HydroGuy
A Pirate's Life For Me
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
I kept thinking as I read your post that your view of WDW was very "park centric", which is a DLR vet's way of thinking. Nothing wrong with that, it is what it is. WDW vets are more "resort centric" and are confused by DLR vet's constant desire to compare parks. WDW offers so many things outside the parks but within the resort that are very cool. DLR can't do that because of space limitations.Please allow to give you the opposite perspective as I'm a DLR AP holder and live in San Diego. Although we haven't been a jillion times, we do go about 4-6 times a year. First off though, this write up may contain some ride spoilers so please be aware before you continue reading.
We recently just came back from a trip to WDW for the first time. We went into the park Mon-Fri. Went into Hollywood Studios, Epcot, 2 days at Magic Kingdom, and then Animal Kingdom. So we were thinking that WDW was going to be super awesome from what everybody was telling us. Don't get me wrong. We had a blast but going into Hollywood Studios and then Epcot, we all said that same thing that these parks just didn't "feel" like we were at "Disneyland/Magic Kingdom." I hate to say this but they felt like secondary parks. Loved some of the unique features but we didn't really feel like we were at a Disney vacation until we walked into Magic Kingdom. Once we got there, since everything is spread out between 4 parks, we actually finished a lot of the must do rides for us pretty quickly so we actually had some free time.
So a couple of things that we didn't like about the WDW set up. First up is that there are 4 main parks, whereas DLR/DCA is just two parks. So in order to experience everything, instead of just paying for two parks like at DLR/DCA, we have to pay for four parks. Didn't like that. I will say that all of the designs and buildings, and queue areas were much more elaborate. Considering that WDW was built after DLR and it has a ton more space, I'm not surprised that it's built the way it is. DLR/DCA is definitely more intimate because they have limited space to build on. I don't call it small. At WDW, my iPhone said that I walking about 20,000 steps per day that we were there! I think at DLR, we're in the 12,000-15,000 range. Another thing that I didn't like was how far apart all of the hotels and resorts are. WDW definitely has their transportation system down but the key word there is transportation. You HAVE to use some kind of transportation to get behind between the parks, hotels, and Disney Springs. It really is its own little "world." Disneyland on the other hand, is more intimate so it's all closer together but unfortunately, our Downtown Disney is definitely not as large as Disney Springs but hotels are much closer. Many are within walking distance. If not, there are Disney trailer trams not like the bus trams that WDW uses. The city of Anaheim also has public bus transportation that you can use too.
Other things to mention is that although WDW has some of the same rides that DLR/DCA may have, they're still a little different. I will be biased here because I grew up going to DLR and of course, it's the original park that Walt Disney built so to compare some of the rides that are available at both parks is tough because what I might find appealing, someone else might not like and vice versa. In any case, I will mention some notable differences for better or worse. First off is Space Mountain. This is hands down way better at DLR because we have Hyper Space Mtn which I was told you guys don't even get. Aside from the layover being 1,000,000 times better, I think the ride at DLR is better. It was kind of bumpy at WDW and the ending was much of a finish like DLR. I think Big Thunder Mountain at WDW may be better because it had some unique twists and turns. It's a Small World is basically the same ride at both places but I will say that since WDW has the Magic Band, the ending personal good bye is a nice touch so I give it to WDW there. The Merry-Go-Round has Cinderella's horse at WDW so that's kinda cool (although I don't believe this is official from WDW.) Also, WDW doesn't have Matterhorn. DLR doesn't have Mission Space. WDW has Test Track but DCA has Radiator Springs which in my opinion is way better. They also have Mater's ride and Luigi's ride too. Dinosaur is comparable to Indian Jones. Both are good rides but my kids actually like the Indiana Jones ride more because of the giant ball. WDW has the Mine Trains and our most favorite Disney ride of all, Everest. We loved that ride. of course DCA has California Screaming but it doesn't compare to Everest. That is just a spectacular ride and I wish they will put that at DLR/DCA someday. The Frozen ride was cool too and was totally caught off guard when it went backwards. We thought that was cool. The water raft ride at WDW was not spectacular at all. It was actually a letdown compared to our version in DCA. We all thought it was too short and didn't offer much thrill.
These are just some of our notes from our trip and again, I'm sure you will agree and disagree on some of my points but please keep in mind these are our opinions and observations of what we saw and experienced. I think either way, you'll have fun. What I told my kids was to have fun and let's get on all of the rides that we can. We'll compare and contrast what we have at DLR/DCA and talk about what we like more and which ones we don't like more. Definitely good topics for good discussions and now that they've been on them, they can actually have an intelligent conversation about why they like or don't like a ride because they have the experience of going on it at least once.
I sensed from your post that you did not experience much or any of those things. Maybe I missed it, but you did not discuss dining. A WDW vet asks "how could you fail to mention Dining?".
On my first visit to Epcot it did not feel Disney at all. Especially World Showcase. Heck, where are the rides? I think that is a typical DLR vet's view of Epcot at first.
As I mulled Epcot over several trips and came to appreciate Walt Disney's fascination with World Fairs, I came to see how World Showcase fit part of Walt Disney's vision. In a way that Disneyland could not. I went on a few WDW tours that also helped me understand that better.
Just my two cents.