above but I actually liked the story line of Splash better at DL then WDW. The ride vehicles are far superior at WDW though which is why I think it gets the edge from most people. I really enjoyed the Haunted Mansion in WDW - it's just missing the Hat Box Ghost.