Just Back: Disney World vs Disneyland

[Srbright]

DH and I just finished 3 days in Anaheim; 1 DCA, 1 DL, 1 DTD/shopping day. We were fortunate that I am in CA on business and my employer paid for the hotel, rental car and my flight out here. We used FF miles for DH so all we had to pay was for meals/tickets/shopping.

This isn't a trip report so much as requested for opinions. I am disappointed to say that I did not enjoy my time there very much. Over all it was great getting to see DH after almost 2 weeks away and we had a great time being together. DH and I have decided that if it's free we would go again because: Disney. We won't go again if we have to pay money.

I just really felt that DL did not live up to the Disney brand promise. What I hear a lot of people on here talking about at Disney World like worsening service, ride quality, food quality and value I felt I finally saw in action at DL. We have always had great, if not exceptional, service at Disney World. It has always been clean and well cared for.

I know that opinion isn't shared by everyone but I see their point now. There was trash on rides and in the park itself in easily reachable spaces that looked like it had been there a long time. There were broken stall doors in the bathroom where you could tell by the dirt and wear patterns that it had been broken for weeks if not months. There were very few cast members and those that were there lackluster at best and dismissive at worst.

The majority of the surfaces looked in dire need of a coat of paint. Half the attractions still had half their holiday decorations still up and they were worn and often broken.

We tried to park in the 2hr free parking lot for DTD and they were not controlling the number of cars they let in vs the number of spaces. We counted no less than 30 cars circling around the lot that had no available spaces. They should have turned the cars away when the lot became full.

If anything the best service we received was from the people at security going in and out.

The good things were few and far between. I must say that I like the DL PoC better than the DW one. Radiator Springs was also nice.

For the price they charge and the value they need to let you into both DCA and DL on the same day with the same ticket; they should not be separated.

How many of the rest of you prefer DW to DL?

Stacy

 

[mummabear]

We have alternated Disneyland and Disneyworld for the last 10 years, last year we did both in one trip.
I like different things about each, if I had to pick which one I like best it would be DL.
Pros of DL:
Same amount of rides between 2 parks as WDWs 4
Personally prefer DLR version of many rides
Easy to park hop and access DTD
Easy to access off site hotels

Pros of WDW:
Onsite hotels cheaper (but more "necessary")
Fireworks/parades and hours on a more year round and not such a huge weekend/weekday swing
CRT better than DLR princess meal at CA
More Disney to do outside of parks(meals, campfire etc)

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

In early 2013 it was the total opposite. Walt Disney World was dirtier with spotty ride maintenance and Disneyland was spotless with great ride maintenance. What happened is that management changed. Walt Disney World promoted (to get rid of) Meg Crofton who had been president of Walt Disney World and presided over a decline in the guest experience. She was replaced with George Kalogridis, who had been president of Disneyland Resort and presided there over a continuing improvement in the guest experience that actually began with his two predecessors. He was replaced there with Michael Colglazier, who had been president of Animal Kingdom and presided there over several continuing years of the broken Yeti--and who, unlike Kalogridis, doesn't have a career-long history in theme park operations and guest experience.

So essentially, Disney raided the person who had been caretaking the guest experience in Anaheim in order to improve the guest experience in Orlando. And replaced him in Anaheim with a company hack who many say has offered little quarterbacking of operational quality or excellence and guest experience during his tenure. I cannot imagine under any previous Disneyland Resort president, except during the bad old days of Paul Pressler/Cynthia Harris, maintenance to tank in this manner, much less an entire corner of the park designed by Walt Disney, himself, to be vandalized for expansion purposes, the railroad, all river traffic, and Fantasmic to be sidelined for almost 2 years, annual passes to almost double in cost, Tower of Terror's theme to be thrown in the trash bin, and electronic Fastpass reservations to be made an upchargeable item. Those things don't happen, especially all at once as they have an Anaheim, unless your resort leadership has no idea what makes a Disney park special from the perspective of guest experience and show.

Back in May 2013, we were Disneyland vets who didn't enjoy our first Walt Disney World visit as a couple at all during the Crofton area. Last year when we started to revisit Walt Disney World, it felt like Disneyland to us in terms of show quality because of Kalogridis's leadership, and we switched alliances, so to speak, becoming Walt Disney World APs because we fell in love with the current state of Walt Disney World, and because we couldn't stand what Colglazier was allowing to happen in Anaheim. At this point, honestly, you couldn't pay us to be Disneyland APs again. That feeling when they closed and then finally tore out 20K at MK? That's the all at once feeling of what Colglazier has allowed to happen to Disneyland. Just heartbreaking.

 

[cakebaker]

We've been to DLR 3 times, the last being this past summer. The only reason we went was so my grandson could see Carsland. It was amazing, no doubt, but I can't imagine we'll be returning. It's just an entirely different feel there- much more of a local amusement park. CM's are just not friendly at all and overall it just doesn't have that feeling that WDW does for us. I'm sure there are those who much prefer it to WDW, but WDW is our park and I have no desire to return to DLR ever again.

 

[mom2rtk]

Since this is in the WDW forum, you'll probably get more WDW lovers here. I imagine the result would be different if you posted in the DLR forum.

