DL instead of WDW

Pbeh

Pbeh

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
I'm looking for people who have been to both locations. I have only ever been to WDW, never to DL. I won't go into detail, but basically getting to California is more expensive for us. Yet I've always been curious as to what DL offers in attractions that WDW cannot. Can anyone give me their top reasons why spending the extra money for us might be worth it? Not trying to see which is better, just seeing if the extra travel costs for us would be worth it.

Thanks!
 
Pbeh said:
I'm looking for people who have been to both locations. I have only ever been to WDW, never to DL. I won't go into detail, but basically getting to California is more expensive for us. Yet I've always been curious as to what DL offers in attractions that WDW cannot. Can anyone give me their top reasons why spending the extra money for us might be worth it? Not trying to see which is better, just seeing if the extra travel costs for us would be worth it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


We live in the middle of the country so have been to both parks a number of times.

Most who prefer WDW do so for the immersive experience of the resort as a whole. It's so much bigger with more resorts, restaurants and extra activities than they will ever be able to squeeze into DLR.

That said, we prefer the park experience of DLR hands down. They have almost as many attractions in 2 parks as WDW has in 4. That makes things so much more efficient in my book. Wanna hop at DLR for fast access to everything you haven't seen already? Just walk across the esplanade. Wanna hop at WDW? You have to spend a decent amount of time by bus or monorail to get there. Some enjoy that part of it. I prefer to maximize my time in the parks.

If you can make it before 2016, DLR offers legacy FP still. I have a friend there today who just pulled something like his 9th set of headliner fastpasses. You simply can't replicate that at WDW any more.

DLR has a different customer base. It's more focused on local repeat customers, so they try to keep things fresh. After a number of trips to WDW, we started wishing for something new.

Some say you lose the immersive feel at DLR. We haven't had an issue with that since we typically stay all day in the parks anyway.
 
In my opinion, the two experiences are very different. WDW is on a much larger scale than DLR. At DLR you have many e-ticket attractions in a relatively compact space, whereas for WDW you may have to hit multiple parks for those e-ticket attractions. Also, DLR is walkable from many area hotels even if you don't stay on property; whereas at WDW you need to take some form of transportation to get to each of the parks. Additionally, it is easy to park hop at the DLR as both parks are across the esplanade from each other.

That being said, DLR is the original. I love it. While I am a local to So. Cal. I have been to WDW four times in the last 6 years. I absolutely love the immersive (sp?) experience you get at WDW if you stay on property - for me the real world just disappears. You really don't get that at the DLR. If you come to California, there are tons of other things to do besides Disney - we have the beach, mountains, desert all within a "short" drive of the parks.

Its more of a you have to try it to see if you like it kind of thing!
 
Great advice! What about attractions, what are ones that would be so excellent at DLR that are must dos?
 


We did wdw for the 1st time last May... Things I missed terribly... Most of fantasyland... Wdw is missing many classic dark rides that I love (plus a couple that aren't dark rides per se but are in fantasyland)... I missed Pinocchio, Toad, Snow White, Alice (not tea cups! The dark ride), storybook boats, and even Casey jr is fun to ride each trip. And Toontown! While not heavy in rides, it is heavy in atmosphere. A nice place to just wander and goof off.

Over in DCA I missed bugs land, symphony swings, monsters inc (a dark ride again)... None of the rides I missed are like big thrill rides, but for me they all add up to Disney.

At wdw there seemed to be a lot of shows and things, presumably to get large volumes of people off the hot concrete. I guess that isn't as needed in California. We enjoyed the long nap rides (Ellen, Journey into imagination, umm spaceship earth...) but I won't miss those when we got back to DL in October.

The only rides I think wdw has that truly beat anything at DL are Everest, mission space and test track. Tot is pretty darned good at wdw too.

I think you will love how compact things are... No miles of concrete between each ride entrance (how wdw felt to us)... And more rides per sq footage... So it's like more bang for your buck IMO.

Happy planning!
 
Must do's at DL/DCA

* Radiator Springs Racers
* California Screamin'
* Mickey's Wheel of Terror :rotfl2:
* World of Color
* Space Mountain
* Indiana Jones
* Fantasmic

And the best part is they still have Fast Pass Legacy.

Hopefully you get to DLR......the 2 parks are awesome!
 


Haha! So funny about the 'Wheel of Terror" My son is scared to death of the drops in POC, but LOVES the swinging cars on Mickey's Fun Wheel. We loved POC at DL, the DL version of Tom Sawyer's Island, and many of the rides in Fantasyland, including Storybook Canal Boats and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I LOVE WDW and went to DL for a week on a whim (me, DD14, and DS5). I wasn't expecting to like it, but truly fell in love. So much so, we've rented points to go back February 2016. It's fantastic, and a must do if you love Disney.
 
