I think it's hard to predict whether or not
you'll love it or hate it, but I'll just give you my personal opinions.
I'm a L.A. native - born in San Pedro - and I much prefer WDW to DL, and so do all the members of my family. My parents, who took us to DL all the time as kids, prefer WDW. As an adult, I go back and forth to DLR and WDW often with my siblings or husband. However, like others have noted, WDW and DL are too different to compare apples to apples, so it's really all about your own preferences.
Personally, what we prefer about WDW are the following:
- Planning: I am one of the few weirdos that LOVE that I can preplan my vacation down to the minute, especially since we're coming from the other side of the country. It's nice to arrive and not have to worry about where we're going to dinner or how we're going to ride popular rides.
- EPCOT: The World Showcase is awesome! No matter how many times I go, I get kind of geeked out about visiting the different "countries" in EPCOT. Plus, the festivals are amazing. There's entertainment, food booths, experiences - there's a festival almost every time we visit, so EPCOT always feels very festive.
- Animal Kingdom: The idea of a park and a zoo in one location is awesome to me. I know many people prefer the rides in the park, we like that we can learn about and visit animals, and also enjoy some typical theme park activities.
- Transportation system: I LOVE being able to ride a Disney bus, boat, or monorail to different areas of the resort. It may sound strange, but I truly feel like I'm in the Disney "bubble" when I'm riding Disney transportation rather than driving myself and parking in a parking lot or taking an Uber to the parks.
- Restaurant choices: My husband is a very disciplined type 1 diabetic and my sisters are picky eaters, and there is a good amount of variety at DLR, but there are exponentially more choices available at WDW, particularly if you include Disney Springs.
- Character dining choices: My sisters are in their late 20's and my husband and I are 30, but we love character meals. There are a handful of places you can dine and meet characters at DLR and you have to leave the parks for 3 of those locations. At WDW, there are more than double (maybe triple? we haven't been to them all) the number of character dining locations. Most do not require us to leave the parks, either.
- Space: My husband *hates* crowds and we've been to WDW many times, even at times that are considered 9 or 10s on the crowd calendars, yet we've never really felt as crowded as it felt at DL because of all the space. The parks themselves are so spread out at WDW.
- Resorts: I just love all the resorts at WDW, even the values. The values and moderates have excellent Disney theming, and the deluxe resorts have the advantage of excellent locations. The prices are VERY good for all levels, including deluxes - at least when compared to the DLR resorts.
- Magic Bands: the Magic Bands are crazy fun! My husband is an engineer and enjoys the techie aspect of it, but all I know is touching the Mickey on the band to the Mickey access point feels magical to me. It's such a small thing, but I really enjoy watching the Mickey access point light up when you touch Mickeys. Additionally, you can customize these in advance or order special Magic Bands when they're released, to have some pre or post Disney fun year round.
- Disney extras: Disney themed mini golf, Cirque show (La Nouba is gone now, but something is going to replace it, last I read), water parks, etc. WDW is massive, and there's just so much Disney fun to go around.
What we prefer about DLR:
- Ride proximity/easy park hopping: It is really nice to just be able to walk a few feet to the nearest ride. Also, park hopping is a breeze at DLR. Once you're at DLR, you don't *need* any transportation - you just walk.
- Familiarity: I've been to DLR so many times; it's nice to just know where everything is.
- Way easier to meet in-park characters: The characters kind of mill about at DLR, but that's not the case at WDW.
- Downtown Disney: I do love Disney Springs, but I like how close Downtown Disney is at DLR. I also enjoy the offerings they put in their significantly smaller space. Even though Disney Springs has a lot more restaurants, experiences, and shops than DTD, I do not feel like I necessarily need more when I'm in DTD.
- History: Like many DLR fans, I think it's awesome that DL was the park that Walt built. It's special in that way.