WDW was our "home park" for a very long time. We are now in the DLR camp.

I defected because of FP+. My Disney loving teenage daughter fell in love with the charm of DLR (in spite of the puny castle ) so we keep going back.

For me the best part is the proximity of the 2 parks to one another. There are almost as many attractions between the 2 parks as WDW has in 4. No need to plan out your day in advance. Just show up and go right or left at the esplanade. All options are open every single morning.

A close second is the charm of DL. It's so personal. Fantasyland is my favorite part of both MK and DL, but I love the Storybook Canal and Casey Jr. winding their way around Fantasyland. I love that Dumbo still sits behind the castle with a view of Fantasyland.

Oh, and I'm told that having Earl of Sandwich a monorail ride away from Tomorrowland is a huge selling point as well.

And lately? I LOVE that DLR cares enough to make sure there's a night parade for guests to see. They don't treat their guests like an ATM the way WDW does.

 

[EdmondD]

I wrote this three years ago, after traveling to DL for the first time. We were with our son, who was 3 at the time, and our grown daughter. It's long....

Space Mountain, Pirates, the refurbed Big Thunder, and Small World all better out west.
DL +1

Queues – DL had some just awful queues. Some of them are holdovers from the early days when Imagineering wasn’t concerned with queue entertainment. But the TSM queue, for example, is nowhere near how awesome it is at WDW. In fact, it’s just a snaking line and almost entirely outside.
WDW +1

Cast members – I had heard that they were out-of-this-world at DL. But what I found was the same mix I find at WDW: Some great, a lot good, and a few who shouldn’t be there. I even had one ticket-taker grumpily say, when I asked how he was doing, “I’ll be better in 30 minutes.”
Wash

The Castle – Oh, there was a castle at Disneyland? Huh. You sure? That pink thing?
WDW +1
BUT Sleeping Beauty Castle has a neat walkthrough attraction. Not enough for a wash, so I maintain WDW +1

Everything being all close together – I walked from Toontown (in the back of DL) to Luigi’s Flying Tires (in essentially the back of DCA) in 16 minutes. That includes standing in a bit of a line to get in to DCA. Compare that to going from Splash Mountain to, say, the American Pavilion at Epcot, which would be...much longer than 16 minutes.
DL +1

Escapism – I’m less than a mile from pulling in to the DL parking lot and I see…Tinkerbell? The Beast? No, a 7-11. It’s just not as escape-from-the-world as I’d like or as you get at WDW.
WDW +1

Carsland/Radiator Springs is one of the most immersive themed environments that accurately represents the source material that I’ve ever been in. You are plopped down into that movie. It’s just stunning. At night when all the neon is on it looks just like that evening scene in the movie
DL +1

Downtown Disney - Most malls near us are bigger than the one at DL.
WDW +1

TSM has much shorter standby lines at DL, but no Fastpass, so you don’t wait for 2.5 hours...but still have to wait 50 minutes to an hour.
Wash

World of Color, the DCA evening show - just amazing. Really amazing. AND there is also Fantasmic and fireworks out west. Even with Illuminations at Epcot, nod goes to DL.
DL +1

Wayfinding - This is probably just my familiarity with MK vs. unfamiliarity with DL, but I found the signage/wayfinding at DL to not be particularly good. And I felt like I was forever searching for restrooms when I needed them.
WDW +1

THEY DO NOT HAVE VANILLA DOLE WHIP AT DL. So your float is pineapple on pineapple which is just too much pineapple. The woman apologized a lot, particularly when I started yell-swearing, and she said that it was a storage space issue?? Come on! (As I told her when she started crying, I wasn't really yelling at her.)
WDW +..... 30

Earthquakeyness - WDW, essentially zero chance. We experienced a 5.1 while at DL. If you live through it and it's not destructive, in hindsight it's pretty neat to experience. And hurricanes aren't as awesome, what with that annoying wind and rain and predictability. So
DL +1

Exposure to that awful Autopia - At WDW you always smell/hear it. At DL...they have Autopia?
DL +1

Things seemed a little crowded and on top of each other at DL and some of the theming of the separate lands kind of ….bumps into each other. You even notice this from the hub.
WDW +1

One park STILL HAS Mr. Toad and Snow White. That park is…
DL +1

Tarzan Treehouse vs. Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.
Wash

Streetmosphere and shows
Wash

Toontown is awesome, awesome, awesome if you have a little one.
DL +1

Dual Dumbos with better waiting area.
WDW +1

Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters/Space Ranger Spin has better scenes out west AND the guns are freemoving, not anchored.
DL +1

RnR vs. California Screaming
Wash

Crowdedness - DL occupies 85 acres vs. MK's 107 and MK only outdraws it by a little bit on a per-day average. Thus, DL is going to feel more crowded. Consider that we usually go to WDW during slower times and our DL trip was around spring break and thus I'd estimate that DL was probably 30 percent more crowded than we've ever experienced MK being. Tomorrowland at DL is really charming, but at the height of the day you could barely get through it. So, just based on that, I give
WDW +1

Other odds-and-ends:
DCA is really gorgeous and we found each land to be very, very well done and unique and immersive. It really exceeded our expectations.