We went to WDW for the first time last June. For us, that was way more expensive partly because we had to fly cross country as opposed to driving 8 hours. We are so glad we did though and plan to go back again in a few years. I think you should go to DLR just because you haven't been before. You really should see it!
If you want to save some money to make up for the expense of flying farther, don't stay on property. At WDW I wouldn't dream of not staying on property. But at DLR, it isn't about the resorts. And the three on property places are way more expensive than many of the WDW resorts. We stayed at POFQ for only $225 a night for garden view and we thought it was just beautiful there. DLR hotels cost way more and while very nice, aren't worth the price if it means you can't go or can only stay for a few days. (Get a 5 day parkhopper)
Stay walking distance somewhere like Candy Cane Inn, and just enjoy park hopping and walking back to your room for a quick nap. No need to spend an hour or more on buses!
 
We opted for DL this trip mostly because there is not a lot of planning needed. I love that I don't have to make dining reservations 6 months in advance and I don't have to plan which park we will be in on a certain day months from now. I also like that I don't have to plan fast passes months ahead of time. I do all the planning for my family vacations and I am just worn out. The other huge benefit is that I won't have to take a bus the whole time we are there! Park hopping is super easy and fast and staying across the street makes it easy to take a break in the afternoon.
 
For us going to WDW is a bigger expense. We can drive to DL, but we have to fly to WDW. I really wanted to go to WDW for our 10th anniversary in a few years (spent our Honeymoon there), but I've decided we're not going to. It's too expensive for us to assume we'll take the kids twice. And if I can only guarantee one trip, then I've decided I want them to be older.

Comparison wise: DL is not to be missed. WDW is massive, and it is a great vacation destination. You can hop on a bus from the airport and spend a week or 2 at WDW and never need to leave. DL is intimate. As others said, you can hop so easily from one park to the other if you want. It's a short walk from one gate to the other, and DTD is right there too.

Although people worry about the bubble, another way to save money is to stay across the street. It's often closer than the DL hotels, and a lot cheaper. You can also save money on food as there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance including the cheap McD's and Denny's & IHOP, at least one of which offers free kids' meals.

Also, less walking. The parks are smaller, but still crammed with rides. This means a lot less walking to get from one ride to the other. And many of the rides at DL are superior to their WDW counterparts. Small World and Pirates both come to mind. The Matterhorn is old and bumpy, but an experience you can't get at WDW (don't compare it to Everest though). Screamin' is a great coaster too. And Indiana Jones is a popular and thrilling ride, much better than Dinosaur. Someone mentioned Test Track as being a great WDW experience you can't get at DL, but Radiator Springs Racers uses the same track system and has better theming and storyline in my opinion. And with more rides, and better FP, the lines are shorter. At Hollywood Studios you could wait 90 minutes for Toy Story (although you could get a FP), and DCA the wait is 40-50 minutes most of the day, but short in the first hour.
 
This post spoke to my middle-of-the-line Disney heart, and I had to go into super, ridiculous overkill depth, so forgive me...

I live smack-dab in the middle of the country: The Lone Star State. :) I've been to WDW twice and DL twice. I enjoyed both, but I have to say, I'm a Disneyland girl. The distance to both parks is almost the exact same for me. Orlando may be an hour further, but I haven't done the math. I just LOVE Disneyland.

Some Helpful Disneyland Info:
  • Disneyland tickets are not cheaper than Disney World tickets. HOWEVER, it simply does not take the same amount of time to "do" DL as it does DW. I would never do WDW in less than 7 days. 7 days in DL is excessive in my opinion. We're going in June for 3 days. 2 full days in DL, one full day at CA. That is realistically a sufficient amount of time for our kids to fully enjoy the attractions they can enjoy (ages 6, 4, and 3), and if you can afford 4 days or even 5 days, that's even better---- and cheaper than the "average" or "recommended" amount of time at WDW.
  • Another perk of DL: Hotels/Resorts. We do not stay in DL resorts when we go. There aren't necessarily the same "perks" of staying in DL resorts as WDW resorts. DL resorts have the extra magic hours, yes, but there are NO moderate or basic resorts. We stayed in the Music Resort for our honeymoon. That isn't happening for DL. I'm not gonna lie- the DL hotels ain't cheap. You have the less-expensive option of the Disney Good Neighbor Hotels, OR hotels that aren't "Good Neighbor" but still close by. We are staying at the Anaheim Islander, which isn't a listed "Good Neighbor" hotel, but still a nice hotel, reasonably priced, a short walk from the park. The last time we went to DL (2013), we didn't even stay in Anaheim. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Downey. Still a wonderful, memorable, amazing vaca. You can't really do that in Orlando.
  • Look into buying tickets through a broker like Get Away Today. We purchased our tickets from this broker (Disney Parks validated, BBB rating A+), and we bought park tickets and a character breakfast here. The park tickets were about $55 cheaper (total, for our party of 7) than from disney.com, and we also got one free Extra Magic Morning. I love this idea! We get the perks of staying at a resort for one day, and you would never get this perk from a validated WDW ticket broker.
  • Smaller park, more time. Do you love the Magic Kingdom? Disneyland is MK and then some, in a smaller space. I was three years old the first time I went to DL, so I barely remember it. When I went back in 2013 with my own son, I was awe-struck realizing, "This is the Magic Kingdom, only...Neater!" Disneyland has all the best of MK (Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Peter Pan, Tea Cups, Star Tours, etc.) and then some (Finding Nemo, Autopia, Jelly Fish, etc.). DL is smaller, but all the best of the MK is here, and then some. None of your favorite MK rides will be missed in this special park.
  • Walking with Walt-- This is something magical that I can't understate. Any Disney lover should admire, if not love, the idea of walking in the footsteps of Walt Disney himself. This park is the ONLY park Walt ever walked. It's the only park where Walt rode with his children and grandchildren. If that isn't magical, I don't know what is. On our 2013 trip, we took photos at all the iconic "Walt" picture stops, including the small stake in the floor of the castle. I love riding Peter Pan's Flight or Snow White knowing those were 1955 originals. That is so special to me. I'm a simple and sentimental kind of gal. I love the history and details that go into Disneyland.