We rode the Matterhorn because it is a classic attraction. There is nothing special about the Matterhorn.

Blue Bayou theming > San Angel Inn theming, but it's very, very close. On food, it is not at all very, very close. (And you know which wins.)

Character lunch at Ariel’s Grotto was not something we’d do again. The princesses came around and we got a few minutes with each. It didn’t feel rushed, but they just didn’t hang out (I’m sure tables with 7yo girls get more time). The food was downright eh. Character breakfast at the Plaza Inn was great - it’s just breakfast food but there were lots of characters throughout and lots of character interactions. My son was happy showing off his two little Chip and Dale figures, and many of the characters interacted with them, including Rafiki doing his whole broken-fruit-voodoo-forehead-swipe anointment thing.

Overall, we really enjoyed our three days, of course, and could easily have spent another couple days there. There were still things we didn't get to, and that's with our open-to-close park touring style. I have to say that I expected to be blown away by DL vs. MK, and wasn’t, really. DCA exceeded expectations, as I noted. It may be because it’s where I’ve been most frequently, but I just really prefer WDW. Primarily and obviously because there is SO much there that DL/DCA just can’t replicate. Four parks, a huge downtown Disney, the World Showcase, and several hotels that are fun to just explore, even if you’re not staying in them. Plus, the whole sense of being removed from the world is just more palpable at WDW. I would never make a trip to Southern California just to visit Disneyland, but would certainly plan a few days there during a trip I'm already taking there.

 

[Meldev]

We took our first DL trip in October - after spending much time on the DIS and being a WDW vet I had low expectations, quite honestly I expected to be disappointed.
Conversely, we loved the proximity of the two parks (the 6 of us park hopped for the first time!) - park hopping was so easy. We stayed off site but within walking distance.
We truly enjoyed our experience and I look to go back, especially before DS outgrows Cars Land, which is amazing.
Our opinion was probably bolstered by the fact that we could just hop in line and ride TSM and only wait 30 mins (I hope their new FP system doesn't change that too much). Our visit to DHS just 6 months before had us waiting over 90 mins and actually bailing because we weren't even halfway - walked out to see 175 min wait time posted.
I'm looking forward to our February WDW visit, i hope I still feel the magic the same way and not just long to go back to DL!

*service wise we never had a bad experience or indifference from a CM - nor did the park seem dirty in anyway.

**the trick or treat trails during MHP rocked too! My DS's favorite thing!

 

[westie55]

I am a WDW vet who visited DL this year for the first time. I loved it. I found it to be equally clean and equally magical, all the while being different enough to give me new Disney experiences that I really treasured, like WOC and Cars Land. Plus, I was reunited with some old favorites like Mr. Toad, Snow White, and the Nemo Subs (which I realize have changed since the ride was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea but still). The convenience of DL can't be beat. I read a lot about there not being a "bubble" at DL, but I stayed at the Grand Californian and DID feel immersed in Disney my whole trip. While DL is more than twice the distance, I loved it and will definitely continue to go back for years to come. I will also continue to visit WDW. They both bring different things to the table.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

In the last 8 years (when we first started going to Disney), we've had 4 trips to each of DL and WDW (and 2 DCL cruises and bought into DVC - at WDW, as VGC was sold out and we bought into the sales pitch of "you absolutely won't have problems using your points at DL").

That being said, I'd have to say that 100 times out of 100, we would choose DL over WDW. Everything is 'there' and there is so much of it - I can't imagine you'd ever hear a DL/DCA visitor offer the same lamentations about those parks as you regularly hear about AK and DHS being "half-day parks". As noted above, in terms of rides and attractions, it's virtually a wash in terms of DL/DCA equaling what you find in all 4 parks at WDW.

And let's be honest, not having to stress about which park you want to be at/which restaurants you want to eat at, six months before your trip, and not having the stress about worrying about being shut out of FP+ 60 days out, is awesome.

 

[elaine amj]

We spent a solid week at DLR a couple of years ago for the 60th anniversary. We stayed right across the street (short walk - yay!) and got 5 day hoppers. We were at the parks pretty much from open to close every day. We REALLY enjoyed our time there and my family said they like both WDW and DLR equally. And frankly, the majority of rides are better at DLR I mean, Space Mountain with music?!! And Carsland is breathtaking.

I have to say though....I personally prefer WDW. I like spending 2 weeks and never running out of things to do. I like the feel that there is so much variety at WDW. AND, I like the more intense planning I can do at WDW. Also, I have to admit - I didn't expect to feel like it....but I was off-kilter at DLR. Everything felt a wee bit "off" and I kept missing WDW.

All in all, a fabulous vacay. I loved the vibe in California (the rest of the state is super awesome too!) and would happily return. But my next few trips will be to WDW!

 

[jsebsirois]

All of you have great arguments.

As far as I'm concern : when we leave WDW, we can't wait to go to DL because we miss the proximity, the celebrations (the Diamond Celebration was spectacular) and the overall less everything needs to be planned feeling.

On the other end, when we leave DL, we would go to WDW right away to have great food, more activities and more time to relax at the hotel.