A background story on me:

My DH and I celebrated our honeymoon at WDW in 2007. We're disney nuts, but we don't have a ton of money (he's a teacher and I'm in grad school) and we're not in a great location for either park. Nevertheless, our loyalty remains. ;)

  • We took our sweet boy for the first time to any Disney park (Disneyland) in 2013 when he was four, and had him fully hooked. I'll never forget the look on his face as he rode Casey Jr. (a ride that isn't at WDW) Wow. Really really neat.
  • We are now adopting two children from foster care (ages 4 and 3) and we will finalize our adoption this summer. We've been planning a Dis trip to celebrate our family adoption of these little ones in Disneyland for a LOOOOONG time! (They have been with us for two years).
  • Originally, we had planned to go to WDW with my mom and brother for our adoption celebration vacation, but the transmission on our SUV went out in March and it cost a pretty penny to fix it. That money came out of our *tight* savings account. So WDW was out. Our automatic next choice was DL. Honestly, I wanted to go to DL the whole time.
 
Why go to DL? Because it's the original park that Walt Disney designed. Because it's such a special place. Because there is just so much magic there.

Cool things that I love about DL:
1. The weather
2. Still has paper FP
3. Peter Pan
4. dumbo
5. POTC
6. HM
7. Great counter service options
8. There IS a Disney bubble
9. Blue Bayou - eating a meal INSIDE AN ATTRACTION!
10. Park hopping is SO easy
11. RSR
12. Tiki Room
13. it's a small world
14. The dioramas on the train loop
15. They still have Great Moment with Mr Lincoln after 60 years
 
VandVsmama said:
Why go to DL? Because it's the original park that Walt Disney designed. Because it's such a special place. Because there is just so much magic there.

Cool things that I love about DL:
1. The weather
2. Still has paper FP
3. Peter Pan
4. dumbo
5. POTC
6. HM
7. Great counter service options
8. There IS a Disney bubble
9. Blue Bayou - eating a meal INSIDE AN ATTRACTION!
10. Park hopping is SO easy
11. RSR
12. Tiki Room
13. it's a small world
14. The dioramas on the train loop
15. They still have Great Moment with Mr Lincoln after 60 years
Click to expand...
16. Storybook Canals
17. Casey Jr. Train
18. Fewer decisions
19. California Adventure!
 
Personally, I think it depends on your lifestyle. Here in CA we are very fast paced living people. We like/are used to constantly doing something & most of the time are multi-tasking. With that said to me DL is a highly interactive park that at every minute you are interacting visually/physically. Once done watching a show or riding a ride your eye is caught by another part of the park as things are close together. DW is different in my opinion. I feel it is more laid back. Things are more spread out. More of a take your time & see things little by little as you walk the park. So, if you are more of the type of person who likes to be constantly entertained/interacting or multitasking then DL might be a good park for you if not & you are more relaxed & like to take your time & see things casually then DW might be for you. This is just my observation of the two parks. With that said I'm obviously from CA a true DL fan ☺
 
I am now a Disneyland "local". Moving to SoCal from the SF area was the best decision I've made in years. I've been to the parks 40+ times since last July alone. It never gets old.

But I also LOVE Walt Disney World. I don't do anything else in Florida when I'm there. I can easily spend 10-12 days at WDW, and never get bored. I love the deluxe resorts at WDW. Prior to moving here, the last time I stayed on property at DLR was in 2001. I don't like the hotels at DL. They are overpriced, and nothing special.
 
The only rides I think wdw has that truly beat anything at DL are Everest
4ce11.jpg
 
I have the opposite issue. From NZ, DL is a direct flight whereas WDW is an extra $2k and 5 hours flying (from LAX too). To me, DL is perfection, I don't see how anything can be better. There are two amazing parks in the middle if one if the most snaking metropolitan areas of the world. So much to do in the greater LA area, not to mention the rest of SoCal, and then only a few hours drive from some of the natural wonders of the world. It offers everything we want in a vacation destination, we are heading back for our 3rd year in a row, each year we go for linger and to more places.

On the contrary, WDW is ONLY disney (plus I suppose universal comes I to it) but there simply aren't the other things to do. Plus, who wants to decide what to do and where to eat months in advance!

One day I am sure we will go to WDW, but for now DL makes us so happy that it just isn't worth going anywhere else.
 
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